Fertility Going to Hell in a Handbasket

[Anonymous]

Just got all of my test results in. I'm soon to be 38 in a few months and will be working on kid #2 in the next 6 months. We were able to get pregnant with out first on our second IVF back in 2013. Back then all my results were stellar and our dx was unexplained infertility. IVF didn't yield any insight into what might be wrong, except for the fact that I had dismal fertilization using ICSI but great fertilization using conventional (we did a 50/50 split) which my RE thinks may have been indicative of some egg quality issues since the eggs that underwent ICSI ended up being very fragile with some embryos disintegrating from that cohort.

Fast forward a few years and things are definitely tanking. My FSH is high (13.9 - normal is 9 or less); AMH is low (0.88 - normal for my age is 1 or more). The only thing I still have going for me is a normal AFC for my age at 10.

We have a frostie from the 1st IVF just before I turned 35 that we will start with but if that doesn't work it's right into a fresh cycle. Any advice from anyone here with similar stats? Any thing I should be working on? Will start taking ubiquinol again (just ordered another batch). Will start acupuncture in the next few weeks as well. Anything else I can add to it? Not really interested in adding a slew of supplements (been there/done that type thing).

[Anonymous]

I would go into your FET wth cautious optimism---wait for the result BEFORE worrying about next steps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would go into your FET wth cautious optimism---wait for the result BEFORE worrying about next steps.

Op here - Had I not been through the IVF circuit before I would agree, but being older now and having gone through this twice already, I feel I have to mentally prepare myself for the potential long haul right out the gate. That, plus it takes at least three months to have any impact on egg quality so I can't afford to wait until I find out whether the FET works or not to start trying to improve things. That said - I am thankful that we can do an FET. When we went straight into another fresh cycle after our first failure, we didn't realize how grateful we'd be to have this little small insurance policy to try and cash in years later...

[Anonymous]

I have very similar stats; my FSH and AMH are bit lower and I am a bit older.
I would read it starts with the egg. She also recommends DHEA, vitamin c and vitamin E.

[Anonymous]

I got pregnant with my first via a 4th IUI and then 2 1/2 years later miscarried after a second IUI. We ended up moving afte that and my new re was actually the first to test my egg quality, which turned out to be similar to yours with an FSH OF 13 and an AMH of .75 at age 39. Having no IVF insurance coverage I had one and one chance and one chance only for IVF. My re had me take coq10 and DHEA as well and I was able to eek out 6eggs, 3 of which were viable ...but of those 3 they all fertilized, all made it to 5days, 2made it to freezing and one was genetically perfect. At the time, I was told that if any of my embryo's made it to freezing and came back genetically viable that I had an 85% chance of getting pregnant. I honestly couldn't tell you if that statistic was a generalization or specific to me, I didn't question it, but either way I ended up with a healthy baby boy.

I remember reading a post after the fact on DCUrbanmom about a woman who got 6 or 7 eggs with her retrieval and how apologetic and ominous the responses were ...and I thought how glad I hadn't seen it before my transfer or I would have really depressed and discouraged ...I guess sometimes ignorance is bliss, right?

I couldn't tell you one way or another if the coq10 or the dhea made a difference or not but I certainly had a positive result.

I understand why you would want to prepare yourself for the worst, but at the same time, with your already frozen one and numbers that are honestly not the worst, you've definitely got reason to hope.

Hugs and good luck!

[Anonymous]

Your numbers don't seem that bad to me. Mine were way way worse don't worry so much just yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have very similar stats; my FSH and AMH are bit lower and I am a bit older.
I would read it starts with the egg. She also recommends DHEA, vitamin c and vitamin E.

Op here - thanks for the recommendation. Ordered it through Amazon this afternoon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I got pregnant with my first via a 4th IUI and then 2 1/2 years later miscarried after a second IUI. We ended up moving afte that and my new re was actually the first to test my egg quality, which turned out to be similar to yours with an FSH OF 13 and an AMH of .75 at age 39. Having no IVF insurance coverage I had one and one chance and one chance only for IVF. My re had me take coq10 and DHEA as well and I was able to eek out 6eggs, 3 of which were viable ...but of those 3 they all fertilized, all made it to 5days, 2made it to freezing and one was genetically perfect. At the time, I was told that if any of my embryo's made it to freezing and came back genetically viable that I had an 85% chance of getting pregnant. I honestly couldn't tell you if that statistic was a generalization or specific to me, I didn't question it, but either way I ended up with a healthy baby boy.

I remember reading a post after the fact on DCUrbanmom about a woman who got 6 or 7 eggs with her retrieval and how apologetic and ominous the responses were ...and I thought how glad I hadn't seen it before my transfer or I would have really depressed and discouraged ...I guess sometimes ignorance is bliss, right?

I couldn't tell you one way or another if the coq10 or the dhea made a difference or not but I certainly had a positive result.

I understand why you would want to prepare yourself for the worst, but at the same time, with your already frozen one and numbers that are honestly not the worst, you've definitely got reason to hope.

Hugs and good luck!

Op here - thanks so much for sharing your story. Interestingly enough I took ubiquinol on the second ivf cycle that worked so plan to start taking that again. I need to read up on Dhea. You mentioned three embryos made it to day 5 but only two were frozen? Did you transfer 1
During that cycle prior to testing the other 2?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your numbers don't seem that bad to me. Mine were way way worse don't worry so much just yet.

Op here - I wish I could be blissfully hopeful. What did you experience? My remaining frostie is pretty good grade/quality , however I transferred two of its siblings on my first ivf cycle (2 great day 5 blasts) and nada.

[Anonymous]

PP 19:20 here ....to answer your question OP, all 3 of my embryos made it to day 5, but none were mature enough to survive freezing and one of the 3 was growing a lot slower. They ended up letting them grow for one additional day and two made it to freezable maturity, while the third one did not. Since we had decided to go ahead with genetic testing I had not been prepped for a fresh transfer so the third one just fizzled out. It was the only time during my IVF process that I melted down because had I known that that scenario was possible, I might have inquired about being prepped for a fresh transfer just in case. They reacted like I was crazy and, I don't know, maybe I was

I should also mention that I too suspended complete optimism, although I was never totally pessimistic either ...for self preservation's sake I had to and I think it was reasonable, so you are not alone...with that being said though, I definitely think you have every reason to be cautiously optimistic.

Once again, hugs, good luck and keep us posted!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP 19:20 here ....to answer your question OP, all 3 of my embryos made it to day 5, but none were mature enough to survive freezing and one of the 3 was growing a lot slower. They ended up letting them grow for one additional day and two made it to freezable maturity, while the third one did not. Since we had decided to go ahead with genetic testing I had not been prepped for a fresh transfer so the third one just fizzled out. It was the only time during my IVF process that I melted down because had I known that that scenario was possible, I might have inquired about being prepped for a fresh transfer just in case. They reacted like I was crazy and, I don't know, maybe I was

I should also mention that I too suspended complete optimism, although I was never totally pessimistic either ...for self preservation's sake I had to and I think it was reasonable, so you are not alone...with that being said though, I definitely think you have every reason to be cautiously optimistic.

Once again, hugs, good luck and keep us posted!

Thanks pp. I can totally imagine how you felt that day/days after. I'm not pessimistic but more like prepared. After my first ivf cycle went bust I went research crazy, got a second opinion with Columbia fertility, etc. I was intent on switching clinics. What finally calmed me down was burning off steam and then stumbling across this blogger blogging about her triplets. It was like her third or fourth ivf. This particular cycle was so bad that she contemplated canceling it. In the end she went through and retrieved four eggs. Three fertilized but weren't great at all. She ended up transferring all three on day 3 cause they were pretty bad. Of course that is the cycle she finally gets pregnant. Not with one but with three! Next crazy thing is that all three made it which she never expected. She Delivered three babies! It was then that I realized that ivf is a complete crapshoot and it's a numbers game so you have to be willing and have the stamina to go the distance.

Our baby was one of three embryos transferred on day 3. Two looked good but the last was pretty blah. I just didn't want to leave it "on the table" so in it went. Which of those three gave us our little boy we will never know.

[Anonymous]

Your AMH isn't bad. Almost normal really.
Take wheatgrass for the FSH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your numbers don't seem that bad to me. Mine were way way worse don't worry so much just yet.

Op here - I wish I could be blissfully hopeful. What did you experience? My remaining frostie is pretty good grade/quality , however I transferred two of its siblings on my first ivf cycle (2 great day 5 blasts) and nada.

I got pregnant naturally (after two years of trying and 3 failed cycles) with #s worse, and I transferred at 3dt which resulted in a BFP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your numbers don't seem that bad to me. Mine were way way worse don't worry so much just yet.

Op here - I wish I could be blissfully hopeful. What did you experience? My remaining frostie is pretty good grade/quality , however I transferred two of its siblings on my first ivf cycle (2 great day 5 blasts) and nada.

Got pregnant naturally after 10 months with an AMH of .3.. Amtrak follicle count was 3! Normal FSH though.
I did take all the recommended vitamins/supplements in the months prior.

[Anonymous]

Amtrak! Lol