Experience with IVIG/intralipid treatment with IVF?

[Anonymous]

I'm considering doing IVF in conjunction with IVIG/inralipid treatment through Columbia Fertility Associates. At a different clinic, we have several PGS normal embryos of which multiple failed to implant during various FETs. We seem to be out of options at that clinic. Preliminary testing with CFA shows I may have an autoimmune condition preventing successful implantation, hence the suggested IVIG treatment if I transfer remaining embryos there. Does anyone have experience with this? Information I can find online is limited. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

We had a very positive experience with Intraluos infusion after everything failed. IVIG didn’t work for us.

[Anonymous]

Have you had ERA done?

[Anonymous]

I did intralipids (also with CFA) along with a host of other stuff, including blood thinners and prednisone. It was a bit of a pain but it worked out. It was expensive though -- $500 a pop, not covered by insurance. Fortunately I think I only needed 3 or 4 transfusions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you had ERA done?

In response to that question, yes, I have actually had multiple ERAs :/

Thanks to others for sharing some positive experience! Glad there is still a card to play.

[Anonymous]

Had IVIG +Prednisone and blood thinner ( injection in tummy every day) with IVF, before and after transfer with Columbia fertility. They base the IVIG infusion on your weight and it usually took a couple of hours.
It did not work out for us, negative pregnancy.

[Anonymous]

IVIG works for a lot of people. I had several IVIG infusions over the course of 2 miscarriages. I do think it helped my prep my immune system for our next course of action, which was neupogen, which did work and I now have 3 DCs as a result.

What numbers are elevated? TNF-a and/or NKs? You have both IVIG and IL in your post, does that mean they are doing both at the same time? I think you will have better chances at CFA if they did the testing and found something that might be contributing to the implantation problems, and willing to treat it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Had IVIG +Prednisone and blood thinner ( injection in tummy every day) with IVF, before and after transfer with Columbia fertility. They base the IVIG infusion on your weight and it usually took a couple of hours.
It did not work out for us, negative pregnancy.

Sorry to hear that. Anyway, thanks for sharing your perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IVIG works for a lot of people. I had several IVIG infusions over the course of 2 miscarriages. I do think it helped my prep my immune system for our next course of action, which was neupogen, which did work and I now have 3 DCs as a result.

What numbers are elevated? TNF-a and/or NKs? You have both IVIG and IL in your post, does that mean they are doing both at the same time? I think you will have better chances at CFA if they did the testing and found something that might be contributing to the implantation problems, and willing to treat it.

Originally my NKs and cytokines (including TNF?) were elevated. In recent tests the NKs were normal again but cytokines still high, and I think there is another test marker she wants to treat as well. My labwork showed I would be responsive to intralipids or IVIG therapy but that I was more receptive to the IVIG. We just didn't know much about the difference although I guess IVIG is more expensive. What does the neupogen do?

[Anonymous]

Does CFA do the immunology tests before you start any IVF rounds with them? Or only after unsuccessful transfers? I've had two miscarriages but they were from natural conceptions, not IVF. Shady Grove is more convenient for me location-wise, but they don't do immunology treatment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does CFA do the immunology tests before you start any IVF rounds with them? Or only after unsuccessful transfers? I've had two miscarriages but they were from natural conceptions, not IVF. Shady Grove is more convenient for me location-wise, but they don't do immunology treatment.

Yes, We finally moved to CFA because SGF would not do the immunology testing and nothing else seemed to be working. By the time I came to CFA I had already done a bunch of tests with other doctors that I carried over with me (but not immunology), and I am also bringing some leftover embryos with me. We are doing the immunology testing before starting another FET at CFA so I would imagine they would be willing to do immunology tests before getting started with IVF for you if that’s what you wanted...but not sure. CFA also has a few offices (DC-Bethesda-VA) which might help location wise?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IVIG works for a lot of people. I had several IVIG infusions over the course of 2 miscarriages. I do think it helped my prep my immune system for our next course of action, which was neupogen, which did work and I now have 3 DCs as a result.

What numbers are elevated? TNF-a and/or NKs? You have both IVIG and IL in your post, does that mean they are doing both at the same time? I think you will have better chances at CFA if they did the testing and found something that might be contributing to the implantation problems, and willing to treat it.

Originally my NKs and cytokines (including TNF?) were elevated. In recent tests the NKs were normal again but cytokines still high, and I think there is another test marker she wants to treat as well. My labwork showed I would be responsive to intralipids or IVIG therapy but that I was more receptive to the IVIG. We just didn't know much about the difference although I guess IVIG is more expensive. What does the neupogen do?

Generally, it makes the uterine environment more conducive to implantation by keeping Tregs in an immature state. I love seeing current research and try to follow it since I have 2 daughters from my 3 successful pregnancies. For high TNF they normally prescribe prednisone, are you on that now? The main issue for most people is getting IVIG covered. Mine ended up being covered because I had antiphospholipid antibodies that came back positive and IVIG is/was an approved treatment for that.

Pubmed article here https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5813296/

[Anonymous]

Hi, just wanted to bump this thread to see if anyone has done intralipid infusions at home during covid. I was just prescribed 3 infusions which will require someone to come to my home to administer them for 3 hours at a time. This seems unsafe to me during covid and I’m wondering if others have experienced this/if I should ask my doctor to skip this part of my protocol. Any input is welcome, thanks!

[Anonymous]

I have been doing it during COVID. No issues so far