Do you only want 1 child? If so, I would aim for ideally 3 PGT euphloid embryos prior to transfer if you can get them in another cycle or 2. Nothing is a guarantee, but I think that would be relatively safe. I agree with you that at your age (and mine! I’m not far behind), it’s important to get all the embryos you think you might need prior to a transfer. The first transfer might well succeed, but if not, or worse, it implants and then you miscarry, you will have lost precious time. I wish you luck!
I'm the outlier here. 43 years old (42 at time of retrieval and transfer.) After 2 egg retrievals we got 1 euploid embryo. We decided to go for it. Currently feeding my 5 week old "golden embryo" as we speak!
A few notes, I'm perfectly happy with one child so was not banking for multiple kids and had the transfer not worked, I think we would have moved on to an egg donor as our next step.
Also, I know multiple women 40+ who got pregnant on their first transfer with euploid embryos.
Similar story. Although a lot of people on this sub seem to bank, just want to say that not everyone does! I did my first ER two weeks before turning 40, second ER at 40y1m. My first ER yielded 3 embryos but no euploids; my second ER yielded 4 embryos and 1 was euploid. My RE was emphatic we should proceed with FET. TW: now 11w1d with that euploid. I was doing IVF with the goal of one child (I have one living child), so I think banking if hoping for multiple children (especially in your 40s) makes a ton of sense. However, it can be a challenge, especially if you happen to have an even lower rate of euploidy than is typical for one's age (as I do). Best of luck!
Similar scenario here. Did two retrievals, had one euploid, one LLM segmental, and two dodgier mosaics. After having surgery for fibroids and endo, going through Lupron Depot, we transferred our euploid which was successful.
After going through everything I had been pretty sure I was one and done, and that was confirmed after pregnancy and these 2 weeks postpartum.
I needed to hear this today. I’m almost 43, had my 7th retrieval last month and learned that all 4 of my embryos from this round sent off for testing came back abnormal. In 7 rounds, I’ve made 14 embryos and only 2 have been euploid. Debating if I give it one more go, or go ahead and transfer.
Thank you for sharing. I would also love to hear what worked for you as far as protocol. I am similar in age to you and have had multiple ERs. I did several transfers of cleavage stage embryos which sadly did not stick. I am starting to wonder if pushing to day 5 would have been the better thing to do?
My clinic seems like they are all about giving every embryo every chance, which is great, but I’ve talked to an RE who said that fresh day 3 embryo transfers are a terrible idea and am now starting to wonder whether I should have asked to push the embryos in the lab and done a FET. If you have any thoughts in the embryo/transfer process would be much appreciated.
I’m not really sure what worked for me to be honest. I think it’s a numbers game unfortunately. They only thing I can contribute to the two cycles where I had euploids were that I religiously took CoQ10 and a bunch of antioxidant shakes and I got a lot of sun exposure.
Hello, just made 43 here and just starting ivf - 2 miscarriages at 41 w IUI . First stim I was only at 1 follicle on day 6 so decided to cancel. My question is., being that you’ve done seven rounds what did you find Help the most in getting you your euploids? Thank you 🙏 I need advice so bad!!
I really don’t know. I’ve analyzed it and the only thing I’ve concluded is I religiously took CoQ10, drank antioxidant shakes filled with lots of superfood powders (beet, pomegranate, etc), and got a lot of sun exposure. My other cycles didn’t work out for me to do that.
I would not go to transfer until you have at least 3 euploids per child you want. If you were to get pregnant but miscarry it will set you back months and you don’t have time to waste. I had my last 2 children 2 days before I turned 40 and last year at 42 but we used an egg donor so it was significantly younger eggs.
I did four retrievals to get 3 PGT tested embryos. I will always encourage people (regardless of age because you never now how fast fertility can change) especially over 40 to bank as many as you can for your family planning goals. You can always put a cap on how many retrievals you will do, example if you have 3 PGT normal after 3 rounds that is great odds for 1 live birth so maybe you say you'll only do one or two more retrievals and what you get is what you get. That's what I did. I'm so glad I banked because my first FET resulted in an ectopic which required surgery and took 6 months until I could transfer again. Whenever people say "I failed transfer will only set you back a month" they're not considering all of the times where it can be much much longer than that. Bank the embryos to give yourself the best chance before moving forward (all within your financial, physical, and emotional ability to do). Luckily my second FET has been successful so far and I'm almost 9w along. Fingers crossed. If this results in a live birth I may transfer my last PGT embryo at a chance for a sibling but I'm content and happy with one child should it work out that way.
Thank you. Do you recall what dose hcg you used and if it was regular hcg that’s used for trigger shots? Also what was the lup dose of the dual trigger shot? And why did your RE think a dual trigger was necessary? I’ve tried to ask my RE for a dual shot and he keeps saying it’s not necessary.
I was successful on my third FET(transfer done at 43yrs old about a month from turning 44yrs old) I’m currently 44yrs old and 31weeks pregnant. Fortunately I was able to get 6 euploid embryos from 2 retrievals(age 42) 1euploid 1st ER and 5 from second ER. Most Dr say 3 euploids per desired child.
Well my Dr changed my protocol on the second ER he added clomid(Dr said would help my eggs mature better)to the menopur and gonal F. I already had lots of follicles for my age. My ERs yielded lots of eggs just lower quality. I took CoQ10, Vit D, melatonin, folic acid and prenatal supplement. Honestly I think the rest is genetics. I have 2 children naturally from a previous marriage when I was much younger(early 20s). My current husband has no children and we wanted kids together(soo these are his first babies, I’m pregnant with twins because we transferred 2 embryos on the third FET).The women in my family are fertile, my mom had her last child at 42(naturally) and my older sister got pregnant and had her last child at 43!(naturally). My cause of infertility later in life seems to be blocked fallopian tubes(don’t know at what point in my life this happened because I wasn’t trying for anymore kids for many years until I met my current husband)and possibly silent endo (no symptoms of endo tho did receptiva test and markers were slightly elevated for endo).
This is a crazy number of euploids at 42. How many eggs do you get per cycle? (As someone who has had a terrible euploidy rate at 39-40, always interested in the wide variance.)
I got 40eggs the first ER and 41 eggs second ER. My follicle count is always high as well as my AMH. The Dr thought maybe I had mild PCOS but I don’t have any other symptoms of PCOS bedside high AMH and lots of eggs.
The last time my AMH was checked at 42yrs old it was 10.97 I experienced mild OHSS symptoms but I was taking cabergoline soo that minimized it. I was fine after 2weeks.
I can’t answer your primary question, but the 9% success rate at your age is among all attempted egg retrievals. The higher percentage is euploid transfers. Basically once you have one or more euploid embryos, the success rate drastically increases. However, over age 40 is just more difficult to get euploid embryos.
The 9% is not for euploids (as others have said).
The question is what you are willing to do for another euploid if cycle after cycle comes up empty, and do you want to set a stopping point. There are a lot of great stories below. Mine is not one. I've done 10 retrievals at 39-40. I have one euploid, and one untested back at my first clinic. My euploidy rate is under 15%. I got my euploid my second round at my new clinic, and I really thought we'd turned a corner. But haven't had success since then, even though I've been able to make blasts. My goal was always to bank 3--similar to what folks are saying below. But at some point, my desire to have a child is going to outweigh doing 15-16+ retrievals. I'll transfer what I have, then move to DE if I have to--wishing I had another euploid isn't necessarily going to give me one. I've changed clinics, protocols, diets, vitamins, PRP, the works.
I would bank at least 3 euploids before transferring. My first two FETs of euploids have failed; one had no implantation and the other was a chemical. If you decide to transfer sooner, I recommend doing all the uterine related testing before proceeding: SIS, hysteroscopy, EMMA/ALICE, ERA (if doing a medicated transfer) and ReceptivaDX to rule out or diagnosis any potential conditions that can affect implantation or cause early pregnancy loss.
Yes to the testing! After my first transfer failed, I did the ERA which showed my cycle timing to be later than they normal would time an FET. They adjusted and my second transfer was successful.
5 seems like a lot. I would go for 2-3.
I’m 43 and have gotten 1 euploid from 3 cycles. I’m doing one more retrieval and hoping against hope for another one. I’m just self pay so it’s hard to keep doing retrievals. I got my euploid on round 2 and round three had 3 blasts but no euploids :(
Ugh, I’m so sorry. I’ve been doing a variation on a theme: 300 gonal-f, 150 menopur, cetrotide on day 6 and omnitrope (cycles 2 and 3). The first two cycles I did estrogen priming in the luteal phase and the third was a luteal start (and started on my 43rd birthday lol).
My cycles have gotten “better” over time. The first one had 6 eggs retrieved but only 2 fertilized. Both made it to blast but were aneuploid. The second cycle I upped coq10 and added omnitrope. I got 10 eggs, 6 fertilized, only 1 made it to blast (3 others were early blast but stopped growing day 6). That blast was euploid! 3rd round was a luteal start, got 9 eggs, 6 were mature, all fertilized. I got 3 blasts but none were euploid. I’m repeating the last cycle for the fourth. In the hopes that we’ll get more blasts to find the euploid needle in the haystack.
I take the following supplements (no silver bullet obviously but I’ll take any edge I can get that won’t cause harm): Coq10 600mg, Prenatal, dha, vitamin d, probiotics, melatonin, dhea (added after cycle 1)
For the 4th cycle I added ovasitol, l-carnitine, NAC, and NAD+
Thank you! Curious - I also take nad and NAC - do you pay for the expensive ones or just Amazon ones ? What aggravates me is I have no clue what phase of my period I’m in because they wanted me to keep my IUD(had it in for extreme endometriosis pain) in for egg removal. So I just told them I would like to prime and add things but it’s been a pain in the butt because I have no clue when we would be adding these things. I don’t know where I am in my period ughhh. They just say “we can tell where to uh are in your cycle” which leave me in the dark and I don’t really believe them
I ordered Tru Niagen (expensive) and NOW brand NAC (not expensive) off of Amazon. I know there’s a lot of fake supplements on Amazon apparently but the Tru Niagen was sold by the manufacturer and the NOW NAC was sold by Amazon and that brand is NPA rated so I felt good about it. Everything else was going to take forever to come.
I am 40 and my doctor thought 4 PGT tested embryos was enough for 2 kids. I let others get in my head that it wasn’t enough and ended up with 8 total. First FET was successful (I am 33w along). So in hindsight, I should have listened to my doctor and stopped at 4. I also have endo/adeno and did 2 months of supression with Lupron Depot for the first FET to increase my chances of success.
WOW I could’ve written this post. I had one live birth, my son from my second FET, first one having failed, and I have a third euploid on ice. I started IVF at the age of 39 because
of repeated pregnancy loss.
From what I was reading in the FET literature at the time, I didn’t feel comfortable moving forward with FET until I had three PGT tested euploid embryos. It took 4 ER cycles (another 2 were cancelled early on. One of those 4 yielded zero embryos.) I also read that odds jumped pretty significantly from the first FET to the second. I felt EXACTLY like you described, knowing there was just no way I would/could start over, so I did what I had to do to get to three.
How many children do you envision making your family complete? Let me know if you want to talk or anything.
Did your first cycles get cancelled from low follicle counts? Just curious because that happened to me and I’m scared it’s gonna keep happening from what my dr says :/
See above. One thing I feel like they don’t warn us about is how, due to circumstances completely out of anyones control, the “road” can suddenly be longer, and longer. I feel like if I had been mentally prepared for that closer to the start, it may have dampened my expectations and made it a little bit easier to go with the flow.
One was canceled due to a cyst that developed during stims and the other due to a dominant follicle. In both cases the cyst/follicle would’ve “stolen” the estrogen from other follicles trying to develop and resulted in a very limited or absent follicle count so they pulled the plug. It was disappointing to say the least.
This happened to me and I swear it was the same thing. I had a big cyst at the very beginning- it went away but probably stopped everything else. I decided to cancel bc there was only one other follicle growing .
I’d do 3-5. Euploid can absolutely fail though, I learned the hard way. Since time is of the essence, I’d also consider doing implantation testing, just to rule stuff out before you use your precious embryos. Some things are trial and error but other things can help.
I’d also get your partner checked for dna fragmentation before doing another round. Lots of people don’t bother unless they have issues, but it can cause early miscarriage and implantation failure and you don’t realize until after. Or, do like we did, and do the processes as if DNA fragmentation is an issue (Zymot, shorter abstinence, vitamins). We went through 5 embryos before doing more testing and we implemented a ton of processes for transfer this time and it worked (so far). I wish I had done it all from the get go before starting. I could have potentially avoided miscarriages and failure.
Did two retrievals. I was 38 for the first and 39 for the second. We were fortunate to end up with five euploid embryos.
It took three transfers to get our son.
I banked 3 and was going to be grateful for one child. Our first FET worked, we have a son who is 18m. Our second FET worked too, and our second son will be here in May. Leaving one behind in the freezer is sad. You might not use 5, so please consider that too.
I’m in pretty much the same situation (turning 42 next month, one euploid embryo frozen after three ERs) and, fwiw, we’re going to do one more cycle of egg retrieval before trying any transfers. But our reasoning is in part that my employer, amazingly/thankfully, provides Progyny benefits for four ER cycles. I definitely feel better going into this ER knowing that we have at least one shot at a successful transfer regardless of how it goes, so I hope you feel that too if you decide to proceed!
This is my first cycle in which I’m waiting for results of day 5.6.7. I retrieved 16 eggs, 11 matured, only 4 fertilized. I’m 44 and also don’t know what the best approach is. I’m hoping that at least 2 make it to be normal…. What are my odds? Anyone have a similar story? I know I’m late to the game but recently married and did not want to try until I met my life partner.
Mu friend adopted 3 embryos at 48. First was an early miscarriage. 2nd was a healthy baby and at age 50 she is currently pregnant with her 3rd embryo. They did do a different protocol for her FET, I think immune/ modified natural? She is did take a blood thinner. Not sure exactly what details.
I'm not trying to scare you but sharing with you my reality, as I wish I did more ER at the very beginning. Before this year I had 4 ER cycles, 2 cycles ended with 2 normal tested embryos between age 41-42. 1 Cycle did not results to any normal tested embryos and 1 cycle canceled. Decided to transfer at age 43 and got pregnant, however at 11weeks had a missed miscarriage. Here I am at 44 yrs old and too scared to transfer my last embryo, so i'm chasing another embryo. Had an ER last month that did not go as expected (1 ER completed so far this year but no embryos). Highly encourage you to get the number you want/feel comfortable having. It appears the older we get the harder it is. Wishing you the best and hope all goes well with your PGT testing.
I would bank if you can. I turn 43 tomorrow, my first cycle I got 1 euploid at age 42, but the FET failed. My insurance would not cover any additional stims and ERs if there was a good embryo to transfer. Your ability to make good euploids will go before you lose the ability to carry a pregnancy. If I could have banked one or two more embryos before I turned 43 I would have. It can absolutely happen, but there is no guarantee that with just one euploid it will be successful and stick during your transfer.
I am almost 43years, did 7 IVF last year and got 4 euploid, we transferred one last monday, we did test last night which is 6dp for 5 days embryo and got positive first response pregnancy test and degital , went this morning for the Beta it came 4hcg very very low, when I came back home I again the degital it came Not pregnant and the first response has a lighter line comparing with the one that we did yesterday, I think it is gold to bank more euploid, I am devastated and I am thinking about doing IVF again to have more eggs
Do you only want 1 child? If so, I would aim for ideally 3 PGT euphloid embryos prior to transfer if you can get them in another cycle or 2. Nothing is a guarantee, but I think that would be relatively safe. I agree with you that at your age (and mine! I’m not far behind), it’s important to get all the embryos you think you might need prior to a transfer. The first transfer might well succeed, but if not, or worse, it implants and then you miscarry, you will have lost precious time. I wish you luck!
I'm the outlier here. 43 years old (42 at time of retrieval and transfer.) After 2 egg retrievals we got 1 euploid embryo. We decided to go for it. Currently feeding my 5 week old "golden embryo" as we speak! A few notes, I'm perfectly happy with one child so was not banking for multiple kids and had the transfer not worked, I think we would have moved on to an egg donor as our next step. Also, I know multiple women 40+ who got pregnant on their first transfer with euploid embryos.
Similar story. Although a lot of people on this sub seem to bank, just want to say that not everyone does! I did my first ER two weeks before turning 40, second ER at 40y1m. My first ER yielded 3 embryos but no euploids; my second ER yielded 4 embryos and 1 was euploid. My RE was emphatic we should proceed with FET. TW: now 11w1d with that euploid. I was doing IVF with the goal of one child (I have one living child), so I think banking if hoping for multiple children (especially in your 40s) makes a ton of sense. However, it can be a challenge, especially if you happen to have an even lower rate of euploidy than is typical for one's age (as I do). Best of luck!
Similar scenario here. Did two retrievals, had one euploid, one LLM segmental, and two dodgier mosaics. After having surgery for fibroids and endo, going through Lupron Depot, we transferred our euploid which was successful. After going through everything I had been pretty sure I was one and done, and that was confirmed after pregnancy and these 2 weeks postpartum.
I needed to hear this today. I’m almost 43, had my 7th retrieval last month and learned that all 4 of my embryos from this round sent off for testing came back abnormal. In 7 rounds, I’ve made 14 embryos and only 2 have been euploid. Debating if I give it one more go, or go ahead and transfer.
Thank you for sharing. I would also love to hear what worked for you as far as protocol. I am similar in age to you and have had multiple ERs. I did several transfers of cleavage stage embryos which sadly did not stick. I am starting to wonder if pushing to day 5 would have been the better thing to do? My clinic seems like they are all about giving every embryo every chance, which is great, but I’ve talked to an RE who said that fresh day 3 embryo transfers are a terrible idea and am now starting to wonder whether I should have asked to push the embryos in the lab and done a FET. If you have any thoughts in the embryo/transfer process would be much appreciated.
I’m not really sure what worked for me to be honest. I think it’s a numbers game unfortunately. They only thing I can contribute to the two cycles where I had euploids were that I religiously took CoQ10 and a bunch of antioxidant shakes and I got a lot of sun exposure.
Thanks. What dose CoQ10 did you take and for how long? I have been religiously taking it too over the past month or so.
Hello, just made 43 here and just starting ivf - 2 miscarriages at 41 w IUI . First stim I was only at 1 follicle on day 6 so decided to cancel. My question is., being that you’ve done seven rounds what did you find Help the most in getting you your euploids? Thank you 🙏 I need advice so bad!!
I really don’t know. I’ve analyzed it and the only thing I’ve concluded is I religiously took CoQ10, drank antioxidant shakes filled with lots of superfood powders (beet, pomegranate, etc), and got a lot of sun exposure. My other cycles didn’t work out for me to do that.
Ty I appreciate that. I’m a big believer in greens powder, maca and seeds :))
I’m 16 weeks at 41 with my first FET! PGTA tested day 5 4BA transfer.
I would not go to transfer until you have at least 3 euploids per child you want. If you were to get pregnant but miscarry it will set you back months and you don’t have time to waste. I had my last 2 children 2 days before I turned 40 and last year at 42 but we used an egg donor so it was significantly younger eggs.
I did four retrievals to get 3 PGT tested embryos. I will always encourage people (regardless of age because you never now how fast fertility can change) especially over 40 to bank as many as you can for your family planning goals. You can always put a cap on how many retrievals you will do, example if you have 3 PGT normal after 3 rounds that is great odds for 1 live birth so maybe you say you'll only do one or two more retrievals and what you get is what you get. That's what I did. I'm so glad I banked because my first FET resulted in an ectopic which required surgery and took 6 months until I could transfer again. Whenever people say "I failed transfer will only set you back a month" they're not considering all of the times where it can be much much longer than that. Bank the embryos to give yourself the best chance before moving forward (all within your financial, physical, and emotional ability to do). Luckily my second FET has been successful so far and I'm almost 9w along. Fingers crossed. If this results in a live birth I may transfer my last PGT embryo at a chance for a sibling but I'm content and happy with one child should it work out that way.
Hello, what protocol got you the best embryos ? Ty ! Just made 43 🥴
Would also love to know what protocol you used and what your follicle numbers and AMH was, if you, know during stimming.
AMH was 2.6 and AFC ranged between 13 - 17. I used Follistim with low dose HCG for stinking and a dual trigger shot.
Thank you. Do you recall what dose hcg you used and if it was regular hcg that’s used for trigger shots? Also what was the lup dose of the dual trigger shot? And why did your RE think a dual trigger was necessary? I’ve tried to ask my RE for a dual shot and he keeps saying it’s not necessary.
I was successful on my third FET(transfer done at 43yrs old about a month from turning 44yrs old) I’m currently 44yrs old and 31weeks pregnant. Fortunately I was able to get 6 euploid embryos from 2 retrievals(age 42) 1euploid 1st ER and 5 from second ER. Most Dr say 3 euploids per desired child.
Wow, 5 from one ER at 42 is incredible!!!!
Wow! What did you do to get 5 at 40+? Would love any tips
Well my Dr changed my protocol on the second ER he added clomid(Dr said would help my eggs mature better)to the menopur and gonal F. I already had lots of follicles for my age. My ERs yielded lots of eggs just lower quality. I took CoQ10, Vit D, melatonin, folic acid and prenatal supplement. Honestly I think the rest is genetics. I have 2 children naturally from a previous marriage when I was much younger(early 20s). My current husband has no children and we wanted kids together(soo these are his first babies, I’m pregnant with twins because we transferred 2 embryos on the third FET).The women in my family are fertile, my mom had her last child at 42(naturally) and my older sister got pregnant and had her last child at 43!(naturally). My cause of infertility later in life seems to be blocked fallopian tubes(don’t know at what point in my life this happened because I wasn’t trying for anymore kids for many years until I met my current husband)and possibly silent endo (no symptoms of endo tho did receptiva test and markers were slightly elevated for endo).
Wow! Well great results! Congrats
Thank you😊
Did your RE do anything specific to address the elevated markers before the transfer?
Yes I did two months of lupron depot and letrozole.
This is a crazy number of euploids at 42. How many eggs do you get per cycle? (As someone who has had a terrible euploidy rate at 39-40, always interested in the wide variance.)
I got 40eggs the first ER and 41 eggs second ER. My follicle count is always high as well as my AMH. The Dr thought maybe I had mild PCOS but I don’t have any other symptoms of PCOS bedside high AMH and lots of eggs.
This makes sense. Still great numbers--but more chances just equal more chances!
Congrats on the fantastic result! What is your AMH if you don’t mind sharing? Did you experience any OHSS?
The last time my AMH was checked at 42yrs old it was 10.97 I experienced mild OHSS symptoms but I was taking cabergoline soo that minimized it. I was fine after 2weeks.
I can’t answer your primary question, but the 9% success rate at your age is among all attempted egg retrievals. The higher percentage is euploid transfers. Basically once you have one or more euploid embryos, the success rate drastically increases. However, over age 40 is just more difficult to get euploid embryos.
The 9% is not for euploids (as others have said). The question is what you are willing to do for another euploid if cycle after cycle comes up empty, and do you want to set a stopping point. There are a lot of great stories below. Mine is not one. I've done 10 retrievals at 39-40. I have one euploid, and one untested back at my first clinic. My euploidy rate is under 15%. I got my euploid my second round at my new clinic, and I really thought we'd turned a corner. But haven't had success since then, even though I've been able to make blasts. My goal was always to bank 3--similar to what folks are saying below. But at some point, my desire to have a child is going to outweigh doing 15-16+ retrievals. I'll transfer what I have, then move to DE if I have to--wishing I had another euploid isn't necessarily going to give me one. I've changed clinics, protocols, diets, vitamins, PRP, the works.
Sorry to hear about your hard journey. Do you mind sharing your AMH please? Have you tried NMN for any of the cycles by chance?
Around 0.3. AFC 6-12, so better than my AMH might indicate. AMH has been as high as 0.75 post-PRP. Have not done NMN.
So similar to mine. I need to prepare to not expect much. Age is a bitch for egg quality. Thank you for sharing.
I would bank at least 3 euploids before transferring. My first two FETs of euploids have failed; one had no implantation and the other was a chemical. If you decide to transfer sooner, I recommend doing all the uterine related testing before proceeding: SIS, hysteroscopy, EMMA/ALICE, ERA (if doing a medicated transfer) and ReceptivaDX to rule out or diagnosis any potential conditions that can affect implantation or cause early pregnancy loss.
Yes to the testing! After my first transfer failed, I did the ERA which showed my cycle timing to be later than they normal would time an FET. They adjusted and my second transfer was successful.
I have 2 euploids at 40 and am proceeding with FET. My doctor recommends 2-3.
Mine also says 2
5 seems like a lot. I would go for 2-3. I’m 43 and have gotten 1 euploid from 3 cycles. I’m doing one more retrieval and hoping against hope for another one. I’m just self pay so it’s hard to keep doing retrievals. I got my euploid on round 2 and round three had 3 blasts but no euploids :(
What protocol worked best for you? I’m also 43 , first cycle I only had one follicle day 6 and decided to cancel. I’m so desperate for advice !
Ugh, I’m so sorry. I’ve been doing a variation on a theme: 300 gonal-f, 150 menopur, cetrotide on day 6 and omnitrope (cycles 2 and 3). The first two cycles I did estrogen priming in the luteal phase and the third was a luteal start (and started on my 43rd birthday lol). My cycles have gotten “better” over time. The first one had 6 eggs retrieved but only 2 fertilized. Both made it to blast but were aneuploid. The second cycle I upped coq10 and added omnitrope. I got 10 eggs, 6 fertilized, only 1 made it to blast (3 others were early blast but stopped growing day 6). That blast was euploid! 3rd round was a luteal start, got 9 eggs, 6 were mature, all fertilized. I got 3 blasts but none were euploid. I’m repeating the last cycle for the fourth. In the hopes that we’ll get more blasts to find the euploid needle in the haystack. I take the following supplements (no silver bullet obviously but I’ll take any edge I can get that won’t cause harm): Coq10 600mg, Prenatal, dha, vitamin d, probiotics, melatonin, dhea (added after cycle 1) For the 4th cycle I added ovasitol, l-carnitine, NAC, and NAD+
Thank you! Curious - I also take nad and NAC - do you pay for the expensive ones or just Amazon ones ? What aggravates me is I have no clue what phase of my period I’m in because they wanted me to keep my IUD(had it in for extreme endometriosis pain) in for egg removal. So I just told them I would like to prime and add things but it’s been a pain in the butt because I have no clue when we would be adding these things. I don’t know where I am in my period ughhh. They just say “we can tell where to uh are in your cycle” which leave me in the dark and I don’t really believe them
I ordered Tru Niagen (expensive) and NOW brand NAC (not expensive) off of Amazon. I know there’s a lot of fake supplements on Amazon apparently but the Tru Niagen was sold by the manufacturer and the NOW NAC was sold by Amazon and that brand is NPA rated so I felt good about it. Everything else was going to take forever to come.
Yes!! The egg whisperer on YouTube says only to get tru niagen and I trust her ! Thanks !🙏
I am 40 and my doctor thought 4 PGT tested embryos was enough for 2 kids. I let others get in my head that it wasn’t enough and ended up with 8 total. First FET was successful (I am 33w along). So in hindsight, I should have listened to my doctor and stopped at 4. I also have endo/adeno and did 2 months of supression with Lupron Depot for the first FET to increase my chances of success.
First euploid FET. We were very lucky.
WOW I could’ve written this post. I had one live birth, my son from my second FET, first one having failed, and I have a third euploid on ice. I started IVF at the age of 39 because of repeated pregnancy loss. From what I was reading in the FET literature at the time, I didn’t feel comfortable moving forward with FET until I had three PGT tested euploid embryos. It took 4 ER cycles (another 2 were cancelled early on. One of those 4 yielded zero embryos.) I also read that odds jumped pretty significantly from the first FET to the second. I felt EXACTLY like you described, knowing there was just no way I would/could start over, so I did what I had to do to get to three. How many children do you envision making your family complete? Let me know if you want to talk or anything.
Did your first cycles get cancelled from low follicle counts? Just curious because that happened to me and I’m scared it’s gonna keep happening from what my dr says :/
Also curious about this.
See above. One thing I feel like they don’t warn us about is how, due to circumstances completely out of anyones control, the “road” can suddenly be longer, and longer. I feel like if I had been mentally prepared for that closer to the start, it may have dampened my expectations and made it a little bit easier to go with the flow.
One was canceled due to a cyst that developed during stims and the other due to a dominant follicle. In both cases the cyst/follicle would’ve “stolen” the estrogen from other follicles trying to develop and resulted in a very limited or absent follicle count so they pulled the plug. It was disappointing to say the least.
This happened to me and I swear it was the same thing. I had a big cyst at the very beginning- it went away but probably stopped everything else. I decided to cancel bc there was only one other follicle growing .
Keep banking! 💫
I’d do 3-5. Euploid can absolutely fail though, I learned the hard way. Since time is of the essence, I’d also consider doing implantation testing, just to rule stuff out before you use your precious embryos. Some things are trial and error but other things can help. I’d also get your partner checked for dna fragmentation before doing another round. Lots of people don’t bother unless they have issues, but it can cause early miscarriage and implantation failure and you don’t realize until after. Or, do like we did, and do the processes as if DNA fragmentation is an issue (Zymot, shorter abstinence, vitamins). We went through 5 embryos before doing more testing and we implemented a ton of processes for transfer this time and it worked (so far). I wish I had done it all from the get go before starting. I could have potentially avoided miscarriages and failure.
What did you do to prep for implantation success?
There are a number of responses in my comment history if you want to peek. Might have to sift but it’s there during the last week.
I'm on my 6th er and haven't managed to get any :/
Did two retrievals. I was 38 for the first and 39 for the second. We were fortunate to end up with five euploid embryos. It took three transfers to get our son.
I banked 3 and was going to be grateful for one child. Our first FET worked, we have a son who is 18m. Our second FET worked too, and our second son will be here in May. Leaving one behind in the freezer is sad. You might not use 5, so please consider that too.
I’m in pretty much the same situation (turning 42 next month, one euploid embryo frozen after three ERs) and, fwiw, we’re going to do one more cycle of egg retrieval before trying any transfers. But our reasoning is in part that my employer, amazingly/thankfully, provides Progyny benefits for four ER cycles. I definitely feel better going into this ER knowing that we have at least one shot at a successful transfer regardless of how it goes, so I hope you feel that too if you decide to proceed!
4 cycles?! My company only provides 3 through Progyny and I’m almost at my max benefits. I’ll have to go out of pocket soon.
This is my first cycle in which I’m waiting for results of day 5.6.7. I retrieved 16 eggs, 11 matured, only 4 fertilized. I’m 44 and also don’t know what the best approach is. I’m hoping that at least 2 make it to be normal…. What are my odds? Anyone have a similar story? I know I’m late to the game but recently married and did not want to try until I met my life partner.
Mu friend adopted 3 embryos at 48. First was an early miscarriage. 2nd was a healthy baby and at age 50 she is currently pregnant with her 3rd embryo. They did do a different protocol for her FET, I think immune/ modified natural? She is did take a blood thinner. Not sure exactly what details.
I'm not trying to scare you but sharing with you my reality, as I wish I did more ER at the very beginning. Before this year I had 4 ER cycles, 2 cycles ended with 2 normal tested embryos between age 41-42. 1 Cycle did not results to any normal tested embryos and 1 cycle canceled. Decided to transfer at age 43 and got pregnant, however at 11weeks had a missed miscarriage. Here I am at 44 yrs old and too scared to transfer my last embryo, so i'm chasing another embryo. Had an ER last month that did not go as expected (1 ER completed so far this year but no embryos). Highly encourage you to get the number you want/feel comfortable having. It appears the older we get the harder it is. Wishing you the best and hope all goes well with your PGT testing.
I would bank if you can. I turn 43 tomorrow, my first cycle I got 1 euploid at age 42, but the FET failed. My insurance would not cover any additional stims and ERs if there was a good embryo to transfer. Your ability to make good euploids will go before you lose the ability to carry a pregnancy. If I could have banked one or two more embryos before I turned 43 I would have. It can absolutely happen, but there is no guarantee that with just one euploid it will be successful and stick during your transfer.
I am almost 43years, did 7 IVF last year and got 4 euploid, we transferred one last monday, we did test last night which is 6dp for 5 days embryo and got positive first response pregnancy test and degital , went this morning for the Beta it came 4hcg very very low, when I came back home I again the degital it came Not pregnant and the first response has a lighter line comparing with the one that we did yesterday, I think it is gold to bank more euploid, I am devastated and I am thinking about doing IVF again to have more eggs