Another failed attempt

[Chinamiff]

I've just had my 3rd failed IVF.
1st time was a nagative after the 2ww.
2nd one had a kind of positive but after 16 days negative.
3rd one I felt the egg had connected, clinic told me to wait until 16 days to have the test and on the 15 day I felt it slipping away and had another negative.

I know there is no answer as to why it works for some and doesn't work for others, and except for taking care of yourself there is nothing that can be done to increase or decrease your chances, but I wonder if I have a problem with my womb environment.

The doctor says its looks OK when they do the scan for the FET preparation, but I've had endometriosis for years and whenever i ask if this is effecting our chances they say no, but I'm not convinced.

Am I trying to find reasons for the failures? Should i have some special checks to see if the Endometriosis is effecting it? Any advice is greatly received

[L & C]

Hi Chinamiff

My heart goes out to you. My one failure was hard enough, but you've had three in one year. So sorry that you've been through that. I know someone w/ endometriosis and had two embryos transferred... they both implanted... one was stillborn, but the other one is fine.

My doc seems to think my problem is the age of my eggs (40), and he suggested donor eggs. I'm thinking seriously about donor embryos though. I don't understand why my 3 embryos didn't implant cuz everything went great, and my lining was nice and thick. So maybe he's right when he said my eggs are too old. He said at age 35, they start getting abnormal.

Good luck to you and I hope you will be successful on your next attempt.

[CarolynB]

Chinamiff

I am so sad to read your news. Three negatives is truely heartbreaking. I am sending you huge hugs.

I am older than you. You'll see from my ticker. My consultant told me at 40 as the eggs are old that my chance of success is only 20% per attempt even if I have 2 good quality eggs put back. He says that there is nothing that can be done. It is just the age of the eggs.

I therefore have stealed myself for 5 attempts as statistically that is what it would mean for me.

I have two friends who are 42. Both have had tmt 5 times. 1 is pregnant with her own eggs this attempt - 18 weeks now - but to get to this point has had one m/c and was expecting twins but lost one of them this time. My other friend is also 42. She had 4 attempts with her own eggs. None worked. I am afraid that last time she tried with donor eggs. She got BFP but then m/c at around week5.

I am sorry if this is all too harsh and practical for you. It is not meant to be. It is meant to show that there is hope for us more mature ladies but might take quite a lot of tries.

I'll send you all the luck in the world that your dream will come true.

Lots of Luck
Carolyn xxx

[Chinamiff]

Thanks for your support.

When I started on this journey in Dec 2005, I felt very lucky to have 12 eggs. from the recovery. After fertilization 9 were good grades. Through the 3 FET I have only lost 1 egg in the process. it was unfortunate that each time I had 3 defrosted to get better chance of having 2 put in, and apart from the 1 time, all 3 have come through the freezing process. The clinic were not keen to transfer eggs that had been refrozen or I might have got another go at it.

So from this i can only conclude that the eggs are pretty good. I was 38 years and 6 months when I had the egg recovery and if we try again then I will be 39 and 9 months, maybe I should also count the days.

I am thinking my problem is more womb related. I've always tried to think one step at a time and once the egg has taken, get through the next 3 months and it will be OK, but I never seem to get past the first step. Maybe for some ladies the first step is just being able to produce eggs so in one way I am lucky.....or just getting false hope.

I know from your stories and others I have heard that we are all facing a
hard time if we want to continue this journey.

We look in the mirror and think 40 is not old, unfortunately we dont have an internal mirror.

I wish you all success, and hope that age will be kind and give us a break..we only need one.

Good luck

[bekkie31]

Hi there,

I have just had my first failed IVF. I reacted satisfactorily to the medication given, 9 egg cells were retrieved, the eggs fertilized nicely and developed correctly. 2 were put back in after about 2 and a half days. I was told to look at the outcome positively as I was healthy, do not snoke, have no hormone imbalances etc.. but it still did not work ?!

I went for my follow-up appointment yesterday and the doctor said it may not have worked because I was very frightened and anxious, which had possibly upset my system. That was true and is possibly one reason. However, I told him about the pain I had during the transfer and he said that was not normal and I should not have had pain. So I told him I was worried I could have problems with the cervix or with the womb and that I wanted to be fully checked-over. So next on the plan is a laproscopy - they will check my right fallopian tube to see if it is blocked or not and will also put a camera through the vagina to check out the womb for any possible growths or unfavourable conditions etc.. A simple ultrasound scan does not always show everything (my womb looks ok from the ultrasound). The laproscopy is kind of like key-hole surgery and they will insert a tiny camera just below the belly-button to check everything and remove any growths etc.. It takes about 30 mins if all goes well with general anaesthetic. If you have already had a laproscopy, they can also just check the womb through the vagina, also under anaesthetic without having to insert a camera in through the belly-button. I decided that it would be best to have the laproscopy as apparently it is more thorough and decided it would be best to have it done to put my mind at rest, as I really believe that my womb or cervix or both may be a problem. The doctor says that after this operation he will be able to answer whether or not my womb etc.. are ok. I think it is a good idea to have this done first before carrying on and spending lots of money on IVF when there may be another problem.

Although the doctor said the egg cells developed ok - they could only say that up tp 2 and a half days after fertilization. How they developed further inside me they do not know. Therefore, if ever I have to repeat IVF again, I will have gentic tests done on my egg cells to see if the egg cell quality was a problem. I may also consider a blastocyst transfer (5 day transfer ).

Hope it helps a little!

Bekki



Me 31, DH 34
TTC since our marriage in 2000
Feb 2005 - ectopic preganncy resulting in removal of left tube.
Oct 2006 - 1st IVF = BFN
Next step: laproscopy on 22nd December to rule out any other problems that may have caused the BFN

[Chinamiff]

Thanks Bekki

I also had a lot of pain during egg recovery and felt the environment was not good to put eggs inside, however that was my first time and its difficult to know how you should feel.

My clinic told me that some women do better with the FET as there is no trauma to the stomach caused by the egg recovery procedure.

Reading this website it seems difficult to say wether pain is normal or not as everybody has different pain barriers.

I had a laproscopy when I was 30 to take out some of the endometriosis. I havent' had it checked since, which is whey I also think it could be a problem.

Unfortunately I am working in China and just come back to UK when I have the treatment. My company is pretty good, however with my work here it is getting harder to balance it.

I think its a good idea for you to check out your womb first. Of course some women have no womb problems and still try several times. Your age is in your favour so i hope you can find any problems quickly and then have another go.

Hope your check goes Ok and good luck

Chinamiff

[bekkie31]

Thanks chinamiff.

I am also abroad working and living in Germany.. ok not the same as China, but still a long way away from proper home..

I can´t believ what you wrote because it is EXACTLY what I thought !!!!:

"I also had a lot of pain during egg recovery and felt the environment was not good to put eggs inside, however that was my first time and its difficult to know how you should feel."

It was my first time too - I also heard FET can be good - less trauma and also the embryos can be placed back inside when the uterus lining is the correct thickness. Unfortunately we were stupid and never froze any on our first attempt but we will on our second. I am expecting the 2nd one to fail when we decide to do it, as it will be another fresh cycle.. To be honest I do not think I will have success with fresh cycles. Some women handle the egg collection procedure and hardly have pain and maybe they are more successful but for the likes of you and me maybe frozen would be better.

Good luck - keep us posted on what happens.

Me 31, DH 34 and is German.
ME: From England but living and working in Germany.
TTC since our marriage in 2000
Ectopic pregnancy Feb 2005 - removal of left tube
October 2006 - 1st IVF = BFN
Next step: Laproscopy on 22nd December

[beachbaby]

Hi, can i biut in here, i am on the nov06 thread, i have a reclining cervix which causes major problems at transfer, took them 30 minutes first time. At my frozen transfer i had a consultant transfer, he used forceps to open my cervix extremely painful sorry if TMI.
however I did get a positive result, unfortunatley the pregnancy came to a very quick end. I am ever hopeful i have 7 frosties left. But i am going to ask for blood work to check antibodies and things as i have had very late periods and feel i may be rejecting the embies.
we are unexplained, DH has a small antibody issue but not enough to cause problems.

[Chinamiff]

Its quite a co-incidence for me as I have something in common with both of you, other than IVF of course.

Bekkie, we are both trying to conceive in foreign countries and
beachbaby, my UK home is also in yorkshire.

Sorry to hear your last try was not successful, but its good you have 7 ready for future tries.

I also have a tilted womb, it didn't give me problems with the transfer, so maybe not as bad as yours, but my doctor said it shouldn't effect the result.

I had a call with my doctor last week, he suggested checking the endo again and having immune tests if I felt it gave me peace of mind, but from my egg quality, my womb lining and the treatment protocol he felt it was just the luck of the draw rather than other problems.. However he also said something quite thought provoking...

"many women who have no fertility problems try for over 1 year.. this means they have at least 12 attempts given that each month only produces 1 egg. Remember IVF is only assisting the introduction of the egg into the womb, after that it has as much probability as a normal conception"

Maybe it means we need more patience and acceptance of failures before we can reach our goal. Of course every attempt must be taken with a positive attitude, but maybe not such a feeling of hopelessness if it doesn't work out. For us older ladies its easier said than done, but thats life, we cant change our age...just our attitude.

I will be going back to the UK end of January for another go. Hope I can squeeze loads of quality eggs out and just keep plodding on until one of them finally decides it wants to stay.

Do whatever you feel helps before your next attempts, I dont necessarily believe mind over matter gives a positive test result for IVF, but doing everything you can to reduce your bad thoughts reduces your stress levels and these can effect the result.

Good luck

Chinamiff