Ghost-question

[shermy19]

What are your thoughts on : intralipid infusion, metformin, human growth hormone, DHEA, heparin? Could any of these help with embryo quality or are they all used for specific purposes? Thanks!!

[Ghost]

What are your thoughts on : intralipid infusion, metformin, human growth hormone, DHEA, heparin? Could any of these help with embryo quality or are they all used for specific purposes? Thanks!!

My clinic does not do intralipid. I think only a minority do.

The benefit of Metformin in IVF is controversial, with the overall finding of little or no benefit in PCOS patients, except maybe for reducing OHSS risk.

hGH is interesting, and a recent survey article (a survey of the published research papers on hGH) concluded there is a benefit.

DHEA is a controversy right now, needing more data. The published results thus far are encouraging, but I think most REs are skeptical.

No opinion on heparin.

Of those, I find hGH and DHEA the most interesting.

Be sure to get your RE's approval before starting anything like the above.

[gi]

Hi,

I recently changed clinics and am now i am on my 7th attempt, after getting Chicago bloods done to ck if i have elevated NK cells ( for miscarrying and numerours failed attempts) my clinic has me now on Steroids, Aspirin, Clexadine and metformin and i just had my 1st session of Intraplids today it took over an hour and very easy just a slow drip. My new clinic have said they have had great success with the intralpids since they started it over a year ago and for them it has helped women like me with m/c and failed attempts, i have to get another session 1 wk after transfer and if i get pg (please god) then a session at 6 wks, then you need bloods to ck if the NK cells arent elevated. I will know shortly if its worked!!! At this stage will try anything.

gi xx

[shermy19]

Is intralipid fusion just used for people that tend to miscarry or can it be used for people with multiple failed attempts at IVF? Like you, I am willing to try anything! I'm really thinking about also using HGH (like saizen). I don't know much about it (like price, dosage, results) but it seems that it has worked for some people. Best of luck to you!!!

[Ghost]

Unfortunately, the patient who is ready to try anything often becomes the victim of unnecessary expenses.

You all have powerful maternal instincts, and that is to your credit, but some will take advantage of you. Be wary.

[shermy19]

Thanks Ghost...you're right! That is why I am trying to do my research...

[to_have_fun08]

Hi,
I have looked into a lot of this stuff. Intralipids can only help, and it is controversial if they do, if you have immune issues. Your Dr. can test you for immune issue but usually the test are anywhere between $400 and $1500 just depending on what test you want to do. Some Dr.s won't test for immune issues until after a few miscarriages. My dr. tested me after i had 2 failed iVFs. Some Dr. think that immune issues are all malarkey and don't exist.

DHEA is also controversial, some Dr. sthink it helps ladies with POR, DOR and ladies over 40. I have seen several ladies get pregnant on their own after taking DHEA. I have also followed a board where ladies were taking DHEA and it didn't seem to help. Some Dr. don't like it because they believe it brings more testosterone in the environment and testosterone is supposed to be bad for egg quality. I took DHEA for 6 weeks. Only side effect I had was acne. I don't know if this had anything to do with the DHEA but while on it, I developed a cyst and because of the cyst didn't get my period for 2 months. RE finally had to aspirate the cyst for it to go away. could of just been a coincidence but that never happened to me before I took DHEA.

I was just put on metformin for insulin resistance. My Dr. has been doing research for a long time on PCOS and insulin resistance. She was one of the first Dr.s doing research and the effects of metformin for insulin resistance. What she explained to me is with IR everything is off balance and in the ovaries there is more of a testosterone environment and not and estrogen environment. with this can lead to bad egg quality. metformin will only help if you have PCOS and insulin resistance.

For HCg- If I didn't change RE recently, i would be taking HCG. My old RE just recently started having poor responders and ladies that have cycled multiple times take HCG. It is expensive and could be over $1000 for one cycle for the meds. Like Ghost said there was some promising studies of HCG helping out older patients and poor responders but the studies were small. Just like DHEA some Dr. are against it because they feel it brings more testosterone into the body.

Hope that might help out a little. I am with you, I am willing to try anything. Even was going to bring up HCG to my new dr but then she diagnosed me with PCOS so i am hoping that metformin, a better diet and exercise will help.


Chris

[AmandaM]

I took HGH for poor embryo quality. There was fragmentation and the cells were dividing into uneven sized cells. The cycle I used HGH on worked for me and resulted in my twins. It is quite expensive. I think it was about $680 or something like that, but totally worth the cost for my twins.

My RE has had a lot of success with using the HGH on people with various reasons for failed cycles

[shermy19]

Amanda,

Did you take Saizen? If this cycle fails, I want to talk to my doctor about this. Any side effects? Do you remember the dosage? I would be willing to pay that amount if I thought it might help with my embryo quality. I'm very discouraged about the poor quality of my embryos. Thanks for your help...

Sarah

[AmandaM]

Sarah

Yes that is the HGH that I used. I took it 4 days, the 2 days before the trigger, the day of the trigger and the day after the trigger. I took 30 units. There were no side effects.

I completely understand being disappointed with the embryo quality, I felt the same exact way. In fact, I didn't even want to go to my last transfer at first. I used PGD for a known genetic condition, which makes it a 5 day transfer. When they called to give me the report about that on day 3 there was the same quality problem. So I just assumed it wasn't going to work and half heartedly went to the transfer. When I got there I was surprised to find out that on a lot of the embryos the problems had fixed in just 2 days. So if you do use the HGH and it looks bad on day 3, keep this in mind.