ICSI - No eggs fertilised?!

[Essjay86]

So it's been over a week since my egg collection but I just had to come on here and ask some questions.
Bit of background info: my and my fella have been trying for years, we had tests and his sperm wasn't the best in terms of volume and shape. We got referred for ICSI.
After nearly a year of being on the waiting list we finally got our go.
They managed to get 9 eggs but only 6 were mature enough. They injected each one with 'perfect' sperm and the six eggs were of great quality.
But the day after they rang us to tell us the bad news that none had fertilised!
I have never been so devastated in all my life.

They said it's very rare considering both the sperm and egg were good. She also said my eggs hadn't deteriorated in the process and were still strong. But obviously because they have injected each one none could be frozen. Therefore it's back to square one and starting again.

Has this happened to you or anyone you know? I've googled but there doesn't seem many cases. Some I have read seemed positive...next time they did fertilise but I'm so worried it will happen again.

I have a follow up appointment on the 16th November with our clinic to find out what's next and when we can start again. I'm hoping it isn't more than 3 months wait.

 

[Vonn]

Didn't want to read and run. I'm sorry this was your outcome after waiting for so long! That is heartbreaking. Make sure to take care of yourself, this is such an emotional process and then you add in all the meds. It can be crazy-making. You should be pretty insistent with them about letting you cycle again quickly, if that's what you want to do. That wait was ridiculous. There must not be many options in your area.

Consider asking tough questions about why this happened. It could have been from a contamination of some kind in the lab. If 6 sperm/egg combinations were all good, for none to even make it to day 3 does seem strange. DH doesn't have sperm antibodies, does he? I assume they checked for this, but probably good to ask. But, of course if could just be plain old bad luck with no one at fault. While 6 mature eggs isn't a bad number, you may want to discuss with them the possibility of switching the med protocol to get a few more eggs to start with. If, after your follow-up, you trust them and believe they can help you achieve this dream, then I say stay with them and try again; however, if you have any misgivings, consider switching clinics (if that's a possibility).

Good luck to you!

 

[Essjay86]

Thank you for not running Vonn! haha.

I will ask about the sperm antibodies. And i already have in mind to mention could it be the labs fault. But i don't want to sound awful since i'm not paying.

I am doing IVF through the NHS (we get free medical care in the UK which covers infertility) and we get two attempts (two fresh cycles) and the nurse told me that because we didnt get to transfer stage this wouldn't be counted as a 'go' so that is good.

It's not easy to change clinics when on the NHS; I dont think, plus this one does have a goes reputation so i am hoping it was just bad luck. And because this is on the NHS i cant change the wait times. But i will beg to start again in January/Feb.

I had 24 eggs the day before collection but only 9 were the right size and only 6 mature enough. I did a day 1 start so maybe next time they'll change my meds.

 

[Lunabelle]

I'm sorry to hear about your poor results! When you meet your doc, he/she will probably have some ideas why this could have happened and what they will do about it.

We are also doing ivf due to male infertility. Our first ivf wasn't very succesful, because none of the embryos were good quality. The first time I had 16 eggs, 14 Mature. The second time I had 5 retrieved all mature and two perfect quality embryos. I never even dreamed of such good results! It's def possible to improve the ivf results. Just because one round doesn't work very well doesn't mean it will happen again.

How did they know the eggs were good quality? After our not so great results from the first ivf the doc said that the only way to test the quality would be to fertilise the eggs with someone else's sperm and vice versa. Everyone was expecting my eggs to be of good quality because i'm young and i have no infertility issues, however the biologist told us that the egg quality may largely vary from cycle to cycle and it may not be a reproductive problem. It is possible that my ovaries were pushed too hard the first time and the eggs were forced to grow too fast which resulted in poor results. It's possible the same happened to you since you had 24eggs. For the 2nd round the doc changed the medicine from puregon to menopur.

Good luck for your 2nd round!

 

[Essjay86]

How did they know the eggs were good quality? After our not so great results from the first ivf the doc said that the only way to test the quality would be to fertilise the eggs with someone else's sperm and vice versa. Everyone was expecting my eggs to be of good quality because i'm young and i have no infertility issues, however the biologist told us that the egg quality may largely vary from cycle to cycle and it may not be a reproductive problem. It is possible that my ovaries were pushed too hard the first time and the eggs were forced to grow too fast which resulted in poor results. It's possible the same happened to you since you had 24eggs. For the 2nd round the doc changed the medicine from puregon to menopur.

Good luck for your 2nd round!

Thats a really good question, how can they tell me that if thats the case? Thats annoying! I hope they weren't lying.
I should find out more detail when i go next week. Maybe what happened with you has happened with me. I had a lot of activity on my ovaries, i had 24 follicles and they were suspecting i had mild OHSS so maybe they will do things differently next time.