Improving egg quality

[BronteForever]

I've just had a failed IVF cycle and it primarily failed because our embryos didn't develope. None of them made it to a freeze or potential transfer. We had 14 eggs retrieved and 9 fertilize. So the lack of any of they to survive leads me to believe the egg quality was bad.

Haven't had a chance to have the follow up meeting with our doctor but does anyone have any proven methods to improve egg quality? If so can you share exactly what you did?

I'm willing to try acupuncture, supplements, etc. But I've seen a lot of things I can maybe try but not heard a lot of stories on anyone they have actually worked for after having a failed IVF or low test numbers previously.

 

[Nolimitxox]

Have your DHEA tested. I also take Myo Insitol to help with quality. Royal Jelly, multi and prenatal vit (yup, both) coq10 and vit d. Holy cow! I hope this helps. Let us know what your RE thinks. Heres hoping for a quick turn around for you.

 

[Nolimitxox]

For my upcoming IVF protocol my doctor put me on low dose hcg to help with the quailty of the eggs.

 

[BronteForever]

I'm curious to see how it goes nolimitxox. I talked to my substitute doctor about hgh and he advised against it. But I've seen others have success with it so I'd love to see how you do on it.

 

[Nolimitxox]

Ive been reading up on your journal. I just read your hospital story from the ectopic pregnancy. What a nightmare youve endured. stalking ensued!

 

[BronteForever]

Stalk away Good luck on your upcoming IVF cycle. Really hope you have success first time around. I've heard great things about hgh. I think the only reason they didn't advise it for me was because I responded pretty well to stims and my quantity seems to be fine. It's all just the quality itself of the eggs which I showed no signs of before IVF. Same reason why DHEA probably isn't great for me.

 

[Nolimitxox]

Was all your dhea dha tested prior? I only ask because Ive been to three clinics in 6 years and only one has! I also did not see any kind of work up numbers in your post, Im not sure why your doctor chose the protocol that s/he did! Did I miss it? Ive got to where you started stimming! Haha.

 

[PD4]

I agree with the hcg. I had two chemical pregnancies in 3 months and doctor thinks it was due to egg quality so this month we are trying clomid and hcg trigger shot to get my eggs nice and ready! (Hopefully!).

 

[BronteForever]

Nolimitxox - I've not had my DHEA tested specifically no but from what little research I've done it seems to benefit ladies who have diminished ovarian reserve the most, which I don't have. My AMH levels are within range and I responded well to stims. All my tests I did have were within range, except my testosterone was a smidge high which is another reason not sure DHEA supplement would be a good fit for me. My only known fertility issue (apart from low quality eggs now) is all tubal related. I have no functioning tubes left as a result of an ectopic pregnancy and surgery from that.

The protocol I did last time was a short protocol Gonal-F, Menopur, Ganirelix cycle. They think my quality issues are due to mostly my age and weight which I don't agree with 100 percent. He's think of trying me on a Lupron protocol next time but the doctor was going to ask his colleagues for more input. I also think I stimmed to long for my first cycle which impacting my eggs since my lead follicle was 26.6 when I triggered and a lot were over 23 mm. But the doctors don't think that was the reason. While I don't think it helped I still want to improve quality as much as I can since my cycle in January is my last.

I'm up for trying hgh even though it's an extra $1,000. If it works it would be worth it. I just need to talk to my actual doctor more about it.

PD4 - good luck this cycle. So sorry about your chemical pregnancies. Do they think they were chromosome issues? Based on where my embryos stopped developing my doctors thinks a lot of ours were chromosome issues. I'm only 35 though which I know is older still hard to believe all of them were bad because of that though. It's a lot to take in.

 

[BronteForever]

Oh my goodness, I've got so many acronyms running around I thought you all were talking about HGH which is human growth hormone. That's what I was interested in adding in. Never mind then

Anyway I triggered with both a low dose of HCG (Pregnyl) and Lupron. I had to trigger with Lupron because my E2 was almost 3500 at the end of my cycle and they were worried about OHSS. So yes that could have affected my quality. There's so many "maybes."

Nolimit - where is your doctor adding hcg into then? Throughout your cycle? Or do you just mean you are triggering with a low dose?

 

[jcleary10]

BronteForever,
I have Diminished ovarian reserve so this may not all apply to you, but my RE put me on all these supplements to help improve my egg quality. I am borderline DOR right now, but I have only had 1 pregnancy which resulted in miscarriage so we were a little nervous about egg quality too. So trying to improve it the next few months. This is what all I take...Hope it helps!

Multivitamin: 1 a day
Folic Acid: 1 a day
Baby Aspirin: 1 a day
Ova-Vite: This is a vitamin pack with a prenatal and Coq10 which is supposed to be amazing for egg quality. I bought this through theralogix which is like prescription vitamins. My RE said they have great quality.
DHEA: 75mg a day (also purchased this through theralogix)
Royal Jelly: 2 pills a day
Vitamin D: 2000units a day

I know it sounds like a lot, but my doctor said I would pee out anything I didn't need. I also use essential oils for relaxation and hormone balance. My progesterone is also low, so I use an oil for that. All of my oils are made by Young Living.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions!

 

[BronteForever]

Thanks so much jcleary - my supplement list of possibilities to take was pretty similar. Really hope you have luck improving your quality! I'm going to have to look at the Ova-Vite one. I've added in ubiquinol which is supposed to be high quality CoQ10 and I take like 4 horse-size pills a day along with a host of other vitamins. But I am sticking to ones that I know probably won't negatively impacted my cycle, even if they haven't been proven to improve quality exactly.

I've also started acupuncture and am hoping it works!

 

[jcleary10]

I know a lot of people that had success with acupuncture. Theralogix have a lot of different vitamins. They even have conception vitamins for men. They are more expensive, but if they are better quality then worth it in the end. Good luck to you! Also, how do you attach your journal? I need to add mine too.

 

[BronteForever]

Yes, good luck to you as well. In the journal, you just edit your signature like normal and "insert Link" and then put the url of your journal page as your link. Your text for your link can be anything you want, just make sure it's highlighted before hitting the "insert link" button if you want it to say something specific about your journal.

 

[jcleary10]

Awesome! Thanks! I'm very new at this

 

[Nolimitxox]

Oh my goodness, I've got so many acronyms running around I thought you all were talking about HGH which is human growth hormone. That's what I was interested in adding in. Never mind then

Anyway I triggered with both a low dose of HCG (Pregnyl) and Lupron. I had to trigger with Lupron because my E2 was almost 3500 at the end of my cycle and they were worried about OHSS. So yes that could have affected my quality. There's so many "maybes."

Nolimit - where is your doctor adding hcg into then? Throughout your cycle? Or do you just mean you are triggering with a low dose?

Ill actually be adding the low dose hcg to the daily routine. I have DOR with an amh of just 0.022 and usually 2 to 4 follicles each cycle per ovary. High fsh too. Ive been told the micro lupron helps them produce properly, the folistim will make them grow, and the low dose hcg will help mature them,as lupron alone will likely not do this . Ill do the low hcg each morning during stimulation. Ill trigger with just hcg (as of right now anyway) but a much higher doseage. Heres hoping!

 

[BronteForever]

Sounds like an interesting plan. I like it! Again, I don't think it would work for me, because they had to lower my HCG dose even for trigger significantly because they were worried about me overstimulating. I think I'm a weird case, since I responded really well and had good amounts - just horrible quality eggs. And since the only test they can really use to guestimate egg quality is AMH and FSH, it was a bit shocking since my numbers are good of that - just have bad quality. That's not normal from what little research I've done. Hoping it might have just been a fluke cycle too.

I really hope this works for you Nolimitxox. Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

 

[Nolimitxox]

Its so weird how egg quailty can be compromised so easily. I bet its not the eggs that were bad, but rather the spike in estrogen (fear of hyperstimulation) that may have caused the quailty to plummet, maybe the eggs never had a chance to hit full maturity, or the LH wasnt high enough maybe causing damage to the cells. When will you revisit with your doctor?

 

[BronteForever]

I've already had all the visits with my doctor, I think a huge part of it had to do with stimming for two days longer than planned. One of my follicles grew 10 mm in those two extra days. I don't see how that couldn't have impacted egg quality, but they didn't think so (but honestly, I think they had to be vague with their answers so it didn't show liability at all, which was annoying, I just wanted to get the best game plan for next time).

I'm waiting until January for my next IVF cycle, so hoping to improve egg quality on my own to help the process. My doctor is supposed to be brainstorming plans at one of the clinic meetings, so I won't find that out until probably November or December, I'm sure. He wants to try a Lupron protocol, he thinks and then abandon if I'm not responding since I can only go through one more cycle. It's so frustrating alot of this is just trial and error and you have to fork over a ton of money to try it.

 

[Nolimitxox]

Im so perplexed by your doctor!!! I would be devastated to hear about having to possibly abandon ship, even thoough I know its a reality. It seems in this case though with limited cycles I would hope to have more of a well developed and thorough answer, for both the failed cycle and the new one coming up. We may not be doctors, you and I, but we certainly have been at this long enough and read enough experiences where an undefined answer or at least a strong hunch is expected...the means to achieve the answers are there, and for some reason arent being explored (exclude money here, sometimes I just cant afford it either.) I wish your doctor was more confident. I can deal with the heart break cycle after failed cycle....we all have been familiar with that devastation. What I need from a doctor is hope, confidence, a solid plan!!!