Repeated IVF (implantation) failures
5 Replies
2007ItIs - December 15

Hi Everyone,

I want to give a little background about myself.

I was diagnosed with blocked tubes in 2005. But prior to that I got pregnant naturally but that resulted in ectopic pregnancy in 5 weeks. Shortly after my HSG that identified the blocked tube situation, I had a Lap. The Lap didn't quite reveal any major issues and ruled out the possibility of hydrosalphinx as well. After the Lap, I did my first IUI and that resulted in a chemical pregnancy with the highest recorded beta HCG of 194. After this, me and my husband pretty much came to the conclusion that IVF was the only way for us to have a child.

I went to one of the top specialists to get my IVF done in June 2006. The hsyteroscopy performed before the fresh IVF cycle didn't bring forth any issues with my uterus. My fresh cycle had a wonderful start in that I didn't feel any side effects from the meds nor had any complications from my retrieval. They retrieved 23 follicles out of which 16 fertilized. Out of 16, 13 made it to blastocysts. They were all blastocyst in the grading ranging from high to low of 6 AA through 4BB.

I had the doc transfer 2 embryos in my fresh cycle happily assuming that it would work considering my young age of 32. To my great disappointment, that cycle was a bust. But I tried to console myself that all was still not lost and conditioned myself to remain calm. But I am at a point now where I feel that I am fighting a lost battle.

I have had 3 frozen transfers (had 11 frozen, 2 didn't survive, 3 embryos were put back in each of the 3 cycles) in the last 5 months following my fresh cycle and all but one have been negatives. I got a positive HCG on first frozen transfer which lasted just a few days. My HCG didn't rise above 38. I had stimulation only for my fresh cycle. I used Gonal-F, Menopur, Lupron for the fresh. For all my frozen transfers, I was asked to take only the HCG shot, baby aspirin and folgrad since I ovulate pretty regularly on my own. For the last frozen cycle, I went for acupuncture for almost like 1.5 months once a week.

Sorry that I have given a rather lengthier intro about myself. I am now at a juncture where everything seems so dismal to me. I really respect my doctor but I am not able to pull myself out of these failures. I have a lot of questions and I want to see if any of you have had undergone the same situation as me.

1. Can anyone suggest what I should be doing next? I am definitely planning to do a fresh cycle but the fact that I have 4 failed cycles in my record, I am not having the nerve to expect a positive outcome. Has anyone had problems with implantation like mine?

2. In all my ectopic and 2 chemical pregnancies, the embryo had never attached to the uterus. At least that's what it seems like. What do you think could be wrong with me despite the fact that my hysteroscopy didn't highlight any obvious issues? Believe me, I have already raised this question with my doctor, but he says that everything looks fine except that I am falling on the bad side of the statistics and is plain unlucky.

3. I have done the basic blood tests like insulin resistance, thrombophilia, MTHFR, etc and they all have come back negative. My RE does not subscribe to the IVIG technique so that is something I haven't done so far neither do I plan to do for my next cycle. Can you think of any tests that I should be doing in order to find out why my embryos do not implant?

4. I am planning to do PGD with my next fresh cycle. What do you think are my chances of achieving success with PGD?

5. Do you think that I should go with a different protocol for my fresh cycle. My doc feels that since I responded very well to the protocol given before, it makes sense to follow the same. Does changing medications have any effect in improving implantation rates?

6. Is it common to include frozen cycle as a valid IVF cycles. It looks like I have had 4 cycles so far without success. Does that put me in the group of people who are NOT responding to IVF well and may NEVER be able to get positive outcomes.

I really would love to hear from you all. I am in my all time low. I want honest opinions and I don't want to be given false hopes. I am looking forward to hearing some success stories which hopefully will give me some energy boost. At the same time, I also want advice from people who have had failures and had to resort to alternatives.

Thanks for patiently reading through my post.

 

Josiecat - December 23

Hi there!

I understand your frustration. I started my IVF journey in 2002 and suffered 4 failed cycle. On my 40th birthday, my husband and I decided to give it one more try prior to contacting an adoption agency. In July 2005, stimulation began due to my age only 6 follices were retrived. Only 2 survived blastocysts. To increase our changes our dr advised that we freeze the embryos and do FET in 30 days. To let the fluid that was left over in my uterus from the fresh transfer be supressed as the embryos would not survive. We did the frozen transfer in November 2005, 1 the 2 embryos implanted. We had a beautiful daughter in July 2006. We are considering another cycle in January 2007.

Have faith we did and it came full circle.




 

kfreedom - December 24

Hello,

You indicated that you had an etopic pregnancy and that your tubes are blocked. have your tubes been removed? It hard to believe that you don't have any hydrosalphinx sacks since you have blocked tubes. My Wife and I have had repeated IVF failures. One doctor said that she would have difficulties conceiving a child because one of her tubes was blocked (her other tube and ovary was removed prior to IVF many years before trying). However, another doctor indicated (within the same practice)that the blocked tube should not be a factor since it was not caused through infection. to make a long story short, we did have the tube removed and found that it does make a big difference. Also, each fresh cycle counts as one full cycle regardless of how many frozen cycles you had. Well im not a doctor but this is what I was told. Good luck and I know the pain you are feeling. My wife and I just found out our last IVF cycle worked. On December 28, 2006 we go back to the doctor to look for a heart beat.


[quote author=2007ItIs link=board=5;threadid=3466;start=0#29471 date=1166166853]
Hi Everyone,

I want to give a little background about myself.

I was diagnosed with blocked tubes in 2005. But prior to that I got pregnant naturally but that resulted in ectopic pregnancy in 5 weeks. Shortly after my HSG that identified the blocked tube situation, I had a Lap. The Lap didn't quite reveal any major issues and ruled out the possibility of hydrosalphinx as well. After the Lap, I did my first IUI and that resulted in a chemical pregnancy with the highest recorded beta HCG of 194. After this, me and my husband pretty much came to the conclusion that IVF was the only way for us to have a child.

I went to one of the top specialists to get my IVF done in June 2006. The hsyteroscopy performed before the fresh IVF cycle didn't bring forth any issues with my uterus. My fresh cycle had a wonderful start in that I didn't feel any side effects from the meds nor had any complications from my retrieval. They retrieved 23 follicles out of which 16 fertilized. Out of 16, 13 made it to blastocysts. They were all blastocyst in the grading ranging from high to low of 6 AA through 4BB.

I had the doc transfer 2 embryos in my fresh cycle happily assuming that it would work considering my young age of 32. To my great disappointment, that cycle was a bust. But I tried to console myself that all was still not lost and conditioned myself to remain calm. But I am at a point now where I feel that I am fighting a lost battle.

I have had 3 frozen transfers (had 11 frozen, 2 didn't survive, 3 embryos were put back in each of the 3 cycles) in the last 5 months following my fresh cycle and all but one have been negatives. I got a positive HCG on first frozen transfer which lasted just a few days. My HCG didn't rise above 38. I had stimulation only for my fresh cycle. I used Gonal-F, Menopur, Lupron for the fresh. For all my frozen transfers, I was asked to take only the HCG shot, baby aspirin and folgrad since I ovulate pretty regularly on my own. For the last frozen cycle, I went for acupuncture for almost like 1.5 months once a week.

Sorry that I have given a rather lengthier intro about myself. I am now at a juncture where everything seems so dismal to me. I really respect my doctor but I am not able to pull myself out of these failures. I have a lot of questions and I want to see if any of you have had undergone the same situation as me.

1. Can anyone suggest what I should be doing next? I am definitely planning to do a fresh cycle but the fact that I have 4 failed cycles in my record, I am not having the nerve to expect a positive outcome. Has anyone had problems with implantation like mine?

2. In all my ectopic and 2 chemical pregnancies, the embryo had never attached to the uterus. At least that's what it seems like. What do you think could be wrong with me despite the fact that my hysteroscopy didn't highlight any obvious issues? Believe me, I have already raised this question with my doctor, but he says that everything looks fine except that I am falling on the bad side of the statistics and is plain unlucky.

3. I have done the basic blood tests like insulin resistance, thrombophilia, MTHFR, etc and they all have come back negative. My RE does not subscribe to the IVIG technique so that is something I haven't done so far neither do I plan to do for my next cycle. Can you think of any tests that I should be doing in order to find out why my embryos do not implant?

4. I am planning to do PGD with my next fresh cycle. What do you think are my chances of achieving success with PGD?

5. Do you think that I should go with a different protocol for my fresh cycle. My doc feels that since I responded very well to the protocol given before, it makes sense to follow the same. Does changing medications have any effect in improving implantation rates?

6. Is it common to include frozen cycle as a valid IVF cycles. It looks like I have had 4 cycles so far without success. Does that put me in the group of people who are NOT responding to IVF well and may NEVER be able to get positive outcomes.

I really would love to hear from you all. I am in my all time low. I want honest opinions and I don't want to be given false hopes. I am looking forward to hearing some success stories which hopefully will give me some energy boost. At the same time, I also want advice from people who have had failures and had to resort to alternatives.

Thanks for patiently reading through my post.

[/quote]

 

joy - January 18

please consider this too.

in india we believe that parsley seeds , dry fruits and garlic can cause miscarriges and also try to avoid meats if u can..

its just a suggestion but in india they really believe those 3 things can cause miscarriages.

my tube was also blocked .

joy mehta

 

B. Jacobs, M. D. - January 18

I would find it difficult to address all of the issues in your post. Bacause so many people need information, I have made our web page, <www.texasfertility.com>, as informative as I know how. I hope you find it helpful.

 

Amanda26 - April 9

Hi all,

I would like to share that I have had repeated IVF cycles with no success. Both my husband and myself are 33 years old. I've been on this journey for the past 3 years. I was diagnosed with the highest form of endo. With my first dr, I was on clomid and did 3 IUIs, these caused 2 back to back ectopic pregnancies and one miscarriage. The dr said it was rare to have it happen to one person, but it happened to me. Then I did a fresh and frozen transfer with also no success, both times 2 embryos were transfered and did not implant. I switched to a new dr Oct 06 and did another frest tranfser with 4 embryos. This dr. used different stimulating drugs and I produced a lot more follicles and better results. I received a positive pregnancy result but started miscarrying within the same week. Come 2007 and I just finished my 4th IVF cycle, also with the new dr and 4 embryos. I've been spotting the past couple of days and went in for my bloodwork this morning. I told them about my spotting and they said to not worry since some could implant and some could not. I should find out tomorrow what the results are. I've been praying hard so as my friends (who know about this) are too, but it takes a toll on you physically, mentally, and most of all emotionally. I've been very depressed and will break out in tears when I start to think about it. I have not told my husband of all my "meltdowns" b/c I know he already feels helpless about trying to keep me positive. All I can do is pray and wait.

 

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