Egg Quality

[calberto22]

Hi all, when i was 28, i did an IVF which resulted in my 4 year old son. at the time, i had GREAT eggs. I am now 35 and i have had 5 failed cycles. i'm not sure how much longer i can go on, but i REALLY want another child. I have great numbers, but not great quality. Just today, i did my transfer. I had 18 eggs, but only 7 real players. we'll see what the embryologist tells me tomorrow. However, my problem is egg quality. this time, i did the GNC pills to improve fertility, i will know tomorrow how they worked, but so far, it doesn't look so good. i hope to have a blast transfer, but reallistically, it will be a 3 day so-so transfer.

What the heck can i do to improve egg quality? i have had tons of protein, an egg every day, daily prenatals, GNC fertility pills, etc. i'm in good phyical shape. i weigh 100 pounds at 5 feet. i am taking follistim, only 100 for 9 days gets me about 20 eggs. is it the meds? i have tried gonal, but same results. my dh has a low sperm counts, so that does not help, but we are doing ICSI.

Any tips will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Carla

[Kerrie3]

Hi Carla,
I will be doing my third IVF in May and this time around my doctor is adding Luveris to my protocol. They said that it will help with the egg quality. Here is an article I recently found on the internet about it: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medi...p?newsid=15076
I'm really hoping it works for us. In our first 2 cycles, we had average to low quality embryos (grades 2 and 3, with one being the best).
Good luck to you!
Kerrie

[Lisa555]

Carla,

I just wanted to jump in and say good luck!! It sounds like you're doing everything right and have a good amount of eggs! I know it's hard, but stay positive!

Keep us posted...

Lisa

[cooroo]

Carla-

I am the same age as you and it sounds like I have a similar egg problem. My 1st IVF cycle last month yielded 7 players ( a few others post and pre mature) and 6 fertilized, but the egg quality may have caused them not to divide so well. Two were good eggs, and the other 5 had different levels of graininess.

As for what to do about it? I know IF makes us such suckers, but I am reading a book called The Infertility Cure, and it just makes a lot of sense. The author (a Western doc as well as a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner) says we can reverse the age of our eggs with diet and supplements/herbs and exercise. And admittedly, I'm being a sucker on this one. I highly recommend the book.

Incidentally (and I hate to re-hash for anyone else reading, but...) you and I are about the same size. My doc (who this morning became my ex-doc) is wondering if it's possible that my eggs mature earlier when they're a smaller size. He kept waiting for them to reach 20mm, and finally gave up and we triggered. Because he had 2 post mature eggs in there, and he said he never has post mature eggs at retrieval, he wonders if maybe I'm smaller, so therefore my uterine lining is naturally smaller and my eggs mature at a smaller size.

Coo

[cooroo]

Maybe your 3-day so so transfer will get you pg and you won't have to deal with any more concoctions!!!

[Jes100]

Carla,

I wish you the best for your transfer. Seven real players sounds great! Really great!

I have poor quality eggs. I am 34. My first cycle got cancelled because I only had 3 eggs (at that time I didn't know that the quality was poor). My 2nd cycle resulted in my first IVF and I only had two quality 4 (1 being the best) embryos at day 3 to transfer. I got pregnant but it didn't last. I think they call it a chemical pregnancy. Anyway, to improve the quality of my eggs they have me going on the pill for 20 days then taking micro lupron for about 10 days. My RE said this improves the quality of eggs. I will also be taking Gonal-F and Repronex. But my situation is a lot different from yours in that I don't have the number of eggs like you. You have a lot of eggs! Stay upbeat!

Jes