[orlando]

Help,
Have just had our most disasterous ivf to date with 15 eggs and zero fertilisation which has never happened to us before. The docs said it was a mixture of slightly immature eggs and shells which were too hard. I'd like to know if there is anything wahatsoever I can do to improve the situation before our final attempt, ie supplements or acupunture Can anyone help?
Thank you!

 

[WKelly]

Hi I also had the same problem with my first cycle of IVF, everything went really well then fertilisation didnt happen due to hard shell on my eggs, we have had our second go which was ICSI and good fertilisation so am now on the 2ww.

would be very interested to know what we can do to prevent it next time and to be able to fall pg naturally, i did ask my clinic but they said it could be trial and error, one month it could work its all doen to luck and the strenght of the eggs that month!!

Kelly xx

 

[orlando]

thanks so more for replying, my clinic also said it could just be a bad month, but increasingly could be my age (41) although my fsh is very low. They said nothing could be done, but I've heard that said many times about many things and then discovered that x,y or z could really help. We've  also been told they would prefer to do icsi next time which I am a bit nervous about.

How many eggs did you retrieve, how many fert through the icsi - sorry donn't want to be nosy! Just would love to know if it would help us.
Very very good luck in the dreaded 2ww.
O

 

[loopylou]

hi, I had a similar problem. They collected lots of eggs with me and did half ivf half icsi. None of the ivf eggs fertilised but all 11 icsi eggs fertilised and went onto divide to 8 to 12 cells after 2-3 days, which implies to me that the egg and sperm were pretty much fine once they got the chance to fertilise. Even though they put our infertility down to husbands poor sperm I wonder how much was to do with my eggs hard shells!!
Don't worry about icsi, I think it's far better, I think the negative bits only apply when there is an apparent problem with the sperm or eggs.

 

[littleJen]

Hi
ICSI will get over the fertilisation problem with hard eggs, but you should definitely have Assisted Hatching too (AH), where they scrape a tiny bit off the shell of the embryos before putting them back, as hard shells of eggs generally go on to make embies with hard shells, and that can prevent implantation. With AH (which has to be done with day 2 or day 3 transfers, not day 5 blastocysts) the embie will be able to break free of it's shell and implant without problem!
Good luck
Jen

 

[WKelly]

Hi Orlando,

With ICSI i got 7 eggs and out of them 7 only 3 fertilised and again out of them 3 only two were strong enough, 8 cell and human murual (spelling on that!), so the turnout was really good and were told ICSI would be our only option as both sperm and eggs (apart from hard shell) were off good quality.

I agree with you about there must be a way we can get through it, i mean is this going to be a problem everytime i/we want a baby, ICSI, or is there really something out there that can help to reduce the outer shell??

Please dont be afraid of ICSI as there really isnt anything to it, infact you are more likely to get fertilisation 

Hope this helps.

Kelly xx

 

[Witters]

This is a really interesting topic.  I was wondering if hard shells was our problem.  I should have asked at the time really.  Out of our 25 eggs, only 5 fertilised and 3 progressed to day 3.  Two were only 4 cell, the other was 8 cell.  I am just waiting on AF to start a frozen cycle.  If we do have to do a fresh cycle again, we will be looking at ICSI, but if there is something else that can help, it would be useful to know.

 

[orlando]

Thanks to all who responded - I will definitely ask about assisted hatching after reading here. Surely an extra healthy lifestyle (detox, vits etc etc) must help the  situation too. Also I was very stressed this cycle and didn't feel ready to start, but was slightly pressured by the clinic telling me my levels were ideal.
Next time I will make sure I feel calm and unstressed and ready if that's possible.
interestingly, I completely gave up caffeine for the three months prior to the cycle, which I had not done before, and the only other thing I did differently was drink a litre of milk every day on the advice of the clinic - not sure if that suited me as I hate milk and am not suited to dairy.
I hope we get other responses on this topic!
On a positive note, my doc told me that they have had successes after people had a similar experience - so maybe all is not as black as it currently seems.
O