2 IVF cycles, too many eggs,OHSS, nothing to freeze

[nicoleh]

Hi
We found out we would have to do ivf/icsi due to issues with my husbands sperm.
I have been through 2 ivf/icsi cycles. I was put on synarel twice a day and gonal f injections - then crinone post transfer. The first one they got 23 eggs at pick up, one was ok to transfer as day 5 blastocyst, none made it to freeze. Bleeding started on day 7 then AF came.
2nd try resulted in 21 eggs, I got OHSS but recovered in time to have transfer,got one excellent blastocyst for transfer and again none to freeze. Bleeding again started on day 7 which turned into AF. Was really upset and found it hard to cope for several days. The egg quality is poor due to the high number of eggs which is supposed to be the reason we keep only getting one and none to freeze. Has anyone else been through this? Is this normal? What can you do to reduce the amount of eggs and improve the quality? I am 38 years old and I am overweight(trying to lose). We have no children and I am so scared this isn't going to work out.
Any help/experience/advice would be appreciated. Off to FS today to discuss round 3.

[oneday86]

Hi Nicole i wanted to give you a big that must be very frustrating for you and your DH! My DH also has very bad sperm problems (no motility, very low count and alot of abnormal sperm) my DH is going in to give a sample for DNA fragmentation testing on wednesday, has your DH has a test for this? about the eggs i think the only thing to get less at collection is for them to drop your injection doses or have they already done this? Being healthy is an important role in concieving, DH and I are a healthy weight but we have been on a health kick for the past month and a half just to give our next STIM cycle the best shot we can, but i don't think this would be the reason as to why it hasnt worked for you yet. I also started to bleed during my cycles and i had really bad lower back pain which was frustrating, they thought it may have been that i had low prog but they monitored that on a natural FET cycle and it was fine, iv put it down to some ppl's body's just don't respond to the medication as well but i still did got one BFP but lost it. I wish you all the best and i hope you get your BFP very soon xx

[S'rose]

Nicole here too, it's such a monstrous road and so very very heartbreaking to have to go through full stims time after time. I sincerely hope that things become easier for you soon.

Something non medical that people have used on BB is royal jelly (the icky jelly stuff is apparently better than capsule form)... And I can say from myself and a friend of mine, we certainly found our egg quality improved through using it. The additional trick to it though is for you and your partner to take it, with the idea that sperm and egg will be more compatible because they have similar make up iykwim...
Also people have recommended menevite for men's sperm issues... I have no personal experience but some women here have certainly reported improvements.

[nicoleh]

Thanks for the replies so far. What is DNA fragmentation testing oneday86? First cycle my eggs were not growing so they upped my dose of Gonal F, secound round they lowered it. I will find out today what FS is going to do with round 3. DH just had the sperm count test etc... S'rose how do you take the royal jelly? DH is on menevit and I think it helped a little.

[S'rose]

I'll have to hunt down the jelly version I took... it's not tasty but not particularly awful, it's kind of like eating custard in terms of texture etc... I had DH on Royal jelly capsules, but ordered online to get the actual royal jelly - it needs to be kept in the fridge and I used to take it in the mornings, about a teaspoon - but it was almost a year ago that I took it!! It's usually recommended to be on it as long as possible before a cycle to improve the quality..

[butterfly_warrior]

Hi, do you have PCOS?

I had been through two stim cycles with quite bad OHSS, both were freeze-all as I was too unwell to risk a transfer. Between the two cycles we got 11 blasts frozen, but only four of them were able to be used. Crap egg quality lead to bad embryos that couldn't survive being frozen. From five transfers I had three miscarriages and one negative...

Then we came to our third stim cycle and I was put on a VERY strict diet. We got less eggs, that were considered to be of better quality as I was less over stimulated than previous cycles. From 20 eggs, only 12 were mature (they'd taken me to EPU a little early to avoid OHSS again) and only three of those fertilised. This time we didn't grow to blast and I had an embryo transferred at day three. From that cycle I got two frozen day three embryos and now have a 21 month old little boy sleeping in the next room.

I'm happy to pass on details of the diet I was put on, but believe it's only useful for improving egg quality if you have PCOS.

BW