What could possibly went wrong in my 2 IVF cycles

[qwyghz]

I am 33 years old and my husband is 47. We've done every single test and we were told that it's "Unexplained", although my husband's kruger morphology (sperm shape) is kind of abnormal, the doctors said it's not the reason.

We've been trying to conceived since 02/05 and no sucess after we tried 10 IUI and 1 gonal-f + IUI. Finally we decided to go for IVF. I had my 1st IVF in 05/07, 12 eggs retrieved and 9 fertilized, transferred 2, froze 3. The nurse told us that we were ahead of the game but the cycle failed. We did a frozen transfer in 09/08. Failed again.

In 11/08 we started our 2nd IVF and just got the result - negative. No sign of implantation. This time we had 10 eggs retrieved, 8 fertilized (all used ICSI), transferred 2, but none was frozen.

Can anybody help? What went wrong? Do we have poor quality of embryos? Or just my uterus is not friendly at all and is it why the enbryos did not implant? Or the quality of the embryos were bad and they just stopped growing? If so, is IVF still the best option we should choose.

I am so desperate now. Seems like nothing is working, and no reason is found. Does anybody have similar experiance and talk to me?

[Mikeal'smom]

We were supposed to start a new cycle in Dec. with retrevial in mid January, but then found out that we needed a consult from a urologist to have ICSI covered by insurance.  It turns out my husband has  vericies (a vericose vein) which could be affecting his sperm.  He had his ultrasound and blood work and just needs to do another seman analysis, and his follow up appointment is in Jan.  We're kind of in a holding pattern to see what they say, the treatment for vericies is usually surgery.........  I hope things work out for you, I would defintaly check to see if you need to redo your biopsy.  I had never had one before now, but almost two and a half years ago I had an ectopic pregnancy and then was not able to get pregnant again (around the time of my ectopic I had gotten pregnant on my own 2 times in 3 months) and so I think after my ectopic is when I got the infection.  From what I read online, you can get this kind of infection any time from any kind of gynecological treatments...... Let me know how things go!

[qwyghz]

Thank you for your advice, Mikeal'smom.

I did the endometrial biopsy back in 06 and at that time it was fine. I don't know if I should repeat again since it's been 2 years. Thank you for your advice, I will definetely ask my doctor.

Are you going through another IVF cycle? If so, I wish you the best of luck. What kind of meds do you use?

It's difficult to deal with, but it's good to know that we are not alone. I will keep praying for all of us.

[Mikeal'smom]

I, too, had 2 failed IVF's and was wondering the same thing about my uterus being a hostile environment. My question to you is, have you had an endometrial biopsy?  When I got a second opinion after my second failed IVF, the first thing my doctor wanted to do was a biopsy- it turned out that I had endometreitis (not to be confused endometriosis).  Endometeitis is chronic inflamation/infection of the uterine lining and my doctor believes this to be the cause of failed IVFs.  I had no symptoms, no idea that I had it, the treatment was 10 days of antibiotics for both me and my dh because the infection can be passed between partners.  I don't know if this helps you, but I just wanted to wish you the best of luck!  

[qwyghz]

Thanks for your support, eternidad200. I'm so happy for you and your baby! Your hard word got paid off. It's so good to hear some encouraging news - I need it inspire myself to keep doing the treatment.

I did both the HSG and laparoscopy, and both turned out fine. My DH has a similar problem that his morphology (Kruger) is low, but the counts and motility are fine.

Did your doctor give you gonal-f when you did your IVF in a high dose? My 1st doctor gave me 350 to start with till the end dropped to 275. I didn't like his office b/c his nurses seemed to be heartless and had little patientce to answer the questions. Then I changed to my current doctor. Her staff are very friendly, but she gave me only 300 unit of gonal-f to start with and split it to twice a day (150x2), then dropped it to 150, then 0. She also gave me estrodial patch to put on the belly and progeterone shots after transfer. My 1st doctor gave me progesterone shots only. However, both cycles had no signs of implantation, and this time I did not even have the frozen embies left :(

Did your doctor give the same type of meds?

[eternidad200]

I am sorry to hear about your failed TTC process, we know how hard is but try not to blame yourself bc sometimes ther is such a thing as unexplained fertility.
My situation was kind of similar to you, I am 38 DH never had a problem, had HSG and tubes and ovaries fine, make enough good quality eggs, but DH sperms morphology is kind out of shape so this makes is hard to get pregnant by natural means.

Had one failed IU.

1st IVF 2006- retrieved 30 eggs, fertilized 20. Fresh cycle failed, 3 Frozen cycles failed

changed doctor in 2007

IUI 2007- failed.

2nd IVF 2008, retrieved 22, fertilized 15. One frozen transfer failed, second frozen transfered last 4 embryos and positive pregnancy with a single baby.

Right now I am 11 weeks 6 days pregnant.

Sometimes it takes a while and also depends on your RE and his laboratory staff.

Good luck to you and wish the best, don't give up hopes, I was so ready to give up and then it happened. I know is hard emotionally and financially, we are in so much debt right now taht is going to take  while to get out of it, but very please with the results.

Feel free to go with a different office, do your homework, had you have a HSG?
a sperm count?

[rghkah38]

My Dh and I are not sure if we are going to do another ivf.  Actually, it scares me to do another one due the quality that we get from the embryos and also I ended up in the hospital right after the last egg retrival that we did..  I had a couple of cysts that ruptured on that day.  My dr. told me she thinks I should, but I'm still not sure on what to do.  I think after the post-op appointment it should help us in some way with our decision.

[qwyghz]

Thank you for your support, rghkah38. I wish you and your husband luck, too. It's very very difficult to deal with the "unexplained". I did the laparoscopy in 05/07 too and it turned out fine with just a very minor endometrosis, but the doctor said it's not the reason since it's so small. They showed us the pictures of the inside my uterus and other organs at the post-op appointment. Are you going to try another IVF?

[Helen72]

What did your ivf lab tell you about the quality of your embryos?  Since you had some frozen embryos the first time around I guess embryo quality is not a problem though.  Talk to your RE about looking into other possible explanations like autoimmune issues or uterine lining or other uterus problems.

I am so sorry your ivf failed...
((HUGS))

[rghkah38]

Hi qwyghz,  I am so sorry that you are going through this.  I know how you feel though.  Me and my DH went through 6 iuis and 6 ivf's.  We did end up pregnant during the 2nd ivf,but it turned out to be ectopic.  I did two HSG test and both came out negative. Also, I did all the standard tests that also came back negative.  My DH did his test and all was good.  What we were told was it was unexplained.  Which ***** because not knowing why is very hard and frustrating.  We decided on doing lap. surgery and my Doctor took both of my tubes out saying they were diseased.  I still don't understand how this could of happened because they were both clear on the HSG tests.  She also told me my lining in my uterus was too thin for day 5.  My Dh and I won't get all the details of the surgery until Tuesday for our post-op appointment.  It's hard to deal with right now knowing I lost both tubes, but now I know something.  Oh yea, during all my ivf's my egg quality was all not so great.  I want to wish you the best of luck and I will be praying for you and your DH.