Dr Potter: IVF/PGD for Family Balancing Failed All Abnormal

[jess_10]

Good Morning Dr Potter!!

I am seeking your expertise on my situation. I will try and keep this short, I am 35 and my husband is 37. We have two beautiful girls, one is seven and it took us about nine months of trying naturally to have her, and our second is one, and it only took about a month of trying naturally for her. But we want nothing more then a beautiful boy to complete our family, so we decided on IVF/PGD even though we were able to concieve just fine without help, we just figured we didn't want to take that chance again.

We went through all of our initial screening because it is required and did not really think anything would come back since we had two babies on our own. But interestingly enough, my husbands sperm came back with low count and low mobility. At the time, the doctor said no worry that ICSI would take care of that anyway, so no need to do anything more about it. So we started, I did great, the stims were great and I responded exactly as they wanted to the medicine, they retrieved 27 eggs. I may have had a slight case of OHSS afterwards so they gave me some additional medicines to take, but I was feeling better by about four days after. Anyway, so out of 27 eggs, 19 were mature, 18 fertilized, then on Day 3 we had twelve that were developing well and between 7 to 10 cells, but then we got the call on Day 5, only three had progressed to blastocysts, but they scheduled us for transfer the next day. On our way there the next day they called and said all three tested abnormal with PGD, and we had nothing to transfer. I am devastated, I was told that this whole process should go great for us since we had two babies naturally, and because our embryos were doing so well on Day 3 and also the sheer number of eggs that were retrieved. I am scheduled for a review of everything in two weeks, but it is killing me to know why and how this happened. I was just wondering if you had any insight as to what caused the growth of our embryos to stop after Day 3. And also if we do this again, will they all be abnormal again? Thanks so much,

-Wanting a Boy, Maryland

[jess_10]

I have not heard back from Dr. Potter, but I was wondering has anyone experienced anything like this? How soon should I try again?? Thanks everyone!!

[vickyaust]

I am sorry for your cycle results. I had similar with my first cycle with only 1 out of 8 normal. I then started a "program" to improve my embryo quality. I got much stronger embryos the next cycle and 2 normals (both boys though and we are ttc XX). My DH is now on many supplements too and we are cycling again in March. I also had a change in protocol for cycle 2.

Me: Low carb diet <20g daily, Metformin (not insulin resistant), Naturally smart for women prenatal & DHA, Coq10 400mg, vit c & d, and DHEA.

DH: Multi, Vit C 1000mg, Olive Leaf (? Sways XX), Krill oil, COq10, and Cyvita 6 tablets daily ( to assist sperm count and quality).

We also are both off alcohol and caffeine. I also do acupuncture, fertility yoga and drink Chinese herbs (apparently helps quality).

Best of luck for your next cycle.

[glory]

I am so sorry to hear of your cycle problems. I think that only getting 3 to blastocycst is not a very good result and that they were abnormal doesn't happen that often. There could have been a problem with your stims, maybe too much was given? The wrong protocol given? Do you have PCO or PCOS? the number of eggs retrieved is high and this could be a quality thing.

Where did you cycle, are they doing PGD a lot? Do they have to be blast or hatching blast to be biopsied.

I think with the number of eggs that you have got and using ICSI, you should be able to get some normal embryos if you try again. I have had many problems along the way but my quality improved once they knew what was going on.

You need to sit with your RE and discuss it. I havev 3 boys conceived naturally and it took me many attempts till we got pregnant, natural fertility and IVF (especially PGD) are not the same thing unfortunately.

[jess_10]

Thanks so much ladies for your input. Actually I am using the facility that invented this PGD process and it is a five day biopsy taken once they hatch, so they have a great success rate. They were shocked as well to see them all turn out abnormal.

I do not have PCOS or POS, but I did wonder the same thing about possibly overstimming and just getting a lot of bad eggs. I only had a few mature follicles and I was on 300 Gonal F with two vials of Menopur and Lupron, during my cycle. And it seemed it was going good, but it seemed like once I took the trigger shot, my count jumped up and they were very suprised to see that number of eggs when I came in for my retrieval. Thanks so much for the info, I will try to adjust my diet and also supplements. I am looking forward to meeting with my RE soon and see what he suggests. I am hoping for better results next time. Thanks so much for your input ladies, it helps tremendously.

[Longingforgirl]

Hi,
I had almost similar results in October at my first try. Sperm quality was very very bad, and although they retrieved 25 eggs, only one of them returned back normal (they tested 8-probe FISH, so I guess among the other chromosomes there was another abnormality as well). I was shocked and devestated. But later, I found out that I did do several things the wrong way. First of all, my diet was a disaster. I had no idea I had to be on a special diet and I was so excited that I ate a whole lot of junk food. Second, I took the Gonal F shots in the mornings instead of nights. It must be something about the Growth Hormone that the injections work better when injected at night. Didn't know that either by that time. I also planned to take Coenzym Q10 until my next try, which would have been in September if I didn't happen to get pregnant all of a sudden (which has never happened before by the way - we needed Inseminations with both of our sons).

Wishing you the best of luck for your next try!!! I would be happy to follow your cycle.
Best wishes!

[jess_10]

Longingforgirl

I have a huge suspicion it may have something to do with the sperm as well. Since my eggs all were doing really good till Day 3, it seems something with the sperm made many of them not continue to grow. I am curious, how did you find out that the sperm was bad quality and also what was done to help with sperm quality? I know there are things I can do, but should my husband do something as well? Thanks so much for your info and time to respond.

[vickyaust]

Longingforgirl

I have a huge suspicion it may have something to do with the sperm as well. Since my eggs all were doing really good till Day 3, it seems something with the sperm made many of them not continue to grow. I am curious, how did you find out that the sperm was bad quality and also what was done to help with sperm quality? I know there are things I can do, but should my husband do something as well? Thanks so much for your info and time to respond.

Look into a post Dr Potter just put up recently on Cyvita. I think it would be worth the investment to have your DH on it for 3 months pre cycle. My DH was advised to take 6 tablets a day from Dr P.