*Sulfa*

patchen30

Hi Sulfa, responding to your post from last night:

Thanks for your response, Patchen.  Nice to see you but I'm sorry you're still here on this board.

Our embies look good at the beginning (5 of 6 were graded excellent).  So good last time that they pushed me to a five day transfer.  The next day, all the embies that were still being cultured died out suddenly.  It wasn't a fluke as something similar happened with a previous cycle.

I don't have high FSH but I'm a poor responder.  Not horrible, but poor.  Had once IVF cycle cancelled for poor response.

My protocol has always been antagonist in the past.  Is the Clomid supposed to increase egg quality?  What is coculture?

I know sometimes they say that a protocol tweak or a new clinic is just the ticket to make embryo quality better.  Unfortunately at this time we are on a break due to finances (and due to not knowing what is causing the poor embryo quality).  We'd love a second opinion but it will have to wait.  The only way we'd scrape up the credit to cycle again now is if the doc tells us my AMH will only get worse if we wait.  I'm getting re-tested next month and he'll let me know then.  It's bad enough that my fibroids will probably grow back.

Anyway, thanks

What day are your embies dying out on - day 4?  Did all of them die out or did some make it to blast?  Remind me of your IVF hx - you had one cycle cancelled, then in another two the embies looked good early on and then died?  Did you have any to transfer?  Sorry so many questions, just trying to understand.

Is there a chance sperm quality could play a part, or does your RE think it's all egg quality?  Are you AMA?  Have you had any m/c?

It seems a little crazy to me that you've been on antagonist every time with no protocol changes.  I think a protocol tweak could be as you say, just the ticket.  Yes Clomid/Antagonist is supposed to improve egg quality - it's used for both PCOS egg quality problems and DOR egg quality problems. 

Coculture is when they take an endometrial biopsy sample of your lining, grow it in a culture, and then put the embryos in w/ it after fertilization.  They don't know why, but it's shown to improve embryo quality.  It's kind of Cornell's thing - not sure who else does it.  I think it's probably largely responsible for us having 2 frozen blasts this time.

I'm sorry you're on a break.  Maybe you could get a phone consult for free in the meantime - I heard CCRM does them for free if you're in certain states.  Also, the money spent on a consult from Cornell might be worth it - I bet they'd give you some hope. 

I'll say a prayer for you sweetie ((Hugs))