XP: Old Eggs, Bad eggs, Chromosomal issues?.

Roxie5739

I usually post over on the IF board but I was hoping that someone can give me some advice over a recent failed IVF cycle. I do lurk around here from time to time and this time, thought you ladies may have some info.

You can read all about me in my sig, but I thought initially I had bad tubes, now it seems I have bad eggs or even a chromosome issue (dis-junction??).  I just went through IVF#1 this week with PGD as a safety net due to age. ET was scheduled for Monday but once arriving for the ET, our counseling session was to tell us that we had no good embies to transfer and not a session on how many to transfer! All had large amounts of chromosomal defects, 6 in all. 2 were issues from both me and DH, the other 4 were all me so effectively my eggs caused all 6 to have chromosomal issues. The only one that had only 1 defect would have had downs. There were 4 girls and 2 boys in the bunch.

I have the WTF appointment on Tuesday and I have a laundry list of questions for the doctor. Many are why, why, why?.  but also what could have been done differently to avoid this or did we just have bad luck. All I can say now, as I am more rational than earlier in this week, is thank you PGD! I got lots of good stats from the geneticist that performed the PGD testing but what I need to find out if I have bad eggs or if I have dis-junction which means all my eggs are more than likely bad.

Does anyone know anything about this area and can offer any advice? What questions would you be asking the RE at the WTF appointment?

I know age is a factor but my sister had kids right up to when she was 40. I have been on meds for high cholesterol for a good part of my life since I was 15 so maybe there is something with that?..

I just need answers, I will get some on Tuesday but I do not want the RE to just push us into IVF#2 without finding out more of what is really going on.

TIA!

happywifemomofone

I wish that I had some answers to your questions-but, I do not.  Sorry that all your embries had chromosomal defects-I can imagine how heartbreaking that news must have been to hear.  I would not be surprised if your next conversation with RE is not about next IVF cycle, but is one that is encouraging consideration of using DE.  Only bringing this up, because it can blindside you in the conversation and make you be unable to think of any other questions or any other direction for the conversation to go.  Hope that you can come up with some good questions and that you do have some good eggs-but you just have to find them yet.  Good luck!

annalisel

I'm so sorry this has happened to. Who knows how many of us have had the same thing but never knew because we don't do PGD and we simply don't get pregnant. Good thing that you did the testing.

The question to the forefront of my mind would be whether this happened by chance (even effects that reach p<0.05 sometimes aren't a real) or whether you and your husband have a biological propensity for this to happen. Are there studies that track embryo state by PGD in couples through multiple cycles?

I would also be asking about our chances of a successful pregnancy if we repeated IVF and got a single healthy embryo.  

Your thought about the cholesterol drug is interesting. Perhaps there is some data about trisomy risk (rate of Down Syndrome for instance) among women who have been on the same drugs? 

I'd be interested in hearing what your RE and maybe a geneticist says. There may not be enough data at this point to make an informed decision and consider whether you are willing to take the risk so that more information is collected? I hope you get some answers. 

njpabzy

I do not have any answers for you but I wanted to say I was sorry you went through that, it must have been very tough. It is one of my biggest fears if I ever even get to the point of having any eggs retrieved.

I am assuming you and DH had gentic testing done and neither of you are carriers for anything correct?

Had your Dr. suggested taking DHEA and/or CoQ10? Both have studies showing they can increase quality in eggs. My Dr. suggested both - perhaps you can ask your Dr. about them.

 Best of luck to you.

Roxie5739

njpabzy:

I do not have any answers for you but I wanted to say I was sorry you went through that, it must have been very tough. It is one of my biggest fears if I ever even get to the point of having any eggs retrieved.

I am assuming you and DH had gentic testing done and neither of you are carriers for anything correct?

Had your Dr. suggested taking DHEA and/or CoQ10? Both have studies showing they can increase quality in eggs. My Dr. suggested both - perhaps you can ask your Dr. about them.

 Best of luck to you.

Thanks! I have taken CoQ10 for a long time as too helps Cholesterol issues. DHEA is on my list for the WFT appointment. Thanks again!

soontobe3

I don't have any answers either,but I wanted to wish you luck!

mtlaurel

I'm sorry you went through all that. I don't have much advice, but I wanted to second happywife. Your RE might steer you towards DE, rather than another IVF, so you might want to prepare yourself for that possibility. I hope he/she can answer all your questions and give you good information that helps you in your decisions.

Mrs.McIrish

I think I posted something to this effect on your post earlier this week but it could be just an age and numbers thing. I had read that 8/10 eggs for a 40 yr old could be bad just because that is what happens when we age. If you can try again, I would just to see if it happens again or if you get a good one. You only need one and I could not move on to DE without my own closure. My eggs have been bad too( don't make enough to even do PGD) GL! It is really hard I know.

krod2010

I am 40 and had an ectopic pregnancy right before my 36th birthday and lost my right fallopian tube. I did 5 IVF's this past year and one with my identical twin sister- so 6 total this year and one a few years back.) I did PGD testing with my 3rd IVF and my eggs were a mess-we had 5 to test and the best one had trisomy. My last ditch effort before considering DE was to try with my twin who had her last child at 36 so I thought maybe she had better eggs. It turned out that she had more eggs-16 but none fertilized normally so it told me that its age and if I wanted to have kids I needed to move on to DE or adoption. If you can financially afford IVF or insurance covers IVF for you and emotionally you can keep going, I would say don't give up. It is unfortunate but age is really a big part of it....it took me a long time to accept that.

Best of luck to you.

MelleTX

I was just reading a book about the science of IVF and found interesting that not all our eggs are bad and that the ovaries choose eggs at random. Some could be good, some could be bad. In any given cycle, it's a crapshoot. Yeah, that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. 

I'm sorry you had no good eggs, but that doesn't mean they will all be bad next time, if you choose to go through this again.If you are able to, I would feel like I needed to give it one more try before moving on to DE or adoption. 

Best of luck to you!