Drugs for improved egg quality?

Re: Drugs for improved egg quality?

• liz4paws member

  July 2013

  Clearly none of this worked for me because I was "too far gone" down the DOR path...but here's what I found when I researched and seemed to work for others.

  DHEA is supposed to help egg quality but it's controversial among some REs so definitely check with your RE before starting it. It can take 3 months to show any effect.

  I *think* CoQ10 and fish oil is supposed to help quality too. And acupuncture has shown promising results for eggs.

  I really hope you're able to get some answers *hugs*

  ************ Signature/Ticker Warning ************
  Me (32) DH (36) - Finding our way to baby #1
  Me: POF/DOR - AMH <0.16, heterozygous c677t MTHFR, insulin resistant and gluten intolerant
  DH: Severe MFI
  
  12/2/11 - IUI #1- BFN 
  8/1/12 - IVF #1 - Zero response from max stims (600iu intramuscularly)
  My ovaries are just for decoration
  
  12/6/12 - Adopted five embryos that had been frozen for over ten years!
  2/11/13 - DEmbryo FET #1 Thawed four, sadly two didn't survive. Transferred two beautiful blasts. 
  2/16/13 - First BFP of my life @ 6dp5dt! EDD 10/30/13
  3/27/13 - After beta and u/s hell, no heartbeat ever detected. D&C at 9w1d.
  
  6/5/13 - Adopted four new embryos that had been frozen for seven years!  
  9/12/13 - DEmbryo FET #2. Thawed and transferred two beautiful blasts
  9/17/13 - BFP @ 5dp6dt! EDD 05/31/14
  9/29/13 - m/c @ 5w1d.
  

  
  11/19/13 - DEmbryo FET #3. Thawed and transferred one blast from each batch. Wow!
  11/23/13 - BFP @ 4dp6dt! EDD 8/7/13
  Beta #1 @ 13dp6dt - 522  Beta #2 @ 16dp6dt - 1373 
  6w5d ultrasound showed one perfect baby with a beautiful heartbeat of 134bpm!
  
  Snowflake baby is a girl! 
  Our beautiful Snowflake girl arrived on July 22, 2014!   
  My embryo adoption blog: Wishing on a Snowflake
   
             

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• zazu13 member

  July 2013

  My doctor has me on a small dose of menopur with  Gonal-F/ Follistim as well as Human Growth Horomone (omnitrope) for quality. I've also been on several supplements. Age is probably the biggest issue and there is no way to "fix" that. I won't know if anything has made a difference for a few weeks.

  Age: 35 TTC since 2005, MFI & DOR 

  IVF #1 Sep '11 - canceled poor response

   IVF #2 Nov '11  8R/8M/4F 3dt x2 - chemical

  IVF #3 April '12  11R/6M/4F 3dt x2 - m/c

  FET #1 Aug 2012  3dt x2 - BFN

  **new RE**

   IVF #4 Jan '13 BFN 11R/6M/6F 5dt x2 - BFN

   IVF #5 July '13 16R/10M/10F 5dt x2 + 1 frostie

  9dp5dt Beta 1 = 344!! 16dp5dt. Beta 2 = 4822 7wk u/s= 2 heartbeats!

  Twin girls! 3/6/14

   

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• megs3084 member

  July 2013

  Be careful w dhea. It creates testosterone as a biproduct. I took it w ivf 2 and it skyrocketed my testosterone and gave me Pcos like symptoms.

  "Everything will be alright in the end. So if it's not alright, it is not yet the end."
  Me:29 DH:29  TTC since 1/11 Dx: unexplained IF/early DOR/immune issues 
  

  Feb'12- July'12-testing(all clear minus slight arcuate ute), 3 IUI with clomid all BFN
  8/30IVF#1 Antagonist protocol- ER 9/11-8R, 7M, 5F. 

  ET 9/14 2 embies transferred. 1 10cell Grade 4, 1 8cell Grade 4. No frosties. BFN
  IVF#2 Antagonist protocol plus baby aspirin- ER 12/5-16R, 12M, 8F!
  ET 12/10 5dt! 1 fully expanded blast & 1 early blast. No frosties. BFN
  3/13 hysteroscopy & polypectomy, Consulted w Dr. Kwak-Kim.  

  DX: High NK cells, cytokines, DHEAs& PAI1;  hypothyroid, +APA, restricted bloodflow

  7/13 IVF#3 Long lupron protocol with PIO, Crinone, Prometrium, and vivelle

  (plus synthroid, metformin, baby asa, metanx, PNV, Vit E, D, calcium, fish oil, CoQ10, IVIg infusions and lovenox per Dr. Kwak-kim)
  ER 7/19 14R, 11M, 9F(4 natural fert, 5 with ICSI)
  ET 5dt 7/24 2 fully expanded blasts.  SURPRISE 3 FROSTIES!!!
  Beta #1 8/2 335!!!! Beta #2 829!!!  1st u/s 8/14 showed TWINS!!!!!

  11/11: TEAM PURPLE!!!!!
  3/21/14-L&W born at 37w via csection
  Here Comes the Sun Blog
  PAIF/SAIF welcome!

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• hootie123 member

  July 2013

  Between IVF#4 and IVF#5 I took 3750mg myo-inositol, 800mg CoQ10 and 5mg Melatonin - it was a lot of pills and I took them for close to 6 months between cycles.   Even though we changed other things as well - I definitely think this helped my egg quality. 
  

   TTC #1 since 6/09
  Dx: PCOS and MFI
  3 IUIs, 4 IVFs = BFFN
    3rd RE: IVF #5/FET = BFP
  14dp5dt=1170 16dp5dt=2573
  1st u/s=TWINS!
  It's a Boy and a Girl!
  
  Born at 34w3d! 
  

   

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• rrdiva1 member

  July 2013

  Hey there, when I switched Re, he was all about coq 10 prenatal with dha/epa and he said antioxidant so I took resveratrol by resvitale Inc  with acai night at gnc. I know protocol change helped, but I added those 2 and best cycle ever out of 4 fresh 1 fet.

   

  Married BF 6/29/2002/
  TTC Since Aug 2011/
  ME:34 all clear/DH:41 DX Severe MFI/
  IVF w/ICSI OCT 2012 Stims started 10/8/ER 10/19/12/ET 10/24/Beta#1 11/2=BFN (beta was 1.2)
  
  IVF 2.0-Baseline 11/7/12 beta 0/All Clear
  Stim start 11/7/12//ER 11/19 11M//10F
  ET 2 embies 11/24//Beta#1 28 Beta #2 23 Beta#3 29
  stop meds Beta#4 37/C/P 5W5D EDD:8/12/13/IVF#3 in Jan
  
  Ivf 3-frozen 3 poor 3day/fet=bfn

  
  

  Ivf#4 New dr. New protocol=beta1 197 beta#2 677 beta#3 1557

   u/s 8/13 =TWINS 2 strong hb

  Due Date 4/4/14
  
  
  
  My Chart//>
  
  
  
  
  

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• rrdiva1 member

  July 2013

  megs3084:

  Be careful w dhea. It creates testosterone as a biproduct. I took it w ivf 2 and it skyrocketed my testosterone and gave me Pcos like symptoms.

  yea my re isn't a fan because of that, plus it takes month to tweek for proper levels.

  Married BF 6/29/2002/
  TTC Since Aug 2011/
  ME:34 all clear/DH:41 DX Severe MFI/
  IVF w/ICSI OCT 2012 Stims started 10/8/ER 10/19/12/ET 10/24/Beta#1 11/2=BFN (beta was 1.2)
  
  IVF 2.0-Baseline 11/7/12 beta 0/All Clear
  Stim start 11/7/12//ER 11/19 11M//10F
  ET 2 embies 11/24//Beta#1 28 Beta #2 23 Beta#3 29
  stop meds Beta#4 37/C/P 5W5D EDD:8/12/13/IVF#3 in Jan
  
  Ivf 3-frozen 3 poor 3day/fet=bfn

  
  

  Ivf#4 New dr. New protocol=beta1 197 beta#2 677 beta#3 1557

   u/s 8/13 =TWINS 2 strong hb

  Due Date 4/4/14
  
  
  
  My Chart//>
  
  
  
  
  

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• liz4paws member

  July 2013

  rrdiva1:

  megs3084:

  Be careful w dhea. It creates testosterone as a biproduct. I took it w ivf 2 and it skyrocketed my testosterone and gave me Pcos like symptoms.

  yea my re isn't a fan because of that, plus it takes month to tweek for proper levels.

  Yup, it is controversial and it does require three months to see any effect. However, a small trial showed an increased birth rate for DOR patients who used DHEA (24%) vs control (4%.) Not all REs are a fan for PP's mentioned reasons, but I figured it was worth mentioning so you may want to talk to your RE about it.

  My RE at the time wrote the following article:

  https://www.prweb.com/releases/TFCDHEA/0212/prweb9217483.htm

  ************ Signature/Ticker Warning ************
  Me (32) DH (36) - Finding our way to baby #1
  Me: POF/DOR - AMH <0.16, heterozygous c677t MTHFR, insulin resistant and gluten intolerant
  DH: Severe MFI
  
  12/2/11 - IUI #1- BFN 
  8/1/12 - IVF #1 - Zero response from max stims (600iu intramuscularly)
  My ovaries are just for decoration
  
  12/6/12 - Adopted five embryos that had been frozen for over ten years!
  2/11/13 - DEmbryo FET #1 Thawed four, sadly two didn't survive. Transferred two beautiful blasts. 
  2/16/13 - First BFP of my life @ 6dp5dt! EDD 10/30/13
  3/27/13 - After beta and u/s hell, no heartbeat ever detected. D&C at 9w1d.
  
  6/5/13 - Adopted four new embryos that had been frozen for seven years!  
  9/12/13 - DEmbryo FET #2. Thawed and transferred two beautiful blasts
  9/17/13 - BFP @ 5dp6dt! EDD 05/31/14
  9/29/13 - m/c @ 5w1d.
  

  
  11/19/13 - DEmbryo FET #3. Thawed and transferred one blast from each batch. Wow!
  11/23/13 - BFP @ 4dp6dt! EDD 8/7/13
  Beta #1 @ 13dp6dt - 522  Beta #2 @ 16dp6dt - 1373 
  6w5d ultrasound showed one perfect baby with a beautiful heartbeat of 134bpm!
  
  Snowflake baby is a girl! 
  Our beautiful Snowflake girl arrived on July 22, 2014!   
  My embryo adoption blog: Wishing on a Snowflake
   
             

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• BzeetyD member

  July 2013

  Watch out with DHEA, we had our absolute worst cycle on it.

  What's the reason your doc is giving for the poor fert rate this time around? EQ?

  It's kind of the holy grail of IVF, so there's not 1 proven solution.

  We had our best cycle after changing protocols (and, admittedly clinics) (to EPP, to help with EQ) and having Mister D on supplements 3 months prior. IVF hormones can wonk EQ in the process, so EPP is thought to help with that.

  Hope that helps.
  

   

  BzeetyD = 38, Mr. BzeetyD = 44 together 12/02 married 9/08
  TTC #1 since 1/10
  DX: Unexplained/??? MFI issues
  
  Our lil' lost sparks:
  5w3d loss 7/30/10 - EDD March 2011
  8w loss 4/15/11 - EDD November 2011
  8w3d loss 8/2/12 - EDD March 2013
  4w c/p loss 10/29/12 - EDD July 2013
  
  Long story: trying on our own + testing testing testing with 6 rounds of Clomid, more testing, injectables + TI, laparoscopy - one tube blocked, 2 IUIs with Follistim...BFNs.
  RPL testing all normal, Karyotyping normal
  
  Moving on to IVF.
  
  IVF #1 April 2012 = BFN, IVF #2 June 2012 = BFP. U/S 7/23 = saw heartbeat but measuring behind. Follow up U/S on 7/30 - no heartbeat. D&C 8/2. Trisomy 12. IVF #3 Oct 2012 = Chemical Pregnancy
  
  Phone consult with CCRM on 12/12/12 - ODWU 1/4/13 - both tubes clear(!) - AFC 24, AMH 3.2, FSH 9.6, LH 5.4, E2 25. DH has high frag rate but improved!
  IVF #4 March 2013 CCRM. EP protocol w/ Menopur, Gonal-F & Dexamethasone. ER 3/29 & IMSI, PICSI. 43R 13M 10F 6blasts bio'd. CCS testing reveals 3 normals!!!
  FET 5/31/13 of 1 4AA blast - thawed and expanded. 4dp5dt BFP.
  Beta 9dp5dt = 181, 11dp5dt = 427. 1st u/s showed a healthy heartbeat! EDD 2/16/14
  
  After 4 years of hoping and heartbreak, our sweet little bean was born on 2/19/14
  We are so in love with her.
  
  "I'm not telling you it's going to be easy, I'm telling you it's going to be worth it."
  
  Everybody is welcome!!!

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• Bella2u07 member

  July 2013

  I agree with the other ladies about DHEA about asking your RE, my RE does not recommend using it. 

  My RE's do recommend at least 200mg of CoQ10 and 3 or 5 mg of Melatonin.  
  

  TTC #1 Since 11/08 - Dx: MFI & PCOS
  7 IUIs = All BFNs
  2011: March IVF #1.2 = e/p @ 6w: May IVF #2 = BFN: July sFET #1 = BFN
  
  2012: Jan We're Certified FC/A Parents
  May IVF #3 = c/p
  June-Nov Foster Mommy to M (Toddler)
  July FET #2 = BFN
  Aug FET #3 = BFN
  Sept-Nov Foster Mommy to Baby Bella (Newborn)
  Nov HSG/Sono = Clear!
  Dec FET #4 = BFN
  
  2013: Feb FET #5 = m/c @ 6.5w
  May-July Foster Mom to H (8 yr old girl)
  June/July/Aug IVF #4 = Freeze All
  July = Unofficially Adopting T (10 yr old boy)
  Sept FET #6 = TBD
  **PAIF/SAIF Welcome**
  

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• JSM0801 member

  July 2013

  I think everyone has covered everything, but here's my laundry list to add...

  Oh, and I agree about the DHEA. My last RE put me on it w/o ever checking my levels, and I heard a lot of mixed things and took myself off. I asked to have my level checked, and it was completely normal, so I'm glad I stopped it.  

  L-Arganine

  CoQ10

  Fish oil w/dha

  Myoinositol

  Melatonin

  Royal Jelly

  Women's One A Day (or prenatal while cycling)

  Vit D 

           

  
  

          

  
  

  *****Siggy/Ticker Warning*****

  
   Me (34)- no issues found MH (36)- MFI due to Vericocele. Straight to IVF w/ICSI 9/12, Antagonist. 9R, 7M, 5F = BFN c/p,  New RE for IVF #2- 1/13., Long Lupron. ER on 1/22 -10R, 9M, 9F. Transfer on hold due to overstimming. FET in Feb. 2 frozen blasts. Another BFN & another c/p. RPL testing all negative besides MTHFR gene, vericocle repair surgery 4/12/13-Bilateral Grade 3 Vericocele found & fixed, IVF #3 with PGS  4/13- 11R, 9M, 9F. Transferred 2 normal=BFN, 3 normal on ice. CCRM-here we come! ODWU-All test results normal. EPP in August. 21R, 20M, 19F. 12 blasts biopsied & frozen for CCS testing. Results showed 11 normal! FET Oct. 30. 2 5d 4AA blasts transferred. First ever BFP!!! Beta 1=216, Beta 2=870 1st U/S=It's TWINS!!! It's a BOY and a GIRL!! Everyone Welcome!!! 

                                      

  
  

                       

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• Sophistikitty member

  July 2013

  Completely agree with the others in regards to DHEA.  My RE no longer prescribes it as he feels its efficacy is in doubt and the side effects (acne, hair loss etc.) didn?t warrant the results.  

  
  

  My RE recommended a list of supplements when I was cycling with my OE.  I can PM you the list if you like.  He said the most important though is CoQ10.  He recommends a minimum of 200mg/day up to a maximum of 800mg/daily for three months prior to cycling. 

  
  

  You should also discuss with your RE the possibility of incorporating Saizen injections into your next cycle.  

  
  

  ***SIGNATURE WARNING***

  
  

  TTC #1

  Me 42, DH 47

  Dx = AMA/DOR, MFI

  IVF/ICSI #1 = BFN

  IVF/ICSI #2 = BFP; early loss

  IVF/ICSI #3 (DE) = BFP; early loss

  FET = BFN

  IVF/ICSI #4 (DE w/ CCS) = BFP

  Beta #1 @ 10dp6dt = 265; Beta #2 @ 14dp6dt = 1251. 

  1st U/S @ 6w2d showed one perfect little heartbeat! 

  2nd U/S @ 7w2d. HB 132 & everything measuring on track.

  Our beautiful little girl arrived January 2015!

  
  

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• BeeBee08 member

  July 2013

  Thank you ladies.  I will talk with my RE on Thursday so we will see.

   
  me 33/DH 36
  ttc since 10/2008; d/x: mild MFI, stageII endo
  ~~PAIF/SAIF Welcome~~
  11 IUI’s = 1 m/c (7w4d)
  IVF#1 January 2012 BFN, FET #1 April 2012 BFN
  Surprise BFP October 2012 m/c (7w), Surprise BFP April 2013 m/c (6w4d)
  IVF #2: July 2013, ET 1 embryo 7/18, beta 1 @ 14dp3dt - 757, beta 2 @ 16dp3dt - 1762
  U/S 1 @ 6w4d = 1 little frogger with HB of 118, U/S 2 @ 7w3d measuring right on track with HB of 160
  Stick Frogger Stick! Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!   It's a Girl, EDD April 7, 2014

  

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• PrettyAccountant member

  July 2013

  Hi Bee,

  I also have to caution the DHEA - even though I took it I don't really think it helped. I second the recommendation of Co-Q 10 but took 400 - 600 mg a day. I also did Royal Jelly / Bee pollen.

  Rachel
  

  TTC 1/2010 DH Dx - Azoospermia 2/2011
  Hysteroscopy 3/2011 2 Polyps removed 4/2011
  DH on Clomid / Arimidex to address hormonal issues - Sperm found July 2011!
  IVF #1 September 2011 - ER 9/8/2011- 8R, 5M - icsi - 1 made it to transfer - BFFN :-(
  IVF #2 Lucky November 2011 - ER 11/25/2011 - 15 eggs!, 13 mature, 10 fertilized with isci - 7 made it to transfer! Transferred 1 - 8 cell and 2 - 7 cell. BFP!!!!
  1st U/S - Twins! 2nd U/S - 3 heartbeats!!! - HOLY COW!!!
  Prayers for our take home babies!
  2 babies born on 3/27/12 and lost. Last baby born on 3/29/12 and lost at 20 weeks.
  My angels grew wings shortly after birth.
  Ahava Raisel, Matisyahu Nissim & Zev Chaim - Mommy and Daddy will always love you.
  IVF #3 July 2012 - ER 7/17/2012 - 10 R. 5 F. 4 made it to ET
  Transferred 2 on 7/20/2012 no snow babies :-(
  Beta on 7/31/2012 = BFMFN
  A miracle gift expected to come to us through adoption around 9/2012
  Baby girl adopted - Birth Mother changed her mind and took the baby back
  IVF #4 October 2012 - New RE. Doing PGD Testing. 8 R, 7F, 2 made it to 5 day blast for PDG testing. Both Normal (Thank you G-d!!!) 1 boy and 1 girl
  transferred one beautiful 5day blast (girl)
  Please G-d the almighty one - let this be our take home baby!
  Beta #1 158, Beta #2 318, 1 Absolutely magnificent HB at 175! Thank you G-d!!!
  Baby Girl born August 5th. Thank you G-d for our precious miracle.
  AMA. PAIF & SAIF always welcome - I need all the prayers I can get!
  
  

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