# Poor quality embryos after day 3 onwards



## su623 (Jan 6, 2015)

Hi Ladies, 

I’m 34 and my dh 38, we have been ttc for last 5 years. Had 3 failed IUI’s and 3 failed IVF’s( never had ICSI due to good quality sperms) . 

1st IVF- May 2016- 8 eggs collected, 6 implanted, 2 embryos on day 3 transfer( medium quality) no embryos progressed to day 5 

2nd IVF- Nov 2016- 6 collected, 4 implanted. 1 transfer day 3( again no good quality left to freeze) 

3rd IVF- Jan 2018- 8 collected, 6 implanted, poor quality- day 5 transfer( all other embryos discarded due to quality). 

Based on the above situation, can someone recommend anything different. This time we are planning to go to Lister and definitely for ICSI. Meanwhile, ive started to self administer DHEA and Melatonin just in case to help produce better eggs and also weekly attending acupuncture. 

Please ladies, help me and suggest what else can be done to improve embryo quality.


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## Artypants (Jan 6, 2012)

Hi there

Sorry to hear about your struggle so far, I would certainly investigate the sperm a bit more, if you can find somewhere that can do a DNA fragmentation test to see if there is anything that can be improved with a certain diet and specific vitamins (if it turns out to be high fragmentation) I think you are doing the right thing re egg quality, although egg quality is more difficult to influence than sperm.

The clinic could always do iCSI or even IMSI which is even more specific at picking the best swimmers giving even better chances than IVF alone (where nature dictates sperm and egg meeting) 

Its all a long learning curve I'm afraid but you seem to get good egg collection numbers and hopefully you will get there soon.

Wishing you all the best x


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## Solar (Nov 20, 2013)

Hi su623 , DITTO what artypants said regarding sperm dna fragmentation test. I had poor embryo quality and had to ICSI cycles due to partners low count. When we went private the dna test showed high fragmentation so we had IMSI. I also was given DHEA but also took Ubiquinol.

We then did 2 cycles where they collect fertilize then freeze on day 3 then defrost and take to blast. A total  of 6 eggs were collected resulting in 6 blasts. I was a lot older than you as well 41. First transfer of 2 blast resulted in a MMC but the next resulted in my 2 year old leaving me with 2 frozen blasts which before was unheard of for me.

So the DHEA, IMSI and Ubiquinol made all the difference I’m sure if it. So good luck


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## HopefulKayte (Jun 16, 2017)

I would definitely recommend ICSI, and looking further into sperm testing. For a long time we thought our problem was my egg quality, but then later realized despite my husband's supposedly good sperm and high numbers it was also an issue. This especially came to light when we moved onto donor eggs and had the same fertilization results and challenge getting blasts. When we repeated the DNA test, after just a few years his motility had really fallen. We were always told with ICSI it shouldn't be an issue, but this wasn't true for us. We did close with an early m/c using a superior sperm selection method (IMSI) but still obviously didn't get further than that. We spent so many cycles/years focusing on only me.

Just a note about DHEA. It can really help some people but can destroy others' eggs. I didn't realize that before taking it you can be tested to see your natural DHEA levels and whether taking this drug would be likely to help or hurt. For my last OE cycle, I decided to try to hoping it could be my miracle answer, and unfortunately it was my worst cycle ever, with my eggs literally shattering during the retrieval process and the few surviving ones so weak only a couple even got to day 3. (After expecting 15 eggs.) You may have already done this or it may be standard practice there, but just in case not, ask about being tested for your DHEA levels if you haven't.


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