# No eggs fertilised 😓



## AmandaClarke86 (Feb 25, 2016)

Hi, we've been trying to have children for 6.5 years now. About 4.5 years ago we went to the doctors who referred us for fertility treatment. We both had tests to find out that everything was perfectly fine with the pair of us.We got told that we would get 3 attempts at IUI and 2 attempts at IVF. We attempted the IUI and failed twice,  after the second one we decided to have a break for a while as we both wernt happy in our jobs and my grandad had recently died so we were both a bit stressed at the time. 4 years later we are both happy in our jobs, have got married and have bought our first home after 7 years of renting so we thought we would give it another go. We got re-referred and after speaking with the fertility centre doctor he suggested that we just go straight for IVF as we had 2 failed IUI treatments and had been trying for 4 years in between. After having numerous injections and scans, I had my egg collection yesterday. They took out 7 eggs and said that they would phone in the morning to let us know if any of them had fertilised. I had the phone call at 9am this morning, they said that 5 of them were immature and wouldnt fertilise and that 2 of them hadn't fertilised yet but they would keep them another 24 hours to see how they go but its rare for them to fertilise if they haven't allready done so. I thought that I would be fine with this but I am so emotional and I don't even know what the next steps are. Is anyone or has anyone been in a similar situation??


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## MrsRL (Dec 11, 2013)

Hi Amanda,

I am so sorry to see you have had such a difficult journey. Sending   To you, as it sounds like you need them right now.

I don't have any specific experience of this because our main issue is male factor, but I have heard of ladies having no fertilisation with IVF for no apparent reason and then having to use ICSI on another cycle. There are also many ways to improve egg quality and various reasons for an impact on this. There is still some hope for your current cycle if they are leaving the eggs for another 24 hours and I will keep everything crossed for you   If not, then hopefully you can make a plan of action to improve your chances for another cycle.

Hopefully someone with similar experiences will come along soon.   xx


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## mo89 (Feb 4, 2016)

Im so sorry. Im in the same boat. I only actually had 3 eggs collected on monday. 2 werent good enough and the ither didnt fertilise. Im sooo gutted and feel horrible. What have they said to u about it?


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## Ali_123 (Mar 13, 2014)

Hi Amanda

I'm so sorry to read this. I have been in a similar situation with no fertilisation after ICSI, so I know how devastating such news is. With us it was a male factor issue and we were able to overcome it with a procedure called Assisted Oocyte Activation (AOA). I did quite a lot of research on this at the time and found that when this happens it can be either a female or a male factor. One of the reasons that eggs don't fertilise is when they are not fully mature. Given that you had 5 immature eggs out of 7 I would think it's quite likely that even the ones that looked mature were not fully mature/ready to fertilise. We didn't have a great maturity rate on our first round, and there are things they can do to increase the maturity rate like giving you a stronger trigger shot, leaving longer between trigger and egg collection and between egg collection and ICSI. Different drugs etc could also help. If you had IVF rather than ICSI it could also be that ICSI would solve the issue as it could be a binding issue between the egg and sperm. And if you had ICSI then AOA might be something to look into but given the situation I think there are probably other options to explore first. I hope your clinic will offer you a quick review appointment to discuss next steps. Unfortunately the first round can be a bit of an experiment but try to remain positive for now and don't lose hope - I have a feeling that your clinic will have some ideas for what they can do better next time. Good luck! xx


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## Lafayette2002 (Feb 11, 2014)

Hi Amanda,

I'm so sorry to hear your news. I know only too well how heartbreaking this feels to have gone through treatment and not even be given a chance to go to transfer. This happened to us on our first ICSI cycle. That phone call to tell us that we had no fertilisation came as such a shock. 

Our consultant simply said that it happens, it's common and they don't really know why. But she added that no 2 cycles are the same and that it's not because it happened this time that it is going to happen again next time. Whilst at the time it made little sense to me as I wanted a concrete answer, a real reason as to why this had happened so we could remedy it next time, she was actually right. If there is one thing I learned about IVF is that it is an amazing science but it is also the most unpredictable treatment in the world. And that's right, no 2 cycles are the same.

On our second attempt, we only got 2 eggs but both were mature and achieved  100% fertilisation. We were able to transfer 2 high quality embryos. In the end it resulted in a BFN but we still considered that cycle a success as we had fertilisation and managed to get to transfer. So that was very positive for us.

I know a few FF ladies who had similar experiences and went on to achieve a BFP with their next OE cycle.

So keep faith Hun. I know it's hard right now but everything else is in place, your new jobs, house etc. so give yourself time to recover from this cycle and when you are ready, start your next IVF treatment as a 'blank slate' so to speak and try not to think about this first IVF cycle. 

Wishing you lots of luck and success on your next attempt. in the meantime, look after yourself.  

Lafayette x


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## ~Sapphire~ (Apr 14, 2008)

I am so sorry to hear that Amanda   Every time I hear of that happening to someone it immediately make me remember how I felt when it happened to me - even though that was over 12 years ago. I had 23 eggs and no fertilisation.  It is a horrible feeling and if you are like I was it was probably an outcome you hadn't even really considered. To not even get a chance of success is extremely painful.  

I assume that you had IVF.  If that is the case they should suggest ICSI next time although I think they also need to discuss why you had more immature eggs and address that issue also. ICSI worked very well for me and on my next cycle I had 20 mature eggs and 16 fertilised.  One of those went on to become my first daughter from that cycle. In cycles after this I always had good fertilisation from ICSI.

Take care - more   and I wish you well in the future.

S xx


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## Snowflake~ (Oct 13, 2015)

Hi I've just had the news back today that I also had no fertilised eggs out of 6 and we used IMSI so we are so shocked and sad did they say the reason y they didn't fertilise xxx


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## Ali_123 (Mar 13, 2014)

Hi Snowflake

Just seen your post and I'm so sorry - absolutely gutting when this happens! Is this your first round of IMSI?

Please feel free to join the AOA/zero fertilisation thread under the ICSI section - lovely group of ladies who have also experienced this shocking result. AOA (assisted oocyte activation) is something that could potentially help you given the circumstances as zero fertilisation after ICSI/IMSI is not common (it happens more often with IVF, and ICSI is often the solution, but when it happens after ICSI/IMSI AOA might be needed)! We had a similar thing happen (twice) but we were eventually able to get to the bottom of our issue and overcome it by going to Ghent in Belgium for treatment, more info in my diary (link below). Feel free to PM me if you have any questions xx


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## Snowflake~ (Oct 13, 2015)

Hi Ali 

Thanks for the reply, as my eggs are already frozen we can't have AOA but thank you so much for mentioning it as we didn't know about it and it's nice to be able to ask, we have been offered FAMSI for our last 8 eggs I really hope they fertilise, it's so scary to have the same bad news again ! My partners sperm has low motility which is why we are going down this route aparantly it's a little better than IMSI xx


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## Ali_123 (Mar 13, 2014)

I didn't realise your eggs were frozen, apologies. Having said that there was a lady on the AOA thread who shipped frozen sperm over to Belgium for AOA so might be possible to ship frozen eggs....might cost quite a bit though. Will pm you later x


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## AmandaClarke86 (Feb 25, 2016)

Hi MrsRL,

Unfortunately the other 2 eggs didn't fertilise neither. I thought I would be fine as I dont usually let things affect me and I am quite a strong person but I have been so emotional, mainly when I've been on my own. It was my first day back in work today and within 5 minutes of me being in, I broke down! We had our follow up appointment on Monday and the doctor said there was no apparent reason, it just happens but that they wernt happy with my eggs! He has now suggested we try ICSI. I have to wait 4 weeks for my next period, then have blood tests to check my hormone levels and then go back 2-3 weeks after that for my results. I'm guessing then I will also start medication again for ICSI. Hope this might give you some piece of mind Mo89. Thank you Ali_23 and Lafayette2002. Snowflake~ they didnt give any reason just said it happens! Keep trying to take my mind off it but its always at the back of my mind. Roll on 4 weeks time and the start of another long winded process again! Congratulations to those with success and good luck to all those starting or still trying xxx


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## Snowflake~ (Oct 13, 2015)

Really sorry Amanda! Wish you lots of luck with the ICSI!! Zero fertilisation was one of the hardest parts. Xx


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## AmandaClarke86 (Feb 25, 2016)

Hello, just letting you know where we are up to. So my next period came when we were on holiday so couldn't start treatment then, so had to wait until the month after. Both of us took time off work and excitedly turned up for our appointment to start ICSI to be told when we got there that we couldn't start as my husband wasn't registered with a GP! He wasn't registered when we went through IVF but they still let us go ahead, it annoyed me because if they had told us this earlier we could have registered it only took us 10 minutes to sort it! Unfortunately now have to wait another couple of weeks for my next period, I've never wanted my time of month to come round so quick!! 

I'll keep you posted. How is everyone else doing?


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## Snowflake~ (Oct 13, 2015)

Hi Amanda ! What a pain!! And really they should have told you this beforehand I'm really surprised they let you do the IVF without the registration. Myself and my partner was told numerous times about the registration and it had to be at the same GP, does that apply to you? I'm sure the month will pass by quick. I've just started the pill my period came a few days back so I'm started but doesn't feel real until the injections come into it really xxx


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## Gemini40 (Feb 9, 2016)

Hi, I was in same boat before Christmas and i felt a complete failure. I went to the review meeting which was really helpful and moved to deivf. They may suggest icsi next and you could get a completely different result.


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## AmandaClarke86 (Feb 25, 2016)

Hi Snowflake. Yes it does apply to us. My husband was registered at my Docs but they kicked him out because we didn't live in the catchment area despite us moving into the area a couple of weeks later and because he hadn't needed to see a doctor over anything we completely forgot about re-registering! It was really disappointing but hey ho we're back on the journey! Started my injections on Wednesday and am booked in to have my internal scan this Wednesday to see if I am ready for egg collection or not.

Hi Gemini40, it's an awful feeling isn't it. We r trying ICSI this time so hopefully it will work.


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## Snowflake~ (Oct 13, 2015)

Wow Amanda that's amazing so how long was you on injections for? 0r will be for, is it just a week? My first cycle I did abroad so I know UK is completely different. For example I was only on the pill in Poland for 10 days here I am on it for 21whole days and my first scan is next mon. I'm just trying to get an insight of the protocols here xx


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## AmandaClarke86 (Feb 25, 2016)

Started menopur on the Wednesday and then started Cetrotide alongside the menopur on Monday, went for a scan on the following Wednesday but my follicles weren't big enough so went back yesterday and they are now big enough, going for egg collection on Monday. So yes around a week depending on when your follicles are big enough x


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