# Poor Egg Quality



## 21dancechick (Aug 29, 2014)

Hi

I am new to this site and thought I would post as I need some advise and support. 

I have just turned 29 and I have been with my partner for 6 years. He is older than me and has 2 children from a previous marriage. He has since had a vasectomy many years ago. 

I always knew if we wanted to have children we would have to go down the ICSI route. My partner had a successful sperm retrieval in July and we had our first ICSI cycle in September. My AMH was 20 and everything was looking good for us to conceive. I thought I did everything right but the cycle failed. I only produced 7 eggs, 5 were mature and only 1 fertilised with ICSI. I was totally devastated. We had a day 3 transfer and the embryo had 10 cells but it didn’t implant. 

We had a follow up meeting with our consultant yesterday and he said I have poor egg quality. I am totally devastated as I am only 29 and I just don’t know what to do. We put so much into this and I don’t know where to turn. The consultant said to wait to February to try again which I am happy to do as I want to give my body time to prepare and hopefully produce better eggs next time. I have started supplementing with royal jelly and others. I was wondering if anyone has any advise or can offer me some support? I am feeling quite low at the minute, I thought I was ok and the only reason we were having ICSI was because of the vasectomy, now my world has just been turned upside down. 

Thanks Ladies xx


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## Bubbles12 (Aug 29, 2012)

Welcome dancechick...

Welcome to FF.... Im confident that you will find the support and advice that you are after.

Im sorry that your 1st cycle didnt work. 

I have heard that sometimes women do just give a bad batch of eggs.. just because they wasnt great this time, doesnt mean on your next cycle, it will be the same.

I would advise taking Q10, royal jelly and omega 3 for egg quality and start taking them perhaps 5-6 months before your nexy cycle.

As you can see by my signiture below, ive had 2 miscarriages. Both embryos on both cycles were slow blastos... on the 1st cycle, i got a early blasto transferred on day 5. The 2nd cycle i got a slow blasto transferred on day 6. On my 3rd cycle (at a different clinic) i was told that this was probably because my egg quality was poor. On the cycle, i did quite poorly, got the least amount of eggs ever and had a day 2 transfer which lead to a BFN.

On this cycle, at another new clinic... i got 38 eggs (i was egg sharing) and had 2 very good quality day 5 embryos transferred and 5 days later, got a good clear BFP! 
It just goes to show that (not in all cases) it could have just been a bad batch... but in that batch, there coulf be that perfect eggie that will get you a baby!

Good luck

Xx


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## muddy paws (Apr 7, 2014)

Hello dance chick,

Sorry to hear you had a bad cycle and bad news about the egg quality. I'm sure you will find lots of advice here on ways to improve egg quality.

I saw a nutritionist, Melanie Brown, and I'm sure that her diet and supplements helped. I would recommend her, it's well worth the money and she is lovely. I take too many supplements to list here but also Mel's approach is tailored to each person / couple.
COQ10 was also recommended by my consultant for both myself and my partner as is helps cell growth. 

Good luck with your next try
Xx


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## karenanna (Dec 27, 2008)

Dancechick 

I'd recommend getting as much information as possible from your file at the clinic to do some research for example, as well as AMH did you have an FSH test result?

There's a great thread here with questions to ask http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=283000.0

Poor egg/embryo quality may not just be you, it could also be the protocol and drugs they have used, so you need to be armed with as much info as possible to work out what the issue is.

I'd also recommend checking out the Angelbumps fertility protocol 
http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=226042.0

KA xxx


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## Ali_123 (Mar 13, 2014)

I'm sorry to hear this. I am in a similar situation myself. I had ICSI last year and out of 10 eggs, only 5 were mature and none fertilised. This result didn't really make sense as I've had 2 miscarriages (one before and one after the ICSI) that were conceived naturally. It took less than year to conceive the first time and about 6 months the second time - so long enough but not beyond the 'normal' trying time limits. I'm starting to think that my eggs must be crap, but I have not been told that....my clinic told me that they looked fine, but that IVF and the drugs can sometimes damage egg quality and that small changes in protocol can make all the difference. Try not to be too disheartened yet! Lots of unexplained things can go wrong in IVF and they often seem to blame egg quality but I think that a lot of other things can come into play aside from egg quality. Even if egg quality was poor on the last go it doesn't automatically mean that it will be again, make sure they review your protocol thoroughly. If egg quality is a recurrent problem it still doesn't mean that you can't have a successful pregnancy, getting there may not be easy though (and I'm with you - It's not a fun wait!) x


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## karenanna (Dec 27, 2008)

Ali - Just a thought that the egg quality and maturity issues plus the history of miscarriage may point to chromosomal issues ...

Have a look at the list of questions on Agate's thread for further assistance definitely.

KA xxx


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## Ali_123 (Mar 13, 2014)

I know, I'm starting to become discouraged and fed up it has to be said! Everything looks great on all the tests that we have had, but it's just not working for us.....we don't really know why.

We had testing done on the 'products of conception' for the last miscarriage and are waiting for results, we are going to see a recurrent miscarriage specialist later this month to see what they suggest. I have a feeling that the miscarriages were due to chromosomal issues as that is the most common cause of miscarriage after all. The IVF was a disaster from the beginning really, so I'm not putting too much weight on that for now, the eggs grew really quickly and at different rates, we had concerns about the timing of the trigger and the dose and they have made big changes for next time so we'll see how that goes. If next time goes as badly wrong then I'll definitely be worried and will probably call it a day and move on to other ways of building a family!

At the moment I'm just hoping that there are some good eggs left. Have also started acupuncture to try and reduce stress, and have changed my diet for the better so maybe these small changes will help, we'll see.....will keep you updated!


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## 21dancechick (Aug 29, 2014)

hi ladies, thank you so much for all your lovely messages. It is nice to know I am not on my own. I spoke to m nurse consultant the other day and my clinic has recommended I take DHEA. I start it in December in prep for our  next cycle in March. Bit nervous about the side effects but I will give it a go. Hope you are all ok xxx


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