Not implanting...bad luck or immune issue?

Texas13

4 Posts
Reply Posted on: Oct 25, 2012 at 7:50pm
Dr Braverman,
I'm 45 and never been pregnant. Tried naturally for 4 years and no known pregnancies. Attempted IVF with SIRM Dallas on the highest E2V protocol and only had 3 eggs to retrieve so converted to IUI. Nothing. Finally made my way to donor eggs & had a great proven donor and ended up with 4 blasts on day 5. Transferred 1. Cycle consisted of folgard, baby aspirin, lupron, then estrace, PIO, prednisone and antibiotics for 5 days prior to transfer. AT 5dp5dt we learned progesterone was a little low at 13. Estrogen was 285. My lining has always looked good at 8-9+ a few days prior to transfer. No fibroids or other uterine history of significance. Even did a scratch biopsy cycle before transfer. Chalked this failure up to bad luck.

Next month went back for FET. Skipped the biopsy. Added lovenox 40mg/1x day and extended the prednisone to beta. Increased PIO to 1.5ml & added vaginal estrace 5 days prior to transfer because my estrogen was 199 (lining was good at 8). By day of transfer estrogen was 785 and progesterone was 33. All looked great. Embryo thawed beautifully and transfer went perfect. Again, negative. Obviously this is distressing since I always blamed my bad eggs and thought the donor eggs would be the ticket. I have no known immune issues other than hetero for MTHFR A1298C 1 copy and have treated with Folgard. We did a full RPL panel just in case prior to my first transfer and that was the only thing that came back bad.

Do you think at this point I'm a candidate for some immune or implantation issue? I've only ever had these 2 embryos attempting implantation as far as I know. Is it jumping the gun to think something is wrong? I have 2 embryos left and don't want to waste them. I feel like my body rejects them. Would my DH's sperm (he is 60) even be an issue at this point considering we had 4 pretty blasts make it to day 5 via ICSI? He has a 29y/o daughter from prior marriage. I'm so afraid to go back and get another embryo and fail again. I mistakenly took benadryl/sinus almost daily during the two week wait because my allergies were acting up and I couldn't breath. I've seen your blog about histimine maybe being important. I also just recently started to suspect I may have a gluten intolerance and was going to test it out. I've had recurrent herpes (fever blisters) on my lips for years but once I stopped drinking caffeine prior to first transfer I haven't had an outbreak since. Most of my life I've had various food and air allergies along with occasional eczema. Do I sound like an immune patient?

Would love any input you could share. I don't know what my next step should be and whether I need an RI or not. ?

Dr. Braverman

2026 Posts
RE: Not implanting...bad luck or immune issue? Posted on: Oct 27, 2012 at 10:34am
You have potentially many issues and need a correct and clear workup to address and diagnose them. I wish it was as simple as giving you a few ideas but I would need to discuss much more with you. Please feel free to call my office and they will schedule a brief chat with me so we can determine if you would need our services.
Braverman Medical Team
Braverman Reproductive Immunology P.C.

Texas13

4 Posts
Reply RE: Not implanting...bad luck or immune issue? Posted on: Oct 28, 2012 at 10:37am
Thanks Dr. Braverman,
Are your services as far as testing and ideas available even though I would do my next FET at my current RE's office? I really don't want to consider transfering the embryos and do like the RE I see now. They just aren't so much on the offensive about possible immune issues or current treatments available.
Marie

Dr. Braverman

2026 Posts
RE: Not implanting...bad luck or immune issue? Posted on: Oct 28, 2012 at 12:31pm
We have recenlty discontinued our collaborative services with other centers while we work on the logistics of accomplishing this. There are regulations that we must adhere to that now make this more difficult. We are in the process of recruiting affiliates in each state which will make the process more efficient but this is still not very close. At the moment the only way we can manage your immune issues is if the embryos are transferred to us.
Braverman Medical Team
Braverman Reproductive Immunology P.C.

Texas13

4 Posts
Reply RE: Not implanting...bad luck or immune issue? Posted on: Oct 28, 2012 at 8:40pm
Ok thanks. I understand how that might be hard to manage. I do have a local SIRM doctor that I did my only OE IVF with and know he deals with some of these issues. I believe I spoke with you once before when you were affiliated with them. So that may be an option for a follow up on the immune side of things. How safe/easy is it to transfer embryos? I think I'm too nervous to risk anything happening to them.

Dr. Braverman

2026 Posts
RE: Not implanting...bad luck or immune issue? Posted on: Oct 28, 2012 at 9:16pm
We have never had an incident with the transfer of any embryos , and we accept them nationwide. We have a company that specializes just in this . If you need more information, feel free to call our offices and ask for sandra.
Braverman Medical Team
Braverman Reproductive Immunology P.C.