questions to ask consultant after failed ivf cycle?

I had a failed round first time. Similar to you with low number of embryos etc. I asked a lot of questions as to why but was met with a lot of ‘there was nothing you could have done’ which in some ways was comforting but other ways frustrating. I think just speak to them about when you can go again, is there anything you can do to prepare, we asked about costs as we were paying privately. I think that’s about it. Sending you loads of hugs and wishing for a better outcome from your next x

Hi coming from someone who has had so many that I can’t count each cycle will be different and they will try different strategies and because you had good amh and afc that is why they did a short cycle

I asked:
*In your opinion, what went wrong?
*What would you do differently next time?
*Are there any additional supplements you’d recommend?
*What are the benefits of doing a long cycle?
*How long would you recommend waiting before going again?
*Would ICSI be beneficial?

I hope this helps 🤍 I just got told that it kinda was what it was and there was no real reason it didn’t work 1st time. Although next time they’ll max out stims to try to get as many as possible. Wishing you best of luck!

I had the opposite experience that I over-responded and ended up almost abandoning the cycle because my e2 was too high (too many follicles) & high risk of ohss. Later I chose to go ahead but ended up with 2 miscarriages. I then had 2 more cycles and finally had my baby boy on the 7th transfer. My consultant told me ivf is trial in error tbh, the more observations they have from you the better they can adjust to suit your body. Obviously this isn’t something they say to you earlier on because it’s frustrating to think it may take so many rounds. But rationally, yes, this can be a long journey and I kept telling myself after each failure I was only getting closer to the end goal!

I had the same response - uneven follicle growth, 2 fertilised embryos. One fresh failed, one frozen failed. I have good amh too. I just had my second cycle. My dosage was upped and my trigger was different.

I asked about which medication/dosage would be best to try

ICSI was recommended to me to improve fertilisation rates

I also did estrogen priming to prevent uneven follicle growth.

I have three good quality frozen blastocysts from this round.

But I agree, IVF can be a very expensive and exhausting process of trial and error and no one can say or predict how the body responds in each cycle. I had so many more follicles (27) this time round compared to my first (14).

Wishing you the best of luck 🤞

thank you everyone. really appreciate your replies x

I’d also ask if they freezing them first and doing a PGT test could help your odds for next time

My cousin also had a bad response but later learned they were injecting the medication incorrectly so be sure that the way you were doing it was correct.

I’m not sure how many eggs in total they saw, but also ask if they believe CoQ10 could help with better egg quality. I took it as I believe it did.

Ask if you would have a better chance if you had a cervical sweep a month or so before the next transfer.
There have been studies that show it can increase your chances.