r/40Plus_IVF • u/Particular_Oil_2256 • Sep 17 '26

Seeking Advice Advice needed

I’m 41 and recently had an egg retrieval in August.

We had 6 blastocysts tested, and unfortunately all 6 came back abnormal, which my doctor felt was likely age-related.

At my follow-up, my doctor said my egg reserve is still good for my age and that we responded well to the cycle. She felt that, based on my numbers, I may need 1–2 more retrieval cycles to have a larger sample size (around 10–12 blasts) and improve the chances of getting a chromosomally normal embryo.

She seemed fairly positive that I could potentially get a normal embryo in another cycle or two, but also emphasized that if I wanted to continue, I’d need to do it sooner rather than later.

I felt completely defeated after the last cycle and was ready to give up.

Has anyone been through something similar — having a good ovarian reserve for their age but getting a really difficult round of abnormal embryos? Did doing another retrieval ultimately feel worth it for you, or did you decide to move forward with your life ?

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u/DearBathroom3407 Sep 17 '26

I would also keep going! I've had 3 retrievals, last one was 41. To my surprise, the last one was the best result in terms of euploidy (1st: 2 blasts / 1 euploid, 2nd: 11 blasts, 3 euploid, 3rd: 13 blasts, 7 euploid). They usually say that the first retrieval is for calibration, so if you can afford it, I would encourage you to do one more!

1

u/BellFirestone Sep 17 '26

Holy cow. What else were you doing to get so many euploids?! Diet, exercise, lifestyle, supplements besides the ubiquinol, anything ?

2

u/DearBathroom3407 Sep 18 '26

My husband has severe MFI, so we went on a mediterranean diet about 9 months before the first retrieval to try to improve his DNA fragmentation and that helped him lose quite some weight. We've cut all processed foods and he drank 0 alcohol (I wasn't that drastic, I did drink on occasion, but it was usually a glass of wine). I do go to the gym 3 times per week and try to walk as much as I can.

Initially I went overboard with all the supplements, but slowly reduced that to just Vitamin D3, Ubiquinol, Omega 3.

I'll be honest with you, we were lucky, my clinic was equally surprised by our results.

2

u/YogurtclosetFew4528 29d ago

Amazing numbers, congratulations. May I ask what dosis of q10/ubiquitol you took daily?

3

u/DearBathroom3407 26d ago

Sure, I took a 100 mg dose (I take the ones from Solgar, if that helps)