I think it's great that you are getting as much information from as many qualified people BUT I think in the end, you should go with your RE. Much respect to acupuncturists but there's no way that they know more about IF than an actual doctor who is qualified to make those calls. But it also depends on if you totally trust your RE's experience and knowledge. For example, I trust my RE so much and I listen to what he tells me rather than what other people. Just like the working out question I had. My RE said it's fine then it's fine, I don't worry about it anymore. Remember that everyone will have an opinion but the doc's opinion is what matters. Hope I helped a bit! XOXO

I don't know......it seems like drugs can affect egg quality. My New York RE told me to take COQ10 and pinetreebark extract. My Ohio RE says that's not neccessary. I have heard alot on here about different natural meds helping egg quality but not sure about IVF meds. I say, if you are not happy with the results you are getting, ask them to switch up. Maybe get a 2nd RE opinion rather than the accupuncturist. xoxo

My third and final IVF, the Dr did what is called microdose lupron, and while I didn't get any more eggs than other times, it worked and I am now a mom.... My other IVFs were just gonal F and ganerelix.

Eastern medicine vs western medicine. Do what you feel is right for you

I had went through IVF and each cycle had different meds. My last two cycles that I got a positive BFP for both (1st one MC but I am very high risk for that), I used an Acupuncturist. I was on several meds that were natural through my Acupunture doc to assist with other things my body lacked which could have caused the MCs but it was my RE that had me on meds for the "quality" of the eggs. He didn't stress about quantity as he put it "quantity does not produce life". So my opinion as much as I loved my Acupuncture doctor, I would go with your RE who truly should know your body.

Have you asked your Dr about vitamins? I know that hormones and such are very sensitive topics for your issues. Before my mini I was told that I have a very low AMH and that my egg quality was presumed to be shit. Basically I have the insides of a 40 year old. I was on coq10 and DHEA. When I asked my Re about these vitamins (I learned about them here) she told me that coq10 was shown to bring rats out of menopause and they would produce fertile eggs. The DHEA was shown that while it did not help produce MORE embryos, the embryos that were produced were of better quality. Now, I say this only because when I was expected to get 4-6 eggs, they retrieved 14. When I was expected to maybe have nothing to even transfer, I ended up with 5 perfect grades. I can't help but think the vitamins had something to do with that. Taking the vitamins would HURT anything, only has a potential to help. This could make your acupuncturist happy, but I would ultimately listen to your RE about the actual meds.

**woudln't hurt anything...I don't want anybody to think i'm trying to HURT you!! lol

Some REs do believe that medications and different protocols can affect egg quality, so it's not like your acupunturist is coming from left field. However, at our age (will be 43 in october) I don't know that the meds or protocol can affect that much.

Good luck with this FET!

I'll be starting my third cycle of IVF in September. My RE put me on Metformin to attempt to increase my egg quality. He's also changing the meds (said we need to adjust to find the perfect "cocktail" of meds/procedures)--I did non-lupron cycle the first time, and a lupron/gonal f & menopur cycle the second. This time we're going for lupron and gonal F only, with the metformin.

Hang in there.

My RE told me that you can not improve egg quality you can only maintain it and not lose anymore quality. He advised coQ10 and dhea for me to help keep my quality from deteriorating. But all my doctors believe some drugs can be more damaging to eggs then others. Some drugs grow more eggs faster with a little less quality and some grow fewer eggs slower with better quality. Sometimes it is a risk to go with less eggs because you may not make it to retrieval/transfer.

Using the same protocol on the first 2 attempts is fairly routine. But if your doc is not willing to try something different(definition of insanity- doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results) the 3rd time around you might consider another doctor. Have you asked your RE if he would use the same protocol on the 4th/5th cycles if you continued unsuccessfully?

IVF is an individual experimental process and the doc has to be willing to make changes whether minor or major.

I don't know about egg quality and how that would improve but you can do different things for fertilization rates- if that was a problem with you. We are MF. My first IVF- 13 eggs, 11 inseminated, 7 fertilized, but only 3 fertilized normally. My RE suggested a different medium used in the petri dish when ICSI was performed. 2nd IVF- 28 eggs, 21 inseminated, 18 fertilized, and 12 matured. I got more eggs that time as well- my RE had discovered how my body reacted to the medications and made more informed decisions.