What do you do if your IVF isn’t successful?
IVF is one of the most advanced and highly successful methods of infertility treatment. This obviously does not mean that every treatment cycle will end in pregnancy. How can we proceed if treatment fails, and what can we do to increase the chances of success with the next fertilisation cycle?
After an unsuccessful IVF cycle, it is natural for a couple to wonder what the reason might have been. However, instead of wasting your energy identifying the ‘culprit,’ it is more useful to remain determined. A pregnancy test after the first cycle will turn out positive in about half of women under 33, and this proportion decreases with age. There are various reasons behind failure, few of which are under the patient’s control. Therefore, you should not give up but try to find something good in everything, even the wrong things.
When failure paves the way to success
There is no guaranteed recipe for successful IVF treatment. Every couple is different, just as the combination of factors that cause infertility in a couple is specific and unique. At the beginning of the process, all couples undergo a baseline test and a medical consultation to help rule out or confirm the most common and easily identifiable causes of infertility and to reveal rarer diagnoses that require more comprehensive testing.
Since infertility is often caused by a combination of factors, it is not always possible to identify all of them before the first treatment cycle. This would require several tests, many of which may prove unnecessary. These would increase the final cost of treatment, making it out of reach for some people. Hence, there is always the possibility of causes that can only be revealed by knowledge gained directly from treatment. In infertility treatment, therefore, even failure is of great value.
Our doctors analyse each failed treatment in detail, consult the couple about their findings, and conduct further tests to set up a new treatment method. This way, treatment failure is an indication for a more comprehensive examination. This is also one of the reasons why the chances of success increase with repeated cycles, as data in the chart show. Each failure brings patients closer to achieving what they long for – their baby.
Every cloud has a silver lining
Even a healthy couple under the age of 30 has only about a 25% chance of conception in each menstrual cycle. The human reproductive system is very complex, which is why it is common for an infertile couple to fail to conceive after IVF, even when all available tests turned out fine. This is well illustrated by Danka’s story, whose first embryo transfer failed despite the very good quality of her embryo. Therefore, doctors decided to have uterine NK cells examined to rule out an immunological cause of infertility that would explain the failure of the treatment. However, the results came out fine, so after a short pause, Danka underwent a second embryo transfer, which proved successful, and there was no need to change the treatment strategy. It doesn’t always work out the first time, even if everything seems just right. The important thing is not to give up; trust your doctor and proceed with the treatment.
What can patients do to succeed?
While not all factors that affect the success of the treatment are within the patient’s control, some can be fully regulated by them. The most important of these factors is time, which is approached from two points of view. The first is the duration of infertility, and the second is the patient’s age. Although it may not seem like a long time for many people, it is recommended to visit an assisted reproduction centre after only one year of unsuccessful attempts. After a year of trying, the chances of conceiving naturally are very low, and the longer you try, the older you get.
As shown in the chart, the woman’s age plays a crucial role, and the success rate decreases significantly around the age of 35. As a result, for couples where the age of the woman is over 35 years, experts recommend visiting a fertility centre after six months of unsuccessful attempts.
Another critical factor that can be influenced by the patient is lifestyle. Smoking, alcohol consumption, excess weight and obesity, stress and lack of sleep are factors that can weaken fertility in both women and men. Since excessive or insufficient fat in the body affects hormone balance, a woman’s body weight affects her chances of successful embryo bonding during IVF treatment.
These findings are confirmed by the experience we have acquired in our clinics. The highest success rates are achieved in the following cases:
- infertility has been present for less than 3 years
- women under 33 years of age
- women with a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9
Your mindset matters
Infertility itself can be mentally and emotionally challenging. When combined with hormonal stimulation and the potential disappointment of an unsuccessful embryo transfer, it can be very hard on the patient’s psyche. Yet mental strength and a positive attitude have always played an important role in recovery, and this is no different in infertility treatment.
That’s why it’s essential to try to think positively and not to burden your mind with negative thoughts that do nothing to help and only stress you. A common advice from many patients who have gone through such a situation is to focus on something else, whether it’s a hobby or other helpful activity, anything from knitting to cycling. It is important to relax the body and mind. Many people also praise acupuncture, meditation or yoga exercises. But not everyone can distract themselves from infertility and failed treatments so easily. If you are one of them, do not hesitate to consult a therapist, either individually or as a couple.
Infertility treatment can be a difficult struggle at times, and, as is often the case, half the battle is won in the mind.
