Where Do We Go From Here?

Of course after the failure of our IVF and FET we've been thinking a lot about what our options are and where to go from here. It's so hard not knowing what are 'problem' is!

I followed up with my Family Dr. regarding my thyroid, I do not have any abnormalities, and the Synthroid medication has brought my levels down to 2.6 so at this point everything seems fine. My adrenals and liver is being treated with supplements from my Naturopathic Dr. and both had suggested a diet to keep my thyroid levels down as well as well to treat my adrenals overall.

My Family Dr. had suggested a Mediterranean diet to follow and after a lot of research I decided that the best diet for me would be the Paleo. The Mediterranean diet has soy, which is actually not good for fertility and due to my fibromyalgia, trying to support my thyroid, and the infertility I felt the Paleo addressed all those issues. So far one week down and other than breaking out with acne due to the dietary change, it's been going well! The key for me is going to be making sure I am prepared ahead of time and can have different things and not eat the same thing over and over. 

Yesterday we met with our Fertility Dr. for a follow up to discuss our failures and the next steps. I can honestly say that I felt encouraged after leaving that appointment! We had a new diagnosis, well still unexplained and more to investigate, but we had something to go on. We have what is called Recurrent Implantation Failure. According to the Reproductive BioMedicine Online Journal this is defined as "failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after transfer of at least four good-quality embryos in a minimum of three fresh or frozen cycles in a woman under the age of 40 years". Our Dr. did point out that technically we fell short by one cycle however, due to our trying to conceive now for three years and we have not had one positive pregnancy test, he felt it was appropriate for us and he would rather move forward with more testing than to rush into another IVF cycle just to fit the criteria completely. He stated that we knew we could get embryos, good-quality ones. So right now our troubles have been after that point and with implantation. 

So our plan now is to have an MRI done of my Uterus to check for Adenomyosis. This is similar to Endometriosis but instead the endometrial tissue exists and grows into the muscular wall of the uterus. I will also be going for a Hysteroscopy and Biopsy to check the lining of my uterus. If these tests come back clear then we can move on to some Immune Issue testing. There are some tests that are being done in the United States (where all the tests would go to for processing) that checks to see if there is an issue with the NK (Natural Killer) cells. In a nutshell "NK cells are immune system cells that normally help the body fight infections... NK cells may be attacking the fetus as an invader." (from: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority in the UK). This particular testing is still in the early stages and people are only just becoming more aware of the role that the Immune System is playing in Fertility. 

I am hopeful that some of these tests are going to show something, but like I've said before there is a part of me that doesn't believe it because we haven't had any answers yet ... 

Here's to Moving Forward!!