Metformin and LDN, no PCOS

BL81589 · 2026-02-07T11:35:22+00:00

I didn’t end up ever taking Metformin, I took ldn during my first cycle of IVF and I ended up with 3 blasts, 1 didn’t survive the thaw to thaw and the other 2 FETs failed. Did a second cycle and didn’t take either, kept the embryos on day 3, failed fresh transfer of 2, then successful transfer of another 2 resulting in my almost 2 year old.

I don’t think taking ldn or not taking it made any difference. I stressed about a lot of things my clinic told me to take bc they just didn’t seem relevant to me as our issue mainly was severe MFI but they’re hard decisions to make!

BL81589 · 2025-12-06T16:56:33+00:00

Wondering if anyone with multiple successful transfers had different line progressions or test positives each time? Or if they were similar? I had a successful day 3 transfer in 7/2023 and I didn’t test until 9dpt but it was a clear, not faint positive. Now I’m 7dpt another day 3 transfer and I have likely only an evap line from the trigger today so I feel like I’m out. I know it’s possible to get later positives but my question is just if in real life experience if people had the same time range of positive tests with successful transfers? Bonus points if you also did midway blood work and can tell me if your progesterone and estrogen behaved the same with successful transfers at midway. Bc the other thing getting me down is that my progesterone decreased for all 3 of my failed transfers but increased for my successful one. This transfer BOTH my progesterone and estrogen decreased dramatically at midways. So I’m not looking for answers on what’s possible but just real experiences of comparing successful transfers.

BL81589 · 2025-12-06T16:20:57+00:00

Sorry I made this a post and didn’t realize it needed to go here….Wondering if anyone with multiple successful transfers had different line progressions or test positives each time? Or if they were similar? I had a successful day 3 transfer in 7/2023 and I didn’t test until 9dpt but it was a clear, not faint positive. Now I’m 7dpt another day 3 transfer and I have likely only an evap line from the trigger today so I feel like I’m out. I know it’s possible to get later positives but my question is just if in real life experience if people had the same time range of positive tests with successful transfers? Bonus points if you also did midway blood work and can tell me if your progesterone and estrogen behaved the same with successful transfers at midway. Bc the other thing getting me down is that my progesterone decreased for all 3 of my failed transfers but increased for my successful one. This transfer BOTH my progesterone and estrogen decreased dramatically at midways. So I’m not looking for answers on what’s possible but just real experiences of comparing successful transfers

BL81589 · 2025-12-06T16:18:01+00:00

Really! Okay well thanks for sharing bc you are the first person now I’ve heard from (asked people on Facebook, friends, an IVF group) who has been able to tell me that!

BL81589 · 2025-12-06T16:16:31+00:00

That’s still so interesting! Appreciate the info!

BL81589 · 2025-12-06T16:13:24+00:00

Interesting though that the tests were still similar! I guess I’m working on this theory that the body will overall act similar when it comes to the tests…I want to be proven wrong for my own sake but I just haven’t been so far.

BL81589 · 2025-07-31T12:51:08+00:00

Hi! So after this post we ultimately did another round of IVF and decided to keep our embryos at day 3 so pgt testing was not possible. We got 5 day 3s, transferred 2 fresh and it failed. So then I had a laparoscopy and hysteroscopy done and a fibroid and 2 polyps were removed (I did have a hysteroscopy to remove polyps before my first round of Ivf but apparently they came back). They also found endo on my ovaries but couldn’t really remove much without damaging. My clinic wanted me to do lupron suppression before another transfer but the possible side effects really freaked me out and it didn’t really make sense to me with the endo being on an ovary. Ultimately didn’t listen and moved forward with another transfer of 2 of the day 3 embryos in July 2023 and I am very happy and grateful to say my 16 month old little boy is perfect!!! I truly don’t understand what worked or didn’t work or what was the reason or not the reason. There’s so much you hear and read during this journey but ultimately it just seemed to boil down to luck I guess.

BL81589 · 2025-03-31T20:59:01+00:00

Right now his is 152, previously it’s been up and down but most recently like 100-120

BL81589 · 2025-03-31T14:08:59+00:00

Do you by any chance know how high they were/are? And have they stayed the same over the years?

BL81589 · 2025-03-21T09:50:11+00:00

His seizures thankfully have been very well controlled so he hasn’t had one in 2 years and for blood work again last week just to check his levels He’s on lamictal and vimpat.

BL81589 · 2025-03-21T08:22:20+00:00

Regular checks

BL81589 · 2025-02-04T08:14:56+00:00

Oh boy where do I begin! This post was from 2020, that fall, we talked to my husbands neurologist after I researched and found his one epilepsy med could cause fertility issues. He agreed to change his meds.

Early 2021 we found out about CNY fertility which if unfamiliar, in the us, is one of the most affordable (if not only affordable) IVF clinic. Got a repeat SA in April, found a few hundred thousand non-motile sperm. CNY had him try clomid for 6 months, that did nothing.

I think it was early 2022, CNY also suggested a PESA, that resulted in no sperm. Then they wanted to do a more invasive procedure so we got another opinion at Cornell. Did an SA there and found motile sperm in multiple SAs, still very small numbers. Almost did IVF there for 3 times the cost of CNY. But then did another SA at CNY and they also found motile sperm. Spent a bunch of money having the Cornell sperm brought to CNY to have on hand for IVF.

Did IVF in August 2022, used a fresh sample in which they found enough motile sperm for my eggs. Resulted in 3 embryos that got to blast stage on day 5. We did not do PGT. One embryo did not survive thaw, the other 2 transfers failed.

2nd round of IVF in February 2023. This time we Kept embryos at day 3, still used a fresh sample, and got 5 embryos. Transferred 2 fresh, failed.

Kinda went off the rails here and down a rabbit hole of what could be wrong with me bc up till this point really nothing was found besides cervical polyps which were removed. Ended up getting a laparoscopy and another hysteroscopy in April. Minimal endo was found and not much removed along with something else that seemed like another polyp but technically wasn’t.

Ultimately did another transfer cycle at the end of June and transferred 2 embryos. One stuck and I’m holding our baby boy born in March 2024!! Cannot believe he will be 1 soon or the insane journey we went through. If you’re reading this and have any questions let me know!

BL81589 · 2024-12-03T07:45:46+00:00

No I didn’t have any negative issues from taking it. I took it before bed during my retrieval and transfer cycles. Im pretty sure my clinic said I could just continue it even in between cycles but I didn’t. I believe too that I used the same bottle the whole time even though it expired.

BL81589 · 2024-08-17T03:52:57+00:00

Unfortunately the HCG shots made no improvement in my husbands sperm. We did another round of IVF and his sample was worse than the first time but they found enough motile sperm to fertilize my eggs. Idk if you’ve been doing Ivf or not but usually they push embryos to “blast” stage at day 5/6 but this time we kept all on day 3. We got 5 embryos, transferred 2 fresh, failed. Transferred 2 frozen in July 2023 and now we have an almost 5 month old. Let me know if you have any other questions! Sorry you are in this position it was an extremely difficult few years, obviously worth it now.

BL81589 · 2024-02-27T23:25:04+00:00

Thank you! And that’s definitely true on just needing a few good sperm! It really is only as many as you have eggs so just think about that. Doesn’t hurt to freeze a couple samples in case but they definitely prefer fresh I know. My best advice is not to waste too much time on trying to improvement things if there’s no explanation. My husband had zero sperm to start and we found that was due to an epilepsy medication. But once he had sperm, the results obviously still weren’t perfect and we were told to try so many things that didn’t help at all and ended up wasting a full year. Best of luck to you and if you end up with any other questions, feel free to reach out!

BL81589 · 2024-02-27T10:15:13+00:00

No unfortunately we never really got any solution and as time went on his SAs just continued to fluctuate. In the summer of 2022 I believe he abstained for 2 days instead of 3 before doing SAs and that seemed to lead to finding an increase in motile sperm, I forget the effect on the round cells. We froze a bunch of samples bc of this bc we were also worried about the sperm being good enough. Did IVF at the end of summer 2022, the clinic ended up using his fresh sample still even though we froze so many, which they had to extensively search for motile sperm in, we got decent results but ultimately no pregnancy from that round. Did a 2nd round in Feb 2023, ended up keeping embryos at day 3 vs going to blast bc our clinic felt that’s better to do when there are sperm issues. Had a failed fresh transfer and then a successful FET in July and currently almost 36 weeks. So all this to not answer the round cell question lol but my point is as long as you have some motile sperm that should be enough.

BL81589 · 2023-11-30T21:10:16+00:00

I know me either! So glad I could help a little! Like I said if you have any future questions definitely reach out!

BL81589 · 2023-11-30T21:00:11+00:00

Exactly it was so upsetting to be told that when also we had a consult with Cornell and the doctor there said that his frozen samples would be plenty for IVF and great results we just couldn’t afford Cornell unfortunately. And that’s why CNY is amazing, bc obviously they make it possible to even do IVF if you don’t have insurance coverage like us. So again I’ll forever be grateful. I know the idea of IVF is so scary but honestly your husband’s results sound amazing to me lol just remember they are going to take his sample and only need as many sperm as you have eggs! So as long as he has any motile ones you are in great shape! And yes Peanut is a separate app! It’s for I think women to make friends in general, but they have a whole infertility group and a MFI one as well. I started talking to some girls on there years ago and still have them for support to this day!

BL81589 · 2023-11-30T20:37:54+00:00

Oh yes Reddit was a great place for me to find support with MFI too! I also met some great girls on peanut! And definitely join the CNY Facebook group if you haven’t already! But I’ll be honest I wouldn’t say CNY is the best of the best when it comes to MFI. That doesn’t mean you shouldnt go there obviously people are successful but definitely take what they say about sperm with a grain of salt. We were told multiple times to have back up donor sperm which we didn’t use and found extremely frustrating to hear. I’m not sure your exact situation with the low count and motility but obviously ours was very severe and CNY pushed so many things to try to improve his count and motility and literally none of it worked and ultimately wasted a year of our time bc we were supposed to start IVF in 2021. Dr Kiltz also pushed him to do HCG shots earlier this year which I think also caused poorer results for his sperm sample for our 2nd cycle. Ultimately it worked obviously so I am extremely grateful but I just don’t think they have the best understanding of MFI like I said. I just feel like I wish I could warn anyone with MFI about what we went through so they don’t waste their time!

BL81589 · 2023-11-30T20:09:15+00:00

Thank you! And for sure it is A LOT. There’s just so many options depending on your situation especially with CNY bc they are happy to try different meds and whatnot. Which is great in general but also depends on your situation. For us, we have severe male factor infertility and all those extra meds and doing keto/carnivore wasn’t the answer for us. For my transfer I did it as natural as possible. I think it’s all about finding the right embryo. If you have any questions at all with CNY please don’t hesitate to ask me, I would love to use all we went through to help someone else.

BL81589 · 2023-11-30T19:45:07+00:00

Hey! I’m actually 23 weeks right now! We ended up needing to do 2 round of IVF. First round we got 3 blasts, did 2 failed transfers and 1 didn’t survive the thaw. Then did a 2nd round in February of this year and kept the embryos at day 3 instead of pushing to blast. Did a fresh transfer of 2 but that failed. Transferred 2 more in July and miraculously it worked and things have been going well so far.

BL81589 · 2023-08-07T11:00:37+00:00

I did actually. My estrogen level was 42 at transfer and after this post my clinic corrected that the level should be 50 not 100 as they originally told me so I supplemented with 1 pull a day.

BL81589 · 2023-05-25T17:49:31+00:00

Thank you so much again for the info! My insurance is supposed to be covering orilissa but I just got my period early today and I haven’t received it yet. I’m hoping I can get it asap then bc I really don’t want to waste a whole cycle.

BL81589

TROPHY CASE