IVF Failure Often Starts Before Stimulation Begins

[00:00:00] Most people think
that IVF starts on day one of stimulation from a biological perspective that is
already too late. The most important part of IVF happens 90 days before the
cycle even begins. When the ache and sperm develop, there's inflammation signaling,
metabolic conditions that are quietly setting the ceiling for the outcome.

On this episode, I'm breaking down why. Rushing into a cycle
without understanding what's actually happening during the window often leads
to repeat failure. Even when everything looks normal on paper. Hi, I'm Sarah
Clark, founder of Fab Fertile and host to get pregnant, naturally a functional
fertility second opinion.

So for over a decade, I've worked with couples navigating IVF
failure, embryo arrest, diminished ovarian reserve, being told everything looks
normal in your labs or being told you have low MH or high FSH, but no one's dug
deeper using functional nutrition, functional medicine. Systems based approach.
Our team includes licensed practitioners.

We have medical case reviewers. Our work focuses on identifying
the [00:01:00] physiological patterns that
quietly limit success long before the cycle actually begins. The three patterns
that we're seeing here, a and sperm quality are already determined before
stimulation begins. IVF stimulation does not create a quality.

It recruits follicles that have been developing for weeks to
months, and these. Follicles are gonna reflect the metabolic conditions in your
body. Inflammatory signaling if your high sensitivity C-reactive protein is
more than one. These are inflammation and we see this regularly with our
clients.

Getting focused on the diagnosis of diminished ovarian reserve
or focused on your age or just try again or how did you get to the IVF clinic
and people will say, I got a referral from the OB GYN. Next thing I'm doing IVF
and no one's really dug deeper. Looking at my health, it reflects the hormonal
environment.

If you've got irregular cycles or hot flashes or insomnia. Or
all of this piece can impact your hormones, and if those are not [00:02:00] optimized beforehand, that could be why
Oxidative stress, all the stuff we're exposed to this toxic superin from the
chemicals, all of this piece impacting the egg and the sperm.

The same logic applies to the sperm as well. So it's not just
about you thinking of poor egg quality and then he's over there high fiving the
REI. 'cause his sperm is great, but no one's looked at the DNA integrity or the
fragmentation. And we need to look at his health because we see infections
being passed back and forth.

So when the outcome is poor, a stimulation often gets blamed
in. In reality, the stimulation is already amplifying what was already present.
So if the environment is inflamed, if it's under fueled or it's been stressed
for months, that stimulation's not gonna override it. It just asks the system
to perform under those conditions, and that's why repeating the same cycle.

Without reassessing readiness often leads to the same result.
We have an IVF readiness checklist that our team uses to make sure that you've [00:03:00] dot the i's and crossed the T's, and it's
not just about you taking a bunch of supplements and going to acupuncture. It's
really doing a systems based approach to see exactly what's been missed.

So you can be your own advocate and deploy. The treatment when
it makes sense. So pattern number y pre IVF prep fails when it's just
supplements and timelines. A lot of times people are doing supplements and yes,
supplements. Are good, but we see people are taking too many, they're taking
the wrong supplements and they just have expensive P.

Very few parts of this is investigative. We're just like, oh
wait, we need to have an omega vitamin D. Let's take a probiotic. Let's take
some B pollen, whatever it is. Some of the supplement of the day, some nac,
some NAD, which can be good by themselves, but maybe your body doesn't need
that. Adding the support without removing the interference.

What is causing inflammation? What is causing oxidative stress?
What is the reason? It is rarely gonna change outcomes [00:04:00]
if the inflammation that's never been looked at, we don't know where it's
coming in from and no one's actually addressed it. Are these supplements gonna
override it? Perhaps not blood sugar.

So you're being told that your blood sugar is normal. We wanna
make sure it's optimal. If your glucose or your A1C is the blood sugar
instability. Causing this not to work. The gut and immune signaling that's
gonna drain your resources if you got infections or overgrowth of bad bacteria,
the whole stress piece.

It's not about you thinking that you have to live in a perfect
stress-free environment. That's not practical. If the stress physiology keeps
you in a cortisol dominant cycle, that could be why it's not working. If the
nervous system is on alert, when someone says, I did everything and it didn't
work, it's usually because they're working on the wrong layer.

We don't know what we don't know. Investigating, looking at the
patterns that we see with our clients over and over again, we can a protocol
action plan that can actually improve results. A lot of times the prep just
becomes busy work. [00:05:00] When it's not
guided by pattern recognition, we're just doing a bunch of stuff.

Oh, I read the books, did the podcast, all these generalized
stuff. Hey, I've done everything, but we haven't done everything that's right
for your body. Pattern number three. So the first pattern, like we talked about
was the egg and sperm quality are determined before simulation begins. Number
two was it fails when it's just supplements.

And timelines and not really digging deeper from investigative
standpoint. Pattern number three, preparing for IVF versus auditing when you're
actually ready, preparation assumes the plan is correct. That what we're doing
right now, we're rushing towards IVF. We've been told that's our next option.
No one's done an audit into your health.

Were the right systems evaluated? Did they under the hood and
the foundation? There's some cracks as we start to address those. Then when we
do deploy IVF, we can actually improve the chances of it working or the
system's [00:06:00] evaluated in the right
order. There is a hierarchy. Is now actually the right time to push the system
or is that $20,000?

Or even if you're doing a cheaper IVF, they sell 'em in
packages of three and there's less expensive ones across the country, but
typically an average is $20,000 a cycle. Is now the time to deploy it, to push
the system from a functional fertility approach is gonna change the
conversation from trying harder.

To pause and clarify, IVF is biologically demanding. We need to
have the body in the best shape for this to work and pushing a system that's
not ready. It's just gonna increase the stress load and that's why the embryo
may have not made it. Or you've got a great embryo and it doesn't implant, or
you've had chemical pregnancy or loss, all of this devastating, and you feel
that there's nothing you can do, but no one's actually dug deeper here and
giving you some clarity on the systems in your body of what's being missed for
you.

When you have clarity, it's gonna protect your time, your [00:07:00] energy, and your biology. If you're
preparing for IVF or considering another cycle, I've created a free embryo
audit checklist to help you see what often gets missed. Before simulation
begins, I was gonna walk you through the key systems that influence a quality
embryo development and implantation so that you can have a more informed
conversation before moving forward.

Send a message to hello@fabfertile.ca. Subject line checklist,
or in the show notes, there's a link there to download it. If you've already
tried IVF or you're feeling uncertain about whether your body is actually ready
for the next step, a functional fertility second opinion may be the right place
to start for you.

This is a diagnostic review of your lab's history patterns, not
coaching on a protocol. It's looking to see high level the systems in your
body, what has been missed. From conventional stand standpoint, it's designed
to help couples get some clarity before making another high stakes decision.
There's a link in the show notes.

Also. Send me a message at hello@fabfertile.ca. Subject line
fertile. Okay.