A Fertility Story - Recurrent Miscarriage & Immune Testing: Five Losses, Varicocele Repair & Refusing Unexplained

Anne is back with Anna, one of her first patients dealing with immune-related infertility. Anna shares her four-year journey through five miscarriages, multiple failed IVF transfers, and the medical dismissals that made her stop trusting anyone in the system. She walks through what happened when her husband's varicocele and high DNA fragmentation were finally addressed mid-IVF cycle, why her clinic created embryos before testing sperm quality, how she navigated immune treatments including LIT therapy and IVIG trips to Chicago, and why doing everything at once meant she'll never know what actually worked. Now facing secondary infertility, Anna talks about the psychological difference between trying again with proof her body can carry versus the hopelessness of repeated loss. This episode is for anyone who's been told everything looks normal but keeps losing pregnancies, anyone wondering whether to try again after finally having success, or anyone realizing that unexplained infertility just means no one has looked hard enough yet.00:00 - Intro02:05 - First two losses with heartbeats, no answers04:29 - Third loss: Abnormal embryo becomes the IVF sales pitch06:10 - Meeting Anne and starting IVF09:15 - First retrieval results and DNA fragmentation discovery14:37 - Why ICSI doesn't fix high fragmentation16:16 - Varicocele repair through interventional surgery20:32 - First transfer: Blighted ovum and retained tissue23:04 - Fourth loss and hitting rock bottom27:05 - Immune treatments: Intralipids and LIT therapy32:40 - Success after immune protocol (or was it?)36:39 - Flying to Chicago for IVIG during pregnancy38:10 - Preterm birth at 34 weeks and lingering questions41:06 - Secondary infertility: Going back in with a different mindset43:38 - What Anne would do differently now46:01 - The PCOS "miracle baby" myth explained50:22 - What's actually accessible and what matters most55:10 - The importance of having someone hold hope for you