Studies show that women with a thin endometrial lining have lower frozen
embryo pregnancy rates. So what can you do to get your lining thicker?
Here are eight tips you can try.
Continue estrogen for a longer period of time. If your body
is absorbing estrogen, you know this by looking at your estrogen levels on a
blood test, then you may just need some additional time. Some studies in women
with a thin uterine lining after 10 to 14 days found that continuing estrogen
for 30 or 40 days would sometimes get the lining to improve enough to do a transfer.
Try other types of estrogen. Most doctors start with oral estrogen
because it usually works, it's easy and inexpensive. However, once you swallow the
estrogen tablet, some of it gets destroyed in the stomach, some moves on
to your intestines. From there, it has to be absorbed into your blood and then
goes immediately to your liver. The liver changes the form of estrogen from
estradiol which is also called E2 to estriol or E1. E1 doesn't work as well in the
uterus so it may not be as effective in getting the lining thicker in some women.
Estrogen can be absorbed through the skin
so estrogen patches are an alternative to pills
The estrogen from the patches doesn't get converted to E1 as much. The better
availability of E2 with patches may work better in the uterine lining.
Finally, another option is to administer the estrogen through the vagina.
Like patches, vaginal estrogen doesn't get converted to E1 and also has the
advantage of being close to the uterus so that the amount of estrogen getting
into the uterine lining is higher than any other method.
Try a natural cycle without medications. If you are a woman who ovulates then you mature and release
an egg each month. You could try to use the estrogen that your ovaries produce
each month. The method can be tricky however because you could ovulate
before the lining is thick enough and problems determining exactly when your
ovaries start producing progesterone can lead to timing the transfer incorrectly.
Low-dose aspirin. A low dose of aspirin taken every day may help
improve blood flow to the uterus. But the evidence is mixed as to whether it helps
improve growing the uterine lining thickness. At worst, it's easy, inexpensive
and doesn't appear to cause any harm. Now, there are also some things that we
recommend avoiding. Viagra. Viagra works by allowing blood vessels to dilate.
Increased blood flow can help guys with erectile dysfunction but does it improve
the thickness of the uterine lining? An initial, very small series of four
patients seemed to show some improvement but subsequent larger studies with a
control group that did not receive Viagra have failed to show a benefit.
IVF experts do not recommend this therapy. Squirting stuff into the uterus. Some
doctors have tried squirting various things into the uterus to hopefully
stimulate the uterine lining directly. One method used a protein called G-CSF.
Like Viagra, an initial very small series of patients found there might be some benefit,
Afterwards, at least 7 more studies tried the same experiment.
Six out of the seven studies showed no increase in the thickness. The seventh
one did see a small increase but there was no improvement in the chance for
pregnancy. We would not recommend this therapy either. PRP. PRP or platelet-rich
plasma is also squirted into the uterus. The evidence here is also mixed. Some
small series of patients reportedly have shown some benefit. The studies so far
have been poor. Unfortunately, some doctors have been charging patients a
lot of money to do this even though there isn't any good evidence yet that
it works. If you are considering trying this therapy, do it only at a center that
is conducting research and you should not be charged one penny. At IVF1, we
are conducting such a study that you can check out here there are lots of frauds
and scammers and crooks out there who are trying to charge you for ineffective
or sometimes dangerous treatments check out this playlist to learn more about
some of the other fertility scams if you have a topic you would like us to
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