As always, consult your fertility doctor before taking any of these. I am not a doctor, obviously!
After about a year of trying to conceive, a failed IVF transfer and a few embryos on ice, I decided to call in the experts, and by experts I mean a really reputable naturopath dealing with fertility patients. Why a naturopath and not my GP you ask? Because in my part of the universe (British Columbia, Canada), there is a health care and housing crisis and you may wait for years for a family doctor. So, Naturopath it was. Not to mention, most GPs will not support the use of supplements because they aren’t FDA or Health Canada approved or monitored for quality control – I learned this recently, apparently supplements can completely lie about what’s in them (within reason) and get away with it. Shop at your own risk.
Not everyone believes in supplements, and that’s totally fine. I don’t in a lot of cases, however in the case of my infertility, I am of the mind that it cannot harm my odds. Especially those backed by science. So here I’ll do my best (as a person who failed science in high school) to break down what science I found around taking these mysterious pills.
Currently my IVF supplement list is as follows and has come from a few sources – I have found scholarly articles and studies on some of them, my naturopath suggested others, and the book “It Starts with the Egg”, which is highly controversial, recommended a few others. I didn’t take this book as gospel by any means but it has helped break down some of the science for me.
Also note, some of these are good for pregnancy as is, or trying to conceive, while others benefit blastocyst production and the endometrium for IVF/Assisted Reproductive Technology patients.
- Daily Prenatal Vitamin (not brand specific, although I am currently taking Materna because it also contains a small amount of Iron and I need as much Iron as I can get without taking a hefty supplement (IBS be damned).
- Fish Oil/Omega 3-6-9 – I am taking 1000mg of this a day. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9308390/, https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(19)30810-6/fulltext)
- CoQ10 in the form of the readily absorbed Ubiquinol – a very large dose during egg retrievals of 600 mg a day, split into 3 doses a day of 200mg each. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5870379/, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6210096/)
- Active Folate – Methylated Folic Acid 1mg (also more readily absorbed than regular Folic Acid) (more so for regular pregnancy should it occur, but it could also help IVF https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4172634/)
- L-Arginine – MASSIVE dose of this for egg retrieval – 6000 mg a day. It can get costly. I find the capsules to be the easiest to stomach, but you can also consider a powder supplement mixed in liquid, but it is BITTER. I mix with a ton of lemon or lime juice and water when I do the powder. I try to do capsules whenever possible though. I also try to mix this throughout the day to make it easier to handle. (https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article/14/7/1690/2913125, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32977253/)
- Vitamin E – 400 mg (https://www.imrpress.com/journal/CEOG/48/2/10.31083/j.ceog.2021.02.2207/htm, it is also good for sperm quality (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34671676/)
- Zinc 15-25 mg (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8599883/, also good for male fertility and immune response)
- Vitamin C 1000 mg (Great for post FET https://www.longdom.org/open-access-pdfs/effect-of-post-embryo-transfer-vitamin-c-supplementation-on-the-outcome-of-invitro-fertilization.pdf, https://egyfs.journals.ekb.eg/article_170463_2d039f08729155c6101049ea92985f35.pdf)
- Women’s Probiotic – I take Renew Life Ultimate Flora Women’s Extra Care Probiotic because it has a really good mix of the flora you want for your lady bits, and it is a large dose at 50 billion. (the studies are mixed on this, but I take it as a just in case, and for my IBS and gut health. Some doctors will actually recommend a vaginal suppository of probiotics specific to the vaginal flora to help balance bacteria, mine included. This dose is a ten day of FloraSAP and it is taken before FET).
- NAC (n-acetyl-l-cysteine) 600 mg (https://egyfs.journals.ekb.eg/article_170463_2d039f08729155c6101049ea92985f35.pdf, https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282%2804%2901904-1/fulltext)
- Vitamin B12 200 mcg (https://raf.bioscientifica.com/view/journals/raf/4/3/RAF-23-0015.xml)
- Vitamin D3 2500 IU (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8969598/)
- 81mg Aspirin (low dose – NOTE – check with your doctor before taking this, and absolutely advise any medical professionals that you’re taking it as it can effect your procedures (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5604627/,
This is also a really good article on a number of supplements and their uses for fertility: https://academic.oup.com/humupd/article/13/2/163/661418
A caution for those taking supplements for egg retrieval and FET – consult your fertility doctor because some of these supplements should not be taken during pregnancy or in preparation for it. Some may simply have no effect, and there’s no need to take them once retrieval has been completed (or IUI!).
So there we have it, the 700 pills I take a day. I recommend doing the research yourself to decide if any of these are right for you or not. At this stage in our IVF journey I’ll take any help I can get so I was willing to use the kitchen sink approach.
