#136 | The Real Reason IVF Didn't Work—and It Has Nothing to Do With Your Age

Did your IVF cycle fail (again)? You’re not alone—and this episode uncovers the real reasons IVF fails.

Whether you're preparing for your first cycle, recovering from a failed transfer, or considering IVF again, it's time to look beyond protocols and get to the root of what’s actually going on in your body. IVF is a powerful tool—but it’s not a magic wand. If deeper dysfunction isn’t addressed, even the best technology may fall short.

In this episode, you'll...

-Learn the top 5 hidden reasons IVF can fail—including egg/sperm quality, inflammation, and immune issues

-Discover how nervous system dysregulation can block implantation (even with perfect embryos)

-Explore what to test, what to ask your clinic, and how to create a body environment ready to receive

If you're ready to stop guessing and start uncovering the real reasons conception hasn’t happened yet, press play now and walk away with a clear action plan for moving forward.

👉🏽Take the Ultimate Fertility Blueprint Quiz HERE⚡

🌟Follow and connect with me on Instagram @the_wellness_pharmacist to fast-track your fertility so you can finally get and stay pregnant naturally!⁠

Finally Get Pregnant Naturally is your go-to TTC podcast for holistic fertility support to help you get pregnant naturally by addressing the root cause of unexplained infertility, secondary infertility, and recurrent miscarriage. Hosted by Dr. Katie Wood, a pharmacist and holistic fertility practitioner, this show offers natural fertility solutions for those on a fertility journey struggling to conceive, navigating miscarriage, or dealing with endometriosis, PCOS, low sperm count, or failed IUI or failed IVF. Whether you're trying to conceive, increase egg quality, optimizing sperm health, or healing after a miscarriage, each episode delivers practical guidance to support your fertility journey. Learn how to improve fertility, balance hormones, regulate your fertile window, and conceive naturally through root cause healing, emotional wellness, and mind-body tools—because true fertility starts from within.

DISCLAIMER: By listening to this podcast, you agree not to use it as medical advice to treat any medical condition in either yourself or others. This podcast offers information to help the listener cooperate with physicians, mental health professionals or other healthcare providers in a mutual quest for optimal well-being. We advise listeners to carefully review and understand the ideas presented, and to consult your own physician for any medical issues that you may be having. Under no circumstances shall Pharm to Wellness LLC, any guests or contributors to the Finally Get Pregnant Naturally podcast, or any employees, associates, or affiliates of Pharm to Wellness LLC be responsible for damages arising from the use of the podcast. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
in this episode, we're gonnabreak down the top five reasons
IVF can fail and what to do next.
Welcome to the finally GetPregnant Naturally Podcast.
The podcast helping women identifythe real reasons you haven't
conceived or stayed pregnant, soyou and your partner can finally
grow the family of your dreams.

(00:21):
I'm your host, Dr.
Katie Wood.
Let's dive in, shall we?
In this episode, you'll learn thefive most common, often overlooked
reasons IVF fails, including pooreye quality, immune dysfunction,
and nervous system dysregulation.
How to identify if your body or yourpartners needs deeper support before

(00:41):
trying IVF again and practical nextsteps you can take to uncover root
causes and improve your chancesof success, whether naturally or
with future fertility treatments.
So if you've done IVF or you'reconsidering it and it didn't work,
this episode is for you because Iunderstand how devastating it is to

(01:04):
invest emotionally, physically, andfinancially into IVF and still walk
away without a baby in your arms.
You start to question everything, yourbody, your future, and even your hope.
But here's the truth that most people.
Don't hear after a failed cycle.

(01:24):
IVF isn't the only solution, okay?
It is not the solutionto every fertility issue.
It's just one tool, and sadly, ifthe root cause hasn't been addressed.
Then even the most advanced technologiescan fall short at getting you results.

(01:46):
So today I'm gonna be walking you throughthe top five reasons IVF can fail and
what to do next, so you can finally moveforward on your fertility journey with
clarity, confidence, and renewed hope.
So number one, poor.
Egg quality, sperm quality,or embryo development.
So one of the most common, yet leastexplained reasons IVF can fail is

(02:11):
due to poor agri sperm quality, whichcan lead to poor embryo quality.
So even if a retrieval produces multipleeggs, they may not be genetically viable.
So what can contribute topoor egg or sperm quality?
We have mitochondrial dysfunction,oxidative stress, inflammation in

(02:32):
the body, nutrient deficiencies,blood sugar issues, and yes.
Growing older can have an effect, butthat's not the whole story and or like.
so black and white, that if you're older,that means that you have poor quality.
So what can you do next?
So egg quality and sperm qualitycan take around 90 days to develop.

(02:56):
So you have about a three month spanto improve your egg and sperm quality.
So you wanna look at ways that you canimprove your mitochondrial support,
follow an anti-inflammatory diet.
Detox your home, yourpersonal care products.
You want to be remineralizing your body,giving yourself some adrenal support.

(03:19):
Also focusing on gentle exercise andstress regulation because over exercise
can actually be a form of stress on thebody, you can't necessarily fix your
age, but you can dramatically improvethe environment that your eggs mature in.
So that can involve lifestyle,nutrition, and supplements.

(03:41):
So number two, poor endometrialreceptivity or uterine and environment.
So even with perfect embryos,they still need a safe.
Receptive place to implant.
And if your uterine lining isn'tthick enough, properly developed,
or the timing's off, or if you havemaybe some dysbiosis in your vaginal

(04:03):
microbiome, then implantation may fail.
You may have undiagnosed issues likechronic endometritis endometriosis,
uterine polyps, or adhesions, maybe a thinlining due to poor blood flow or estrogen
issues, and you could have some vaginalmicrobiome dysbiosis going as well.

(04:25):
So this can all sabotage yourimplantation without you even.
Knowing it.
So what can you do next?
You can request an ERA orendometrial receptivity analysis.
You can get checked for chronicendometritis, which can be treated.
You can support your blood flow withacupuncture, castor oil packs outside of

(04:47):
IVF and outside of your fertile window andluteal phase if you're actively trying.
You could look at yoni steaming.
There's certain yoga positionsthat can increase blood flow
to the reproductive organ area.
You can consider uterine healthherbs and energy healing to support

(05:08):
your womb and energetic receptivity.
And if you've had uterine trauma like.
Repeated DNCs or maybe IUDs in the past.
This can have an effect onyour uterine lining as well.
Reason number three, if you have anyunderlying immune or inflammatory

(05:28):
issues, so this one can get missed.
Pretty often.
So if your immune system is overactive,whether it's due to autoimmune
conditions, chronic inflammation, silentinfections, your body may attack the
embryo or prevent it from implanting.
So red flags for immune issues could looklike history of miscarriage, Hashimoto's,

(05:50):
or other autoimmune diagnoses, chronicgut issues or food sensitivities.
Positive a NA NK cellsor cytokine elevation.
So what you could do next is youcould ask for a full immune panel.
You can address your gut health,which is where the majority

(06:10):
of the immune system lives.
You can consider immune modulatingprotocols, but also reducing
inflammation naturally throughdiet, stress, and targeted support.
And explore underlyinginfections or even mold exposure.
Reason number four is a mal factorissue that has been overlooked.

(06:31):
So mal factor contributes to about 50% offertility struggles, but a lot of times
it can be brushed aside with a quick semenanalysis that really only looks at count,
motility, and morphology, and sometimes.
Years go by since a partner has asemen analysis done, but the couple

(06:52):
is still struggling, that's whenwe wanna do repeat tests, right?
But there's also a deeperlayer to explore, and that's
called DNA fragmentation.
So even if sperm is looking normalunder a microscope, the DNA inside.
Might be damaged, and thatdamage can affect embryo
development and miscarriage risks.
So some things that you could do nextis ask for a DNA fragmentation test.

(07:16):
There's even at-home semen analysisthat can do this for you now.
Support your partner with antioxidants,minerals, and positive lifestyle shifts.
Eliminate heat exposure, exposure to EMFs.
Alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, plastic.
So endocrine disruptors.

(07:37):
And you wanna focus on improvingsleep, reducing stress, and focusing
on mitochondrial support for sperm too.
You've heard me saymitochondrial support a lot.
I would highly recommend goingback to episode 1 35 and learning
about how I offer personalizedmitochondrial support and like

(08:02):
oxidative stress support for my clients.
Reason number five is.
The nervous system just is not on board.
So this can be the most overlooked pieceof all, and also one of the most powerful.
So at the end of the day, if yourbody doesn't feel safe, it won't

(08:25):
prioritize reproduction, period.
IVF is very physically, mentally,and emotionally intense.
If your nervous system is stuck in fightor flight, you may not respond well to
meds ovulate predictably, or your bodymay not really support implantation.

(08:48):
So stress just isn't a feeling.
It's a biochemical shift.
It's even very subconscious aswell that can affect hormones,
blood flow to the uterus, egg,maturity, gluteal phase, support,
immune balance, so on and so forth.
So what can you do if this issomething that you're struggling with?

(09:10):
Slow down.
Connect with your body.
Add breath work, nervoussystem regulation, meditations.
You can work with a fertility coachsuch as myself, who is trained in
mind, body, and energetic healing,such as womb and embodiment.
Create space for yourself to processgrief, disappointment, and fear

(09:35):
after failed fertility treatments.
So just a reminder, you cannot healin the same environment that your
dis-ease was created in your nervoussystem must feel safe to receive.
So if IVF didn't work or you'rescared to try again, try again.

(09:56):
I want you to honestly ask yourselfthis, have I addressed the root
causes behind my fertility struggles?
And I wanna say nine times out of 10,the answer should be no and will be no.
Because so many women that I speak towho have been struggling for years and
years and years, they'll say, yeah, I gotsome testing done, and they'll think that

(10:19):
they've done everything that they could,but really it was just kind of surface
level testing that their doctor did.
They're not actually digging into theroot cause because here's the truth
that no one tells you in the clinic.
IVF doesn't solve egg quality,inflammation, nutrient
depletion, immune dysfunction,or nervous system dysregulation.

(10:42):
It tries to bypass them and hope thatthings fall into place and cooperates.
But when you combine root cause healingwith intentional timing, that's when
miracles can happen, and I've seen it.
Over and over again.
Just to recap, IVF can fail fora number of reasons, but the most

(11:05):
common ones can include poor eye orsperm quality a non-receptive uterine
lining, immune or inflammatory issues,overlooked mal factor issues, and a
nervous system stuck in fight or flight.
The good news is though, these are allthings that we can support and shift
with the right root cause approach.

(11:29):
You're not out of options.
Your body just might need the right kindof support before it's ready to conceive.
So failed IVF does notmean that you're broken.
It does not mean thatyou'll never be a parent.
It simply means that somethingdeeper is still unresolved and
it's not the end of the road.
It's a redirection, and with theright root cause approach, I've seen

(11:52):
countless couples conceive after many,many, many failed fertility treatments,
either naturally or with a subsequentmore intentional round of treatment.
So thank you so much for listening.
I hope you have a beautiful day,and I'll see you on our next episode
released every Tuesday and Thursday.
Are you ready to finally discover why youhaven't been able to get or stay pregnant?

(12:17):
The Ultimate Fertility Blueprint is aquick, insightful quiz designed to reveal
your overall capacity to conceive and helpyou discover potential root causes and
areas to address to improve your fertilityso you can finally get and stay pregnant.
You will find the link in theshow notes as a quick reminder and

(12:38):
disclaimer, this podcast is foreducational purposes only and is
not a substitute for medical advice.
Always consult your doctor orhealthcare provider before starting
any new supplement or protocol,especially if you're actively trying
to conceive or undergoing treatment.