Secondary ammenorrhea, eating disorder and infertility

[Samanthaquarry123]

Hello! I'm new to this so hopefully I have posted this correctly. I won't bore you all with a long post about my history but I will give you some background information. Since late last year my eating disorder and excessive exercising got little out of control. I lost about a stone in weight very quickly and lost my period and had estrogen levels below 18. I got some help and my weight is now back to normal and has been since 5 months. I also had a period in August which has been my first one in 9 months!!! I haven't had any more since. My partner and I are desperate to conceive and with my periods so irregular/ non existent now, what do I do? Has anyone else had the same experience? Does anyone have any recommendations? Is clomid worth a try? I'm going to the doctors on Tuesday and just wanted some advice. My husband is 44 and time is against is a bit as he doesn't want to be an old dad! Thanks

[sharond101]

Hi, my story isn't identical but there are similarities. I have suffered from an eating disorder from age 8 and have primary ammenorrhea rather than secondary so have never had periods. I exercised excessively and restricted food for a long time. Although I had a healthy BMI I didn't begin to menstruate. Many fellow sufferers met through treatment who had secondary ammenorrhoea did regain periods but only when they reached a BMI of around 20-21. What is your BMI?

Anyway, I was referred to infertility (after a spooky miracle natural pregnancy which sadly resulted in mc) and given clomid with no response. Apparently this is typical where there is a pituitary aspect of the ammenorrhoea (e.g eating disorder history.) I have read similar for alot of eating disorder sufferers that this is the case. However on my first round of injectable medications I fell pregnant and although there were two pregnancy sacs one was a blighted ovum so I now have a beautiful toddler who is the apple of all our eyes as it was a long struggle to get him here. I have just gone through the injectable process again and it wasn't quite as smooth, possibly as my AMH has fallen to a lower level, possibly not, but with a higher dose of injectables I am now 7 weeks pregnant with DC2. So it can happen, your situation is a better one than mine and with the correct medication at the correct dose you will be fine. Even in the meantime you could try using ovulation tests to see if you are ovulating and work on your BMI if it is below 20.

[SilverStars]

Hi, sorry to hear of your struggles.

Has your gp run the basic blood tests - checking your:LH, FSH, a FBC and thyroid/other hormone levels? these will be needed before any referral to fertility or actual treatment. also dh will need a semen analysis so worth going to ask for these to be ordered by the gp. Usually they test these thing if you have been as a female trying to conceive for 12 months if you are under 35, or after 6 months if you are over that age.

however, NHS funding is quite strict so they only offer IVF level treatment for people whose BMI is in a certain range ( lowest it can be is about 19/20 and highest is 30) and this is for both partners. So of this is a goal to meet then perhaps ask gp for more support for this. As it is possible lack of conception is caused to your body readjusting and they will want you to be as healthy as possible.

[Samanthaquarry123]

Hello

Thank you both very much for your replies.

Sharond101 I'm so pleased that you have a beautiful toddler and another one on the way! You have obviously been through a lot. I hope your eating disorder is manageable as I know what an awful illness it is.

Thank you silver stars. I have had all the blood tests and they said my estrogen and other bloods were at an ovulating level. But funny enough my period started today!!!!!!! It's 20 days late but I'm so grateful for it!! I always had regular periods, so clearly my body is adjusting!! I have an oppointment with the Dr tomorrow so I will discuss ovulating and how to track it. The tests are so expensive but I've seen some cheaper ones on ebay. Do you know if these are any good? If you guys have any more advice on getting pregnant I'd really appreciate it. Thank you

[sharond101]

I bought the Amazon ones and they worked great. www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0071MSEH6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21