Low Ovarian Reserve

[HP07]

Hi,

I've just been to see my consultant about infertility. My husband and I will have been ttc for 2 years in January coming. His semen analysis is normal but I have endometriosis. Earlier this year I had an endometrioma removed and at the same time they checked my tubes were open and removed any endometriosis. Since we haven't been able to conceive still 7 months down the line we have been referred to fertility. The consultant think I may have a low ovarian reserve. I am only 28 years old so this is quite worrying for me. I am due an AMH test when my next period arrives. She said we can be referred for IVF in January if we want and the paperwork and funding doesn't take long to sort out, we could have a round as early as March/April. It's all very scary and I was hoping for some better news. IVF was my worst case scenario when I went for the appointment today. I was hoping she might said I wasn't ovulating properly and here is some medication. Is anyone else in a similar boat? I wouldnt be so shocked if I have left getting pregnant until well into my 30's but I think I am still quite young and was hoping to have a decent sized family. Seems unlikely now. May be lucky to have a single child.

[Chattycat78]

Couple of the things here:

• you don't need to wAit until your period to have an amh test. It can be done at any point in your cycle. Do you mean an FSH test?
  
• don't panic yet. Why does he think it's low ovarian reserve?
  

-even if it is, you are VERY young and the most important thing for conceiving is actually egg quality, not egg quantity. At 28, your egg quality is likely to be very good. Ovarian reserve tests only measure egg quantity- not quality. There is no test that measures egg quality.

I'm speaking from experience- I found out I had low ovarian reserve at 34- so a lot older than you. Since then, I got pregnant as soon as I found this out but had a miscarriage. I then did a round of ivf which worked first time, and I'm now pregnant naturally with twins. This is all after I was told that it would be difficult for me to conceive- so I've been pregnant 3 times since finding this out.
Honestly- don't panic yet!

[HP07]

No its definitely AMH being tested and she said day 1-3 of period to get it done. I have never been pregnant and we have been trying for almost 2 years. I also have bleeding/spotting running up to my period. This can usually be up to 10 days or more of constant spotting. I asked and the Dr said my progesterone may be dropping off early as I am not pregnant but this is not a factor for infertility apparently. If I have a low ovarian reserve (which could be due to the surgery I've had on my ovary) then I don't want to wait too long as it's only going to get lower. It's very confusing. Why does society tell us if we spoke much as look at a guy we will get pregnant? ;) The reality is so much different. Some people are just lucky I guess.

[HP07]

Oh and she thinks ovarian resend may be low because Fsh is much higher than she would expect in a woman of my age.

[Chattycat78]

Ah ha- do you know what your FSH is? To be honest- yes- if your FSH is high it does indicate low ovarian reserve.
honestly though, she is talking nonsense about the amh test. Amh does not change throughout the cycle- which is why it can be measured at any time. Google it if you want to check. FSH must be measured in day 1-5 of cycle.
Yes I agree that it's misleading how easy it is to get pregnsnt. I spent all of my twenties terrified of a slip up in case I got pregnsnt. It was only in my thirties when I realised that it can be really hard to get pregnant that I realised that this was laughable!