Egg quality help!

[FatherGP]

Hi all
My amh is 8.2 I’m 29.
What are my chances of responding to ivf, does this affect natural pregnancy chances and also will the quality of my eggs be bad if I enjoy a few drinks and my food . Thanks 🙏🏽

[FatherGP]

Also my sister failed in her ivf is genetics an indicator of egg quality . Thanks

[HavelockVetinari]

When you say you like food, do you mean you're obese? Because that has a massive effect on IVF success rates.

If you're a healthy weight, try CoEnzyme q10 and melatonin for increasing egg quality. Read It Starts With The Egg.

[FatherGP]

Thanks. No I’m not obese but I do enjoy to eat out often and have a bit of weight on my hips/ thighs .

[seven201]

Definitely read it starts with an egg. I'd cut down on the drinking and eat a healthy diet from now on too. Fine to have occasional treat, but diet is important. If your bmi isn't great try and reduce it. Good luck!

[FatherGP]

Thanks all. Is it basically luck then ? Or am I starting from a very improbable position?

[Wintersun13]

It's hard to say. Tests give you a rough idea of where you stand but they're not the be all/end all of fertility.

Regarding your weight : if your bmi is below 25 I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about it. You might want to look at your diet see if you can make a few small changes (eg : drink less soda and have sparkling water instead whenever possible, try to eat a bit more vegetables, make sure your diet is fairly diverse, maybe replace a snack with an apple, etc.) Staying active is good (it doesn't necessarily mean hitting the gym, an afternoon out shopping can be great exercise if you spend the whole day walking, or going to the swimming pool, etc).
Drinking : I'd avoid binge drinking but a few glasses is fine imo, unless recommended otherwise by your doctor.

Egg quality : there's no way to ascertain egg quality other than trial and error. Low amh doesn't automatically mean low egg quality.
some vitamins apparently can help a bit though there's a lot we don't know about this. Pp suggestions are good.

Genetics : whether or not your sister's ivf failure means anything really depends on the cause of your infertility. For instance, if she has endo and you don't, this obviously means your chances are better than hers. Some of it also does simply depend on luck but also your doctor, your environment, your lifestyle, etc.

The short answer is, you probably won't know where you stand in terms of IVF until you've tried a couple of cycles. You might also speak to your doctor and ask for an honest, gloves off assessment. But I wouldn't write iVF off until you've tried at least a couple of times (first cycle is often a trial to see how your body responds and what can be adjusted in the future).

[Wintersun13]

Forgot to add - another factor could be your respective partners, their fertility is obviously going to impact how ivf works for you. For instance if your sister was dealing with mfi on top of her own issues, that wouldn't have helped her chances.

[Wintersun13]

Also - people please correct me if I'm wrong - low amh doesn't automatically mean natural conception is off the table. It just means you can't afford to leave it too late. If possible, you should consider ttc asap.

[FatherGP]

Is it worth having an antral folicle Count to get a more accurate reading ?

[Meganlouise1988]

@FatherGP I’m 31 and my AMH was 11.68 last year. It worried me as I read it was low but we got 14 eggs on our first round, 9 mature. My first Antral follicle scan showed 14 follicles, the second showed 22 so I’m not sure how much this shows in terms of your fertility. I think the best thing you can do is eat well and look after yourself. Try some different supplements too. X

[ckc45d10]

Many also use CoQ10 for support, but check with your doctor. In addition, look into the quality and absorption of what you take. For example, water and fat-soluble forms of CoQ10 absorb better.

[LongtermTTC]

Re: weight, the IVF clinic I went to said NHS referrals there require a BMI below 30, 35 for private. It would obviously vary by area and clinic but I’d say if your BMI is under 30 don’t worry too much about it. Diet is important but stress is proven to have an even bigger effect so if you’re a healthy weight and trying to lose too much weight would overly stress you out then it could be counterproductive. Not saying you shouldn’t life healthily but fertility issues can be a rough ride so cut yourself some slack.

Low AMH doesn’t mean you can’t conceive naturally - I have an AMH of 3.9 and was told that I could well have enough to keep ticking over releasing one egg each month until I hit menopause but it will just mean I don’t respond as well to IVF where they give you drugs to try and get up to 15 eggs in one go. You may get fewer eggs but is about quality, not quantity as they’ll generally only transfer one embryo anyway. We’re headed towards IVF soon but the consultant said he’s had success with women with lower AMH than me and yours is higher so don’t panic yet (I know, easier said than done!)

Have you been TTC for long? x