Hi, can anyone help with make sense of fertility results?

[LittleSquirt]

Hello, my friend is nearly 41 and had a miscarriage about 8 months ago. She has been trying again since but with no luck so far so she went to a fertility clinic last week. They did a antral follicle count on day 8 and found 15 (8 on one side and 7 on the other) and her antimullerian hormone level was 15.

Following these results, the consultant she saw basically told her that there was no way she would conceive and implied that she should give up now! But after a quick search on the internet, these numbers don't seem to be actually that low, especially for someone over 40?

Has anyone had the same tests done and had similar results? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Hi LittleSquirt I had an AMH test done and I've just checked the guidelines the clinic gave me - it says anything above 15.7 pmol/l is satisfactory and between 15.7 and 2.2 is low. The guidelines I have say anything below 2.2 is considered to be infertile.

So it sounds like your friend is only just below "satisfactory" and if she's over 40, then I don't know why they are being so bleak about it.

I think it's considered "normal" (whatever that means!) to have up to 7 - 10 follicles around day 8. Do you know if she had any other tests done (like Day 3 FSH / LH tests) to investigate anything like PCOS? Her AMH levels certainly don't suggest she has it but I think there are many indicators that need to be looked at to rule it out.

Having said that, I guess there are variations from clinic to clinic so I can only tell you what mine said to me.

The whole TTC thing is all very !

Hope that helps and best of luck to your friend

I had worse results (aged 39).
My follicle count on Day 7, on average 3 on each ovary.
Can't remember my AMH level.
My consultant told me that basically, it wasn't worth me doing IVF in the usual way - stimulating follicles as I could damage my ovaries and was highly unlikely to get lots of follicles.

He said, if I still wanted to do IVF, I stood as good a chance doing 'natural cycle IVF' where they monitor my follicles until I'm about to ovulate, then collect a single egg, fertilise it and transfer one embryo.

HTH
And Good Luck to your friend!

Thank you so much to both of you, this really helps a lot!!

Gardenpixie - we both felt that the consultant really didn't need to be so bleak either but it's always good to hear someone else say it too! :)
She didn't have Day 3 FSH or LH tests done (only AMH & AFC) but I will suggest these so she can ask for them maybe. Thanks again for your help!

TTtG - the best of luck to you, do you think you will do a round of IVF? My friend is ruling this out at the moment but she wants to try naturally for a few more cycles anyway.

Thanks! x

I was on the 2WW of my third cycle when I wrote my last post. DH then came home from work and we decide to test and got a BFP
Trying not to get too excited as had a chemical pregnancy last cycle.

Oh wow, congrats, that's really wonderful news!! Fingers crossed for you, I'm sure it will all be fine this time!