Please share your LH/FSH/Progesterone/AMH values with me...thrown for a loop

[SidneyBristow]

Last night I received results from an AMH test and have been seeing conflicting info as to how dire the situation is (if at all). I'm 38, TTC now for 14mos, and my appt with a consultant for a review/HyCoSy/Antral Follicle Count is not for another two weeks. Really hoping that some of you have been down this road and can share your experience, so I can go to the appointment mentally prepared, with a list of questions at the ready.

Husband's SA came back tip-top so I don't think that's factoring into the situation.

My cycles have always been 27-28 days long. We use OPKs/CBFM/temping to keep an eye on ovulation. Vaginal ultrasound in Feb showed no abnormalities.

My FSH measured at 6, and LH at 4, in Feb 2013. Progesterone was 52 2 weeks later (day 3/day 21 tests).

AMH test from last week was 16.1, within the "low fertility" range on the FC's results page of 3.08-21.97.

A rummage around the internet tells me that 16.1 is sometimes considered in normal range, but not accdg to the FC that did the test.

Has anyone else got a similar reading, when their FSH/LH came back normal? What was the next step, IVF or Clomid maybe? I just would like to get used to the idea of what might be around the bend, before I'm sat in front of a doctor after 2 weeks of worst-case-scenarios running round my head.

Those values are not too different to mine. I'm 37 now but my tests were done a while back when I was 35/36. I can't remember the exact numbers but my FSH and LH were pretty low and of no concern. Same sort of ball park as yours. My AMH was 12.1, which I was told was in the "low fertility" bracket but normal for my age (bearing in mind it is supposed to indicate egg reserves you would expect it to get lower with age). My AFC has always been good. I ovulate every month and everything physically looks fine. My husband's sample is not stunning but doesn't explain no pregnancy after so long.

We were diagnosed with "unexplained infertility" and referred on for IVF. I did natural IVF (so just one egg) and got pregnant from the first round, although I miscarried. It was my first ever pregnancy. So clearly, whatever the undiagnosed issue is with one or both of us, IVF overcomes it.

Your progesterone test is high and indicates you are ovulating so Clomid won't help (although some NHS drs will give you it to make you go away and try for another 6 months). I would say it would be pointless in your case.

Have you had your tubes checked yet? If there are eggs and sperm, checking they can get to one another is usually the next step.

Thanks for the reply euro. I'm sorry to hear of your mc. What a roller coaster this has all turned out to be.

A hycosy and AFC scan will be part of the appointment in 2 weeks. I've never had a tube check before; I was stupidly waiting for my gp to arrange one at the 1yr mark, but she said only a FC could offer it, and the wait was about 8 months. We won't qualify for IVF on the NHS anyway as my husband has two children already, so basically I'm kicking myself for not making a private FC appointment at the 6 month mark, just to know if there was an issue, instead of listening to my GP spout off the 90% of couples are pg within a year statistic.

Did your clinic say that your AMH level was an issue in terms of IVF being successful? I'd mentally resigned myself to IVF but only bc I'm finding ttc naturally increasingly stressful, but the idea of IVF being my only realistic option is frightening. I hadn't thought that clomid would do much for me but am grasping at straws, really, bc heading for IVF just seems so final, and just terribly scary. It hurts to think that the last 14 months of trying, all the hopes and initial excitement and ups and downs, was probably all for nothing.

I think your results sound excellent. When I just turned 31 my amh was 17 and I was told it was satisfactory. 18 months later last year aged 32 my amh was 3 but everything else was normal. Cue panic. I've learnt now that many many people have amh of 0. something and still can get pregnant naturally or with ivf. Some clinics swear by amh where others pay no attention to it. Also I gather the ZW clinic have stopped testing it now for ivfers as apparently it bares no relevance on success.
It's very hard to know what to do when you are unexplained. Most docs will say that it is normal to conceive within 2 years and certainly people on various threads I've been on have spontaneously conceived after 18-24 months of trying. But of course you can't predict your individual outcome and of course as time goes on the more stressful it becomes.. For me I had to systematically get things checked from tubes to laparascopy to immune system and just went through ruling things out before hitting ivf. I reluctantly did ivf after 2.5 years of trying as I felt a time pressure because of my amh level and sex just was not getting me pregnant.

I would also not be too concerned about your results. I am 36 and had an FSH of 9.5 in about March and an AMH of 19 in May, but an AFC in the high 20s. We had been trying for nearly a year before going to a private clinic (already have a child so minimal testing only on NHS- though I did get the HSG out of them). Although my AMH and FSH are technically outside "normal" the consultant was unconcerned.

We remain unexplained and I am currently in the 2WW following our 1st IVF cycle. But I responded we'll to fairly low dose stimms and produced 8 embryos, 3 of which were good enough for using/freezing at 5 days. So no idea of the outcome yet, but no sign of iffy egg quality.

Good luck, I hope your next appt goes well and you can make progress.

aid my clinic glanced at my AMH result and that was it. It has never been mentioned. I think fertility clinics routinely see people with values of zero or close to it (and many of them go on to have successful pregnancoes) so your value is unlikely to be of any concern at all. I've heard the same as joy - that some clinics are not bothering to use AMH as an indicator of anything any more.