Aged 40. FSH 12.1. Progesterone 26.5. Any hope?

[HeyPresto1]

As above, I am despairing slightly that there is probably not very much hope of conceiving without a 'helping hand' and am wondering if there is anything that we might try. Clomid? Clomid and progesterone? Acupuncture? Or am I hoping for a miracle? Lovely GP has kindly referred us to a fertility specialist at the end of next month but I am anticipating that they may well say that there is nothing they can do for us. Any advice would be very gratefully received.

How long have you been trying?

To be honest, id go straight to the best clinic you can affird and thriw EVERYTHING at it.

Thank you Queenie, have been trying since May, we are very fortunate to already have 2 year old DD who was conceived naturally on cycle 10 of TTC before. Finances are not amazing but we could find some money for prescriptions. Certainly not enough to fund IVF though...

Hi Presto,

They are not disastrous results and it's definitely possible.

All is takes is 1 good egg so don't give up hope. I guess they will run some more tests and decide whether to do a medicated cycle or increase your chances with IUI/IVF.

There are a couple of 40+ threads going. I follow the "knocked up" one.

Acu can help but that isn't cheap either so you may decide to do either fertility treatment or acu. Or a few acu treatments when you start receiving treatment.

I take ubiquinol which is recommended for 40+ fertility. There are loads of supplements - I find EPO and drinking loads of water helps increase ewcm.

Are you ttc#1?

Sorry, our posts crossed.

A medicated cycle would increase your chances as I think Clomid stimulates ovulation and progesterone would thicken your lining and improve chances of implantation. So I guess both boost hormone levels.

The fact youve already had a successful pregnancy naturally is a great sign. I wouldnt have thought you could be prescribed anything unless you had a known issue to deal with. I take it youre using OPKs etc?

True, things can't have changed that much in 2-3 years...

The fertility specialist will definitely suggest some ideas - this is what they're there for. They are the best person to advise - they may suggest ttc naturally for a bit longer.

Temping will definitely help but GPs often don't recommend it.

Thank you so much, Ali and Queenie. I have a short luteal phase (usually 8 or 9 days) and am concerned that this may be hindering our chances. Am grateful that our GP has offered us a referral and I suppose will just have to see what they suggest - if anything!

There are supplements which help lengthen a short luteal phase - B6 perhaps and probably others. There might be a thread on that somewhere..

Hey presto your post struck a chord with me because I had fsh of 12 age 34. I thought it was over and I was in trouble (had no dcs at the time).

However I got pregnant straight away after this news although it ended in mmc.

We did end up doing ivf as it was recommended to speed things up- luckily it worked first time. However, when ds was 9 months old we started trying again (;naturally) and somehow got a bfp 4 weeks later! I now have 2 under 2!

Overall point is that it is possible. You just need 1 good egg. Agree that you need to start taking uniquinol and high dose vitamin b6. Theres also a book called "it starts with the egg" - lots of suggestions in improving egg quality.

Ivf could help, although of course you won't get this on the NHS. The Biggest issue with low ovarian reserve is that you're not likely to respond that well to the ivf meds, producing less eggs and therefore in theory, reducing the chance of it working. Again however, it does only take 1 good 1!

It might be worth posting this in infertility as you'll likely get some specialised responses from other people who have been through similar.

Ps- are ovulating? I'm not sure from those progesterone results as I can't remember what the cut off was to confirm ovulation - what did gp say?

So sorry for the delayed response, Ali and Chatty. Have been out in the sticks with minimal reception over Christmas! Thank you both so much for your kind advice and for the reassurance. Yes, I'm definitely ovulating but short luteal phase and low progesterone have been an issue since we started TTC the first time around in 2013 and my LP has never been improved by vitamin B6 or agnus castus. I will order some co-enzyme Q10 and the book suggested and will keep everything crossed! Thank you again.