decreased ovarian reserve

[aliciaw85]

Hello
Iv just received my letter that was sent to the doctor to confirm we have been accepted for Ivf and reading the letter it's says I have decreased ovarian reserve! So I go to google and now I'm panicking, as anyone been the same and had success with Ivf! I'm 29! And hopefully be booking in for my teach in dec

Thanks

Google is a scary place when investigating dor. I think you need to get the figures that suggest that diagnosis - high fsh, low amh or afc- to work out if the situation is v bad or not.

Age is on your side low numbers but you'll probably still have good quality.

Hi Ali, I am in the middle of my first cycle of IVF. I am down regging at the mo. I paid extra to get an AMH blood test as it wasn't available on the NHS.
The test showed that I had low reserve for my age. I did the same as you - panicked but the nurse has reassured me that they will just adapt my meds to compensate. If anything the meds should be more accurate now - hopefully it's the same for you x

Hi,
Just thought I'd share my story, to hopefully give you some reassurance. Was ttc 4 years and referred for ivf. I paid extra for amh test and it came back at 5.2!!! Very low. However, was told that my meds/injections would be upped to compensate for this.
Had to do the long protocol and at EC I got 5 eggs. All 5 eggs fertilised and two were put back on day 3. Got my very first bfp 13 days later!! Obviously still have a long way to go, but fx it sticks.
Oh, and to make you feel even better, I'm an oldie at 38 years old!!!

Thank you all for your replys, as iv not started yet and my consult as not explained anything I'm really clueless to it all! But on the letter it says my amh is 10.65 and antral follicle count is 9????

What does bfp mean? (Sorry just getting used to these)

Good luck to you all and thank you again for the replys I feel a lot better now

Bfp= big fat positive!!!
I don't know anything about the follicle count but as your amh is double mine, just go for it. As I said you will just have your meds adjusted so will be on a higher dose for stims.
I didn't know any of this until I started so don't be afraid to ask questions. We've all been there! And the ladies on this forum are lovely

Congratulations bet that's felt amazing seeing that positive sign!

I'm so excited but also nervous! And I'm Defo gonna be asking questions

Your scores are low ish but not horrible. I had afc of 4/5 and was told I'd never conceive - after 2 mc I had my ds. All naturally conceived
Afc stands for resting follicles all you need is one good egg!

That's brilliant news and cake

Iv had 2 mc and a ectopic which they took my right tub and my left is blocked!

I'm so thankful for all these messages as my mood as changed to positive! I can't wait for my period(never fort I would say that) so I can book in for my teach hopfully

As anyone done or doing the long protocol at st marys? Iv been refused twice now to book in but on my second attempt I asked questions where I found out I was doing long protocol she told me that if I was able to book in I would go in on day day5 have bloods and scans then they would book me in for a endo scratch then day21 start taking my injections, my question is! Is it that simple and do you have a teach?? A friend of mine as done short protocol so I know a lot about that and nothing about long

Oh and also she said they are doing things different this year! So would love to hear from women who are doin it this year

??

I'm really surprised that you were told you ovarian reserve was diminished based on those results.

Mine were quite similar (but I am 35) and I was told my ovarian reserve was good...

I had a very low dose of stim drugs (150iu gonal f ) and the cycle worked perfectly.

Everyone is different, and responds to the stim drugs differently, but I wouldn't be disheartened at this stage - it all looks pretty positive from here!

Hi batterypoweredhen thanks for your reply, iv not been told anything tbh it's was all written on a letter I recieved that was sent to my gp so I'm pretty clueless! All I know is I'm doing the long protocol at st marys but they said it's changed how they do things this year!

Did you do long protocol? And was it at st marys?

I really wouldn't be panicking at this stage, there are many ladies on here with AMH of less than 1 who still go on to conceive.

The main factor you have in your favour is your age though. AMH is only a measure of egg number, not egg quality. Given your age, whatever eggs you do produce are likely to be of good quality and more likely to produce quality embryos.

I did short protocol at the Lister, so sorry, I can;t really offer you any insight on long protocol.

I am also quite surprised that you would be put on long protocol if the clinic are concerned about your ovarian reserve - short protocol is more commonly used in these scenarios. Might be worth investigating, esp as the side effects (and costs!) are far worse with long protocol than short.

I also don't think those results are bad, I had my first cycle at St Mary's in 2013 my afc was 4, AMH 2 and FSH 8 but my FSH jumped to 23 so I moved to donor treatment at Care

Just thought I'd have a read since I am a fellow poor responder.

Your antral follicle count (AFC) of 9 would be from when they scanned you. At the start of each cycle, you have several (well, in your case 9) little follicles on your ovary and your body selects the strongest to continue growing and produce an egg for that month. With IVF, the idea is to get a few of these growing. Your AFC varies from month to month. Some months you might have 9, others 7 or 14. But as others say on here, your age is on your side. Much better for embryo quality to have an AFC of 9 and be 29, than to have an AFC of 14 and be 38.

I am so sorry to hear of your two miscarriages. Did you get any insight into what caused this?

Lauren, haven't spoken to you in ages! How have you been getting on with it all? Still lurking on these infertility threads so I assume you are still going through the donor treatment process? I just had my 9th failed IVF in December. Best result to date and got two top quality embryos transferred. I swear at least one took based on physical feeling and a late period, but still no closer to a baby. Plan to try one last time in March.

...also re AFC, somewhat illogically, it isn't the case that your AFC in a given cycle represents the max possible no of eggs you will possibly produce.

I had an AFC of 10, but ended up with 18 follicles pre EC which yielded 11 eggs, 9 of which were mature.

I think it must be the case that when you have your AFC (baseline) scan at the start of your cycle, there are some antral follicles that are too small to be seen/counted, so don't be too disheartened.

If you would like to do some 'prepping' prior to your cycle starting, this is quite informative.

thanks ladys for you advice

i do feel alot more positive about it all now

because iv had a friend who as just done a short protocol i know everything about what happens but being told im doing the long protocol and i only know a little about it and was hoping to get some insight as to each steps,

i will have a look at the link in a moment thank you batterypoweredhen

shellster52 i dont have a clue to what caused them

Shell! Nice to 'see' you, can't eem remember when we last spoke I never go on here any more im too busy on Fertility Friends volunteering. I had s donor cycle last August and got 1 bloody embie that's it was gutted, we actually got rematched this week for our 4th cycle (2nd with donor) so sorry to hear your news. What's next for you? X

Glad to hear your feeling a lot more positive now alicia. I haven't done the long protocol either so I can't comment. I personally do the estrogen priming protocol. There are so many different protocols and drugs out there and one persons long protocol can vary from the next. Even if your friend hasn't done the same protocol, it must be nice to have someone in real life who understands struggling to conceive and going through IVF.

Lauren, not sure how the donor system works. I assume that's some sort of egg sharing system and she just produced less than expected? Just doesn't seem fair to have used up one of your funded cycles for one egg! Must feel exciting to finally be re-matched and I assume your next cycle isn't far away then. As for me, I plan to try one more time with my cycle starting mid March. I got so close last time which leaves you feeling like there is a possibility of it happening and makes you want to try 'just one more'. The volunteering sounds interesting. I would love to get involved in some pro-active way with other women going through this. Might ask to put a sign up at my IVF clinic.

Hi been on these threads few years back but also our area has been re designing IVF policies. The feedback we have had is AMH much more important for women over 35 and as Per NICE at that stage may be an indicator of success HOWEVER for women under 35 is generally not a cause or reason to not get pregnant so as already said more used to influence meds.
Your antral count is ok

Shellster

We are trying some Immunes meds this time steroids and clexane, are you having immunes treatment? With the donor it was a shared altruistic and she produced 8 (the minimum before they cancel one of you and they all go to one lady) only 1 fertilised, was gutting as my own egg cycle gave me 4 with 100% fertilisation. I start down reg end of feb we might be cycle buddies! The volunteering is great it keeps me busy x

So you got 4 eggs then Lauren? And of the 4, one fertilised. Can understand you being devastated and remember your own cycle producing better! Yes, sounds like we are on track for being cycle buddies! Nice to have someone with complex fertility issues to vent with as we go through IVF again. While I am sure most women on here have been through the ringer emotionally to wind up doing IVF, most produce 10-15 eggs, have a good number fertilise and either get a BFP or have frosties. I am about to do my 10th IVF and with my poor response, have only had 3 transfers. I am not having immunes treatment. My test results seem fine.

Yeah when we got 4 I was gutted, then 25% fertilisation too I couldn't believe it. The clinic accidentally put us in the waiting room next to the donor on egg collection day too it's really stuck with me so in a way it's probably a good job it didn't work. My clinic are giving us some immunes meds without the tests and extra prog as I always bleed before test day. Will you try anything different this time?

Yes, doing donor is a whole new ball game with feeling and emotions I am sure I couldn't understand unless I go down that route myself. I know some women like to meet and know the donor but obviously that isn't the case for yourself.

I was really happy with the way everything went in my cycle last time. I had several mature follicles. But when I went to do the trigger, I accidentally depressed the plunger and lost part of the medicine. Then about a minute after injecting it, I looked down and noticed all watery blood dribbling down my abdomen with splashes on the floor. So that was more medicine lost. My hCG levels the next day revealed they were about half of what they should have been. That resulted in only 3 of the eggs being mature. Two of those were great quality and transferred day 3 and I swear I got pregnant but miscarried early based on symptoms and late period. So I assume it was just a genetically non viable embryo(s). Because everything other than the trigger went very well, I plan to repeat the same protocol but not stuff up the trigger!