AMH 0.6 at 34 ... looking for a little positivity

[freya1982]

Hello,
Im 34 and have been diagnosed with POF.
My AMH is 0.6 :-( and I just had a scan which showed only 4 follicles in total.
I am still trying to learn all about IVF and really just come to terms with the whole situation.
My fiance and I have been trying for 2.5 years to conceive naturally with no luck. I have been told by a private Hospital in Bristol (I did not qualify for IVF on NHS) that I only have a 5% chance of IVF being successful using my own eggs...if they can even collect any.
Obviously I am absolutely devastated at this news and just wondered if there was anyone else out there who has had a similar experience...and maybe even a success story?
Or maybe if anyone has any recommendations of private clinics as I wasnt 100% comfortable that I liked the Hospital I visited in Bristol...or maybe it was more the outcome of the appointment that has clouded my judgement.

Thank you

Hi OP. I don't have any experience of this myself but, when being on various boards on the Internet, there's many women who have had pregnancies with your AMH level. Try going on fertility friends and there's some success stories there

Yes. My amh was 2.8 at 34. I had around 6 follicles on the scan. I was told we needed ivf because of the low amh but the clinic were also fairly pessimistic tbh and said I was likely to respond badly and my chances of it working were "diminished".

However, several things happened. I got pregnant naturally before we did the ivf - sadly was a miscarriage. We then did the ivf and yes I responded badly. 4 follicles grew- 2 eggs collected. I was sure it was a write off. However- 1 embryo- 1 bfp who is now almost 2.5!

The next thing that happened is that when I stopped breastfeeding when baby was 9 months old and my period came back, we started trying naturally. I had very low expectations and thought it would take years/wouldn't happen/would need ivf..... instead I got a bfp 4 weeks later- who is now a ten month old.

I hope this all gives you some hope. Is there anything other than the low amh stopping you from trying naturally? As you can see- low amh on its own doesn't stop conception either way (ivf or natural). Egg quality is the most important thing, and at 34, your eggs should still be good.

Let me me know if I can help further.

One q- do you know what your FSH is?

Are your periods still regular/still ovulating?

A colleague at work at AMH of 0.34 I believe. She did a few rounds of IVF and had twins.

It was difficult for her to release eggs but as she was 32 her few eggs were good quality and led to two live births!

You are only 34 so remember your egg quality wokld be good. A womans age is the biggest predictor of IVF success (as my gynaecologist told me).

** Sorry second paragraph should say "it was difficult for her to have a lot of eggs collected following IVF"

Sorry freya, it s horrible when you get negative results. I too got an amh of 0.51 at 34 after 18mns of ttc with no other issues identified. I was utterly devastated.

Had it retested at a different clinic the next month for pre ivf testing and was 3.1. Still v low but goes to show it can vary (they say you can do it at any time of the month but the 1st test was day 21 and all other i ve had were day 2/3).

That month my antral follicle count was 5 and i naturally concieved my now 5yr old son.

I concieved again at 38 (amh 2) after 6mns trying whilst still breastfeeding (tho sadly miscarried but we think due to immune issues) however as a previous poster has said its quality thats important and at age 34 that will still be good for you.

Its worth trying to pick an ivf clinic with expertise in dor (we had been recommended the Lister in london at the time) and many now pretreat with dhea so could also be worth looking into that (and some concieve on it while waiting for ivf).

I wish you the best of luck with your journey but there are many stories of ladies with low amh who go on to concieve either naturally or with ivf so don t lose hope.

Hi Chattycat78

Thank you for your reply and sharing your story. That is truly amazing that you have gone on to have two children. Im very happy for you and it does give me some hope that this may happen naturally for me, as you say, it only takes one egg.

I do have quite aggressive Rheumatoid arthritis which could potentially contribute to me not falling pregnant naturally. I am on an Anti TNF medication Enbrel and Prednisone, all of which dampen down my immune system so in theory shouldn't cause any issues with my conceiving naturally.

I am having periods roughly every 3 months at the moment. I am doing ovulation tests every day but I rarely get a positive. I do get a lot of what I call "faint positives" so now im a little confused and not sure that I will really be able to tell.
My first FSH test was 26, my second test (turned out to be 2 days before my period came) was 12.

My consultant told me that we would have to wait until day 1-2 of my periods and check my hormone levels and if there was a cycle where the levels were acceptable then, and only then, could I start IVF medication. I am having my IVF meeting soon so I am sure I will understand more then as at the moment Im still learning how everything works.

I havent had my AMH retested recently though so after hearing your experience I may get that done...just in case :-)

Thank you

Hi Hula2

Thank you for you message.
I have just realised that it was your message that contained the change in AMH. I am definitely going to get mine retested just incase.
Again, its lovely to hear you were able to conceive naturally. I have felt so much more positive since reading your stories.

Can I ask, anyone who has fallen pregnant naturally. Did you have regular periods and did you use ovulation predictor kits?
I want to find the best way to try and work out when I ovulate.
Thank you again for all your help

I'm so sorry for your test results but I know of 2 people who have had successful IVF with similar AMH

The usual go-to for low AMH treatment is Create, and I think they have a satellite clinic in Bristol

But given your immunity issues, it might be also worth getting a consultation at ARGC or Zita West in London, although ARGC might not treat you due to your AMH. Definitely worth meeting with them though

Good luck

ARGH treat only if your FSH is below 10 unfortunately. But Lister in London have good results and state they treat many patients with low AMH.

Lister is a good general clinic but isn't usually regarded as a low-AMH specialist

It's nurse-led, rather than a clinic where you see a doctor so it wouldn't be my first choice. The nurses don't have the same experience and authority to alter your medication dose/type which is a lot more important for poor responders

They are also not particularly hot on immune issues. They'll give you Prednisolone and intralipids if you ask for them but at a bog standard dose and without actually doing any immune tests first

Hi Freya- is the arthritis a factor in not getting pregnant then- or could it have caused the low amh- is that what the clinic said?
Sorry I don't know much about that side of things.

On the period question- yes they were regular and I did try ovulation kits but they didn't work brilliantly for me but I don't know if that was because I just didn't happen to catch the positive. I also tried the clear blue digital ovulation kit and I was getting highs and peaks with that.

On the amh test- as a point of interest my friend had a similar result to me and then got it retested about 3 years later. It had gone from 2.7 to 6 in that time..... So I'm not sure how much faith I have in it.

Hi Freya, have to be brief as not much time, but I have a success story for you 😊 At 36 I was told my AMH level was 0.2, one of the lowest levels I've heard of. I was devastated, and convinced we wouldn't be able to have a second child (had ds at 31). However, after five rounds of IVF it finally worked and we have dd who is now 3. My advice with low AMH & a low AFC is to do a antagonistic cycle (ie no down regulation) and ask if your clinic will do ICSI as in my opinion it gives a bit more of a chance. Dd was a frozen embryo, and I took steroids over ovulation before she was put back in.
Wishing you lots of luck, and just remember, it can happen so stay as positive as you can be.
I've also fallen pg twice naturally since dd was born too, but sadly lost them both at 8 weeks. So, natural conception can happen too 😊

PS despite my AMH level I managed to get between 3-8 eggs each cycle, and my doctors ended up telling me to completely disregard the AMH result as it obviously didn't mean anything in my case!!

Freya,

Yes my cycles were regular (around 30 days, now 26/27) when I concieved ds and i did get positive opks on the clearblue tests.

What dose of prednisolone are you on for your rheumatoid arthritis ? The reason i ask is when i was trying some immune treatment for high cytokines/natural killer cells i was taking 20mg pred for it but only after ovulation and until 10 dpo if a pregnancy test was negative otherwise it can interfere with your cycle and prevent ovulation....if you are only have periods every 3 months it sounds you may not be ovulating. Also your fsh level needs to be on day 2/3 to be relevant. I would definetly second finding a ivf clinic that is good with immune issues as there can be links with other immune diseases (The book 'is your body baby friendly by dr beer - explains this well) but also try to find out if your current medication could be causing any issues conceiving naturally.

Hi Freya,

I'm so sorry about the diagnosis, here is another bit of encouragement for you: I had 'undectatable' Amh and FSH of 40odd when first diagnosed, told I wouldn't conceive and instead to do donor egg. I wasn't having periods at the time (I was 34). I did Chinese medicine, acupuncture, gave up caffeine, alcohol, sugar, took she's and coq10 plus other supps and my period came back. Six months later I also started hrt and I got pregnant that cycle with now healthy happy toddler. I appreciate that route isn't for everyone but just wanted to give you a digital hug and say don't give up hope xxx

Hi. I'm not in the same situation but just read an article few days ago about a pioneering treatment for low AMH using plasma rich platelets and injecting it into the ovaries.. maybe you should look into that and google it.

I had an Amh of 1.44 at 28. Took three cycles to get dc1, but the first two were not with a great clinic and failed for reasons other than my egg numbers.
Now pregnant with dc2 on first go (now age 34) Both successful cycles were with care fertility who have been amazing.
Both successful cycles I only had one decent embryo to implant and didn't have more than 6 eggs to fertilise. I think my follicle count was about 4 when I was scanned for my last cycle. But it only takes one good embryo!
As someone up thread said - age is a far more important factor than egg numbers.
We were told there was no reason we couldn't conceive naturally but because of low amh time was not on our side hence ivf being recommended.
Wishing you lots of luck x

Firstly thank you all so so much for sharing your success stories with me.
I cannot tell you how amazing it is to read and it really has made me feel so much more positive and given me so much hope.

Chattycat78 - I have been told that my rheumatoid arthritis may have attacked my ovaries and caused the low AMH but no one can tell for sure. It would make sense as my RA has damaged my lungs and eyes so Im guessing ovaries wouldnt be out of the question.

Hula2 - I am on 7.5mg Prednisolone at the moment which i should be starting to reduce soon. I was told that they would probably up my dose if I was to fall pregnant to try to stop my body attacking the fetus but I was never told about Prednisolone causing ovulation problems - I will look into it - thank you.

Sparechange - thank you for you recommendations.I have been very lost in trying to work out where to go for treatment. Financially we realistically can only afford one go at IVF so I am desperate to find the right clinic.
My initial consultation was at The Spire Hospital in Bristol with Dr Valentine Akande. I just did not get a very good vibe from him, even though he was polite. Everything felt rushed and I was quite put off as when I asked him if diet would help he was completely adamant it would not and dismissed it. He also said my rheumatoid arthritis would not make a difference - it just didn't feel right.

I have looked a lot into Zita west and am going to go for a consultation. I also have an open day at create in Birmingham coming up.
Zita West does look very good so I can quite excited about that :-)

northerlassy1 - thank you for your reply :-)

I am a big believer in nutrition healing the body.
Since I have been reading all of your stories I had a real boost to get back to really concentrating on my diet.
I have cut out sugar, caffeine, gluten (affects my RA) and am eating as many veges, whole grains etc as I can. I have been having smoothies everyday with Maca powder. I am taking Folate, Ubiqinol and krill oil plus lots of green juices!
I am looking into acupuncture too as have read wonderful things about it.
Its very reassuring to hear you period returned after your diet change....fingers crossed mine does too! :-) x

Freya would you be prepared to travel abroad to a clinic? I would highly recommend the clinic that we had our last (and only successful) cycle at. It's in Brussels but can give you info if you'd like. They are used to overseas patients, and are set up for it. I was told to go there by a friend who had her twins through IVF there. She in turn was recommended it by a lady who had had no luck anywhere else, and it worked for her there too. After dd was born I told a friend who'd had many failed cycles about it, and she fell pregnant on her first cycle with them & now has a dd. I really cannot recommend them enough!!

Oh, and I found fresh Royal Jelly was great to take too - there's a good one in Holland & Barrett that I took. Are you taking Spirulina as well?

Hi Chintaria

Yes I would definitely consider a clinic abroad - nothing is off the table at the moment! If you could let me know the details that would be great and I will do some research. I have read about lots of women going abroad for treatment and it being very sucessful. Thank you :-)

I have been adding bee pollen to my smoothies but yet to try royal jelly...it is on my list though.
I have just bought a super foods powder of Spirulina, Chlorella, Wheatgrass, and Barley grass that I have started adding to water and drinking daily (tastes a bit like pond!)
Im not exactly sure of dosages etc but im hoping every little counts!