FSH 9.1 and panicking can anyone help?

[Wearytree]

So I'm lying here awake and panicking. I'm soon to be 38, ttc cycle 6, one early mc cycle 2 and had cycle day 4 LH and FSH bloods done last week.

I got the results today, I can't remember the LH as so fixated on an FSH of 9.1 ... I googled it and nothing but horrendous things came up.

I'm terrified that this indicates I've got low ovarian reserve and that the mc was because of low quality eggs. It seems that this is the one thing that can't really be 'fixed'.

My GP wants to repeat the test but on day 2 next cycle and do oestrogen as well. She said she'd prefer to see 4, 5 or 6 so 9 seems so high.

Can anyone help me feel less awful about this? My heart is racing and I feel so so panicky. We want a baby so much x

@physicskate you reckon I should just throw in the towel on the teaching job now? I got pregnant in the summer holidays so reckon that made a difference. Plan is to hand my notice in at Easter if not pregnant by then - I absolutely loathe it these days anyway.

Teaching isn't a job you can do while you loathe it (I know that was why it was best I quit). The kids deserve better and so do you!! Plus it's a terrible job to have young children.

One of the best things I ever did. But being a physics teacher, I know I could easily get back in...

@physicskate ah I hide it well and I work hard for the kids. But it's draining me dry having this going on at the same time and the behaviour generally in the school is going downhill- it's stressful and not helping. I'm English secondary, so should be ok to go back.

Hello, I wanted to give my personal experience with ivf.I had amh tested instead of fsh and unfortunately it was pretty low for my age.i am 35 and level was under 7... however in my first round I got plenty of eggs which was very surprising.my conclusion is that it is just luck and maybe the drugs work differently for people.I have been trying to get pregnant for 2.5 years and never got a positive and I know I didn't have chemical pregnancies as my period always came earlier.I still try to figure out how I got many eggs with high number fertilized and never happened naturally.Science is a mistery!!

GG2233 not sure what your game is but you appear to be trolling quite a few threads on there today. Reported.

@Wearytree Please don’t worry. My FSH was 7.7 at 36 when I conceived naturally. It’s now between 8.7 and 9.1 at 38/39 and I’m growing 12 follicles in my first IVF cycle. My subfertiIity is definitely not age related - I started TTC at 33.

No clinic I’ve attended has seen my FSH numbers as a problem. The FSH cutoff for my previous clinic is 10 and they didn’t even mention my 9.1 measurement. My current clinic felt my chances of an IVF cycle working were good with an anterior follicle count of 12 and an AMH of 7.7, although I’m obviously an older patient and they’ve tailored their protocol accordingly. They certainly didn’t believe those numbers could be a cause of infertility.

The people struggling to conceive with high FSH/low AMH/low anterior follicle count have numbers like FSH 39, AMH 0.2 and/or 2 follicles (or similar). They’re not in your range at all and even though they are often given low chances of IVF working (because the idea is to generate lots of eggs), they often find success with mild/natural IVF or a natural pregnancy.

In short, your GP is an idiot who has worried you needlessly. You have perfectly decent results for a 38-year-old. The likelihood of success depends on the cause of your infertility, not those numbers, and although you might take longer to conceive than someone of 25, lots of people your age have children and with numbers much worse.

I really don’t see why your GP is repeating the results either. FSH is what it is and your numbers shouldn’t preclude you from treatment.

At age 38 if you go longer than 6 months without conceiving I would see a specialist - regardless of your fsh reading (which we know isn’t very accurate) time is not on your side (sorry).

As it’s been 4 months since your last pregnancy I’d try for a couple more months and gets husband sperm test done in the meantime. If you get to 6 months without a bfp I would suggest seeing a specialist to get AMH and AFC done - if these are good you’ve got more time and can try naturally for a while. If those confirm diminished ovarian reserve then you’d want to push on with fertility treatment sooner rather than later. Having all the information to hand will never be a bad thing!

Ivf is so hard - I got through it by making sure I had no regrets. My one regret was trusting the GP saying my fsh was normal when it wasn’t as I wasted a month! We then went to an open evening and spoke to a consultant for free who said yes rack on with ivf - GP would have left us trying for longer as My day 21 progesterone showed I was ovulating. Guidelines are of fsh >9.5 refer urgently (see article I linked before) and if trying more than 6 months after age 35 refer.

Good luck

My fsh was 19 and amh 1.8 I now have a little boy from round 6 of ivf. We also had sperm issues I would get on with fertility investigations with your partner so that you have no regrets.

The fsh of 19 was at 31 and the amh about 2 years ago I had my little boy at 36 I dread to think what my levels are now.

But then look at Zoe hardman she had very low amh didn't get any eggs to freeze but conceived naturally no probs and has two little ones. No hard and fast rules with it.

Thanks @Misty999 and @hoping2018 we've had DH's semen analysis back and all is fine and normal, which is a relief. My day 21 test showed I am ovulating, or did that month anyway, so I'm hoping it's just a matter of keep trying- that's what the doctor said anyway. This cycle (currently 4dpo) will be our sixth since mc and 8th in total. So I should probably push for the AMH if not successful this month then?
I'm so scared of it being low. Feeling so anxious

Hi. I just wondered if anyone could update on their progress on this board? Thanks

I have a second DS from my first IVF cycle (the one I posted about above).

I’m now trying to get my fertility-linked health problems under control to attempt a second IVF cycle, aged 42 (!), with the aim of trying for a third DC.

@Londonwriter thank you so much for your reply. I hope you have success with your next round.

I turned 35 a couple of weeks ago and I’m also TTC a third. First two were conceived with no issues aged 29 (took one month) and 32 (took eight months) but we’ve been trying for 10 months now for a third with no success. Initial tests haven’t flagged anything apart from my FSH at 9.6 so I’ve been completely panicking that this is why we can’t conceive and maybe I have low ovarian reserve. X

Update: Just in case anyone stumbles across this thread and has the same dreadful FSH worries... I now have two beautiful children, a little girl coming up three this autumn and a little boy who is 4 months. I didn't need to worry like so many pp said.

I'm having to have FSH investigated for a different reason now and it prompted me to look up my levels of 2018!

@Wearytree thank you so much for the update. Please could you let me know how long it took and if you needed any intervention? Xx

@Hoping43 I fell pregnant with my little girl cycle 7 I think, so very soon after I posted about FSH. It was a totally uncomplicated pregnancy.

I then had three miscarriages before falling pregnant with my little boy. I had investigations with Prof Regan's miscarriage clinic but it wasn't necessarily a hormonal/age issue, it was a septate uterus. She operated to resect it and I fell pregnant cycle 2 after the operation and that was that. I was on progesterone until 14 weeks, aspirin and heparin the whole way through.

So it wasn't plain sailing to get here but the FSH result didn't seem to play a part. The journey to my second pregnancy I was pregnant every 2/3 months so didn't have an effect on my fertility.

Name change fail... oh well!

@glowingtwig ah ok thanks! I have been TTC for 15 months now. No issues can be found. My FSH was 9.6 last November so god knows what it is now. But my AMH is 18.6 so the consultants aren’t bothered by my FSH but something obviously isn’t working. I’ve got two children conceived easily in 2016 and 2018. I am on letrozole now but for unexplained infertility so don’t think the odds of it working are great and we are due to start IVF after Xmas x

@Hoping43 I'm so sorry, 15 months, that's so hard. Wishing you success with the ivf.

@glowingtwig thank you. It’s certainly not easy to say the least x