IVF now or next cycle - How much can I influence now?

[Youngatheart00]

Just back from nurses appt at our IVF clinic. My AMH and follicle count are both down from the last lot 18 months ago.

My AMH down from 13 to 8 and follicles down from 13 to 10. I’m 18 months older, clearly (now 36) but also worried I haven’t been living as healthy a lifestyle as I could.

Been given the option of starting treatment in 21 days (day 1 of my cycle is today!) or 21 days after my next period, effectively delaying treatment by a month.

Will a month of super clean living change anything now?

I’m so depressed by the deterioration in my results 😞

Most books etc say 3 months for improving egg quality so I would say if you don’t want to wait that long just go for it as the month won’t make or break it. I assume you’ve been taking vitamins anyway so that is something. I also got updated AMH results this week and they declined by 5 year on year too! It’s a horrible shock when not much time has passed so I understand how you’re feeling!!!

You’re not going to get younger by delaying. I would go ahead

Hi @youngatheart00 I just had the same dilemma as you - my AMH is a little lower than yours and I am also 36. We just moved house (well, into our building site) so have been living without a kitchen etc and eating out a lot, incl wine many nights of the week. Nothing crazy but also the occasional ciggy and def more drinks than one is meant to have. In the end we decided to go for it and I'm glad we did. All my eggs were mature and we got a good ratio of blasts to eggs collected (8 collected and 4 blasts). I did a couple of things in the remaining 3-4 weeks before starting stims: cut down alcohol, cut out/down gluten (this related to endometriosis though), started on supplements (figured 1 month not as good as 3 but better than nothing), ubiquinol 300 per day, pregnacare and omega 3. Then when stims started I cut out alcohol (think that's compulsory tho!) and ate a tonne of protein. I also had about 4 acupuncture sessions in the month leading up. No idea if any of it helped at all but I was pleased with the results of the cycle so far. Agree with other posters that you're not getting any younger.

Thank you for your helpful and detailed reply. What is ubiquinol?

Ubiqionol is another name for coQ10 - the active form I think. Can buy in Holland Barrett etc. Meant to be good for eggs if taken 3 months prior but I gave it a go for a month anyway

Thank you - I will get some and start taking. Have decided to wait until next cycle - so that gives me 7 weeks until I start on first round of meds.

Did you continue taking throughout treatment? I’ve been taking pregnacare for a year.