Did you have the AMH test?

[ICSI]

We've just had our first appointment with the IVF clinic and have been sent for more blood tests a dye test with a long name I can't remember! And the doctor offered an AMH test for £100 as it isn't available on the NHS.

He said if we could afford it we should have it as it will be useful for our future treatment, but I didn't get any more information than that!

My googling has told me that it's about checking your egg reserves. If they need the information for future treatment why isn't it provided as part of the care?

Other places I've looked have said that if they find you have low egg reserves it means they won't offer you treatment.

Does anyone have any experience of this?

If you are doing IVF through the NHS you can do the AMH test but you have to pay for it - think it was £95 back in 2014

I had it done at my private IVF clinic last year so that they could understand what level of stimming medication to give - my AMH actually came back a little lower than average for my age so they increased my stims from 150ml to 225ml

I asked about getting it redone this year and they said not to bother as I moved on to natural
Modified IVF which is very low dose anyway so only targeting a couple of follicles

It can't really tell you much about your egg reserves or the quality of your eggs it's more about how they expect your body to respond to the drugs - high AMH means you likely won't need a high dose (saves money!) but could mean you have PCOS and so have to be monitored closely for OHSS but very low AMH means you may only get a couple of follicles so it's better to be mentally prepared for that before you start

Thank you for the advice!

This was my first appointment so I'm anticipating quite a long wait before we get to the treatment, will they need to redo it then?

I've had mixed messages about PCOS, I had a scan and they said I had polycystic ovaries, but my hormone profile didn't reflect that. I don't have any of the usual signs as well!

It shouldn't change much within 6 months but then again I've seen some people post before how theirs has dropped quite dramatically- depends on how old you are really? As you get older it's going to drop faster

I got my AMH done at the Nuffield which I think was about £80 as I read it was useful to know.

It came back low at 7.8 so the clinic advised if I was going to do IVF, now is better than later.

They explained it to me that I may go through menopause a couple years earlier than average and they may get a few less eggs at collection. But I don’t think it necessarily indicates on quality or ovulation. E.g. you can have a low AMH and still be ovulating good quality eggs each month right now, but maybe not for as long as someone with higher reserves. (I think!)

They put me on higher strength drugs and we got 12 eggs at collection.

My AMH was part of the nhs funded ivf cycle. Might be another postcode lottery.

I had my AMH done as part of an assessment package which included sperm tests other bloods and hycosy - cost £400. I have PCO and an AMH of 42. I’m overweight but hormone profile fine and I regular periods. I’ll be starting IVF next month and doing short protocol low dose drugs x

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your replies, it's good to hear so many different experiences.

@JandL2020 did they explain the hormone profile and PCO to you? I was told there is a difference between PCO and PCOS initially and PCO means you shouldn't have trouble conceiving but the IVF consultant said I had PCOS so I'm a bit confused!

My DH has low sperm scores in all areas so we have a double whammy!

I've bought the Zita West book and read taking inositol is good for my issues so have bought the powder and started taking this every day

I was advised by my NHS IVF clinic to get my AMH done, after a discussion with my sister about it, I decided against having it done as I knew I needed IVF due to PCOS and all I needed was 'one good egg'. Finding out I had a low egg reserve would only have a negative impact on my mental health and I figured if the the NHS needed to know my AMH, they would test it. Nobody ever asked me if I had had it done or asked to see the results so in retrospect I'm glad I didn't do it.

@ICSI

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your replies, it's good to hear so many different experiences.

@JandL2020 did they explain the hormone profile and PCO to you? I was told there is a difference between PCO and PCOS initially and PCO means you shouldn't have trouble conceiving but the IVF consultant said I had PCOS so I'm a bit confused!

My DH has low sperm scores in all areas so we have a double whammy!

I've bought the Zita West book and read taking inositol is good for my issues so have bought the powder and started taking this every day

Yes but not in much detail. All I was told is that I had normal androgen index and other parameters were normal not in keeping with PCOS, I also had a progesterone of 34 the month I was tested so showed I ovulated. From ultrasound it shows I have loads of follicles and my AMH confirms PCO. So basically in my mind I don’t have the full syndrome but I have many crap eggs that don’t mature nicely every month. There is a genetic factor to PCO. My sister has it too and was put on metformin but didn’t help. Sorry to hear about your other half. We’ve had a few sperm tests done now. First couple were on the low side (14.3 million) and low morphology. But it’s gone up to 17 million and 4 percent morphology. Could be coincidence could be proxeed plus sachets who knows. But we’ve gone from only eligible for ICSI to normal IVF so saving a bit of money there. Fingers crossed it stays good for next few months before egg collection. There’s every chance we can still conceive naturally but I’ve just lost hope now after 2 years. Best of luck with your journey xx

My NHS clinic do it as standard to decide what protocol to put you on.

Up to 30% of women have pco, which can come and go. It is considered to be a normal physical variant of ovaries. Not a lot of info on it, because it is not a 'condition'.

I did a tonne of research when I was found to have pco.

We had it done, as part of a wider list of tests we paid for privately. Mine was 25.2 which is good for a 39 year old. Sadly l think my eggs are rather poor quality. AMH is only about quality of eggs rather than quality