Low Antral Follicle Count

[Vea1601]

Hi. We had some private fertility testing this week. We're awaiting the outcome of the AMH test and my husbands semen sample. However I only had 2 follicles on my ovaries. Anyone else ever conceived with this naturally or via ivf? Feeling overhwlemed and traumatised if I'm honest. I wasn't expecting much up. We've tried for 20 months to conceive. I always thought maybe slow sperm or just bad luck... I'm so scared my husbands test will be bad too and we'll never conceive.

Hello Vea, I posted earlier on another thread called Low Ovarian Reserve, some others in a similar position.

My antral follicle count varies cycle to cycle, to the extent that I have a baseline scan at the start of a cycle to decide whether to start stims or wait a month. As an example in January it was 4 but in March I had 14 follicles (and then bloody lockdown happened!).

What I'm saying is one scan with low AFC isn't the end of the world, but could indicate that you will not produce many eggs with IVF if count is consistently low, there is not a lot to stimulate.

Wait and see what the results say all together, and you can always seek another opinion.

@JeNeBaguetteRien wow that is a huge difference! Did you do anything different or was it just a fluke?

Hey @Vea1601

I've had a different result the 3 times I've had afc scans done. My first was only 9 follicles which was very low for my age. I didn't do anything between that and my pre cycle baseline scan and had 15 follicles (managed to get 10 eggs, but only 1 made it to transfer and was a BFN). Just had another baseline because I start my cycle this week and even after 9 months gap (bloody covid) I now have 16. The difference this time is I'm on thyroxine to bring my tsh down to the lower end of normal and I started taking dhea. Your afc combined with your amh result will give a wider picture, but both of these can fluctuate

Hi @MabelG I think it is fluke.
I was using testosterone gel for the cycle before planned treatment so from day 1 of period until period starts, but I used this on all cycles where egg collection has been panned with this clinic.
I recently had a baseline scan with 6 follicles and the clinic said no to starting with that number.

Even when I had IVF over 2 years ago elsewhere the cycle prior to treatment I had AFC of 9 which wasn't bad but then the next cycle when I actually had IVF the cycle was cancelled due to low AFC and poor response.

I am now just waiting for an opportune month!

On my cycle this year when using testosterone I was disappointed with an AFC of 4 but from that got 3 mature eggs.

@Vea1601 I was in your position last year - my AFC was 2/3. I was recommended to have the AMH and that came back as normal for my age. I bought It Starts with the Egg and followed as much of their advice as I could before IVF. So did DH (we also had minor sperm issues) We got lots of eggs at egg collection and 2 made it - I am currently 8 weeks pregnant and have one in the freezer!

Oh - I also did lots of acupuncture with a fertility specialist too.