FSH 15, Follicle Count 7-8, AMH 1.9 pmol...age 38, anyone else had success with these levels?

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Hi,

Has anyone had success with those levels? We are lucky to have a son but we would love to try and give him a sibling. We had an IVF consultation where he was not positive at all, suggested egg banking, 3 cycles back to back, low dose medication and frozen transfer. Per cycle he expected to get only 2-3 eggs, out of 3 cycles maybe 6 eggs and only 2 possibly 3 good embryos to transfer.

I'm only 38 and pretty floored. I suffer from endometriosis and have only been able to conceive after the surgeries. I fell pregnant in December 2019 but lost it in February.

Hey there, I was about to post similar! My AMH is 1.1, scan showed my follicles are developing as they should but with such low reserve they'd only be able to collect 1-3 eggs per cycle. I've spoken to Kings and 2 Greek clinics and about to have a consultation with Create. Only one of the clinics said what this actually meant eg what you've heard but she said they do two collections not 3 with a frozen transfer. I guess it's because with 2 cycles they see the quality of your eggs. I'm also 38 and suffering secondary infertility. We can't try naturally as oh has ED (son conceived through IUI) and I've considered doing IUI since that's 1 egg per go anyway.. But oh was showing poor morphology this time. I have to put on 2 stone and he needs to lose 2 stone! We're aiming to go ahead with 2 rounds of IVF (icsi) in Greece from November. Where did you get that advice if you don't mind me asking? Sending hugs X

Hey - I had an AFC count of 5/6 age 35. I did one cycle of ICSI in June and retrieved 8 eggs. 2 made it to 5 day blastocyst so one was transferred and the other frozen. Currently 11 weeks pregnant. I was really upset after the AFC news but really changed my lifestyle to improve the quality of my eggs. It is possible!

@BabySweet85 would you mind sharing what you did to improve the quality please?

@MF1981 of course. I did a whole load of things so not sure which were the ones that may have worked, but I will list them all so that you could think about which ones you might like to do. I started acupuncture with a fertility specialist and went weekly, I am still going to this and it has been an amazing support though pricey. I also did some fertility yoga poses leading up to IVF treatment every couple of days - just a 15 minute video off youtube. I improved my diet by minimising alcohol and caffeine - when I got the IVF call to say we were top of the list I cut them out completely. I had a ‘fertility smoothie’ everyday, and took Vitamin D supplements. I bought It Starts with the Egg which taught me a lot and I stopped wearing perfume/deodorant and replaced plastics in my kitchen with non bpa materials. I know the deodorant thing sounds awful but it’s interesting that on embryo transfer day you are not allowed to wear anything like cream, perfume, deodorant or nail varnish as it is toxic to embryos, but we wear them the whole time eggs are developing? I think that was about it. I know it seems like a lot and this isn’t an exact science but I retrieved more eggs than I thought possible and ended up with 2 top quality embryos that were graded in the highest category. After feeling so down about my chances I believed in the power of changing my mindset and I believe my mindset changed because I made real changes in my lifestyle that I felt were positive and making an impact. I hope that helps and don’t want to overwhelm you in anyway.

@BabySweet85 that sounds great! What was in your fertility smoothie?

@BabySweet85 also which vit D supplements did you take and did you take any others? I've got that book too!

@MF1981 my fertility smoothie included lots of berries - especially blueberries (usually frozen), banana, half an avacado, spinach/kale, sometimes pineapple (i bought the frozen packs to save money) a bit of coconut milk and coconut water. I also bought some organic powders, a protein one, maca and wheatgrass and put in a half to one tablespoon of each. I messed about with different amounts each time just to get something that tasted nice as the powders could be overpowering. Kale, spinach and berries are good for male fertility so he would drink the smoothie too x

@MF1981 I took Lamberts Vitamin D3 1000iu - their packaging is bpa free and was told to be on at least 1000iu a day. I am still taking this and have been told to throughout my pregnancy.

@BabySweet85 thank you for sharing!

@MF1981 no problem I am happy to share especially when it’s constructive

Hello! I'm quite near the beginning of all this so no success stories yet, but keen to hear from others in a similar position with low AMH.
I'm 33 and I have an AMH of 2.1 and we're trying for number 1. I also suspect I have endometriosis but can't get tested as a laparoscopy might lower my AMH even further. We're starting with 2 rounds of Clomid and after that either doing IUI or egg banking as we'd like 2 children at some point. My consultant also said the same, she would do a low stim and aim to get 2-3 eggs each time. Still trying to decide if IUI is worth it or a waste of time and we should just skip to IVF...

@Babysweet85, what was your amh level? I've been told up to aged 35 fertility is generally on the good side no matter what your scores are. I'm now 38 and have just been told today that I have 6 follicles developing which is encouraging but my AMH level is "very surprisingly low" and combined with my age I've been told today to plan for 3 cycles. So glad you had such success - congratulations :)

Dbop100, I did IUI (successfully) and have thought about trying it now to conceive a sibling for my son but the consultant put it this way to me today: given my AMH is SO low - 1.1 (it has dropped drastically quickly from 8 to 1.1 in 3 years) and my age is 38 so egg quality also begins to really decrease, she wouldn't waste any eggs now and do my best to start banking them through IVF. It made sense to me. In your position If you have the money then I'd have thought it would be worth a couple of goes at iui and meanwhile really work on improving egg quality ahead of ivf.. But given such low amh can indicate collecting few eggs and therefore you may be in for 2-3 cycles at great cost both emotionally and financially you might then decide to save yourself for that as a realistic eventuality. It's a tough decision. I wish you all the best x

@Ellsiedodah thank you that's really useful food for thought. My instinct is to bank eggs whilst I'm still 33 so we can try for siblings... but my consultant thinks IUI could work for us so I'm not sure if egg banking is me being over cautious. As you say it's expensive so it's a hard choice.

Yes reading the egg book and trying to improve egg quality! The Clomid I'm on seems to have helped one of my follicles mature ok, just had a scan today and had 4 follicles in total.

@Ellsiedodah I don’t think I had and AMH test, but I know my FSH was considered normal.

I am 32. My AMH was 5 back in Jan and my AFC has been 8 & 10 for each cycle. I respond much better than I should with my AMH and I honestly think this is due to following the advice given in the book "It Starts With an Egg" as a previous poster has mentioned. It's definitely worth a read. Unfortunately, I also have issues with quality which is probably due to endometriosis (it doesn't mean you will too, endo is a strange beast and affects everyone differently). My last cycle did end in a bfp but sadly it turned out to be ectopic but at least I know it can work. Best of luck x

My amh was 2.8 and my fsh 12 age 34. My follicle count was about 6.

I was told to do ivf ASAP but also that it probably wouldn’t work.

In the meantime, I got pregnant naturally but it didn’t work out. So; did the ivf. As predicted, my response was rubbish. They only collected 2 eggs.

However- one of those eggs became an embryo and then a bfp 2 weeks later. He is now 5.5 years old.

When the ivf baby was 8 months old and my period came back, I thought we’d better get trying (Naturally) if there was any chance whatsoever of a sibling.

2 weeks later I was Staring at a positive pregnancy test and i now have 2 boys with 16 months between them.

Moral of the story- pregnancy is possible through both ivf and naturally with low amh/low ovarian reserve- especially if you are younger. It only takes one decent egg.

@Ilikeviognier wow thank you so much for sharing your story, it's given me some much needed hope!x