Dhea or not??

[Sunshinelove8]

Hi all , after recurrent miscarriages all at 8-9 weeks , I suspect I have egg quality issues ( all other tests were clear except low amh)
I read it starts with the egg book which suggested it’s beneficial and there are a lot of studies showing how for ivf especially it improves egg quality / quantity retrieved etc However, my fertility consultant said stop it immediately and he’s seen it negatively impact his ivf clients . So I’m totally confused ! Wondered if any of you out there had experience of it working / not working ? X

Let us know how you get on @Sunshinelove8 x

@SpyroC unfortunately my progesterone went down yesterday but back up today so they won’t cycle me . I thought things like oestrogen and fsh were things to worry about definitely not progesterone! I didn’t even realise that was a baseline test. I’ve stopped dhea now and hopefully , if it was that, my body can reset X

@Sunshinelove8 I'm sorry to hear that, how frustrating! Hopefully not taking DHEA will get you back to normal. No I didn't realise that either perhaps it's an argc thing as they are supposed to be ultra thorough. The Dr at my clinic has said to continue taking 75mg a day as apparently the level in my blood bares no resemblance to the level in my follicles. I think I'm just going to do 25mg as my testosterone is on the low side so I don't want it falling off a cliff. I give up at this point! At least this cycle will show me what taking significantly less DHEA does. Hopefully, it's not any worse than the last 2! X

Hi ladies just found this from another mumsnet user on dhea and seems to be what has happened in my case . I don’t think I’ll toy with hormone supplements again as don’t really know how the body will choose to convert

Be careful with the DHEA, I found it increased my progesterone levels too early in the cycle resulting in my lining thickening prematurely and becoming out of sync with the follicles (something that didn't happen in my successful first cycle). Apparently this is a fairly common side effect of DHEA.

There is also a lot of evidence that points to eggs developing in high progesterone environments are of poorer quality.

Hi all, sorry I forgot to come back ok this thread. I had a BFN unfortunately and am mid way through Stims for another round of IVF. Moved to Lister for this round and I’m still taking DHEA and now getting my levels monitored at GP.

I stopped taking it for around a month for the TWW and two weeks afterward and my testosterone fell from 1.75 to 0.8 so it does drop if you stop.

@Sunshinelove8 I’m so sorry to hear about your round getting cancelled. I hadn’t heard about that issue. I think it’s good you are with ARGC as if wonder if other clinics might have just gone ahead as they don’t pay as much attention and it could have been a bad round for you.

When are you going again?

How are you getting on @SpyroC

Hi @Racinglikeapronow I'm so sorry to hear about you bfn. 😔

Funnily enough I just got back from my embryo transfer. That's really interesting about how quickly your testosterone dropped as when I had mine tester it was 0.7 (it was 0.6 at initial fertility investigations) yet my DHEA s was double the top of the normal range for an 18-29 year old! I got tested as I am convinced it got too high during my last round as my acne went from bad to the worst it's even been. My clinic still said to take it but I decided to try reducing the dose to 25mg. I had half my usual follicles and only 2 eggs yet both made it to day 5 and 1 of them is the best quality we've ever had. It could've be a complete coincidence of course. Hopefully, I won't have to go again but if I do I'll be monitoring testosterone closely! I didn't think the go would get so that's great.

What does your new clinic say about DHEA? Best of luck for this round.

That’s exactly what happened in my round @SpyroC x2 eggs and x2 top quality blasts one 5BA and one 4AA. Bit odd we both got the same outcome on the DHEA.

Good luck over the next two weeks. Hope this one sticks! 🤞

Oh new clinic say to keep taking it as can’t rule out it is what made the difference. So will see what happens this round.

Hi @Racinglikeapronow I can see you were at Lister. I am with them too - 2x top quality on day 3 and no blastocyst 😵‍💫
Started to think about Dhea, how did it work for you?
Any other tops/comments would be also appreciated from anyone!
thank you 🙏