Low amh / 3 lead follicles - need some hope!

[VenusStarr]

I'm doing my first round of IVF, this is my one and only nhs round. I have low amh (5) so was warned they weren't expecting much from me. I have had 4 naturally concieved miscarriages and am following an immune protocol but worried about my low numbers.

I've been on stims since Thursday and had my first scan today. I have 3 decent sized follicles: 2x12mm, 1x10mm plus 5 smaller ones all about 5mm. The nurse seemed happy but thinks that the smaller ones won't come to anything. Follow up is Wednesday and looking at egg collection sometime between Friday and Monday.

I'm on another thread and everyone has loads of follicles / eggs, so struggling not to compare. Due to my low numbers, we've already discussed a day 3 transfer, but I'm worried we won't even get that far.

Please share any positive stories. X

Thanks everyone. You do make me feel better! Yes the one on the right is today’s and it’s definitely darker but when I googled every first response test I could I know it’s lighter than most at this point but it’s still there and getting darker so I should be more positive!

@jolly86 no repeat blood test unless I have any symptoms of loss so it’s a scan on Tues 15 June. So that’s 18 days - not too bad. You just really want to wake up and be sick so you know you’re actually pregnant which sounds crazy!!

@Luan82 there are just so many aspects of life that infertility makes you worry. My friend got pregnant training for an Iron man and the other did the 3 Peaks challenge when she was 6weeks pregnant and there’s us worried about a 3mile jog! I’m trying to find a balance between living my life normally but doing what I can to increase my chances but it’s tough. For what it’s worth I think a bit of exercise is fine, maybe aim for 70% slower and shorter than normal and if you feel tired then walk.

@39andabit 😘

AF is here !!! Can you believe I'm happy about that ?! First injection this evening 🤗

Great news @Luan82 does that mean you start stims today so no more waiting! How are you feeling!

Just saw first injection today! Good luck. Nice to finally start.

@39andabit nervous and excited!! Will call the clinic later today to confirm but pretty sure I can get started tonight. I'm probably more nervous about how my ovaries are going to respond to the stims than I am about the injections tbh!! I've gotten so used to bad news from the consultant it would be so lovely to hear that my body is doing that it's supposed to do for once !! ❤️🤞🏼🌈🙏🏼x

@Luan82 Are you worried because of your low AMH? I saw from your original post that your AFC was 7? I have an ok AMH for my age (13.5) but consistently low AFC 4-5 (had loads of baseline scans on clomid/letrozole). I did loads of research and I think AFC is a more reliable indicator. My AFC was only 6 this cycle and I’m pregnant- can’t believe I have just written that! So even if it’s low don’t panic!

My advice would be try not to panic if you don’t respond quickly, my cycle looked doomed 7 days in but by 10 it was looking ok. I did 13 days of stims in the end. I tried to get in the mindset of trust the experts and stay optimistic! I found not knowing when EC and transfer would be really hard too just to manage work and feel in control.

How do you feel about the injections? I found them so much easier than I expected. I did the long cycle and really struggled on Buserelin (so down, headaches and knackered) but was fine on the stims.

@39andabit really? I had no idea that there could be inconsistencies with both, my FSH is normal, AMH 4.6 (eeeek) and AFC was 7 but that was in November last year so I have no idea of the current results, thanks so much for the reassurance - makes me feel a lot more confident going into this !! My consultant at Leeds is confident but the other consultant at Sheffield was a little more negative, wanted to move really fast with IVF and warned me about the percentage of success rate for my age and diagnosis so I think that stayed with me xx

@39andabit do you know, I haven't given the injections much thought tbh- when I had my bloods monitored for the ectopic I had to go in every other day for a blood test I'm so used to needles now it's ridiculous 🥴 x

Fab news @Luan82! 🥳

How are you @39andabit good to see you saying you're pregnant 🥰

How are you @jolly86?

I felt my hope bubble burst this morning 😢 I did my utrogestan pessary and there was a tiny bit of peach / brown on the applicator and when I wiped after there was light pink / peach water, literally one 5p bit on the tissue and I thought my boobs felt less sore. Spent 2 hours in bed googling 👀 and feeling sad. But I spoke to dh when he woke up and feel a bit calmer. Now I'm up my boobs are a bit tender and I've had nothing more (even doubting I did have any coloured discharge now). Feel 🤪

Good morning everyone!
@Luan82 good luck for your cycle it is so exciting and please don’t worry about responding!! Your amh isn’t that low mine was 3 at 34 and AFC was 8 and 5. I responded well to the stimms and only did 9 days and triggered on day 10., I got 6 of 7 eggs fertilised so they were mature... But, I now think maybe quality was compromised due too much drugs and my body forced to produce a lot more compared to my amh? These are things I will discuss with doctor if my cycle fails. What are all your drug doses?? I was on 150 menopur and 225 bemfola so quite high. Don’t panic if your response is slow as many people who i read responded slowly got there in the end and got better embryo quality than me!

@VenusStarr it might have just been that your cervix got irritated due to soo many pessaries.

@VenusStarr oh bless you! The waiting is so tough, and it really doesn't end when you transfer, or even get the positive pregnancy test !! All I can say to try and help is that it's so normal to feel like this after experiencing pregnancy loss or difficulty getting pregnant - the PTSD is real and your worries are totally valid - I'm guessing though that the embryo carries on burrowing into the uterine lining for a while after initial implantation? And the link to hormones and symptoms.... well I went for a run this morning, my progesterone must be down because I'm in a new cycle and my boobs are still sore as hell so don't think it means much tbf!! Sending lots of positive thoughts ur way Xxx

Thank you both @jolly86 @Luan82 ❤️ I'm going to try to distract myself as much as I can today, worrying isn't going to change the outcome.

Hope you both have a good day x

@jolly86 thanks so much - it really helps to put things into perspective speaking to other ladies going through the same thing
@VenusStarr 😘 get yourself out into the sunshine ☀️ x
I've just had a call from the clinic, seems that I spoke too soon as they have me on the pill till Wednesday and first injection Thursday I think it's about timing my scan and egg collection, they also asked if I was nhs so think I've got to fit my appointment around the private patients which I totally understand just hope that the pill doesn't have a negative affect on my numbers it took me six months to regulate my hormones when I came off it!

@jolly86 to answer your question it's 300io meriofert up to day six then fyremadal x

Sorry you can't get started straight away @Luan82 but you're so close now 🙏 xx

@VenusStarr getting there slowly but surely !! Baby steps ... excuse the pun!! 🙄xx

@VenusStarr so sorry to hear you had a bad morning but completely agree with @jolly86 the nurse told me I might have spotting due to the pessaries and an irritated cervix and not to panic. Good it’s stopped now too.

@Luan82 so frustrating about the clinic! My clinic doesn’t treat private or NHS patients any differently I don’t think.

Enjoy the sunshine everyone! 😎

Hey, sorry I've not been active - took a break from all social media for a few days.

Now have a 5AB hatching blastocyst on board!

One embryo didn't make it past day 4 but the third is still in with a chance - it's in the morula stage so the clinic want to give it another day to see if it develops to meet their criteria for freezing.

@Scirocco wow that’s great news! How are you feeling? When is your testing day. Fingers crossed for your other embryo too.

@Scirocco that’s great so happy for you! Also well done for being off social media, I am sure it helped with anxiety levels. Unfortunately I can’t get myself to commit the same.

@39andabit - Thanks! I'm kind of in shock as they'd kept trying to prepare me for having nothing, so I didn't know until 5 minutes before transfer whether there was anything to transfer. I think I'll probably freak out more once the shock wears off! Test day is 8th June, apparently...

@jolly86 thanks! I think coming off social media was helpful, it meant some more control over what was taking up space in my brain.

@Scirocco 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼 for you !! 🌈❤️🙏🏼 x

Morning all. Just wondering how you are @VenusStarr did you get anymore spotting? Hoping it’s all fine now. X

Unfortunately the third embryo didn't develop enough to meet their freezing criteria. Now it's all down to this little one inside.

I did, however, finally get some acknowledgment that the protocol wasn't right for me - I'd said this from fairly early on and the clinicians had insisted it was correct, but today someone said that the pre-stimming investigations definitely suggested I should have responded better and that a change in protocol would possibly have been better. They're going to suggest a different protocol if we do another cycle.