Ovarian reserve scan and AMH

[Nothing2lose]

I am a very strongly considering having my fertility checked. Please do move this to another page if I’m in the wrong topic.

I am 33. Single and very much want children of my own. I just want to know my reserves and AMH, so I have an idea of my fertility.

Am I considering the right path? Would people recommend this?

thank you

It won't do any harm but I guess the question is what are you going to do with the info if it isn't positive? Is it going to panic you into wanting to freeze your eggs? If so can you afford to do that? Have you looked into freezing your eggs and do you understand the potential challenges with it? If it's something you want to do then why not, just think through the potential follow on scenarios

I echo the PP. what would you do with the information if you’re not planning on having a baby now?

Even if you had good reserve and healthy in general, your eggs will only be as young as you are now. Whatever your results are now would have no bearing on your fertility in a few years time.

By the time you’re ready to have children in a few years time, your eggs will be older and fertility starts dropping off.

if you’re worried, and regardless of your fertility stats, maybe plan to freeze your eggs as a back up, if you find out you can’t get pregnant naturally in a few years time. Remember, it could be a problem with your future partner too, so you may only be able to have IVF even if you’re super healthy.

also, eggs don’t equal babies, so factor that into your research if you go down that route

Thank you. Yes the thought process had been freeze eggs if fertility seemed low reserves for my age. Or consider a donor sperm in a year.

I do agree, it’s one of those “do you really want to know now scenarios” and I realise that egg freezing is both expensive and not an easy process to go through.

Hey! This resonated with me so didn’t wanna read and run 👀

I always considered myself ‘fertile’ (previous pregnancy I chose not to continue with due to my circumstances at the time) so always thought ‘I’ll be fine if / when I choose to have kids’
I met my hubby when I was 31, he is infertile so we started ivf, during that process it came up that I have low amh and showing signs of diminished ovarian reserve, I am now 33, I was very surprised.
Hindsight is a great thing but I really now wish I had had my eggs frozen when I was in my 20’s, but as at the time I didn’t want children it just never occurred to me.
So if I was still single now I would like to tell myself to go have my eggs frozen before they all run out; but also know I was probably too aggorant in thinking I wouldn’t have fertility issues to do it 🫣
But just also as a caution - I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach being told my ovarian reserve was low for my age, so sometimes maybe it is better not knowing 🤷🏼‍♀️

Sorry for not really giving a constructive answer or advice, just as we’re the same age I thought my experiences may help you a little 🤞🏼

Good luck with whatever you decide ❤️

Hi :)
I don't know if you're aware but there are at home tests you can do which are much cheaper than the hundreds they charge in fertility clinics. Hertility do a great overall test for like £150 which includes AMH.
I personally would say go for it. Knowledge is power and once you know what your egg reserve is looking like, you can decide your next step.
If you do end up having low AMH then time could be of the essence and you don't want to end up regretting not having taken action when you could :)
Good luck xx

I'm 39 and going through infertility/IVF. But I'm really on the fence about fertility tests. See: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41573346.amp

Think really really carefully about what you'll do with the information. Even freezing your eggs is no guarantee that you'll have a baby, and you may meet someone in a year or two and conceive with absolutely no problem at all, even if your fertility tests indicate low ovarian reserve.

The more I experience it, the more I come to understand that the fertility industry doesn't have women's best interests at heart and doesn't genuinely care about helping people have babies, or understanding why some people can't. It's all about making money. It needs far more regulation because it's almost entirely profit driven, which I think is wrong.

Please just think very carefully before you do anything. Once you start down the fertility factory road it's hard to change course, and it comes with a huge amount of heartbreak.

Best of luck.

Thank you, this is my thinking. It’s hard to explain without a backstory but the reality is, I work with newborn, I can’t imagine life not as a mother and I would rather know now and go down the sperm donor route/single mother than wait and risk no chance of motherhood. Personal preference but yes I’ve had many a conversation with friends about “what would you do if you found your reserves were low”.

I’m currently sitting on the fence at- nothing at all, wait until I’m almost 34 and see where life has taken me.

pay for the tests and make a decision from there.

I had planned to go to window to the womb for scans and then do the online hertilaty checks.

I would go with a proper clinic rather than the DIY route, you won't be saving much money and it's probably better to get a professional opinion. From recollection my tests (not including husbands sperm analysis) we're about £350. If you can't afford that you probably aren't going to get anywhere near the amount needed to do sufficient rounds of egg collections to make egg freezing worthwhile. The tests are just the tip of the iceberg really. Also worth noting that egg reserve is only one aspect of fertility - there are so many other things that can cause issues which there aren't ways of testing for. Appreciate this is probably sounding a bit negative, but I would really do your research before proceeding so you know what you can expect from the info you're getting, and costs etc if worse case scenario you do decide to go down an egg freezing route. Good luck.