Help - low follicle count - success stories

[smashedbanana]

Hello. Any words of support or personal experiences would be hugely appreciated...

I've just returned from initial fertility tests and the sonographer could only find 1 follicle on each ovary at CD 19 (measuring 5mm ish each). I was pregnant 4 years ago with my daughter and got pregnant this summer again which resulted in a miscarriage after 2.5 years of trying for a second baby.

I was wondering if anyone else had low follicle count and gone onto have successfully conceived with ivf? I think they cancel the round if you only have too few follicles?

I'll be spending my life's savings on this and after this appointment I'm wondering if it's even worth it. It's so emotional already and I'm feeling really low after this result.

I'm 38 and fit and healthy otherwise but with long irregular cycles.

Thanks xx

I didn’t have low follicles as such but after ivf we only ended up with one fertilised egg and I am now 12 weeks pregnant with that one chance. I have never fallen pregnant naturally so I would say the fact that you did this summer even if it ended so sadly is a good sign.

@JadeAC thanks so much for replying with your positive story - huge congratulations to you! That's wonderful news! What was your reason for needing ivf? What an incredible outcome ❤️
Did you do anything in particular to improve your egg quality ahead of starting treatment? I know they say it's quality over quantity but at 38 I'm worried the quality of my eggs is also low...

Tbh I was surprised the count was so low, having googled it that's the follicle count of someone 46+... and having conceived my daughter first try in 2019 and having been pregnant this summer I was thinking it would at least be normal for my age. Having read others stories I think they'll suggest a donor egg at the consultation next week, personally I am open to that but it's a firm no from my partner, who wasn't massively keen on having a second child anyway...

Thanks again for replying and wishing you a healthy rest of your pregnancy ❤️ xx

We didn’t really get a definite reason. It was just unexplained and we just never fell pregnant. I’m 36 and we’d been trying for just over 2yrs. I lost 3.5 stone on the run up to treatment and I got my bmi to 29. If I’m honest maybe that weight was holding me back and I prob wasn’t the healthiest. I also took supplements called ovum that concentrate on egg quality. I don’t think we’d be this luck again though so we’re just going to be happy with our 1 (fingers crossed it all goes well)

Could it be it was just low in the month they checked? Maybe you fluctuate month to month. Your history of conceiving twice doesn’t really tie in with those results does it? The meds will stimulate follicles aswell. It’s personal preference but I don’t think I’d be keen on doner egg or sperm but that is personal choice. A good friend of mine is in a same sex marriage and used a sperm doner and they have a beautiful family.

@JadeAC sounds like you go so lucky. Do you know why only one embryo? How many eggs did they get? That's amazing losing all that weight - probably made a huge difference in your outcome ❤️ I have tried to be as healthy as possible, I have a normal bmi but I've made massive of changes to my diet over the past year to try and help my chances.

They tested my AMH too but I won't get the results until next week. She said that would be interesting to see amh based on how low my follicle count was. She looked a little surprised herself.

Obviously donor egg is not my first choice and my partner has vetoed it anyway. Im just praying they will actually go ahead with ivf considering my results, im worried they'll say the chances are too low to even try...??

Hi @smashedbanana
I just wanted to give you a little hope about low follicle numbers. I have a low AMH, and collected 2 eggs at my egg collection. One of them fertilised normally and made a beautiful blastocyst. I am now just under 11 weeks pregnant with that one embryo. It's definitely tougher with lower numbers, but quality goes along way too. I hope this gives you a little hope - as I know how scary it can be when you are starting off with fewer than everyone else.

@Jellyfish1956 thanks for sharing your story and a massive Congratulations!! Did you do anything to improve your egg quality? Was the clinic reluctant to do ivf at all given your lower number of follicles? I'm worried they'll tell me the chances are too low... it's so much money to commit to if the odds are really low. X

@smashedbanana Thank you ❤️ just have to get through the 12 week scan now!
I took ubiquinol (the active form of CoQ10), vitamin D, vitamin C, omega 3 fish oils and a prenatal vitamin. I didn't experience any issues getting the clinic to do the egg collection given the low number. But they were realistic about the chances. Have you had a consultation with anyone yet?

@Jellyfish1956 thanks, I'm taking similar. I should probably exercise more than i do but I eat super healthy. Do you mind me asking how old you are? Your eggs may be better quality than mine, I'm 38. Was this your first round?
I have my consultation next week - I'm really dreading it now as feel like the % chance is going to be so low and it's going to be hard to hear xx
Positive stories are really helping right now though ❤️ thank you x

@smashedbanana I don't mind at all! I am 36 (37 in the next few weeks). Yes, it was my first round. I found the whole thing quite stressful but worth it in the long run! I've got my fingers crossed for your appointment next week. Let me know how you get on xx

Thank you! Wishing you all the luck in the world for a healthy pregnancy ❤️ I'll let you know after the appointment x

How was your consultation @smashedbanana ?

@Jellyfish1956 how are you? Did you have your 12 week scan this week? How did it go?

Consultation was so miserable - I have FSH of 16 and AMH of 0.41.

She basically said not to bother doing ivf at all and that they won't even try unless I can get an FSH reading of 15 or below.

My partner also has low sperm count which we was surprised to hear, also morphology etc so would need ICSI if we do go ahead (we had also assumed I was the only issue as he's younger + super healthy)

All very depressing and a very unsympathetic doctor too. I'm looking at ivf abroad due to the cost and success rates over 38+...

Also wondering if Clomid might be an option for us but that wasn't discussed at all...

I imagine I'll still go ahead with ivf (if I can reduce my FSH) but now it's ICSI we'll struggled to pay for more than 2 rounds as it's more expensive than normal ivf. Praying I get some of your good luck! How are you feeling - any morning etc? Xx

@smashedbanana just wanted to jump on here to tell you my story in case it helps.
age 34 I had an amh of 0.7, fsh 10 and severe male factor infertility. First ivf (nhs) failed miserably - had two embryos put in on day 3 (our only surviving ones from 6 eggs) and both looked poor quality - not pregnant.

then went private with the lister. Didn’t re-do amh/fsh as was only a few months later. Very high dosage of drugs and got 10 eggs. Only 1 survived to day 5 but that transfer was successful and I had my son at 35.

Fast forward 2 years and I went back to the lister to see if there was any chance of a sibling. They didn’t redo my fsh/amh because their view was - we know that amh is very low and will have gotten lower over the last 2 years - but all we can do is try a high dosage of drugs. Obviously I was also 37 so egg quality would have reduced. Scan showed reduced number of follicles too.

started a round where only 2 eggs were growing so I cancelled in the hope that was just a ‘bad’ month. The drugs messed up my period for months and caused cysts so we had a further 6 month delay! Started a second round and again hardly any eggs growing but we ploughed ahead regardless. Got 4 eggs. Only 1 made it to day 5 and that was again successful and resulted in the birth of my daughter.

I would advise speaking to another clinic for a second opinion (maybe the lister?) and so long as you’re prepared for the fact that it might not work I think you have nothing to lose in trying a round and seeing what happens - you won’t know unless you try and my view is that it is all a complete lottery. Yes amh and fsh tell us how many eggs we will get, but some people get 1 egg and - pregnancy and some people get lots of eggs and no pregnancy. There is a lot of unknowns in ivf.

I wish you all the success and luck in the future xxx

@Blacksheep33 thanks for sharing your lovely and inspiring story ❤️ congratulations on your pregnancies and children, so nice to hear about your great experience with Lister - just goes to show what a difference the right clinic can make

Although I would like to look at other clinics I'm being realistic about travel for scans, appointments around work and childcare I am limited to clinics locally - especially as we likely need multiple rounds. I will give Lister a call anyway, maybe they work with satellite clinics...

My first job is to try and get my FSH down as our local clinic won't even let us start ivf unless it's less than 15 (currently 16).. xx