Egg reserve very low at 32 & feeling despondent

[charmingpony]

I just got some difficult news. I'm a 32 year old woman and my AMH is 6.1 pmol/l (0.85 ng/ml) so very low for my age group. My FSH is 8.6 iu/l (though was 5.5 less than two years ago). I am otherwise very healthy with regular periods.
I'm single and actively dating on the apps but, of course, I have no idea how long it might take to meet someone. I'm looking into egg freezing now.
I'm feeling very very low, concerned about fertility but also age at menopause (I have lots of female relatives, all of whom entered menopause in their early 50s if that helps).

I would like some advice and (realistic) reassurance from people who've been in similar positions. Am I unlikely to have a baby? Am I likely to go through early menopause? My mind has been racing these past few days.

F

If I were you I would get a fertility MOT where they do an ultrasound and actually count the follicles, AMH is a proxy but if it is so low you might want that clarity.

I'm really sorry but would second what people above have said about antral follicle count. I was in your exact position with an AMH of 6 at 32. I cried when I found out, I wasn't expecting it at all. If it helps: I am currently 20 weeks pregnant and it's five years later.

If you do freeze your eggs I would strongly suggest you consider making some embryos with donor sperm as well -- depending on how many eggs you can get, maybe half and half? A friend of mine managed to freeze 26 eggs but when she had them defrosted only two survived, whereas embryos have a much higher thaw rate.

Thank you for this. Did you freeze your eggs? Is your pregnancy a natural pregnancy? I'm spiralling a bit today.

I understand how you feel, believe me. I didn't freeze my eggs but I did do IVF (with donor sperm). The first round ended in a miscarriage, second round so far going well.

Low egg reserve is primarily a concern in IVF because it may affect how many eggs can be collected during treatment. For natural conception, however, only one egg is usually released during each ovulation. Studies have consistently shown that women still have thousands of eggs remaining even at menopause. The issue is therefore not simply the number of eggs available, but whether the reproductive system is functioning well enough to produce and release a healthy egg each month.

Many women are told that egg reserve and AMH are measures of fertility. They are not. They were developed primarily as measures used in IVF to predict ovarian response to treatment. Confusing IVF measures with fertility measures can create unnecessary anxiety and lead people to draw conclusions that the tests were never designed to support.