If you had diminished reserve or low AFC, pls come in
My history is in my siggie, but I am likely being diagnosed with DOR. Just waiting on the anti-mullerian hormone test on my next CD3. I am 33 years old, and we've been trying since I was 31. I have always had a low AFC around 9, but have never gotten more than 6 follicles to grow. I am finally coming to the realization that my ovaries are much older than I am. And after my dr. telling me a dozen times that my 4 cp's have almost certainly been due to abnormal eggs, I'm starting to believe him. All of my RPL tests have been normal, except for a two that were "borderline". Several doctors I've consulted with said they were not major enough to treat, other than with baby aspirin...which I was already on for one of my c/p's. I'm just in shock that someone my age could have such low reserve and terrible quality. It just seems so uncommon.
Our next step will be IVF, but I am really struggling to find hope that it will work for us. I mean, in my 10 treatment cycles, I probably ovulated over 30 eggs, and not one was good. Not to mention all the cycles we've tried on our own. I'm really thinking we should probably scrape up the money to do shared-risk, so we'll at least have a couple tries. I know we'll probably only end up with a few embryos, and I'm so scared none will be normal. If you were DOR or had low AFC, please share your success story and what worked for you. I'm really, really starting to lose hope that we'll ever be blessed with a child.
Re: If you had diminished reserve or low AFC, pls come in
my "success story" is in my blog. but here are some specifics.
https://tryingin2007.blogspot.com/2009/03/secret-recipe.html
good luck! and try not to lose hope.
2 infertiles' journey to 2 pink lines (and a baby girl)
"our IF story"
First - I'd wait for your AMH results before writing your eggs off as bad.
There are lots of things that come in to play in a m/c or CP aside from egg quality.
I was in a very similar place as you - thinking my eggs were crap.
We did IVF and while my response to minimum suppression (MDL) and max stims was dismal (only 3 eggs retrieved) my quality was outstanding. With those 3 eggs all 3 fertilized naturally and we originally conceived twins. An IVF cycle that would have been considered a "fail" by most clinic's standards (and given dismal chances by my RE at retrieval) yielded my son.
Aside from the AMH results the best way to determine quality is to get them out and watch them fertilize and grow.
FWIW - I wouldn't have qualified for shared risk at my clinic due to my FSH and prior response. You may want to check the requirements at yours.
My advice: There's SO much they don't know about FSH. According to my RE we should never have conceived my first son and he gave even more dismal odds to conceive a second child more than a year after that sucky IVF cycle even with more IVF. And voila... Jace was an unmedicated (although very much tried for) pregnancy.
The things I did that I do believe helped: I read "The Infertility Cure" by Radine Lewis and followed her diet recommendations to a "t". My FSH lowered. I know you're only as good as your highest FSH and all that and my retrieval really wasn't even close to normal but it helped me to feel like there was something I could control when so much else seemed so far out of my control.
I know your feeling of hopelessness. Please keep fighting. I've "seen" women with FSH in the 40's conceive healthy children.
Again... there's just so so much they don't know about FSH. Don't let it define you.
Total score: 6 pregnancies, 5 losses, 2 amazing blessings that I'm thankful for every single day.
I was 27 when I was diagnosed with high FSH and had just turned 28 for our first treatment cycle. My RE didn't say anything about DOR, but my AFC for my first treatment cycle (IUI) was only 8 so I assume I was/am dealing with DOR as well as high FSH. By some miracle we were incredibly blessed to have IUI#1 work, but even my RE was shocked. I stimmed on Follistim for 8 days and only two follies actually grew to maturity. I can only be sure one was actually mature at trigger, though. We don't have any MFI and high FSH was our only issues, so I'm sure that helped, but after my CD3 appt. I cried for almost an hour, sure it was never going to work.
I assume I had age on my side to some degree, although I definitely had the ovaries of someone about 10 years older. I don't really know why it worked, but my advice is don't give up! Shared risk might be a good idea, assuming your FSH is low enough to qualify. I know it's hard to hear about women on TTTC getting 20+ eggs at retrieval, but my RE always said it's quality over quantity. All you need is one egg to make a baby. Hopefully your RE can suggest some measures to take that will hopefully result in normal eggs that will up your chances of success.
Wishing you tons of luck! ((HUGS))
I am 37 with DOR and low AFC count. I did not have the best responses to IVF but we always had at least 2 embryos make it until transfer.
My last successful cycle we did estrogen priming with an antagonist cycle and got the best quality eggs to date. 1 stuck. I highly recommend asking if this protocol might be right for you!
Good luck.
After 7 years trying to concieve, 3 failed IUIs and 2 failed IVFs, my third IVF was a success!
My Christmas baby turned into a turkey bird! Dillon Richard was born at 34 weeks, 5 days on November 28, 2009 after 10 weeks on bedrest for preeclampsia.
<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v705/arriinthere/PJ/?action=view
I should have added....my FSH over the last two years has always been between 6.7-6.9. Which would qualify me for shared-risk at my clinic, since it just needs to be under 9. Although, obviously it does not match up with my AFC, and several doctors have told me it can't really be trusted.
BFP with no treatment!
My diagnosis is pretty much yours only I was 29 when they diagnosed me and we also have MFI. We were sucessful with IVF #2 on the flare protocol.
Try to not to give up hope yet, obvioulsy if I can have a baby with the same diagnosis you did then it is possible for you to have a baby too!
PPs have given you great answers, and I will add just a bit.. I am a stubborn stimmer, so we did antagonist protocol and it went well.... (obviously) I get few eggs, but with this protocol, they were excellent quality!
Many respected REs feel the AFC is bs. My IVF clinic and my regular RE (2 different, unrelated practices) don't even look at the AFC, all 5 doctors feel like so many things affect AFC, the most important being the skill of the sonographer! I never have a high count, in fact, the cycle I get pregnant with E, they could see 1 maybe 2 antral follicles, and I got 7 excellent eggs, which turned into 7 excellent embies!
It's aint over!
After one year of TTC on our own, we went to the RE. I was 32 when we started treatment. My first AFC was 20, FSH was 5.5 and I thought we would have success. We did several clomid cycles iwth good response, but no PG. By the 4th round, I only developed one follicle (a giant one that turned into a cp). After that things went quickly downhill -- my AFCs were under 10 every cycle, getting as low as 5. At that point I lost my mind. We did our only injectable cycle and I only got 2 mature follicles and it failed. We got more mature follicles iwth clomid!
We did IVF doc consults after our injectable fiasco and got widely different prospects. The clinic that did the inject/IUI cycle thought I had DOR, and would be lucky to get anything from IVF and should consider egg donor. Another clinic thought I had other issues that should be addressed (possible PCOS, clotting issues) and that I should lose weight, take baby aspirin and extra b complex and call them in a few months if I wasn't pg. The third clinic checked AFC and got 17, which seemed really high given my recent history but thought I had time.
We followed clinic #2. A year after our consult, I got pg. I miscarried again. And we were pregnant again with my son before I could even get another period.
I started trying at 31, and didn't get pg with my son until I was almost 34.
Even if it seems bleak, you still have options.
I never had an AFC count but my FSH was always over 10 (and really high with the Clomid Challenge Test). We tried for 16 months, with several suspected c/p (on my part), a miscarriage, and a failed IUI and then I got pregnant naturally just before I turned 35. I was fortunate, definitely, but I will say that my RE was relatively optimistic about my chances with IVF (I'm in Mass so it is covered by insurance here, which helps). There are so many success stories out there, don't lose hope.
Also, I have to add that I did weekly accupuncture and wheatgrass for 3 months - I can't say for sure that it worked but I honestly feel that it did help.
Right before our first IVF, my FSH was around 6. ?I never really responded well to our prior IUIs, and my RE was concerned about my AFC, which was around 10 total (5 on each ovary). ?As a result, he decided to do the microdose lupron flare protocol for our first IVF. ?We ended up having a really good response. ?19 eggs retrieved, 16 mature, 13 fertilized. ?10 made it to day 5 and we transferred 2. ?I was shocked because I was totally preparing myself for a bad response, crappy eggs, etc.
I've heard the MDL protocol is one that RE's tend to lean towards if you're anticipated to be a poor responder. ?It can help produce better quality eggs, which is half the battle.
Good luck!?
FET #1 = BFP on 5/2011