# To give others some hope



## Willow1975 (Aug 29, 2017)

I have been a long term lurker on these boards and I always promised myself that if anything I did worked, that I would share my experience so that others may benefit. 

My background is that I had four miscarriages before being diagnosed with an auto immune disease that was preventing my body from nourishing the foetus. This mean that until 39 years old, we had had no luck. At first, I couldn't even fall pregnant and had a failed IVF behind me as I was a poor responder. My AMH was 4.4 and my fsh about 12 from memory. I started doing acupuncture once per month and took DHEA (75mg) per day in a last ditch attempt to see if I could make anything work. About four months into the treatment I suddenly started falling pregnant, a lot! Five times in one year actually but until I'd suffered my four miscarriages (all between 6 - 12 weeks) I hadn't been diagnosed. Turns out I had a condition that was easily treated with aspirin daily and heparin injections when I got a BFP. Once diagnosed I had a text book pregnancy at 39 - 40 but had a small baby induced on the day of being 37 weeks. 

She is now 20 months old and is as healthy as an Ox and in a desperate attempt to give her a sibling, I had my AMH and FSH done recently - AMH 0.89 and FSH 16. Shocking results and even IVF clinics said I had less than a 2 percent chance of conceiving. I went back to DHEA but this time combined it with chinese herbs, ubiquinol, maca, agnus castus, royal jelly, Vitamin D spray as well as a pre-conception multi vitamin and folic acid. To say I threw everything including the kitchen sink at it, is an understatement. I also cut down on gluten and ate low carb as much as I could and upped my daily exercise. I was told by some of the best IVF clinics in the country that nothing I was taking or doing would do any good at all and that if I wanted to be treated by them I would have to come off it all. I was reluctant to do this and more reluctant to try IVF which was incredibly expensive and I knew, would force lots of possibly poor quality eggs to maturity with no guarantee that the ones they put back in were good embryo's or not. I became worried that they were only interested in getting conception stats and less worried about me having a live birth and with my history, that was what was really driving me.  So I decided, with great regret that I would continue on my own path. Well, after many months of not even a sniff of conception, something seems to have shifted about four months after self treating in this way and with those shocking numbers, I am now six weeks pregnant with no other intervention! I know that I have a long way to go and I know that 80% of my eggs are probably mutated or duff, so the next six weeks are absolutely critical for me but I'm further along than I've ever been before at 42 years old and so I wanted to share to encourage others not to give up! Numbers only tell some of the story!


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## highlandgirl (Aug 1, 2016)

Hi Willow,

Thank you so much for your post it gives me hope even though I am 5 years older than you 
Keep me posted and good luck for your first 6 weeks x


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## Willow1975 (Aug 29, 2017)

Thanks Highlandgirl, I will try and keep others posted as I know updates mean the world to those of us still trying. So I'll be honest and let you know how things are going. Just when I think my symptoms have disappeared and I'm no longer pregnant, I get a wave of nausea to remind me that this isn't the case. Still hanging in there and think I'll try and get an early scan at 8 weeks to reassure me.


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## highlandgirl (Aug 1, 2016)

Good luck xx


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## miamiamo (Aug 9, 2015)

such an inspiring story.Wish you all luck in the world xx


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## Willow1975 (Aug 29, 2017)

Just to update in case anyone is following this post - I'm still pregnant and having had two scans at 8 and 10 weeks have a healthy foetus with a strong heartbeat and so, despite all the odds, things are starting to look more and more promising. 

I don't know if I did truly reset my egg health by following my program and giving my eggs the 120 day boost I hoped but the second time around, literally bang on track of four months of the regime we fell pregnant again and so something in my cocktail worked. Given that the DHEA seemed to do its job the first time at four months, I'm putting my money on that. 

Still have all the scary testing to come - Downs etc but am now marching on towards 11 weeks and hoping to get over the next few hurdles unscathed.  

Wishing all of you the most love and luck on your onward journey but try not to give up hope.


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## Chips1640 (Jan 27, 2016)

Wow what a great story, it has given me so much hope. Can I ask, how much exercise were you doing? And where did you buy your DHEA? xxx


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## Willow1975 (Aug 29, 2017)

Hi Alclarke - I got my DHEA online from MacPherson Labs. I was told it was important to get the micronized version so that I did. It was this version that I got last time too. 

I am now thirteen weeks pregnant with the twelve week scan and nuchal testing all looking really positive. I have continued throughout to do two personal training sessions a week which involve some quite serious lifting and high energy expenditure and I also swim a mile twice per week. Much more exercise than I was doing in my last pregnancy and interestingly it has been the only thing that has helped with the morning sickness too. Everyone told me to slow down and that too much exercise wasn't good but I have a trainer who works with pregnant women a lot and he is very good at giving me lots of additional rest breaks and making sure I stay hydrated. It's certainly getting harder but I'm determined to continue with it. 

Shout if you have any more questions, I'm always happy to respond and best of luck!


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## esj (Apr 9, 2014)

Hi *Willow1975*
So happy your pregnancy is progressing and you sound super healthy and happy. I just had a BFN from what will be my last OE treatment and now considering DE however am thinking of taking DHEA for a few of month as a last blast at natural conception since I now have absolutely nothing to lose. Haven't taken it before as was wary of side effects. I have some purchased in USA but not sure if its micronised. Another point of hesitation is that the bottle says to be avoided by pregnant or child bearing age women. Does it also say this on the micronised packaging? 
Good luck and do keep us posted 
xxx


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## Hebbie (Oct 20, 2017)

Hi Willow, thank you so much for sharing, can I ask what test they did to see if you needed the Anadin etc, I think it's a something I might need myself xx


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## Willow1975 (Aug 29, 2017)

Hebbie they did a test for Antiphospholipid syndrome, it's a blood clotting disorder which the NHS will only test for after you've had several miscarriages which is heartbreaking. A private consultant insisted they did the test after my fourth and low and behold, I had the condition. Hence they prescribed aspirin. Hope that helps? There are a number of auto immune diseases that can affect someone's ability to get and stay pregnant so it is a bit of a process of elimination. Good luck!


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