# Low Ovarian count and feeling a bit panicky



## comfy47 (May 22, 2014)

Hi everyone,

I'm new here though have occasionally read other people's postings.

I am 39 (going on 40) and have been trying (admittedly not very hard for a lot of the time) for 3 years.  A year ago we went to the G and started the tests which took about 6 months to get through.  Everything was fine until the consultant - when she diagnosed 'unexplained' and suggest IVF - suggested that I have my AMH done.

Mine came out very low - less than 4.  However, Kingston hospital doesn't record anything lower.  So it could be anything from 0.1 to 3.9.  Worse still my antral (?) follicle count is 4 and my FSH moved up to 11 between last July and Feb a couple of months ago.

I had one round of IVF just fortnight ago:

- 4 follicles
- 3 matured
- 1 egg
- Which didn't fertilise properly

Now I know that for IVF to succeed first time round is a bit of a miracle.  2 of the ladies with me at collection all have abandoned cycles at this point.  But having gone to see two private clinics (Zita and Lister) this week, both are pretty glum.  Zita gave me between 5% and 10% chance and Lister said 6%.

I feel devastated and terrified.  I totally never expected that i would be up against the cliff now.  I thought there is still quite a bit of hope even at 40 or 41 with IVF and it gets much much harder at 45.  But now I feel like my body is at 45 and I have missed the chance.

I am desperate for some positive stories of people who have had success with such a dire situation as mine to give me hope and guidance.

Thanks!


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## Asja (Oct 8, 2013)

Which stimulation drug did you use, and what dose? You may respond better to a different drug, or need a higher dose. 

FWIW, I was 39 when we did our successful ivf cycle, and 40 when my daughter was born. We're trying again, now at 42. My amh is 1.5. We did one cycle in March and got 10 eggs, but only 2 lived to 5 days, negative. 

I don't think your situation is dire.  Your doctor should learn from what didn't work, adjust your stimulating drugs, and try again. You could also try supplements to see if they help, like DHEA which is supposed to help with egg quality.


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## Molly99 (Apr 16, 2012)

I'm so sorry for what you're going through, it's just so hard and to not get an accurate AMH result must make it even harder as it must add to the uncertainty  

As Asja said, it would be interesting to know what type of cycle you did.  I have a low AMH too and did lot of research into mild ivf, which can have much better results for us.  Apologies if you've tried this already.

It might also be worth trying Create, who tend to specialise more in low ANY and mild cycles. I'm with them are they're lovely, I've had a few frustrations but I've never felt like we don't stand a good chance.

Take care of yourself, it's such a stressful time.  Sending you a big


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## beattie2 (Dec 30, 2005)

Sorry to hear that you are having a tough time of it. I too have a low ovarian reserve , my first IVF when I was 35 was about my worst, however in terms of responding to drugs things got better and infact I got my best ever response to stimms when I was 41 when I got 11 eggs. I have found that there are several things you can do improve your response:
1) make sure your clinic have got you on the right protocol and are giving you a high enough dose of stimms drugs - the short protocol with orgalaturon worked best for me, anything involving suprecur was a disaster.
2) Consider taking DHEA - do your research and make sure you are taking the correct dose
3) Wheatgrass can lower FSH- look into this. Also consider other supplements such as CQ10, protein during stimms is good too.
4) Consider taking HIGH QUALITY Chinese herbs- this had a drastic impact on my response and egg quality. Go to a reputable practitioner, I went to Dr Wing at the Women's health practice. 
5) Some clinics seem to be using a growth hormone to help improve egg quality for older women and getting good results. Don't know much about this but worth asking some of the more forward thinking clinics if they are doing this yet 

Don't worry if you don't get a brilliant response, it really does only take one embie to make a baby.

Good luck
Bx


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## comfy47 (May 22, 2014)

Hi there,

Thank you for your replies.  That is really good to hear your thoughts, and thank you for your encouragement.  I am sure you have all gone through your ups and downs as well.

I was at Kingston hospital and they put me on a long agonist protocol with seprecur for down regulation and the highest dose they could of menopur (450 whatever-the-measurement-is).

Lister clinic want to put me on a long protocol (main reason because of down regulation and it meaning that eggs mature at same time theoretically).  Zita clinic want to put me on a short protocol with growth hormone.

I have read elsewhere that short protocol seems to be better for low ovarian reserves and some women saying that very high doses didn't work for them, but softer ones did contrary to what you would expect.  But surely the consultant at Lister (30 yrs experience and specialising in low ovarian reserve) would do the right thing??

DHEA - I have heard this is good, but that a doctor needs to prescribe the right amount.  Is this correct?

I am taking TCM at the Zhai clinic but am concerned that this might mess up with the IVF.  Any thoughts?

It does seem that anyone you talk to has their own beliefs and so, how do you honestly decide


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## beattie2 (Dec 30, 2005)

Hi again,

Dr Wing certainly provides herbs that you can take with IVf, make sure that your practitioner knows you are doing IVF  and what meds you are taking so that they that they are not giving you anything which will be counter productive. In terms of protocols we are all different but in my case I did really badly with the long protocol and the short protocol when  I used suprecur. I was with Dr Gorgy when I did my cycles which started to result in pregnancies. Cycles with short protocol with orgalutoran can take more monitoring as the follies can grow at different rates so your doctor has to be really careful with timing - but it can get good results for poor responders and if you haven't tried this yet it may be a better option. I would be very interested in looking at Zita Wests  protocol with growth hormone- if you look at studies it seems to be getting some really positive results.  Not sure if you would need to take DHEA as well as growth hormone but I am sure Zita West clinic would advise

Bx


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