38+ Antral Follicle Count of 8.. Your experiences??

[Juniperjules]

Hi girls.. I'm 39 in December. TTC #1, and yesterday had my AFC done by ultrasound. Until yesterday I had no idea as to what my chances were of ttc. My GP referred us to a FS simply due to my age & not wanting to waste time.

I've had all the bloods done:
FSH
LH
Oestadiol
Progesterone
Prolactin
TSH
AMH

... And today I have my 2nd FS appt to discuss results etc.

And I'm petrified now that with an AFC of 8, that my options are now basically crap. I wasn't totally naive before- I know 38 is no spring chicken.. But now I'm feeling kind of hopeless.. Trolling the net & reading all sorts of forums & websites has just about done me in. I'm worried I'm gonna start balling my eyes out at the appt too.. Not that I really care about that, but I feel so fragile that everything feels hopeless. I feel old & like my expiry date is up!! Ironically I look much younger than 38 so people keep saying 'oh you'll be fine, you'll be pregnant in no time!' Now I'm worried that we won't even be offered IVF!!

Anyone here got any pearls of wisdom or personal experience with this?? What options were you given? What did/ didn't work? Success stories would be amazing..

 

[vermeil]

psht antral follicle count isn`t everything. It`s just part of the picture. At 40 I had a count of 24 - all of the doctors said this is very good for my age. Yet I wasn`t getting pregnant. Basically I was making crappy eggs .. just lots of them It took ivf for us but we did get there, worked first frozen transfer cycle. Try to keep positive and do lots of research on how to improve your count. One of the best you can do is become healthy and exercise, to improve blood circulation to the ovaries.

www.fertility.ca is one of my favorites. Lots of good info, explained straight up.

Good luck!

 

[Blythe]

I was told I have between 10-11 but it changed from cycle to cycle. It provides an indication of response to IVF so I'm just holding onto fact I release an egg every month I am currently looking at IVF though and will have another scan within 2 months so I'm curious if my follicle count will change and by how much.

Girls get their IVF bfps with far less follicles than that and natural bfps too.

 

[jrob0803]

I don't have any experiences to tell you about. My antral count was only 7 so yeah I was devasted too when I heard that. I was told that all a low afc count means it you may not respond well to fertility meds, but that also depends on the person. Some people respond really well despite low AFC. Just try to stay positive and baby dust to you.

 

[crystal443]

My last antral count was 7 in total and I am 38.. you can have a low antral count and still make good eggs. IVF can still work but you would likely need higher doses of stims and try not to set your expectations high of retrieving alot of eggs. It will most likely be fewer eggs but if they're good quality then it might only take 1 good embryo My FS put me on 75mgs of DHEA to help with numbers, not sure if you've tried this already.

That all being said my egg quality is also poor, my FSH was 13 so it can go that route as well. I've started my DEIVF cycle so there are still options if that's the case

Sadly it doesn't matter how young we look, although it should Our reproductive age is on its own timeline

Best of luck to you, there are lots of ladies that get their BFP with low AMH!!

 

[Electricat]

I'm sorry I don't have any input seeing as I'm a noob to all this.
But since all you girls seem to know a lot about this stuff maybe I can ask you...
I had my CD 3 Blood test done and the clerk told me they were fine, but I asked for numbers (without knowing what I asked for) and I googled them, and I'm gutted. They don't seem ok at ALL!

FSH - 12
E2 - 332
LH - 6

From what I read
- FSH between 10-13 is very bad egg count
- High numbers of Estradiol is indicative of bad egg count
- LH seemed ok, but...it does not anything against better eggs

Any input?

I haven't talked to my doc yet - will wait for CD 21 before booking...but this doesn't look good - what can a doc do with these numbers?

to all of us, girls

 

[Juniperjules]

Electrikat, I've been doing the same with my numbers.. I'm in Australia & I'm not sure if the numbers correlate with results of people in the US.. I'm not certain that they use the same measurements.. I've read so many different things on different sites that its making my head spin. Mine are:
Day 3
FSH 7.7
LH 9.7
PROLACTIN 112
ESTRADIOL 162
PROGESTERONE 1.2

Day 21
Progesterone 37.5
Estradiol 603


I've now got an appt on 4th Sept with an amazing fertility specialist to try & figure out wot to do next. First consultation is $300!!!! Holy moly!! Then $125 each appt after that.. I was referred with the idea of maybe doing IUI with her, but the Doc who referred me (also a FS) was VERY conservative & anti- IVF etc.. So he was very calm and unshocked by my numbers & said to just keep trying for a whole longer... But I pushed for something more & he referred me to this other FS. I have a feeling that she won't be so conservative, which I'm happy about... But scared of the $$$$$$$ which will be involved!! Am saving all my pennies now & will be trying to work extra shifts (I'm a nurse) to try & get more cash in the bank by Sept.

For now, I'm concentrating on improving egg quality. I can't change my reserve, but I can try & improve the quality of my eggs. So I'm doing the following,
Taking:
Prenatal Vit. Ubiquinol 400mg (might even increase to 600mg). This FS puts most girls on melatonin but it's scripted (ie not the stuff u get off the shelf for $10), so for now ill just take the off the shelf stuff, better than nothing I figure.

Am cutting out all caffeine, alcohol, no ice cream, no orange juice, and cutting out all white carbs (therefore sticking to low GI foods). Am terrible at eating fruit so am gonna improve that also. And drinking 2litres of water a day. These are all things that this FS with the amazing reputation says to do on her website... So, I'm doing them!

It's scary though isn't it.. I knew that at 38 time was against me, but seeing actual proof now has total rocked my world. I can't honestly believe that I may truly have lost the chance of ever having children

 

[crystal443]

Juniper I'm in Australia as well and your FSH looks great, which is a great sign. I'm thinking your new FS will do an AMH test to find out what your reserves are like

 

[Juniperjules]

Juniper I'm in Australia as well and your FSH looks great, which is a great sign. I'm thinking your new FS will do an AMH test to find out what your reserves are like

Hey Crystal!!! : ) nice to hear from another person in Aust!! My only issue with the FSH is that I've read that high oestradiol levels can pushed down the FSH numbers.. Meaning u can get a false sense of security thinking ur FSH is good when it's not???? Excuse my ignorance, why is the FSH number being low good?

I had an AMH test done already by FS at the hospital & results should be back this week.. Dreading getting them though.. I know it can mean u tackle things more aggressively so it's a necessary evil I guess.

I'm also getting nervous about the cost of IVF. Bcos I'm guessing this woman will say forget iui & go straight to IVF. Which I'm happy to do.

 

[crystal443]

The lower your egg reserves are the harder your ovaries have to work to produce an egg which is FSH(follicle stimulating hormone). That's how FS explained it to us, so if your FSH is only 7.7 that is a great indicator that you've still got some healthy eggs I'm in Melbourne and the IVF clinic here will not measure FSH because it can change month to month so AMH is the one they want to see because that doesn't change. The problem with that is I wasted money on 3 cycles because I have low AMH and high FSH, had I known my FSH was so high I would have saved myself tears and money and just went to DE I first went for IVF when I was 36 and was told my eggs would be great but they weren't We live and learn

Even if you have low AMH they will still do IVF, it just means they'll use more drugs and you'll most likely get fewer eggs. However there are ladies with low antral counts that respond wonderfully on stims If your antral count was 8 then you've still got eggs there so try not to worry too much

FX'd your AMH comes back great You only need one good embie. you can do it

 

[Feline]

psht antral follicle count isn`t everything. It`s just part of the picture. At 40 I had a count of 24 - all of the doctors said this is very good for my age. Yet I wasn`t getting pregnant. Basically I was making crappy eggs .. just lots of them It took ivf for us but we did get there, worked first frozen transfer cycle. Try to keep positive and do lots of research on how to improve your count. One of the best you can do is become healthy and exercise, to improve blood circulation to the ovaries.

www.fertility.ca is one of my favorites. Lots of good info, explained straight up.

Good luck!

Loving the website!! Thanks for sharing.x

 

[Juniperjules]

psht antral follicle count isn`t everything. It`s just part of the picture. At 40 I had a count of 24 - all of the doctors said this is very good for my age. Yet I wasn`t getting pregnant. Basically I was making crappy eggs .. just lots of them It took ivf for us but we did get there, worked first frozen transfer cycle. Try to keep positive and do lots of research on how to improve your count. One of the best you can do is become healthy and exercise, to improve blood circulation to the ovaries.

www.fertility.ca is one of my favorites. Lots of good info, explained straight up.

Good luck!

Loving the website!! Thanks for sharing.x

Me too! ; ) thanks girls.. You guys in here are so great.. Figuring all this out on ur own would be so much harder.

Vermeil, can I ask what sort of things u did to improve egg quality?? Apart from the exercise & blood flow thing.

I was seeing a traditional Chinese medicine lady last year- am thinking I might go back. She definitely changed something in my body, AF changed quite dramatically actually.

I'm also thinking of going to the GP & asking if she'll prescribe melatonin for me. The FS I have an appt with 4th Sept seems to put most of her clients on 3mg melatonin at nite to improve egg quality.. But it has to be the proper stuff, that needs a script (well here in Aust it does).

 

[ana2019]

you wrote DE.. what does that mean? thank you

 

[ana2019]

hi you wrote DE.. what is that? I'm new to this and new to learning about my fertility
thanks

 

[Aurora CHK]

I’m 38, with AMH of 3.4 and AFC of 8.

I’ve fallen pregnant three times naturally, and twice through IVF.

Sadly I miscarried all of them at 4-5 weeks. It’s not explained but could be egg quality.

In our third IVF I only produced one egg so we cancelled it.

In our fourth, we tried with an egg donor, and I’m now 5 weeks pregnant and hoping this one sticks. It’s not what I wanted originally but needs must...

Good luck to you!

 

[Aurora CHK]

BTW my also-38 friend is about to give birth to her first - she tried for a year but got there naturally - so there is hope! I hope my story doesn’t depress you