Is follicle count of 3 bad?

[Lyn84]

Just found out my follicle count is 3 at 34yrs old i wasn't explained the results just given them in a letter so had to look it up which worried me what i found that it was low for my age

[Saya85]

Hi Lyn,

I’m so sorry you didn’t get the answers you needed- It must be frustrating when they don’t explain things properly to you- but rest assured if they haven’t dismissed you from their care that means they’re not too worried! Ivf is there too boost your natural fertility and increase and develop as many follicles as possible in a short period of time- so it means they will probably give you a higher dose of meds to help you along.

However I won’t beat around the bush- from what I know and have read yes, 3 follicles at your age is quite low. Have you had your AMh levels tested? And FSH? They are all indicative of egg quality and quantity and ovarian reserve.

Biologically speaking it means you Are more advanced in your biological clock than your actual age. But plenty of women in their late 30s and early 40s experience this same issue. So you’re not out for the count yet!

What it does mean is that you do probably need to consider fertility treatment sooner rather than later and act more quickly on giving yourself the best chance.

There are ways for us all to increase our fertility and improve egg quality - it takes 3

Months for an egg to mature and develop fully so taking supplements early is a good idea

(Your OH should also do this to make sure his side is as top notch as it can be! Although his changes can need up to 6months)

Do test for any vitamin deficiencies (vit D,

Iron, ferritin, Folate, b12, etc) and make the lifestyle changes you will need to diet/alcohol etc

Main supplements are DHEA and ubiquonol coq10 for egg quality.

Inositol and folic acid are also good for detoxifying and kickstarting the process.

Do you have any thyroid issues? They will need testing and treating also as tsh should be below 2.5 for TtC.

Sorry if you already know all

Or Some Of the above I thought I’d just run through the main things.

End of the day you only need one good egg and one good embryo to stick 🙂

So please don’t despair but maybe think of it as natures way of kicking us up the bum to get onto it ASAP! 😋

paleo-mama.com/get-pregnant...

This blog article explains it quite succinctly and apparently she had low AFC and managed to get pregnant too.

Hope this helps a bit

Good luck x

[Lyn84 in reply to Saya85]

Thank you ive had my fsh and LH tested but not had results of AMH yet we are just waiting to hear if we have been accepted for ivf my thyroid is fine as are my general blood tests for vitamins etc

[Saya85 in reply to Lyn84]

Ahh I see. The best of luck to you.

Certainly trying to improve egg quality in the mean time is best all round while you have the time.

I hope you get the answers from your clinic soon x

[Pammi912]

Keep positive, you only need one follicle and one egg.. I now have a 4 year old son.. 😊

[Staying_positive38]

Hi Lyn

In March I had a follicle count of 14. In October I had a count of 3. Doctor couldn’t explain why and I was devastated. They decided to go ahead on next period regardless.

So in November I was scanned again and I had 8 follicles!

This Doctor explained that my previous scan was at the end of my cycle so follicles had died away. This scan was at the start of my cycle (day 3) so there were more. This made sense.

Do you know where in your cycle you were when you had your scan? X

[Lyn84 in reply to Staying_positive38]

I was day 15