Poor follicle growth

[Kiki0]

Hi any advice on slow follicle growth I’m 42 years old with low AMH and low follicle numbers, 6 in total. I’m on a modified cycle letrozole for 5 days then merifert 150IU for 4 days so far. Had a scan today and only 3 follicles have reached to 11 in size the other a lot smaller. I’m to continue taking merifert till Monday having another scan to check size need to get to 14 to progress any further. I’m drinking plenty and apprehensive that the cycle will be cancelled due to small size follicles. Any advice to improve growth or am I looking at a cancelled cycle 😕

[Sayusayme]

Hey dear

Due to low amh your ovarian reserve has reduced which causes less follicle to develop.

Am not sure, there in your clinic how it works but in my clinic I was given modified mini stimulation of ovary as I had the same issues with less follicle .

So in this modified stimulation I got good quality eggs though less in number....

So do hope for the best and make sure you ask you GP about modified mini stimulation technique for people with less amh.......

For this cycle you carry on with what they say and let's hope for the best

[Kiki0 in reply to Sayusayme]

Thank you for your encouraging words 😊

[MontsJ in reply to Sayusayme]

Really interested to hear this, I’ve only heard of one clinic in the UK that uses lower doses. Is it possible you can message me where you go and what protocol you have been on?

[Sayusayme in reply to MontsJ]

Dear this mini stimulation ivf protocol has lot of success .

I heard in" create " ivf clinic uk they do use mini stimulation for low amh and older for patient with low amh

[Kiki0 in reply to MontsJ]

Manchester fertility also offer modified ivf which is similar to mini simulation ivf.

[Sprinkles86]

May not be of use for this cycle but I’ve heard of people having good success with fertility reflexology and acupuncture xxx

[Mazzath1]

This happened to me I did acupuncture and drank lots of skimmed milk and upped my protein. It worked. Good improvement on my next scan. Xxx

[MontsJ]

I’m sorry for you that this is happening, I know the stress you will be feeling. This happened to me last month and sadly as a result I only had one follicle at target size do they advised me to cancel 😔 I was on a much higher dose of 450IU if the Meriofert. The only thing you can do to improve things is drink plenty of water and some suggest plenty of full fat milk, a pint a day plus.

Try and stay positive, a lot can change by Monday. Sending you positive thoughts x

[Kiki0 in reply to MontsJ]

I know so much build up then to be cancelled is soul destroying. Trying to keep positive will let you know tomorrow 😊 thanks for the advice.

[Hope4another]

Have a look at my post on this - I have low amh and responded poorly at first scan. I ended up with 4 eggs collected, 3 fertilised, 3 good quality blastocysts. Today I got a bfp! I also ate low carb high protein and no sugar. Don't know if it made any difference. X

[Kiki0 in reply to Hope4another]

Hi just to let you know had my scan today and my follicles have grown to 14, 13 and 11 x 2 definitely an improvement so hopefully egg collection Friday 😊

[Kiki0]

Ah congratulations that’s amazing news so happy for you 😊 thanks for sharing it’s always encouraging to hear positive outcomes. Best of luck let us know how you get on x

[Shelleybean]

I upped my protein intake (eggs, salmon, nuts and shakes) which did seem to coincide with improved follicle growth on a couple of cycles. Good luck, keeping my fingers crossed for you 🤞🍀 xx

[Fifikoko]

Hi Kiki

Maybe you could try doing a couple of things to compliment the drugs they’re giving you for this protocol e.g:

1. Accupuncture - I’ve had three cycles now and definitely found follicles grew better and faster the more accupuncture I had

2. Biona Organic beetroot juice - 75ml shot a day helps boost blood flow to your reproductive organs. I drink it out of a wine glass in the evening with my little bowl of almonds and walnuts and crisps pretending it’s wine 🍷😀

3. Daily shake using non dairy milk, berries and organic whey protein powder like Pulsin natural vanilla flavour

2 and 3 are both available on Amazon next day with prime.

I hope things improve this cycle but if not I strongly advise you to get the book “It Starts with the Egg” and follow the advice given for low ovarian reserve and age related infertility as you prepare for your next cycle.

For 2.5 months before my third cycle I followed the supplement and lifestyle advice in the book for those conditions plus my endometriosis. I added 2 & 3 above from Zita West nutritionist advice at the very start of the third cycle and went from having 8 follicles, 6 eggs collected and 3 fertilised in 2nd cycle to about 17 -18 follicles, 16 eggs collected and 10 fertilise in this 3rd cycle.

I think the supplements that probably made the biggest difference were DHEA, NAC and melatonin, none of which I had taken before. I also took higher dosage of ubiquonal than 2nd cycle.

You can get DHEA and melatonin from biovea.com

I know you’re not supposed to self medicate but as the book tells you, a lot of the consultants in our clinics are not up to date on all the latest research and evidence about these supplements. To cover their lack of knowledge up they will just shut you down by saying “there’s not enough evidence about x,y,z”.

My consultant at least admitted to me that she and other consultants at my clinic had been told to read it but she had only gotten round to ordering it off amazon. You can’t blame them for not keeping up - my clinic sees about 350 women a month and the consultants have lives outside of work too.

My point is we cannot rely on the doctors and the drugs they prescribe alone. We have to do all we can to help ourselves and as I said “compliment” the great work they do.

If you don’t have it already please get the book It Starts with the Egg. You can also get some of the supplement and lifestyle advice on line at itstartswiththeegg.com

All the best 😘🌈💕🙏🏽

[Kiki0 in reply to Fifikoko]

Hi Fifikoko

Thank you for all the advice I will definitely look into these 😊 currently I’ve been taking prenacare, 75mgs DHEA and 400mg CQ10. Maybe need to research a little more to see what can help. Thanks again for taking the time to reply 😉💕

[Fifikoko]

Sounds like you’re doing all the right things 👍🏽 I took 75mg DHEA too (25mg 3x daily). Ubiquonol is the more active form of CoQ10 supposedly more easily absorbed. I took 200mg 3x daily.

Best of luck xxx

[Hope4another]

That's great news! X

[MontsJ]

Another thing to mention, if you are taking DHEA, consider checking your levels if DHEA and testosterone. My AMH was 2 when checked 12 months ago, I am a poor responder and checked my levels many months after starting at 50mg daily. I was surprised to see my DHEA level was higher than that recommended, and my testosterone was high end of normal. As a result I have dropped my dose down.

[Kiki0]

Thanks for that I’ll mention it to my consultant 😊