Trying to conceive - newly diagnosed with DOR

[Diarymilk123]

Hello, I’m 33 and been trying to conceive natural for 1 year. I have been tested for amh levels and to my shock I have a score of 4.5 - which I believe is equivalent to the average of someone in their early 40’s. I’ve also been told I have 3 follicles on right and 2 on left which is significantly low (through ultrasound) has anyone been in my situation and gone on to conceive naturally? Are there any drugs that will help me ? Or do I have to go straight into ivf and egg freezing. (Will I even have a chance with that?) so overwhelmingly. Apparently this is called DOR - my mum went through menopause at 45.

[Nic24]

Hi, at 34 I had an amh if 2.5 and also had 5 follicles in total. I did fall pregnant naturally after over 2 years of trying but it ended in miscarriage. I then had IVF using the highest stimulation they can use and only got one egg which was immature so it didn’t fertilise. I am hoping to have another go using my own eggs later this year.

[Rox1388]

Hi, I’m 31 and was told I had an AMH of 4.6 and a low follicle count too. Our consultant recommended IVF sooner rather than later. We did two unsuccessful rounds last year on a short protocol and whilst we didn’t have any embryos to freeze the response I had to meds was good. Both times we transferred 5day blastocysts.

I unexpectedly fell pregnant naturally in Feb this year and I’m currently 18 weeks pregnant. We’d been trying to conceive for 3.5yrs prior to this and that was the first ever positive we’ve had.

Whilst I’d say don’t give up hope because me and lots of others are proof it can happen naturally I think your best option probably is IVF because time isn’t on our side and like I said it took us 3.5yrs before it happened.

Whilst I don’t know if it made a difference and could have been a coincidence, I started taking DHEA in Dec last year, I did get my levels checked privately first and mine were crazy low.

It’s meant to help egg quality in women with a low ovarian reserve but it’s not helpful for everyone so maybe check with your doctor first.

Good luck in however you decide to go forward xxx

[Diarymilk123 in reply to Rox1388]

Thanks so much for this info Rox1388 can I ask if you had any other issues outside of a low amh? Like your partner or ovulation issues that you were aware of during trying for so many years?

[Rox1388 in reply to Diarymilk123]

All my husbands test were absolutely fine. I always had a 28 day cycle so assumed I ovulated normally but my blood work showed the specific cycle I had my tests done it was anovulatory (meaning I hadn’t ovulated). It was all a massive shock because I thought I was pretty textbook with periods etc.

I had my tubes checked after our first round of IVF just to see if there was the potential to ever get pregnant naturally (more for my own knowing than anything, we didn’t have any expectations of it happening because our consultant told us it was highly unlikely). I also had a hysteroscopy because my first ultrasound showed a shadow but this turned out to be nothing so in terms of everything other than the low AMH and low follicle count no other problems.

I would recommend making sure your thyroid TSH is at a good level because even if it lies within the normal range it can be high for trying to conceive, I think the ideal is between 1-2.5.

I wasn’t the best at been very outspoken with my consultant but I have learnt so much info from just reading other people’s posts and if you do go down the IVF route definitely make sure you push for what you want and make sure you understand the protocol etc. If you’re paying privately it’s a lot of money to spend so you want to feel completely comfortable in what your doing and that your giving yourself the best chance you can xx

[treezuk]

From my knowledge you have to have a certain number AMH wise to freeze eggs because essentially with a lower number the eggs you would be freezing would be that of less quality than what they would of been say 5 years ago , your AMH level and follicle count is low but it’s not impossible people do get pregnant naturally with levels like this or lower but it really is hit and miss wether you can or not , my AMH level upon testing was 0.4 so I was already at a stage where it was to late thankfully I had a child already but we see trying for a sibling that’s how we found out what was wrong , we chose to go down the donor egg route because we had no other option and we now have twin boys (14m) had we lot had a fantastic clinic that talked it through with us thoroughly to make sure we were making the right decision we may not be where we are now.

if you want to try Own Eggs my best suggestion would be to start ivf sooner rather than later because with your levels the way they are waiting to much longer would mean they would fall lower and that would decrease your chance of falling pregnant with a biological child.

There is things that people suggest to improve the egg quality but none of them are really known to work.

You could go onto HRT as it’s not a contraception it’s just for bone and general health but even on HRT it doesn’t mean your gonna get pregnant naturally although many do.

So sorry your going through this - I got the diagnoses at 32 and I’m now 37

[Hidden]

I am 40 I got my amh tested around 39 it was 3.4, in 3 years I’ve conceived 5 times naturally 3 mmc 2 chemical.

Just need a strong egg but I’m afraid I might be too late.

[Baypony]

Hi Dairymilk, everyone is different. It is possible to conceive with AMH at your level, lots of people on here have. Unfortunately my AMH at your age was 0.8. We tried naturally for 5 years, no luck at all, whilst saving for IVF. Eventually we went abroad for donor egg treatment.

I know there are ladies on here that have got lucky with low AMH and also there are clinics that specialise in low AMH IVF. If you do a search it may be helpful and turn up more info for you. Hopefully you will be lucky and catch naturally 🤞

[Lilly12255]

I would go straight to IVF. There is still time as you are young, so most of your eggs will be normal, unlike 40+ like me. So if you try a few times, you probably will get a normal egg and will be successful.

[Marylyn]

Ask to have your serum & active vitamin B12 Homocysteine,MMA,,folate ,iron Vit D ,Zinc ,thyroid levels attended.What your Drs don’t know is a vitamin B12 deficiency can cause infertility ,miscarriages ,foetal abnormalities,endometriosis,PCOS ,preeclampsia .Have your partner Checked too as if a male with sperm count of 20 million by supplementing with vit b12 his level will boost to 100 million.I Am a midwife & have taught fertility awareness for 40 yrs but only learnt the significance of low vitamin b12 in last 7 yrs.Good luck I hope you have many pregnancies with this information.