dhea worry

[Cuppppatea]

Hey everyone. Hope you are doing really well. Another dilemma for me of course !

Next nhs cycle starts mid jan. I’ve been taking dhea which is supposed to improve ivf out come. It can also raise testosterone….Started taking dhea a month ago. Just 25mg but more recently 50mg every other day. The clinic do not know

My testosterone was 0.7. I didn’t test dhea

The gp booked me dhea and testosterone test as I said I was going to take it.

I decided not to take the tests as I didn’t want the results getting back to the nhs fertility clinic. Now I’ve been taking it for a month I feel I need to monitor levels.

( back story - before being accepted onto nhs treatment I asked for my cortisol to be tested in relation to my period and fertility it was found to be slightly raised - the fertility consultant would not let me start treatment until the gp wrote to them saying it was not an issue.

I’m worried something might happen with these results to the detriment of my treatment ?! It’s not worth the risk is it. I should just pay for private.

I hate the paranoia and anxiety they induce!!

[JA-fnuk Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK]

Think you should may be discuss the points you mention with your clinic as they know your history and have your best interest at heart Make sure you have people around you for support as this is a very stressful journey you are on

Take care of yourself

Janet-Partner

[Nabsal in reply to JA-fnuk]

Totally agree it’s very hard journey seriously

[Habibi87]

Hi, my private clinic in central London prescribed DHEA to me (I think it was 25mg x 3 times a day) as I had low AMH. They did not test my dhea level or testosterone levels before it or after taking it. Lots of luck and positive vibes xx

[Cuppppatea in reply to Habibi87]

Hey. Thanks for your reply. I also have low amh - 1.8. How long were you on them for ? Did it make a difference. I worry because if testosterone is too high that can be detrimental. X

[Habibi87 in reply to Cuppppatea]

I took it for about 3 months. I don’t know if it helped, but egg collections went much better than expected! X

[Avocado111 in reply to Habibi87]

same here, DHEA 75mg per day, central London clinic, dhea/testosterone not tested, low AMH, I start it from down reg, around 2 months before EC, not sure if improve the egg quality, but EC better than expected, try to buy DHEA dissolved/micro, I use Douglas lab DHEA,I tried other normal DHEA at first(no symptoms), but feel dissolved/Micro maybe better as I have all the symptoms after taking dissolved/micro, like oily hair etc, but I maybe wrong, just my personal experience, hope it helps, good luck Cupppatea

[Darcy1996 in reply to Avocado111]

May I ask if this was prescribed? Finding it very hard to get any DHEA in UK without needing “advice from a professional” (I’m still trying naturally, hoping to start IVF in next 2-3 months but at 42 want to be super ready!). All the best

[Doodlebug23]

Don’t want to speak out of turn, but why are you doing things without speaking to your clinic? They are the experts who are in charge of your care and will be carefully planning your treatment. This is such a minefield of meds, issues, interactions, treatment options that you may be affecting your chance of success by not being transparent with your clinic and following their advice. X

[MontsJ]

If you look at this website it gives a guide if ideal testosterone levels -

itstartswiththeegg.com/top-...

You can convert to nmol/L on this website, but the levels on the website convert to an ideal range of 0.86-1.5nmol/L, with above 0.35 being of normal range.

unitslab.com/node/136

You do ideally want to know your DHEA levels also as ideally both DHEA and testosterone would be in range.

Hope that helps 😊