Low AMH Advice

[Babydust2023]

Hi everyone,

It’s taken me a while to pluck up the courage to post this but here we go…

We had a round of IVF in January, but unfortunately the embryo didn’t implant so it didn’t work. As I only had two eggs retrieved (one transferred and the other couldn’t be frozen!) under NHS Scotland we don’t qualify for more funding. I do however appreciate we were fortunate enough to have had one round! So brain went into serious saving mode and looking for private clinics…

We had an appointment with our NHS consultant at the end of February who said that due to me having low AMH levels (5.9 I think) and being 36 (old apparently) she recommended egg donor. News we never thought we would hear. I thought people would only be told that if infertile or serious genetic issues.

Fast forward two weeks, as I didn’t have a period I done a test, and I was 5.5 weeks pregnant through natural conception! So when I was being told my eggs were no more by the consultant we were pregnant!

Unfortunately we did miscarry around 7.5 weeks. This is all still very raw so coming to terms with everything we have been told plus loosing what I thought was our little miracle 💔

in short I am not ready to give up on my eggs, there must be something there is we naturally fell pregnant! But my question is - has anyone else been told they’ve low AMH, my age/similar age or older, and taken anything to help boost AMH? Can this even be done? Dietary? Supplements? And have success stories? I am so so confused what to do right now. I’m in a period of grieve so need to handle and process that but I am also trying to look to the future end hope that we can still have our own little miracle.

whilst right now we’ve not got our ‘happy ending’ yet, for anyone that’s been told similar to me I hope this gives some hope that miracles can happen with our own bodies! Xx

[Mexicosunnydays]

I’m reading ‘starts with the egg’ it has some really good supplements advice… time isn’t on my side at 42.5 so need to do everything I can to maximise chances.. sorry for your loss and I’m sure you’ve still years of trying with your own eggs 🙏

[BlahBlah55]

I also have low AMH - lower than yours and I’m older than you.

What your doctor told you seems a bit premature! You definitely still have a chance to have a baby. Especially seeing you’re still in your mid 30s.

I’ve had two pregnancies in the past year which sadly both miscarried, I’ve also done one round of ICSI which resulted in one day 5 embryo which was a BFN and am trying a second round now.

Having low AMH doesn’t mean you won’t conceive naturally. If you ovulate every month then you have still have a chance each month to get pregnant. The low AMH just tells you that you won’t get huge numbers of eggs when doing stimulation. I think there can be a correlation between low ovarian reserve and poor quality but that certainly doesn’t mean they are all bad, just that it may take longer to get your healthy one.

You can try supplements, I take a prenatal multivitamin, vitamin D, CQ10 and omega oil. But there’s not really anything proven to change your AMH or reverse ovarian decline.

[Flare90]

Hi dear,

So sorry to hear about your miscarriage, Im diagnosed with low AMH (1.06) at age of 33, 4 retrievals (ivf rounds) , each round I get single embryo blastyocyst day 5. all ended up with failed FET. I passed the phase of being sorry to being proud of my self. Stay positive and dont give up easily.

[Tarasunny]

I was with a Scottish clinic too. After a round of ivf where no eggs were retrieved and my AMH dropped from 7.1 to 2.8 I was recommended donor eggs. Like you I wasn't ready yet to go down that route. I decided to get a 2nd opinion from another clinic down south (also because even if I'd gone donor eggs the waiting time was 2 years in Scotland!). 2 egg collections later I have my beautiful twin boys. I definitely would have always wondered what if, if I hadn't given my own eggs another go (or 2). Don't get me wrong it wasn't easy and it wasn't some miracle cure but I definitely had more success with my 2nd clinic.

[Turtlebug in reply to Tarasunny]

Please could you give more details of your protocol and any changes in lifestyle and nutrition? I am in the same position you are in and I feel hopeless as Imno eggs have been retrieved for me ☹️

[Tarasunny in reply to Turtlebug]

Sorry that happened to you. I just ate a balanced diet, extra protein (eggs and nuts), no caffeine. I had also been taking myoinositol prior to that cycle and that might have been affecting things negatively too. Stopped that and felt my cycles were more regular again.

[Gerbear22]

I wouldn't give up on your own eggs.I had amh of 7.7pmol/l at age 39/40.Did 2 cycles of icsi(no male issues) and got 4 embyros from 5 eggs.Double transfers both times.Told during both stimulations that I may need to consider donor eggs due to poor response from stims.I wasnt given up on my own eggs!I now have a beautiful 11 month old from 2nd icsi cycle.I got pregnant again in Feb(naturally) with an amh of 1.2pmol/l(tested in Sept).Currently going through a long drawn out miscarriage but it has given me hope that I can still get pregnant.Wishing you all the best.xx

[Hidden]

Hi Babydust. I can completely sympathise with you.

My AMH was at 1 & 2.2 at 28YO, but we fell pregnant naturally 4-6 months later (partner also has sperm issues) just before starting meds. We undertook more tests at 30 YO last July and my level was showing as 3.3, and the consultant actually told us to keep trying for 6 months as I can clearly get pregnant. I was too impatient, and we went for IVF which failed in November, however in January this year we had another surprise positive and I’m now 18 weeks.

I had been told by the NHS in 2021 to consider donor eggs, which is crap and makes you feel awful - and low and behold we are here. So take it with a pinch of salt at this Stage and keep trying naturally along with IVF (own eggs).

I did however do the following in preparation for IVF (leading up to both natural pregnancies):-

- acupuncture

- healthy diet and cut out processed foods as much as I possibility could

- gave up strenuous physical exercise and stuck to lots of walking

- lots of supplements including DHEA/Asda pregnancy vitamin/extra vitamin D/ubiquinol/NAC.

I thought the consultant was ridiculous for saying try for another 6 months (we’d already been trying for 8 with no success). But then I don’t think we’d have had success if we hadn’t gone through a cycle as I wouldn’t have prepped like I did. It may also do good your partner taking Proceive just to give his sperm an extra boost

Dont give up hope xx

[Clayhugs]

hi! I’m so sorry for your loss, I hope you’re being kind to yourself.

I’m 36 with amh is 3 and am currently 22 weeks with fraternal twins after an nhs cycle.

Our first private resulted in nothing to transfer and I had a natural conception but it was ectopic back in 2020.

I tweaked my diet to add in lots of nuts, berries, fish and protein. I did accupuncture and an oxygen chamber and worked on reducing stress and Pilates.

Feel free to message me if you need an ear or wanted to ask any qns.

Doesn’t sound to me like you need to go to do or just yet. Best of luck xx

[Dreams2020]

I’m so sorry you received such disheartening advice , I have low AMH and after 4 IVF cycles had my son at 40 . I used my eggs each time and every round there was none to roll over , we then tried a frozen embryo cycle and that resulted in my son . Don’t get me wrong it was a long hard road but my doctor was willing to tweak the protocol each time to get us success . It took me 4 cycles , a miscarriage and a cancelled cycle because of low response but we got there . It took me 3 years just to give you an idea of how long it took us.

I did the diet , supplements etc . . In all honesty I don’t know if any of it made a difference. But I found accupuncture a very supportive and complementary therapy to help my body conceive .

Hope that helps and I wish you all the luck. Low AMH is not always the end of the road xx

[Bluemoon67 in reply to Dreams2020]

Hi,

I also have low AMH, I am 39 years old. Started acupuncture in July trying to improve AMH level but I did not see any improvements to be honest. My level of stress still quite high and my AMH went from 1.9 (March) to 2.3 (1 week ago).

I do not know whether to continue or not as it is quite expensive and time consuming.

However, I am due to start my first IVF cycle after Christmas, in the meantime I’ll keep trying naturally but after two years I have lost hope.

Thanks x

[Orttc]

I think it’s definitely worth trying with your own eggs! Mine is 8.8 (I’m 31) and I got 17 eggs at my last egg retrieval- I would say it’s worth doing at least one round with your own eggs to see how you respond to stims. You may surprise yourself and your doctors. Good luck!