Successive IVF's that Failed

[Anonymous]

I had two IVF's that failed. My FSH was tested a few times when we began and it was nice and low, a 7 or less. Now after these failed IVF's it's a 14! My acupuncturist says that it could be that the successive IVF's depleted my eggs (because after all women only have a finite number of eggs). This explains my high FSH she says. It means my reserve is low.

Has anyone had successive failed IVF's and then have their FSH shoot up like mine did? And has anyone had their FSH actually drop after doing IVF's? I'm trying to test the validity of what my acupuncturist is saying.

[Anonymous]

Boy, your acupuncturist's knowledge about fertility is pretty scary! I think I'd consider looking for another acu. You lose dozens of eggs every month, whether you're doing treatment or not. IVF doesn't change that. It just matures more of the available follicles. Now, it's possible that your hormonal balance was affected by all the meds, and that affected your fsh. I really think it's more likely that your fsh just naturally fluctuates, and you just caught a high one this month. For comparison, in the past 16 months, my fsh has ranged from 3 to 24!

[Anonymous]

How long ago did you get tested when you had your low FSH and how old are you?

2.5 years ago (at 37.5) with my successful IVF mine was 7.5 and now it's an 8.25 at 39 yrs old (40 in April)
I will be starting my IVF cycle in a couple weeks.

[Anonymous]

I think your accupuncturist is wrong. FSH jumps around alot--it could be 3 one month, 7 another and 13 the next. I had a high 13.5 FSH before my first IVF and then after the first failed IVF, it was down to a 3! I got pregnant on the second IVF. I would ask your RE, not your accupuncturist. Also, from what I have read, while FSH does give you a sense of your ovarian reserve, it is not definitive. While it may seem intuitive to your accup. that because IVF causes you to release more eggs each cycle, it depletes your reserve, I don't think that is the case. At least I have never heard it and I would also think that your MD would be obligated to tell you this as part of the risk/benefit talk they typically give.

Good luck. I know how tough it is to keep having ART not work out, but it can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How long ago did you get tested when you had your low FSH and how old are you?

2.5 years ago (at 37.5) with my successful IVF mine was 7.5 and now it's an 8.25 at 39 yrs old (40 in April)
I will be starting my IVF cycle in a couple weeks.

This summer it was 7 and I was 41. Right after my second failed IVF it was retested and it was 2.7 (nurse said it was artificially low possibly because of the residual meds in my body at the time). Then 4 weeks later it was retested again and it was 14.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boy, your acupuncturist's knowledge about fertility is pretty scary! I think I'd consider looking for another acu. You lose dozens of eggs every month, whether you're doing treatment or not. IVF doesn't change that. It just matures more of the available follicles. Now, it's possible that your hormonal balance was affected by all the meds, and that affected your fsh. I really think it's more likely that your fsh just naturally fluctuates, and you just caught a high one this month. For comparison, in the past 16 months, my fsh has ranged from 3 to 24!

Really? Women lose dozens of eggs each month? Okay now I'm going back to elementary school sex ed here so forgive my ignorance. LOL But my acupuncturist said only one egg matures each month so only one egg is lost each month - naturally. IVF stimulates numerous eggs to mature simultaneously, however. Wrong?

[Anonymous]

Not the original PP, but yes -- although only one egg is usually "ovulated" per a month, more die off: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folliculogenesis

This is why your RE looks at your antral follicular count -- so they can get a good idea of how many eggs than can help mature using additional FSH. They cannot make eggs mature that are not already there and waiting for the cycle.

[Anonymous]

In IVF they remove all the available mature follicles. So how long is it before my body can reproduce a fresh clutch of immature follicles?

[Anonymous]

Your body produces new immature follicles every month.

[Anonymous]

PP here. Should also add that my RE told me that your body has figured out by something like day 24 of your cycle whether you're pregnant - if so, it starts sending signals for pregnancy hormones to start flowing, and if not it starts sending signals for your new follicles to begin forming.

[Anonymous]

My RE was concerned about my reserve and did a blood test that she said gave much more accurate results. If I'm remembering correctly its called AMH. Most doctors offices don't do it, so you may want to ask.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My RE was concerned about my reserve and did a blood test that she said gave much more accurate results. If I'm remembering correctly its called AMH. Most doctors offices don't do it, so you may want to ask.

Wonder why most offices don't do this. What does AMH stand for?

[Anonymous]

I don't know....I think some don't think its important, but I can't see why not. It stands for Anti-mullerian hormone...here's a link. For us, our doc wanted to check it to see if we needed to make a faster transition from IUI to IVF. I tested in the normal range, but on the low side of normal, so we moved to IVF.

http://www.mindfood.com/at-amh-blood-test-conception-naturopathy.seo

Good Luck!