Decreased ovarian reserve--what do you wish you had known?

[Anonymous]

For ladies with DOR/POF, what do you wish you had known/what important things did you learn about the condition during your IVF journey?

I'm just starting my IVF journey with DOR and am trying to learn all I can but am wondering if IVF will even be effective and worth my time to try given my horrible numbers.

[Anonymous]

I have DOR and was successful with IVF after my third attempt. What I wish I had known was that even when I had eggs, it was very likely they were going to be shitty (I am also AMA). I don't think enough emphasis was placed on quality. My doctor had me on high stims to produce quantity, but my first two attempts were a bust because the quality was so bad.

Read It Starts with the Egg. I did and implemented almost all the vitamin/supplement suggestions she suggested for DOR.

[Anonymous]

Well I had many years to think about it because after trying for many years, and many ARTs, for my first, I got pregnant naturally.
I chose to skip traditional IVF and do NC IVF. The theory is that the "best" egg will come forward instead of just a bunch of eggs that may or may not be good. I didn't think of be a good responder, and I didn't want to pump myself full of drugs to get a bunch of crappy eggs.
Anyway, it worked on the first try.

[Anonymous]

I wish I had known that a lower dosage of stims would yield better results than a high dosage. At Shady Grove I was on an insane amount of Follistim/Menopur. Moved to another clinic, was on a totally different protocol (same drugs, for the most part, but like 1/4 the amount) and the difference was astounding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well I had many years to think about it because after trying for many years, and many ARTs, for my first, I got pregnant naturally.
I chose to skip traditional IVF and do NC IVF. The theory is that the "best" egg will come forward instead of just a bunch of eggs that may or may not be good. I didn't think of be a good responder, and I didn't want to pump myself full of drugs to get a bunch of crappy eggs.
Anyway, it worked on the first try.

There is nothing to substantiate what you called "in theory" - you get the egg you get, if the majority of AMA eggs are abnormal, you have a higher chance of getting 1 normal out of X (multiple) than having 1 out of 1 to be normal. This is the reason most practices don't to NC IVF.

[Anonymous]

That protocols that start with birth control pills don't work because they over-suppress me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well I had many years to think about it because after trying for many years, and many ARTs, for my first, I got pregnant naturally.
I chose to skip traditional IVF and do NC IVF. The theory is that the "best" egg will come forward instead of just a bunch of eggs that may or may not be good. I didn't think of be a good responder, and I didn't want to pump myself full of drugs to get a bunch of crappy eggs.
Anyway, it worked on the first try.

There is nothing to substantiate what you called "in theory" - you get the egg you get, if the majority of AMA eggs are abnormal, you have a higher chance of getting 1 normal out of X (multiple) than having 1 out of 1 to be normal. This is the reason most practices don't to NC IVF.

I agree with your perspective about NC IVF maybe not being that great a choice for DOR ladies. Then how come I keep reading/researching that it is a good choice for DOR ladies?

[Anonymous]

I would just go straight to donor egg- no reason to waste time and expense of multiple failed cycles -- and it is all the same in the end once a baby is in your arms

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well I had many years to think about it because after trying for many years, and many ARTs, for my first, I got pregnant naturally.
I chose to skip traditional IVF and do NC IVF. The theory is that the "best" egg will come forward instead of just a bunch of eggs that may or may not be good. I didn't think of be a good responder, and I didn't want to pump myself full of drugs to get a bunch of crappy eggs.
Anyway, it worked on the first try.

There is nothing to substantiate what you called "in theory" - you get the egg you get, if the majority of AMA eggs are abnormal, you have a higher chance of getting 1 normal out of X (multiple) than having 1 out of 1 to be normal. This is the reason most practices don't to NC IVF.

Except that just because most of your eggs are abnormal toward the end of fertility, it doesn't mean that you ovulate them. So, by forcing your body to ovulate a bunch of eggs, you are getting a bunch of abnormal ones that wouldn't necessarily come out otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would just go straight to donor egg- no reason to waste time and expense of multiple failed cycles -- and it is all the same in the end once a baby is in your arms

Don't do this. IVF is a pretty easy process, might as well try with your own first and see if it works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would just go straight to donor egg- no reason to waste time and expense of multiple failed cycles -- and it is all the same in the end once a baby is in your arms

Don't do this. IVF is a pretty easy process, might as well try with your own first and see if it works.

+1. If you can afford it, there really isn't a downside to giving it a shot to see if you can find a good egg.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well I had many years to think about it because after trying for many years, and many ARTs, for my first, I got pregnant naturally.
I chose to skip traditional IVF and do NC IVF. The theory is that the "best" egg will come forward instead of just a bunch of eggs that may or may not be good. I didn't think of be a good responder, and I didn't want to pump myself full of drugs to get a bunch of crappy eggs.
Anyway, it worked on the first try.

There is nothing to substantiate what you called "in theory" - you get the egg you get, if the majority of AMA eggs are abnormal, you have a higher chance of getting 1 normal out of X (multiple) than having 1 out of 1 to be normal. This is the reason most practices don't to NC IVF.

Except that just because most of your eggs are abnormal toward the end of fertility, it doesn't mean that you ovulate them. So, by forcing your body to ovulate a bunch of eggs, you are getting a bunch of abnormal ones that wouldn't necessarily come out otherwise.

But that would be a very important thing to mention then, no? IF you're DOR, AND you do NOT ovulate on your own. Further, the second part of your argument still doesn't disprove what I said. You get the eggs you get. IF all you have left if abnormals (which is not true at least statistically even for AMA), then it doesn't matter if you ovulate them one at a time or several at a time. And it doesnt' matter if you have an induced ovulation or not. You still have a better chance by getting several. Now, if you are up for the financial and emotional toll is a different issue altogether.

[Anonymous]

That doing all the alternative stuff (TCM herbs and diet, acupuncture, massage, supplements) would have little to no effect. And that I was wasting money and TIME.

If I had to do over again, I would first see a Registered Dietitian. Then do IUI's while doing acupuncture and supplements. If that didn't work after 6-9 months, I would immediately go to IVF for a few cycles. Then I would go to DE.

We wasted so much time between each step hoping that I would have a miracle pregnancy (we did after between IUI cycles that ended in MC, but it gave us too much hope).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would just go straight to donor egg- no reason to waste time and expense of multiple failed cycles -- and it is all the same in the end once a baby is in your arms

+1. I would have gone straight to donor egg. I don't care that I don't or wish I had a genetically related child, so trying regular IVF first just wasted my time. With DOR, your chances of success are really low with OE but really high with DE because usually egg quality is your only problem. I love my two beautiful DE babies (siblings not twins and from two different donors) and can't imagine having any different kids.

[Anonymous]

Maybe I got really lucky, but I did all the supplements, tracked O religiously and we managed to get pregnant on our own after 10 months (plus a miscarriage before that). My advice would be to try Coq10, Dhea, and vitamin D. Also, the month I got pregnant, I didn't have 1 single drink. It's the only time I *completely* stopped drinking. My AMH was .3, all else normal, and 38.5 yrs at time of conception.

Perhaps you've already done all this, OP, but I share for anyone else reading with a new DOR diagnosis.