Help with day 3 labs

[Anonymous]

Hi. Curious if anyone can help me interpret my first set of day 3 labs. My estriol (19), testosterone (7), and Dheas (96)are all very low but my FSH is 8. Any thoughts on what’s going on?? I’m 33. I have a 3 year old conceived after 6 months of trying last time. Thanks!!

[Anonymous]

Op here. I guess what I am trying to understand is if this is indicative of premature menopause? I’m going to a dark place while I wait for my AMH levels and the rest.

[Anonymous]

FSH level of under 10 is generally considered normal so an 8 is fine. I wouldn't be concerned about that number.

[Anonymous]

FSH @ 8 is a normal number, not sure you are in the dark place. There is nothing to fear but fear itself.

Even assuming you have diminished ovarian reserve doesn't mean your egg quality is bad. Quantity is not the same as Quality. You are only 33 chances are your egg quality would be good, regardless whether quantity is high or low.

Egg quantity is what you are born with and the rate of losing over the years.

Egg quality is how individual eggs deteriorate, from fators such as disease/cancer, lifestyle (smoke drink drugs) etc, but age is usually deterministic. Think of your skin cells, yes, sun exposure, smoking would affect how your skin look, but usually age is the primary factor.

You only need one good egg, being 33 you have a good chance of getting one good egg. Just look in the mirror at your face. You still have good skin compare to those at 40.

[Anonymous]

Your Testosterone and DHEAs is low. For IVF purposes, DHEAs number is preferred to be around 200s range. Your number can improve by taking DHEA supplement. For comparison, when I am not on DEHA supplement, my DEHAs is around 110s.

[Anonymous]

PP above. Forgot to add and I take 50mg DHEA to up the number first and reduces to 25mg~50mg to sustain the 200s level.

[Anonymous]

Don't go to the dark place! My numbers are horrible (FSH 15 and AMH 0.4 at 34, undetectable testosterone), fully expected donor egg talk from RE, but I got pregnant on my 2nd iui. Honestly don't read to much into these numbers. Diminished ovarian reserve (if you have it, which I'm not sure you do) is poorly understood, all it means is they'll get fewer eggs from IVF. Apart from that I don't think it's clear how it impacts whether you can conceive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP above. Forgot to add and I take 50mg DHEA to up the number first and reduces to 25mg~50mg to sustain the 200s level.

My doctor discourage DHEA since it might increase estrogen and interfere with ovulation. My thinking is that egg quality is what it is and there might be ways to slow the decline in quality, but you can't reverse time to improve egg quality, unless you have a time machine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP above. Forgot to add and I take 50mg DHEA to up the number first and reduces to 25mg~50mg to sustain the 200s level.

My doctor discourage DHEA since it might increase estrogen and interfere with ovulation. My thinking is that egg quality is what it is and there might be ways to slow the decline in quality, but you can't reverse time to improve egg quality, unless you have a time machine.

I would have thought this too, but based on what I read in It Starts with the Egg, my understanding is that it is definitely possible to increase egg quality and numerous studies have shown this. Most of the time your eggs are in a state of suspended animation. The issue with older women is not that all their eggs have gone bad, but that the environment in which they mature during the three months before ovulation is less ideal than that in a younger woman. Low DHEA is thought to be one reason for this. I am the PP who got pregnant on my second IUI and I was taking DHEA, under my RE's supervision (she wasn't convinced it would help, but given my nonexistent testosterone she was confident it would not hurt).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP above. Forgot to add and I take 50mg DHEA to up the number first and reduces to 25mg~50mg to sustain the 200s level.

My doctor discourage DHEA since it might increase estrogen and interfere with ovulation. My thinking is that egg quality is what it is and there might be ways to slow the decline in quality, but you can't reverse time to improve egg quality, unless you have a time machine.

I would have thought this too, but based on what I read in It Starts with the Egg, my understanding is that it is definitely possible to increase egg quality and numerous studies have shown this. Most of the time your eggs are in a state of suspended animation. The issue with older women is not that all their eggs have gone bad, but that the environment in which they mature during the three months before ovulation is less ideal than that in a younger woman. Low DHEA is thought to be one reason for this. I am the PP who got pregnant on my second IUI and I was taking DHEA, under my RE's supervision (she wasn't convinced it would help, but given my nonexistent testosterone she was confident it would not hurt).

PP here, thanks for explaining that. I guess maybe I should look into it too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP above. Forgot to add and I take 50mg DHEA to up the number first and reduces to 25mg~50mg to sustain the 200s level.

My doctor discourage DHEA since it might increase estrogen and interfere with ovulation. My thinking is that egg quality is what it is and there might be ways to slow the decline in quality, but you can't reverse time to improve egg quality, unless you have a time machine.

I would have thought this too, but based on what I read in It Starts with the Egg, my understanding is that it is definitely possible to increase egg quality and numerous studies have shown this. Most of the time your eggs are in a state of suspended animation. The issue with older women is not that all their eggs have gone bad, but that the environment in which they mature during the three months before ovulation is less ideal than that in a younger woman. Low DHEA is thought to be one reason for this. I am the PP who got pregnant on my second IUI and I was taking DHEA, under my RE's supervision (she wasn't convinced it would help, but given my nonexistent testosterone she was confident it would not hurt).

PP here, thanks for explaining that. I guess maybe I should look into it too.

I should add - DHEA is not the only proposed way to improve egg quality. CoQ10 (ubiquinol), antioxidants like Vitamin C, avoiding BPA and pthalates are all things mentioned in It Starts with the Egg, and all of the recommendations are research-based. I found the book so helpful after spending months seeing people recommend things on random websites and message boards and just feeling confused. She talks about which supplements are actually shown to help and which ones are not and/or can actually do more harm than good.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for all the helpful information