Any hope for DOR?

[Anonymous]

I have been struggling with secondary infertility. Pregnant on the first try at 35, healthy pregnancy and baby, then started TTC #2 at 37. I have not had a single positive pregnancy test in 40 cycles. I have done 4 IUIs (Gonal-F) and 2 IVFs and am not planning to do any more infertility treatments.

I do not understand why I have not had a single positive pregnancy test after such an easy time the first time around.

My AFC is not bad (10), but my AMH is very low (.30). RE's have said they put more stock in my AFC than my AMH since they don't match up. My FSH is good (5) and my estradiol is 48. I've had these Day 3 labs done about 5 times and they are always the same and my AFC and AMH have not declined at all in the 3.5 years I've been TTC #2. No sperm issues.

Cornell told me that I do not have DOR because of my Day 3 labs and the fact that I got pregnant so easily the first time, they told me I have unexplained secondary infertility, but SG and Dominion disagree and told me I have DOR.

I am now 41. Any hope for me to get pregnant naturally? I have no health problems and neither does DH. I am not interested in donor eggs/donor embryos. I am depressed every single day that I cannot seem to get pregnant again.

[Anonymous]

I am so sorry. I don't think anyone understands DOR very well. There is always a possibility you could get pregnant as long as you are ovulating, but obviously there are no guarantees.

One area you could try, if you haven't already, is working to improve egg quality. The book It Starts With The Egg explains what supplements to take and other things you can do to improve the environment is which your eggs mature. I am 35 and have an AMH of 0.4, and got pregnant via IUI after 3 months of following the protocol in the book - I think it was basically ubiquinol, DHEA with my doc's blessing, a prenatal vitamin, some Vitamin C, plus reducing exposure to pthalates and BPA. In addition to the supplements, I also think it helps to get lots of vitamins and antioxidants via your diet (I basically drank a lot of spinach blueberry smoothies). I can't say for sure how much this protocol helped, but it is fairly easy to do and not exorbitantly expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am so sorry. I don't think anyone understands DOR very well. There is always a possibility you could get pregnant as long as you are ovulating, but obviously there are no guarantees.

One area you could try, if you haven't already, is working to improve egg quality. The book It Starts With The Egg explains what supplements to take and other things you can do to improve the environment is which your eggs mature. I am 35 and have an AMH of 0.4, and got pregnant via IUI after 3 months of following the protocol in the book - I think it was basically ubiquinol, DHEA with my doc's blessing, a prenatal vitamin, some Vitamin C, plus reducing exposure to pthalates and BPA. In addition to the supplements, I also think it helps to get lots of vitamins and antioxidants via your diet (I basically drank a lot of spinach blueberry smoothies). I can't say for sure how much this protocol helped, but it is fairly easy to do and not exorbitantly expensive.

Second this, plus check your vitamin D levels (supplement to get them into high end of the normal range) and check your tsh. If it’s over 2.0, find a dr who will treat your thyroid. It’s a common issue past 35.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Will definitely check out this book and look into supplements but I already eat pretty much organic at home (and rarely eat out) and we only use organic cleaning products, makeup, etc. and I do moderate exercise and yoga. My vitamin D and thyroid have been tested numerous times and both found to be normal.

Interestingly, when I got pregnant on the first try at 35, I was eating like crap (tons of soda, processed foods, zero exercise), and I had just had my Vitamin D tested one month before getting pregnant and my level was 8, which is extremely low. Clearly none of that mattered as I went on to have a healthy, easy pregnancy and healthy baby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am so sorry. I don't think anyone understands DOR very well. There is always a possibility you could get pregnant as long as you are ovulating, but obviously there are no guarantees.

One area you could try, if you haven't already, is working to improve egg quality. The book It Starts With The Egg explains what supplements to take and other things you can do to improve the environment is which your eggs mature. I am 35 and have an AMH of 0.4, and got pregnant via IUI after 3 months of following the protocol in the book - I think it was basically ubiquinol, DHEA with my doc's blessing, a prenatal vitamin, some Vitamin C, plus reducing exposure to pthalates and BPA. In addition to the supplements, I also think it helps to get lots of vitamins and antioxidants via your diet (I basically drank a lot of spinach blueberry smoothies). I can't say for sure how much this protocol helped, but it is fairly easy to do and not exorbitantly expensive.

Second this, plus check your vitamin D levels (supplement to get them into high end of the normal range) and check your tsh. If it’s over 2.0, find a dr who will treat your thyroid. It’s a common issue past 35.

How does Vitamin D impact infertility/your ability to get pregnant?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Will definitely check out this book and look into supplements but I already eat pretty much organic at home (and rarely eat out) and we only use organic cleaning products, makeup, etc. and I do moderate exercise and yoga. My vitamin D and thyroid have been tested numerous times and both found to be normal.

Interestingly, when I got pregnant on the first try at 35, I was eating like crap (tons of soda, processed foods, zero exercise), and I had just had my Vitamin D tested one month before getting pregnant and my level was 8, which is extremely low. Clearly none of that mattered as I went on to have a healthy, easy pregnancy and healthy baby.

Yeah, it sucks. People get pregnant all the time without doing all this stuff, drinking a ton, etc. For those of us struggling with infertility, a healthy lifestyle and carefully selected supplements is just one way to increase your chances, but it's not a cure for the underlying issue (e.g. what is causing bad egg quality, if that's what the problem is because there isn't a good test for that), and frustratingly we often don't quite know what exactly that issue is.

[Anonymous]

Your estradiol seems too high. I was able to get pregnant at older age and with AMH lower than yours. however my e2 was much lower (low twenties).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Will definitely check out this book and look into supplements but I already eat pretty much organic at home (and rarely eat out) and we only use organic cleaning products, makeup, etc. and I do moderate exercise and yoga. My vitamin D and thyroid have been tested numerous times and both found to be normal.

Interestingly, when I got pregnant on the first try at 35, I was eating like crap (tons of soda, processed foods, zero exercise), and I had just had my Vitamin D tested one month before getting pregnant and my level was 8, which is extremely low. Clearly none of that mattered as I went on to have a healthy, easy pregnancy and healthy baby.

yeah food is irrelevant. fit and fertile are basically uncorrelated. some things are just outside of our control. this is one of them.

[Anonymous]

I have similar numbers as you except I'm 35 and to be honest my RE would probably be giving you the donor egg speech right now, because she just gave me the same speech. Hate to be so brutally honest, but age is a huge factor, especially with DOR. Not to say that it can't happen, but managing expectations is key.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have similar numbers as you except I'm 35 and to be honest my RE would probably be giving you the donor egg speech right now, because she just gave me the same speech. Hate to be so brutally honest, but age is a huge factor, especially with DOR. Not to say that it can't happen, but managing expectations is key.

OP here. No one has mentioned donor eggs yet. They are all very pessimistic about my chances of success though (less than 1% chance of getting pregnant naturally, less than 10% chance with IVF). Even though I got pregnant right away the first time and had an easy pregnancy. I also had a laparoscopy and they didn't find anything wrong. Tubes are clear, uterus is fine, sperm fine, AFC is okay, but AMH is low (though the REs said they put more stock in my AFC because the AMH doesn't match up). Why can't I get pregnant a second time?????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have similar numbers as you except I'm 35 and to be honest my RE would probably be giving you the donor egg speech right now, because she just gave me the same speech. Hate to be so brutally honest, but age is a huge factor, especially with DOR. Not to say that it can't happen, but managing expectations is key.

OP here. No one has mentioned donor eggs yet. They are all very pessimistic about my chances of success though (less than 1% chance of getting pregnant naturally, less than 10% chance with IVF). Even though I got pregnant right away the first time and had an easy pregnancy. I also had a laparoscopy and they didn't find anything wrong. Tubes are clear, uterus is fine, sperm fine, AFC is okay, but AMH is low (though the REs said they put more stock in my AFC because the AMH doesn't match up). Why can't I get pregnant a second time?????

I'm sorry. Nobody here can do anything other than guess, and you have much more info than we do. Fertility testing is not perfect, and loads of people suffer from unexplained secondary infertility. If you didn't get a lot of eggs from IVF, then that tells you as much if not more than AMH or AFC, because all those tests can really predict is how you'll respond to ovarian stimulation.

There are studies showing that many people with DOR can get pregnant easily. But some people can't. They don't know why.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry OP. You said that you talked to Dominion. Any chance you would give natural cycle IVF a chance? I had similar stats (though much lower AFC) at age 35 and was finally able to conceive naturally (after years of trying) and then via natural cycle IVF at dominion when I was 38. Good luck to you!

FWIW, I think that my issue was that the egg shell was too hard to penetrate. I did ICSI (after much thought), and I think that was made the difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have similar numbers as you except I'm 35 and to be honest my RE would probably be giving you the donor egg speech right now, because she just gave me the same speech. Hate to be so brutally honest, but age is a huge factor, especially with DOR. Not to say that it can't happen, but managing expectations is key.

OP here. No one has mentioned donor eggs yet. They are all very pessimistic about my chances of success though (less than 1% chance of getting pregnant naturally, less than 10% chance with IVF). Even though I got pregnant right away the first time and had an easy pregnancy. I also had a laparoscopy and they didn't find anything wrong. Tubes are clear, uterus is fine, sperm fine, AFC is okay, but AMH is low (though the REs said they put more stock in my AFC because the AMH doesn't match up). Why can't I get pregnant a second time?????

I'm sorry. Nobody here can do anything other than guess, and you have much more info than we do. Fertility testing is not perfect, and loads of people suffer from unexplained secondary infertility. If you didn't get a lot of eggs from IVF, then that tells you as much if not more than AMH or AFC, because all those tests can really predict is how you'll respond to ovarian stimulation.

There are studies showing that many people with DOR can get pregnant easily. But some people can't. They don't know why.

Do you have any links on that? I'm DOR and unexplained, but I feel like I fall into that second category. I would love to read more about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have similar numbers as you except I'm 35 and to be honest my RE would probably be giving you the donor egg speech right now, because she just gave me the same speech. Hate to be so brutally honest, but age is a huge factor, especially with DOR. Not to say that it can't happen, but managing expectations is key.

OP here. No one has mentioned donor eggs yet. They are all very pessimistic about my chances of success though (less than 1% chance of getting pregnant naturally, less than 10% chance with IVF). Even though I got pregnant right away the first time and had an easy pregnancy. I also had a laparoscopy and they didn't find anything wrong. Tubes are clear, uterus is fine, sperm fine, AFC is okay, but AMH is low (though the REs said they put more stock in my AFC because the AMH doesn't match up). Why can't I get pregnant a second time?????

I'm sorry. Nobody here can do anything other than guess, and you have much more info than we do. Fertility testing is not perfect, and loads of people suffer from unexplained secondary infertility. If you didn't get a lot of eggs from IVF, then that tells you as much if not more than AMH or AFC, because all those tests can really predict is how you'll respond to ovarian stimulation.

There are studies showing that many people with DOR can get pregnant easily. But some people can't. They don't know why.

Do you have any links on that? I'm DOR and unexplained, but I feel like I fall into that second category. I would love to read more about it.

https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/10/health/fertility-tests-eggs-study/index.html

[Anonymous]

im with you OP. got preg immediately, gave birth, and no positive test in about 25-30 cycles since then. there's so much that doctors don't know