Low AMH Levels - Hope Needed

babyhopes2013

Hi everyone,

This is my first time posting on boards, so apologies if I make any silly mistakes. Essentially I am hoping that someone can give me some much needed hope as continue on our long TTC journey. I am thinking that the more info I give, the more realistic people can be, but apologies if I am rambling.

I am just turned 34, my husband is 38. He was diagnosed with below average sperm count - about 34 million amd his morphology which should be 4 is 3.5. We have been TTC for around 3 years and I was on Clomid from March - Sept with no joy. We are Irish, but living in America, and the protocol here is to put people on Clomid for six months before doing investigative surgery. A month ago, I underwent a Laporoscopy and was diagnosed with late stage 3 Endo - I was shocked, as yes, my periods were painful, but they were very month and I managed the pain. I also had a 'chocolate' cyst on one ovay which they removed, and one of my tubes was clear, but they think the other went into spasm.My ovaries were stuck to my bladder and I have lots of Endo around my bowel and under my ovaries that he couldnt remove. The Dr recommended going on an injection called Depo Lupron for 6 months, to help relieve the Endo, but it puts you into menopause that you may not come out of. He recommended having IVF after the injections.

He also referred us onto a Fertility Clinic and the Dr there did a quick ultrasound - I had 7 follicles on one side and 3 on the other. I am scheduled for a Hysterocopy in a couple of weeks to look at my ovaries in more detail. He said he wouldn't bother with the Depo Lupron and instead go straight to IVF, which costs $20000 here. He also recommended that I lose some weight before attempting IVF.

The reason I am posting is that he also ran a test for my AMH levels - and it was 0.5 - here in America, they use different rating mechanisms to Ireland - ideally the level should be 3. At this stage, I just feel like it is bad news after bad news and I am just so disheartened. I am following a weight loss plan - one stone down, a few more to go - but I am just wondering if anyone here has concevied with low AMH levels, I think it corresponds to about levels 2 to 15 in Ireland. They've recommended Co-Q-10 supplements, which I've started, but if anyone has any advice, I would really appreciate it. We hope to move back to Ireland next year, so any advice re: consultants/clinics would also be appreciated. I was okay with having to have IVF if it was solely due to the Endo/my husband's sperm count, but the low AMH levels feels like the straw that broke the camels back.

Sorry for this being so long - it felt good to write it down I am just heartbroken and feel that it will never happen.

barbiegirl

You are having a terrible time of it. I attend a clinic called Napro, they also operate in the U S. We have been trying for 4.5 years and had 3 misses. No-one could tell us why until Napro. They work with us as a couple and in the past 8 months we have found out and fixed far more than the previous 4 years.
I had very bad endo, both tubes blocked and the first surgeon said he could do nothing and we should do ivf. Napro were not happy or in agreement with this diagnois and sent me to Dr Alassam in the Gal way Clinic. Last week he cut away all the endo from around my bowel and urinary tract and opened up both tubes :-). This month he hopes to remove a fibroid and in the Spring a septum. The septum meant that if would never have worked for us we would never have held a pregnancy. Now it looks like this time next year we have as good a chance as anyone. It is a long journey with Napro but they are thorough and your AMH levels would be addressed as would your hubbies low sperm count. That's the way I would go :-) oh and it's also cheaper than more other options.

babyhopes2013

Hi Barbie Girl,

Thanks a million for your reply, I really appreciate it. I will definitely look into Napro. I am delighted that your operation went so well, I will definitely also look into Dr Alassam - I've heard about him on another website also. Fingers crossed for us both that 2013 brings us our much wanted BFPs xx

LegacyUser

Hi there,

It's an awful tough road to hear that you are having such a tough time of it. Briefly, I had an diagnosis of amh of 9 four years ago (not sure what that is on US scale, but 20 would have been normal for a woman of my age - I was 34 then). I had three failed ivfs. Not only did I not get pregnant but over 3 ivf we only created 3 embryos. That's dire.
Then last year I got pregnant naturally when we were least expecting it and now have a gorgeous baby. I realise it's a long shot but keep trying. Have a look on rollercoaster to hear from far more women dealing with low amh.