Aa
Very High FSH
I turn 35 next month. TTC for 3 years. My RE called with my Day 3 FSH blood results and it was 84, E2 was 44. I did Clomid for 6 months, I have had 6 IUI, one ectopic pregnancy in March, Last month I did injectibles for the first time and my RE suggested to take a month off in between to give my ovaries a rest. According to my RE he is baffled because I responded well to the injectibles and had 4 follicles, the dominant one was 20mm the day of my HCG trigger. My RE commented that such a high fsh level could mean I am pre-menopausal! I am so heartbroken. I am hoping this is just a Lab error....Any similar experiences both good and bad will be greatly appreciated.
Baby1234-- Thank you soooooooooooooooooo much for sharing your story-- It's so important that we hear positive news with happy endings. It so easy to feel hopeless. I will keep your story close at hand (and heart!!) when I am feeling down. It is so interesting that you say to listen to your acupuncturist. I've been to two and they both are more concerned with my TSH level (thyroid) which is close to 3, than they are about my FSH. So I'm going back to my original endocronologist to have her check again and discuss with her the possibility of meds.
Jane and Hope: Sorry I can't post as much either, but I do check in on you guys!!! Hope, have you checked into the shared risk packages offered? You pay a big amount for up to three IVF cycles and 3 frozen cycles, but if you don't take home a baby you get a large percentage of that back.
Jane: I think your RE wants to move to IVF because the meds they give you not only lead you to produce a greater # of eggs, but they also supposedly boost the egg quality-- helping them to mature appropriately. I'm not sure if that's answering your question. Let me know if I understood your question. So glad your doing the acupuncture!!!!
Jane and Hope: Sorry I can't post as much either, but I do check in on you guys!!! Hope, have you checked into the shared risk packages offered? You pay a big amount for up to three IVF cycles and 3 frozen cycles, but if you don't take home a baby you get a large percentage of that back.
Jane: I think your RE wants to move to IVF because the meds they give you not only lead you to produce a greater # of eggs, but they also supposedly boost the egg quality-- helping them to mature appropriately. I'm not sure if that's answering your question. Let me know if I understood your question. So glad your doing the acupuncture!!!!
Baby1234- your experience is so inspiring, thank you for sharing details of your journey with us and CONGRATULATIONS! Did you continue accupuncture & taking herbs during the months you were on meds?
Carina and Jane - Sorry I have not been able to post as often as I'd like to. So I started AF on Sunday afternoon, I was miserable yet happy and relieved. I went for Day 3 bloodwork yesterday and I am waiting to hear back from my RE. Hope you are both well. Talking about cost of treatments. My insurance does not cover infertility so an IVF will set me back $12,000 + meds etc, probably a total of $14-15K. Thats why I am looking into Asia or South America.
Carina and Jane - Sorry I have not been able to post as often as I'd like to. So I started AF on Sunday afternoon, I was miserable yet happy and relieved. I went for Day 3 bloodwork yesterday and I am waiting to hear back from my RE. Hope you are both well. Talking about cost of treatments. My insurance does not cover infertility so an IVF will set me back $12,000 + meds etc, probably a total of $14-15K. Thats why I am looking into Asia or South America.
Hi ladies. I hope you don't mind me barging in to your conversation. I just wanted to tell you that there is hope. Here goes my story...
At the age of 32, I finally convinced my dh that it was time to stop bcps and try for a baby. That was in Nov. of 04. We tried naturally for a year without success.
In Oct. of 05, at the age of 33, I finally got my GYN to seriously take a look at what was happening with us. Dh had a sperm analysis which showed an elevated white blood cell count. He was off to the urologist for antibiotics for an infection. His SA improved and we moved on to investigating me. First was the pap, general bloodwork, hsg xray, and then a post coital (sp?) test. All checked out. No pregnancies. (and years wasted on birth control I think!)
April 06 was my 34th birthday. GYN referred me to a RE finally. Had my first appointment in July of 06.
RE did an ultrasound and more bloodwork. My ovaries looked good, but I was devastated to find that my fsh was at 13. I felt like I was handed a death sentence as far as ttc was concerned. I immediately started researching on the net about what this meant and was increasingly despondant about what I found out. My RE was optimistic and kept saying that my age trumped the fsh number. I wasn't sure I believed him, but I couldn't stop trying for a baby until I was pregnant. Still I was so afraid I would get the dreaded donor egg speech at any moment. As it was, I was already given the 1% chance of conceiving on my own speech.
I started accupuncture right away on my own. I went two to four times a month starting in July from then on. I did the herbs and nasty drinks that the acupuncturist suggested.
IUI #1 was in July 06-Clomid and injectibles = 3 mature follicles = bfn and a cyst and a month off of ttc (which I knew meant doom because I had "no time" to mess around I thought. I cried the entire month about how hopeless everything seemed)
IUI #2 was in Sept. 06-injectibles (gonal f and trigger) = 4 mature follicles = bfn
IUI #3 was in Oct. 06-injectibles (again gonal f and trigger) = 5 mature follicles = bfn and two cysts another month off and more crying
IVF #1 was in Dec. 06-- fsh still 13--lupron, gonal f, menapur, trigger, medrol = 6 follicles which all fertilized. Transferred 2 embies and froze one blast on day 6 = bfp which m/ced at about 6 weeks
IVF #2 was in February 07=-fsh was 9--gonal f, menapur, trigger, medrol, and one other pill that I can't remember the name of now = 8 follicles of which 7 fertilized. Transferred four embies and had none to freeze = bfp which m/ced at the exact time at the first m/c
The RE felt that the m/cs were just bad luck, I guess that my eggs were old type of thing was what he thought although he never exactly said that. I didn't agree and wanted more testing. Did the recurrent miscarriage bloodwork and found some clotting issues. I learned to be my own advocate when I didn't agree with the doctor...and I was right. Wish I would have done it earlier.
IVF#3 was in April 07--fsh was 8--same meds as IVF #2 with the addition of lovenox (a blood thinner) = 10 follicles of which 8 fertilized. Transferred 6 (yes 6) embies and had none to freeze = bfp twins. I am currently 22.5 weeks. I will be 35 when I deliver.
My point is this. It can happen. It does happen to many of us high fshers. I suggest that you get as aggressive as your budget allows you to get. Your fsh doesn't tell much more than that your body takes more hormones to produce eggs and you may have fewer eggs to start with. It doesn't reflect the quality of your eggs. Do acupuncture if you can with a qualified acupuncturist. (Interestingly, my acupuncturist kept asking if they checked whether I was anemic or had blood problems...I thought they had checked it. Seems like that the clotting problem, or at least that there was a blood problem, was picked up by her at the very start of my visits with her. Take the acupuncturist's suggestions about what to look into if they have any!) I am not sure if the herbs helped any, but I did them, too. I did nothing to my diet. If your RE is giving you a doom and gloom prognosis, maybe you should find a RE who is fsh friendly. There are many of them out there. Also, ivfconnections.com has a thread devoted specifically to high fsh issues. It might be worth it to check that out, too, even if you aren't doing an ivf persay. They talk about all infertility type issues like iuis and the drugs, etc.
I wish you luck and success in the near future!
At the age of 32, I finally convinced my dh that it was time to stop bcps and try for a baby. That was in Nov. of 04. We tried naturally for a year without success.
In Oct. of 05, at the age of 33, I finally got my GYN to seriously take a look at what was happening with us. Dh had a sperm analysis which showed an elevated white blood cell count. He was off to the urologist for antibiotics for an infection. His SA improved and we moved on to investigating me. First was the pap, general bloodwork, hsg xray, and then a post coital (sp?) test. All checked out. No pregnancies. (and years wasted on birth control I think!)
April 06 was my 34th birthday. GYN referred me to a RE finally. Had my first appointment in July of 06.
RE did an ultrasound and more bloodwork. My ovaries looked good, but I was devastated to find that my fsh was at 13. I felt like I was handed a death sentence as far as ttc was concerned. I immediately started researching on the net about what this meant and was increasingly despondant about what I found out. My RE was optimistic and kept saying that my age trumped the fsh number. I wasn't sure I believed him, but I couldn't stop trying for a baby until I was pregnant. Still I was so afraid I would get the dreaded donor egg speech at any moment. As it was, I was already given the 1% chance of conceiving on my own speech.
I started accupuncture right away on my own. I went two to four times a month starting in July from then on. I did the herbs and nasty drinks that the acupuncturist suggested.
IUI #1 was in July 06-Clomid and injectibles = 3 mature follicles = bfn and a cyst and a month off of ttc (which I knew meant doom because I had "no time" to mess around I thought. I cried the entire month about how hopeless everything seemed)
IUI #2 was in Sept. 06-injectibles (gonal f and trigger) = 4 mature follicles = bfn
IUI #3 was in Oct. 06-injectibles (again gonal f and trigger) = 5 mature follicles = bfn and two cysts another month off and more crying
IVF #1 was in Dec. 06-- fsh still 13--lupron, gonal f, menapur, trigger, medrol = 6 follicles which all fertilized. Transferred 2 embies and froze one blast on day 6 = bfp which m/ced at about 6 weeks
IVF #2 was in February 07=-fsh was 9--gonal f, menapur, trigger, medrol, and one other pill that I can't remember the name of now = 8 follicles of which 7 fertilized. Transferred four embies and had none to freeze = bfp which m/ced at the exact time at the first m/c
The RE felt that the m/cs were just bad luck, I guess that my eggs were old type of thing was what he thought although he never exactly said that. I didn't agree and wanted more testing. Did the recurrent miscarriage bloodwork and found some clotting issues. I learned to be my own advocate when I didn't agree with the doctor...and I was right. Wish I would have done it earlier.
IVF#3 was in April 07--fsh was 8--same meds as IVF #2 with the addition of lovenox (a blood thinner) = 10 follicles of which 8 fertilized. Transferred 6 (yes 6) embies and had none to freeze = bfp twins. I am currently 22.5 weeks. I will be 35 when I deliver.
My point is this. It can happen. It does happen to many of us high fshers. I suggest that you get as aggressive as your budget allows you to get. Your fsh doesn't tell much more than that your body takes more hormones to produce eggs and you may have fewer eggs to start with. It doesn't reflect the quality of your eggs. Do acupuncture if you can with a qualified acupuncturist. (Interestingly, my acupuncturist kept asking if they checked whether I was anemic or had blood problems...I thought they had checked it. Seems like that the clotting problem, or at least that there was a blood problem, was picked up by her at the very start of my visits with her. Take the acupuncturist's suggestions about what to look into if they have any!) I am not sure if the herbs helped any, but I did them, too. I did nothing to my diet. If your RE is giving you a doom and gloom prognosis, maybe you should find a RE who is fsh friendly. There are many of them out there. Also, ivfconnections.com has a thread devoted specifically to high fsh issues. It might be worth it to check that out, too, even if you aren't doing an ivf persay. They talk about all infertility type issues like iuis and the drugs, etc.
I wish you luck and success in the near future!
Wow Carina, Is that $6,000 for one IVF treatment? Ouch that must hurt. Here is $3,000 and thats Aus...
I have a question for you all and any thoughts comments appreciated. Since my problem seems to be I have stopped ovulating/ producing eggs it seems strange to me that if my FSH does drop my doctor wants to go IVF...getting pregnant once ovulated seems 4 me to be the easy part since I did get pregnant the first month we really tried...Very confusing>
I know what you mean Carina about up and down days...some days I am like I am so going to be the lucky 10%..and then other days it is like yeah right...and what about the other 90% who never conceive...and gosh i do miss coffee a bit my acupuncturist has said even soy decaf is not good........
oh well in the scheme of things it is minimal..
Hope everyone is doing ok.
I have a question for you all and any thoughts comments appreciated. Since my problem seems to be I have stopped ovulating/ producing eggs it seems strange to me that if my FSH does drop my doctor wants to go IVF...getting pregnant once ovulated seems 4 me to be the easy part since I did get pregnant the first month we really tried...Very confusing>
I know what you mean Carina about up and down days...some days I am like I am so going to be the lucky 10%..and then other days it is like yeah right...and what about the other 90% who never conceive...and gosh i do miss coffee a bit my acupuncturist has said even soy decaf is not good........
oh well in the scheme of things it is minimal..
Hope everyone is doing ok.
Hi, Ladies. Sorry I can't keep up with all the posts. I'm glad to hear you are both doing well and sounding a bit more positive. There are definately good and bad days on this journey. Jane, like Hope said you can pick up wheatgrass at Whole Foods-- or online. My acupuncturist said the pills aren't as effective as the powder-- I've heard the same about cod liver oil. Of course, it tastes TERRIBLE, so I may just have to buy the pills, because I'm barely taking the powder. I'm not sure why it is important-- but like she said, "the more bitter, the more better!" I've read about it being beneficial on other sites so I can believe it. I know what you ladies mean about the cost of treatment. We've had to pay about 6,000 and that's with insurance covering 75%-- we live in NY-- one of the most expensive cities in the world, so I'm not surprised. Honestly, we wouldn't be able to afford this if ins. didn't cover some. As it is, we are so tight. I'll be thinking of you guys!!
I hear San Francisco is beautiful.
IVF in Australia is about $4000 a go... I think the states is a lot more..Where are you looking at going in December? I have heard the states is really expensive...
Hope I was just rereading this post and maybe your high FSH was a once off? Sounds like everything else is ok..you respond to drugs have follicles etc. i really hope so for you. So maybe it was just one isolated result. Seems like your RE has faith. When do you know if you have a positive from the IUI?
Good luck
IVF in Australia is about $4000 a go... I think the states is a lot more..Where are you looking at going in December? I have heard the states is really expensive...
Hope I was just rereading this post and maybe your high FSH was a once off? Sounds like everything else is ok..you respond to drugs have follicles etc. i really hope so for you. So maybe it was just one isolated result. Seems like your RE has faith. When do you know if you have a positive from the IUI?
Good luck
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