Anyone pro-actively managed their FSH down?

[DebraP]

Hi...too high FSH has been mentioned a bit recently and I wondered if anyone had experience of managing it down to a more acceptable level? I know the books (eg. Zita West) suggest detoxing, gentle exercise, destressing etc. MAY help and that there's no medicinal help available, but has anyone actually had any luck reducing a too-high level? If so, please share.

Debra.

[Jjj]

Hi Debra, my fsh can range from 6.5 - 21. It only reached 21 twice, I had it monitored each month a few years ago and generally it was 12, however for ivf usually it has to be below 10. I had a course of reflexolgy and that brought my fsh down to approx 6.5 so that i could go for ivf. It does become expensive though as to begin with I was going weekly, you can do it yourself after a while, something I am trying recently is acupuncture, as i have heard that has had some good results. I will be having my day 2 tested again amongst some other blood tests so it will be interesting to see how the levels are. All those treatments i do find relaxing. Wish it could be more economical though. All the best Jjj x

[DebraP]

Thanks jjj, can you post your next test results so I can see how you're doing? I hope the results are great and everything then looks good for you with your next treatment.

Debra.

[Alette]

DEbra, I read somewhere about chinese herbs... it must have been on this messageboard... let me search...

[Mo71]

Hi Debra,

I don't think that you can do much about it. If you read about it (this is my favorite website about FSH: http://www.inciid.org/printpage.php?cat ... ty101&id=6 ), you learn that this hormone is only an indicator for the quality of your eggs. You CAN change the level, but it won't make any difference. It's just the messenger, not the cause. Also, if your level is once high and another time low, it still means that your egg quality is poor overall. It's only the hormone level that bounces and not your egg quality.

I know, that sounds devastating, and please correct me if I'm wrong. But I talked to several doctors and they all confirm this sad truth.

My level is also higher than I wanted to have it, and my new doctor set me on BCPs to get it low. It really went considerably down, but I personally don't believe it made any difference. It just kept some of my follicles from developing too fast, so that during stimulation more would mature than during my last IVF cycle. So the theory at least. In the end I had about the same number of eggs and they were still poor quality. There's nothing to do about it.

Moni

[DebraP]

Moni, yes you're right it is devastating to read that article. My level this month was 14.6, up from 4.5 two years ago. I've always responded well to the meds before, incl. last summer and the clinic joke I'm younger inside due to DF being much younger The clinic have told me that even if this is the beginning of peri-menopause (and I'm nearly 41 so not out of the question) then there is a 2 year 'window' before we should consider our chances over. I'll get tested again next month and see what the other levels are too.

We're also about to start international adoption procedures so as not to waste too much time whilst waiting for these months of testing to go by. Yes we'd love another baby but there are 10s of millions of orphans out there already.

Good luck
Debra.