High FSH/ Poor Responders

[JaneR]

Hi ladies,

I thought I would create a new thread for those of us who suffer from the raising FSH levels or are generally poor responders.

I thought it would be useful to have a general thread where we can post information we have read about, useful books or other gems of wisdom that will help us all stay positive. I know there is lots of really valuable information passed on, on this message board about FSH but it is in many threads and for new people it would take a lot of searching, so one place might be useful.

Hope to see lots of you join me on here.

Love,

Jane

[eskavon]

Hi Jane
What a great idea. I'm sort of in this boat but the diagnosis will be confirmed in my next round of ivf. I only produced 4 eggs from 7 follies and the eggs were poor quality, my consultant said that all my good eggs were gone and that my ovaries were that of a 40 year old (i'm 35 ... but not that its bad to be 40 to all you lovely ladies out there ).
Anyway I'd be very interested to hear any advice people have to try and improve my egg quality or chances of success.
Excellent idea again Jane - hope you're well - where are you in treatment?
Eskavon xxx

[JaneR]

Hi Eskavon,

Thanks for the reply. I'm waiting for AF to show up and will have the FSH test test if it's low enough then I'll start treatment again if not I'll wait another month.

How are you doing? Do you start treatment in November? Even when our resorve is low there are still good eggs in there just not as many. When they Consultant said your eggs were poor what grade embryo did you get?

On the useful information bit Tracii suggested a book call the Fertility Cure by Randine Lewis, it is very interesting full TCm information and diet information and it helped me feel more positive about things. With it i got another book called Inconceivable a woman's story of having high FSH and taking her infertility into her own hands, again some useful insights.

Better go and do some work.

Love,

Jane

[Tracii]

I was a poor responder my first IVF as well. Eskavon - we are almost the same age and I was curious what your doc meant when he/she said the good eggs were gone??

My hormone levels are completely within the norm but what happened to me last time was my LH was under pressure to surge starting CD5!! Which meant the LH was saying 'ok body you are done producing follies and eggs, it is now time to release the eggs' and the fsh was saying 'no we are not done yet, we have some work to do'..and this went on during my stimming and the LH was stronger and fighting back the production of follies and eggs...therefore I has 6 follies and lost 3 due to ovulating early. This next time my doc has doubled my synarela to totally shut down the LH and control it and my puregon dosage will stay the same. I am really curious how I react this 2.time..it has to be better

The Infertility Cure is a great book - it is so positive!! I pick it up and read the stories and it makes me .

Oh yeah...I have read recently that protein really helps egg quality..so I have ordered Solgar Whey tablets..mmm...how many more vits can I take in the AM???

[Jeni Babes]

THANKS JANE for this thread,

this is a great thread, and timely too for me. I have just been told by my doc ( she's 8o% sure) that I may be menopausal. This has been a shock as this time last year I was natuarally preg, (turned out to be ectopic), I have had reg 28 day cycle and no other symptoms. The problems started on my 1st IVF when they gave me down reg inj, and i suffered mega painful headaches and hot flushes. My cycle was abandoned due to no follies. 3 weeks now since the 28 day inj should have worn off and although my head is better I am still very heated and have hot flushes. 3 weeks ago they were every 30mins now I only get 4-5 a day. So some improvement,. I am getting my bloods checked next week then again on the 14th oct. So will have more info then.

Tracii Jane and Eskavon
You all sound like you are being really pro-active. GO GIRLS. Will be reading this thread to here how you get on. GOOD LUCK and PMA.

Regarding the 'good eggs gone' could it be the way the doc way of trying to explain that the ovaries have less eggs? My doc used the terminollogy that the ovaries are too tired to respond. Don't know if that helps?

GOOD LUCK with the whey tablets...Solgar are such a good company you know you are getting the best organic vits and minerals with them.
jen
xxx

[JaneR]

Jen,

Have you had an AF since coming off the injection, I take it they gave you prostap. That hangs around in your system alot longer than 28 days it can stay over 5 weeks, I know I've been on it and it reaked havoc with my system and i kept on with the hot flushes fro a while. I've refused to have that drug again due to the problems it has caused me everytime, I'll only take the daily injections now that come out of your system much faster.

I hope you blood test goes well and your FSH is down.

Love,

Jane

[Jeni Babes]

Thanks jane

IS prostap the general name for the inj of down reg?
I know the down reg drug was TRIPTORELIN. Normally the clinic uses Burselin but there was a manufactoring prob and I was given Tript. Curiously when I went back for blood test 2 weeks ago 1 of the nurses said there had been quite a few girls who had had similar probs with this drug. Although when I talked to the doc about this she said t was rubbish.

I still have had no AF since last bleed ( 5 days after been given down reg in late july) Started stimming 3rd Aug, hospital seems to think I should have had AF by now but then they say everyone is differant. So that means back to the usual WAITING GAME.

jane what's your story?

lOVE
Jen
xx

[JaneR]

Hi Jen,

It sounds like a similar drug, the nurses say the same thing to me but normally the Dr's won't admit it.

Well my story goes back to 2000 when we first started trying and i was diagnosed with fibroids but told everything was Ok and go away and get pregnant. Well that didn't happen an in 2003 i was told the fibroids were too bad and i had them removed but by which time my uterus was the size of being 18weeks pregnant so they put me prospap monthly injection for 6 months to remove the size of my remaining fbroid. Then i needed another op to remove another one in my uterus then i could start IVF in June 2004 had FSH of 7.9. ANyway they couldn't do it in June so they put on the same drug again but i had a severe reaction to it and developed cysts so the treatment was cancelled. So started treatment again in Sept got 9 follies they got 5 eggs but tmt was cancelled becuase I had got a polyp, I think due to the drug I had had two months before.

After having the polyp removed I started on a FET in Dec again they gave me the same drug and again I reated to it, increased lining, fluid and my uterine cavity started getting strange growths, but after threatening cancellation about 4 times they let me go ahead in Feb of this year but got a -ive.

In May did anotehr cycle this time 6 follies but two were much bigger than the others so they went ahead to get these two got 4 eggs but only one fetilised and got another -ive.

Since then I've seen one of the top IVF guys who wasn't very nice and told me i didn't stand a chance but could go again. Had my FSH taken in July and it 10.2 and in Aug it went up to 16 i think part of that was due to me being totally stressed out about it all and hopefully it will come down a bit this month so I can do another cycle. I do a short protocol where I supress and stim at the same time so get an extra boost of my own hormones.

My uterus is now co-operating and AF is at it should be so at least I have one thing sorted out.

This has been a bit long winded.

Love,

Jane

[Jeni Babes]

Jane

it's been such a difficult time for you since 2000. Big hug. You are such a strong woman.

Is your next cycle is a cetrotide one? That's what I was told I would go through before they knew my E2 was 20.

All I can say is I hope you prove that consultant wrong by going through this and getting a BFP.

Sorry this is a short reply but I am meeting a friend for lunch now.

take care and i'll catch ya later
Love
Jen
xxx

[Ellie]

Hi Everyone
I am struggling with high FSH levels. So far I am on the Zita West diet-lots of beans, pulses ,onions ,garlic cabbage and sprouts!!! Taking sone extra vits again recommended by Zita and having accupuncture.
So far 1st month it went up
2nd month it came down to borderline
3rd month it went higher than ever!
Now waiting for AF so I can have test number 4
I am begining to feel rather dispondant now as it seems nothing I can do will bring it down. My mum has just told me she had an early menopause so maybe that is where I am heading.
I have just realise this month that I don't actually believe we will get another chance and I am actually not that bothered(probably will be next week)
I also have bad endo which was under control at the begining of the year but is getting progressively worse with every passing month.
Thanks for starting this thread Jane it might just give me some hope and motivation and at least I know I am not alone.

[Smita]

Hi all,
I know you all are trying a lot of things- Just wanted to add one more suggestion to the basket..just think abt it..

Just wanted to ask if any of you has tried Yoga..The sun salutation series of poses are specially beneficial in harmonising the hormone levels in our bodies..medically, I am told nothing can affect Fsh levels..
It takes abt 30 seconds to do one round of sun salutation poses- I believe it helped me..

I have variable fsh- has been above 11 since 2003.. was 3.2 in 2004 once- but that was probably because of cysts(they bring down the day3 fsh levels artificially)
Was 15 in feb05 and 8.3 in april when I was given the go ahead by my doc to start in the may cycle.
I was doing 11 sun salutation rounds, which is termed as 1 cycle everyday from feb2005

I'm not promoting Yoga or something, just that like accupuncture, its an ancient technique..worth a try if possible in your area..
Wishing all of you luck..

smita

[Tracii]

Hi Smita, After my -ive, I also started yoga..unfortunately it was in german and found I could not relax because I was trying to translate in my head and actually found myself being more uptight!

I have recently found an Ami teaching yoga in Vienna so I have joined up with her class...she has also gone through 2 IVFs so she knows where I will need help. As you all can see I am doing absolutely everything to help get pregnant...I just don't want to think well ''i should have..."..now working on PMA and reciting to myself daily 'I will get pregnant next month"...also when I go walking with my dogs I do some 'yoga'breathing and visualize follies growing, ovulation, or endo shedding...wherever I am in my cycle..today I was visually fighting my cramps .

[JaneR]

Hi Ladies,

It seems like this thread is up an running and already getting gems of wisdom from people.

Jen, not sure if it is the same where I am they call it a short or flare protocal. I still think your FSH will come down when you get AF, it doesn't go from 15 to 42 straight away but Dr said mine could hang around where it is for years before it starts shifting upwards.

Ellie, the same thing happened to me after having acu for FSH it went up hopefully this time it will come back down.

Smita what are these yoga exercises, I'm willing to give anything ago.

Better gio and get on with some work.

Love,

Jane

[Smita]

Hi all,
Yoga is supposed to be learnt from a teacher as it involves the control of your breath..I would not advice going it alone the first time..there are various schools/teachers in the UK, Europe, USA.. please scout around..

I'm just pasting a site for you, where you can have a look abt the sun salutation..
http://hinduism.about.com/library/howto/ht-surya.htm


There is another illustrated site on the web, which I thought was ok too..


http://www.yoga-age.com/asanas/suria.html

You may get worried looking at the pictures about the flexibility involved, but yoga involves pushung your body only as much as you can.. or rather as much as the teacher deems fit..

Its just a suggestion, I dont want you all to feel that you're missing out on something if you don't do it, cause I know how that feeling of "maybe I should have tried this/that as well " haunts us..

Being Hindu,it comes easy- from birth to me,more a way of life.. though haven't done it in 3 months now.. was worried it may cause harm after ET as I'm not with a teacher anymore..
I know it costs anywhere between $40 and $50 for a personal consultation with a teacher who is deemed good.. but for a class, the rates may be far less- If you have a class in the neighbourhood, it maybe worth the money spent..

Wishing you lots of luck for low FSH levels!

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[Sand]

Thread bumped to the top for Lee ...

Sandra x