Ghost and everybody--DHEA reduction in number of follicles

[SueQiwi]

Hi there~
I recently underwent IVF cycle 5--trying for number two. I had heard such good reports on older women taking DHEA to increase egg count and quality. I decided to try it and took DHEA for 16 weeks before my IVF cycle.

I was so very bummed when the DR told me I only had ONE follicle! They canceled my IVF cycle and converted me to an ovulation induction.

On all my previous 4 IVFs I have had 5 follicles or more. I am wondering if DHEA affected my follie count in a negative way? Has this happened to anybody else? Or is this reduction in follicles just due to me getting older?

Also--has anybody had success with an ovulation induction? I'm in 2ww now.

Thank you so much for your help.

[Ghost]

Hi there~
I recently underwent IVF cycle 5--trying for number two. I had heard such good reports on older women taking DHEA to increase egg count and quality. I decided to try it and took DHEA for 16 weeks before my IVF cycle.

I was so very bummed when the DR told me I only had ONE follicle! They canceled my IVF cycle and converted me to an ovulation induction.

On all my previous 4 IVFs I have had 5 follicles or more. I am wondering if DHEA affected my follie count in a negative way? Has this happened to anybody else? Or is this reduction in follicles just due to me getting older?

Also--has anybody had success with an ovulation induction? I'm in 2ww now.

Thank you so much for your help.

Sorry to hear of just one follicle, but good luck with your OI cycle.

To my knowledge, there have been no proper studies of DHEA for this purpose. I know there are claims that it improves follicular recruitment, on average, and perhaps it does. But I've seen no good evidence to support that.

There have been two good (randomized) studies of testosterone, and these showed some small improvement in the average egg yield. DHEA is supposed to convert to testosterone, so perhaps...

But these things are very complex, as each hormone is converted to others in sequence, and also suppresses or stimulates the production of others, so that the physiological cause of any change can be very murky and indirect, when it's anything at all.