Low egg count

**Indibub** · 18-01-2011 20:58

Hi,

I'm new to this forum, but I'd love to hear from anyone who is in a similar situation to me (or anyone who knows more about this than I do

I've had 3 stim cycles with icsi. First one we got two embies (1 decent quality, the other poor quality). Our second cycle we got two fantastic embies, so 1 fresh cycle, and 1 thaw, but no luck. We've just been through our 3rd stim cycle and got no eggs. I have a low egg count and my hubby has low motility sperm.

I'd love to hear any stories, advice etc from anyone with low egg counts. After my last unsuccessful OPU I thought about donor embies but I believe there is a year-long waiting list at least for these?

**jfblady72** · 18-01-2011 21:13

indibub: low egg numbers are very disheartening

, please check out the "Poor Responders" thread here...the women there are the experts on low egg numbers and advice / support / treatment options when dealing with poor response to ivf stimulation. dont know your history / age (eg big difference btwn low egg numbers when u are 40 compared to if u 30) etc but suggestions from the thread would be:

a) dose of gonal / puregon
b) type of cycle (long vs short antagonist)
c) adding various other drugs such as pregynl, luveris, dhea, growth hormone, vitamins etc....all the girls there have needed to be on something "extra"
d) testing on you to determine your hormone levels eg FSH and amh level ie ovarian reserve..can help u decide on which way to go..ie keep trying on yrs or if u really warrant a donor yet.

what does your FS say? many girls with low eggs did more than your average no of cycles to get a bfp BUT some ppl do still get lucky early on.

**Indibub** · 20-01-2011 20:41

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. There seems to be a lot of info on that thread, which is all very helpful and relevant to me.

Cheers

**jayemkayare** · 21-01-2011 12:30

Hi Indibub

You sound in a similar situation to me. My 1st cylcle was acutally good but next two produced zip! And Hubby has crappy swimmers as well (poor morphology). I also found lots of help in the "poor responders forum".

Do they know why you have low egg numbers? They've done the AMH test and everything????

I am currently on DHEA, waiting 4 months for it to take full effect then trying again. If still nothing, I will have to consider egg donation. DHEA is a fairly new drug (in western medicine) being trialed to increase AMH levels and therefore egg numbers and quality. I think it's becoming more and more popular, you definately ask your FS about it.

Well, I hope you get lots of useful advice like I have from this forum and that it all works for you!

Jay

**Indibub** · 22-01-2011 21:02

Hi jay,

Sorry to hear that you're in the same position as us!

Yep, i had the AMH test and my numbers were woefully low. I thought that getting only 1 or 2 embies from a cycle was very low, but getting 0 embies this time was pretty devastating.

We have an appt with FS next week, so will definitely ask her about DHEA. Thanks for the tip! So, has your FS suggested a few months on DHEA without doing any cycles to increase your levels?

Have you started looking into the donor process yet?

All the best with your journey,

Indibub

**jayemkayare** · 22-01-2011 21:31

Indibub,

Getting nothing after all those drugs i think was worse for me than the cycle i saw to completion. It feels hopeless.

I havn't looked too far into the donor process yet, I'm still hopeing for a miracle next cycle with the DHEA. I'm also going to start the CoQ10 and accupuncture. There is also Human growth hormone which is expensive but you should enquire about that too.

With the DHEA, it takes a good 3-4 months to have full effect (the life cycle of an egg is 90 days). You can continue on IVF while taking it but we decided a break might do my overies some good (give them the shock factor when they get woken up again and hopefully get a result like cycle 1).

I really hope that your FS can provide some answers for you. Hang in there

Jay xx

**Indibub** · 30-01-2011 20:01

Hi jay,

We had an appt with fs last week and she is still very hopeful of a bpf for us, so that has given me a lot more confidence. We're doing a down reg cycle in feb, after doing one antagonist and two flares, so we're hopeful that this will give us better results.

We asked our fs about DHEA and she's not recommending it for us at this stage, but we'll look at it after this cycle if we have no luck.

Just thinking that the down reg cycle is 2 months long is killing me, so i can't imagine how eager you must be to get going after you DHEA!!!

Good luck with the wait, and hope DHEA is doing its magic on you right now

Indibub

**liv01** · 30-01-2011 21:08

Hi Girls,

I am also a low responder and my amh was 11 back in 2009 have just been tested again and i am waiting on the results, I have done 4 icis cycle three as antag and the 4th cycle and my results were so much better on an antag i was lucky to get 3 eggs on long down reg i got 7 so if i was to go again i would only consider doing long down reg I also have a reciprocal translocation of chromosome 2 and 15 which only effects fertility.

We decided to take a break for 3 months and i lost 12kg and I also took q10 and did acupuncture and we were very shock to hear that we had a natural miracle so dont give up hope of it happening naturally while on a break.

sending you all

**jayemkayare** · 31-01-2011 12:51

Liv - Wow!! Cooper is gorgeous!! What dose of CoQ10 were you on? I read that it should be 600mg but the strongest I can find is 150mg tablets. Thanks for sharing. Some stories do get me more excited than others. My AMH is much less that 11 though.

I've heard many stories about the long down protocol being better for poor responders. But 2 months long!!!!! Is it much worse than the antagonist? Good luck with it all Indibub fingers crossed it will all be worth is

I'm starting accupuncture tomorrow. Not too sure my accupuncturist knows what she is really doing though. She was recommended by my FS but talking to her didn't fill me with confidence. She was planning it with my cycle and she decided a date, I couldn't make it with work so she just changed the date to 5 days later. How important is this???? I think I will have to do some reasearch on this one

Take care ladies.

**Indibub** · 31-01-2011 18:58

Hey ladies,

Liv, thanks for your post. It's always good to read these positive stories to know that good things do happen, and that we just need to keep plugging away at it. Good to hear that down reg worked well for you too.

Jay, i've been doing accupuncture since before i started ivf. It's helped me to relax, but obviously i still haven't had any luck at this point. My accupuncturist specialises in fertility and i think she's pretty great. I'd recommend her to you if you're in melbourne??

As for the timing of accupuncture appts, the really important ones (according to my accupuncturist) are around the time of the ET. It's adbisable to have an appt both before and after your ET, so that you can make sure that you have a welcoming and relaxed place for the embie to make themself comfy

otherwise i believe that the timing is not crucial.

Let us know how you go with the accupuncturist when you have your appt!

Indibub