What do you mean I am running out of eggs?

On a day 3 check in August 2012, one of the nurses had a gut feeling about some of my blood work.  He wasn't positive but something was off with my FSH (I think) for someone my age.  If we proceeded this month with the IVF protocol we might use too low medications and not have any chance of success.   He suggested and I agreed to sending off and paying for specific blood tests (AMH) to be done.  I remember that day getting a message to call one of the nurses at SOFT.  I was at work, in the conference room..shaking, not knowing what to expect. He told me his gut was correct.    I was not the lowest...but one category up.  I had a low egg reserve.  This is often referred to Premature Ovarian Failure ...but we don't use the word failure..sounds negative.

I am going to take an excerpt from SOFT info page to explain a few things:

A female begins her reproductive life with about 40,000 eggs. The exact beginning

number is quite variable and may depend somewhat on genetics and heredity. The eggs are held

in suspended animation, half way through “meiosis one”. Meiosis is the cell division process

that allows us to produce eggs and sperm with 23 (or half) the usual chromosomes.

Some of the 40,000 eggs will be good, viable eggs and some may not be capable of

producing a pregnancy right from the beginning. The exact proportion of good and bad eggs also

probably depends on genetics and heredity.

With each cycle a certain number of eggs are “available”. Early in the reproductive years

this may be 40-50 (age 20) and later (age 40) it may only be a few. In a normal cycle, one egg is

chosen to ovulate and the others undergo “apoptosis” or programmed cell death. This is why

when we over-ride the body’s one egg per cycle system we do not use up extra eggs.

Interestingly, these eggs become available each cycle independent of the actual cycling. This is

why women with no cycles (naturally or induced by medication) still use up their eggs at the

same rate.

So with low egg reserve I literally have that...limited eggs left.  GREAT! (So...yes...this could mean early menopause...even better!  More hot flashes!!:))     Again this can be quite common. I was told of some woman who found out at the age of 20 they were getting low. Their doctor's suspected something for other reasons (their are many indicators).   Crazy!   It also indicates that the quality of my eggs could be lower...because there are less available or not enough hormones to make them mature.  So, the Doctor's' suggested we post pone our IVF cycle and start on their premature ovarian failure protocol for a few months.  I started on:

  1) DHEA--the short form for dihydroepiandrosterone. It is a mildly androgenic (male) pre-cursor hormone for both testosterone and estrogen. Recently, there has been a great deal of interest about the possibility that DHEA may improve fertility outcomes among women with diminished ovarian reserve.  - from SOFT information pdf    We initially bought this from a pharmacy in London who has to compound it...because it is not available otherwise in Canada.  Thanks to Commissioners pharmacy.  Because of that ..it is more expensive. OR...you can drive across the border to a GNC and get the same stuff 5 bottles for what I paid for one.  Way cheaper.  Did it make a difference? I don't know for sure, research is promising.

2)Co-enzyme Q10...also recommended for male infertility along with L-Carintine

A couple asides before I finish this post:.  I try to find the reason behind our journey, how we can help others someone.  SOFT, in particular one nurse has given this to me.  When he called and let me know about my low egg reserve I obviously started crying.  He stopped and asked  "Do you have a cold?".  In the moment I don't remember what I said...but later we laughed about it.  He told me his colleague was sitting beside him..swatted him and said "she's upset...she's crying!!".  He says he was having a boy moment! ha!  That was a learning experience and I have experienced this person grow in an amazing way.    In addition to that personal growth I was told that as a group the nurses look at people's lab values and trust their guts more; processes have changed because of me!  My case is used to teach new nurses coming into the clinic.  More woman are be flagged earlier allowing earlier and more appropriate treatment/protocols.  So..in a way I am paying it forward!