I'm new to this board and was just wondering if anyone knows of ANYONE who was able to conceive with high FSH levels.

DH and I have been trying to conceive for about 2 years.
I just turned 35 and had my first FSH test about a year ago by my GYN. My day 3FSH came back at 14.2 and my Dr. swore it had to me a mistake with the lab and had me tested again the following month.

I tested at 9.8, which she swore was "more right" than my first test. After 9 more months of TTC without success, she started me on Clomid - after 3 months w/o success I told her I had a gut feeling that my first FSH test was something to worry about - she had me test again and this time it came back at 16.5.

At this point she referred me to RE who suggested I try IUI and only offered a 25% chance. My first round didn't go well - I was on high doses of Gonal-F and Repronex and only produced 2 follicles on my right ovary, nothing on the left - the IUI didn't work and we started round 2.

I was put on 450IU of Gonal-F and Repronex and after 4 days my body still wasn't responding - they increased the Gonal-F to 525IU and I went for Ultrasound today - NO EGGS, not even 1. The Dr. said I would have to stop this cycle and make an appointment to discuss my options.

I know my option is going to be Egg Donation which I'm not too excited about. My DH and I have discussed adoption and are feel that this is a better option for us. I'm just not sure that after only 2 IUI cycles, my doctor has the right to tell me it's not going to work for us - any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks for helping,
DMN

Hi! I read your post and understand the feelings you must be having! I am sure your RE is trying to save you and your DH from unecessary treatment and any additional financial strain that IVF with your own "eggs" would bring. I, too, had an RE tell me that my ONLY option was DE (I am 33 yrs. old DX:POF ) He didn't even want to try any stims on me due to my FSH (mine have been at 37, 90 and 85). I am sure if you and DH feel very strongly about doing IVF w/your eggs he will respect your wishes but you will have to know the chances will be reduced. I was told w/FSH #'s that I have that we would have a 1-2% chance of IVF PG w/my eggs as opposed to 60% w/DE. It isn't easy anyway you slice it. I hope that w/your FSH there is hope for you and DH. I will cross my fingers....hang in there. deeja

My FSH is 27. I did several unsuccessful IUIs but only 2 with meds and I got only one follicle each time. IUIs with meds just didn't work for me.

I did IVF, a microflare cycle with Dr James Madden at Presby Dallas. He was able to retrieve 12 eggs and 9 of them fertalized. We transfered 2 day #5 blasts and I am now 10 weeks pregnant with a singleton. (Presby has an excellent lab which is very important if you don't have a lot of eggs....a good lab is more important than who your RE is since the lab is the one that grows the embies.)

Hope that helps. Good luck with whatever you decision you make.

I don't have any experience to offer I just wanted to wish you the best on your journey. I was 24 (now 25) when my RE found that my FSH was over 50 (went to 60 less than a week later), so donor eggs was the only option for us. My advice is to find an RE that you feel comfortable with and has the same goals that you do. Don't give up hope! I have seen many miracles on these boards. Best of luck!

Here is a good message board for us high FSHers.

www./Forum/209394

Some really inspirational stories from women with much higher FSH than yours.

I just wanted to let you know that at 35, my day three FSH was 20.8. I had one failed IUI and one canceled IVF that was converted to an IUI that also failed. The good news is, two weeks ago I finally completed a full IVF cycle for the first time and yielded 2 eggs. Both fertilized with ICSI and assisted hatching and I am now pregnant! I did the antagon protocol with 600 - 675 units of Follistim and 150 - 225 unit of Luveris. I hope this is helpful and wish you the best.

DMN,

I am sorry you're going thru this tough spot in your TTC journey. The High FSH isn't a 'fun' thing to hear, let me tell ya! It's downright awful. However, many women still get pregnant despite it, unless they are in full-blown POF.

We've TTC for 16 months before I became pregnant, only to miscarry. Then, about a year later, I went to a specialist and found out my FSH level came back at 17.6. I felt devastated and they said my only options at age 36 was to be very aggressive with high stims or donor eggs w/ IVF. Of course I chose an IUI with high stims, thinking maybe I'd be one of the lucky ones who stimulated ok. I ended up having to increase my stims to 4 amps in the morning and 4 at night (8 per day of Gonal-F) which was extremely expensive. I ended up producing 4 mature follicles and did double IUI, but it failed.

Because we couldn't possibly afford doing this again, with such low chances and we had other goals, we resigned ourselves to just trying naturally and accepted our life without children. We moved on to our next 'goal' or 'dream' as it were, and started to have a new home built. It was a month later that we found out I was pregnant NATURALLY!

All my ultrasounds show a healthy, thriving baby and we just found out last month it's a GIRL. She kicks and moves around everyday like the sweet miracle she is.

It's never impossible to conceive even when your FSH levels are thru the roof. I've read story after story of it happening. THe RE's don't know everything. It's all up to chance, luck and maybe even changing your diet and attitude. I think the biggest thing for me was changing my attitude and grasping life by the reins and deciding I was going to live life very happily despite having no children. Maybe it was what I needed. Now we have a new house and soon a new baby to go along with it. Miracles can happen. Don't ever give up hope.

Take care,
Kelly

DMN,

I have high FSH also. It was a real shock. I had just lost a pregnancy due to an ectopic pregnancy and that is why I started looking towards IVF. After a few times of 3 day testing my doctor felt I had high FSH. However, just like you my FSH fluctuates. (10.5, 16,9.5,8.2) My doctor said the fact that it fluctuates is a good thing. We finally just went into an IVF cycle and although I only produced one egg it fertilised and grew to an 8-cell embryo and was transferred this week. I will know in about a week whether it took.

When I was in for my retrieval and transfer I spoke to quite a few women and almost all of them had high FSH. All of them had much higher FSH than me and they produced more eggs than me. So even if this doesn't work for me this time I have high hopes next time.

I think you should make sure you are with a good infertility center. I use Cornell which has very high sucess statistics. One of the women I spoke to during my transfer had done a prior IVF cycle with NYU which never ended up in transfer. She switched for this cycle to Cornell using Dr. Davies. She said he is an expert on dealing with women with high FSH. She had 3 fertilised embryos and was transferring the same day as me. I use a different doctor who I am very happy with and I think any of the doctors in Cornell are very good. I only mention this because I see your location is in NJ which is not far from NY.

Best of Luck

hopefulstill

Hello everyone, I am new to this and would appreciate any insight. My husband and I were told last month that we had a slim chance of conceiving using my eggs. I had a positive beta in March then miscarried at 5 weeks. We had labs drawn and my day 3 FSH was 15.3 I am 28 years old and don't understand how this could have happened. We are going to try IUI with Follastim at 450. Does anyone out there know about any of this and what are our chances?? I am not ready to think about egg donation or adoption yet. I work as a nurse in the NICU and have seen a lot of miracles but I have also seen a lot of thigns go wrong. I had an FSH last year of 6.1 following 4 years of being on DEPO...i fear that this has caused me problems even though my RE says DEPO doesn't cause this to happen. Anyone with any info please feel free to share. Thanks...

I don't know how your RE can say you have a slim chance on just one 3 day blood work with a high FSH. FSH can fluctuate. You already know you got pregnant once, so your eggs do fertilise. You should consider getting another opinion from another RE. You may have some issues with your FSH, but that's a far cry from having to throw in the towel on your own eggs. Most of the women I have spoken to going through IVF have high FSH and produced viable embryos. In your case, it seems logical to take the IUI course and see if that works. Not sure what DEPO is?

Best of Luck

Mary

Thank you Mary for your encouragement. There is a huge part of me that says it is way to early to throw in the towel but there is another part of me that says I have every reason to believe that we can carry to term a healthy pregnancy. Depo is depo-provera, the birth control 4x a year injection. Thank you again!!

Kelly