As I said in my last blog we had an appointment with the doctor last Friday (Oct 14th) to do a follicle count and to get the results of my AMH test. Well once again we had good news and bad news, but according to the doctor the good news in this case is out-weighing the bad news.
Bad news is that my AMH level has significantly dropped from 0.48 in June to 0.16, which is almost undetectable. The doctor said if this would have been my first AMH, no one would have even touched me for IVF. But he said it seems that many people who have endometriosis seem to have lower AMH, but many are still able to produce children especially in my case because.... the good news is that the ultrasound showed a follicle count of 9!!!! And since the follicle count is a more important predictor because we can physically see that there are eggs left, the doctor said he is kinda going to ignore the AMH. My previous follicle count in June was an 11, but the margin for error is +/- 2 so it looks like my egg reserve has stayed the same which is AWESOME!
The doctor is puzzled as to how I have 9 follicles on my own this cycle, and 6 last cycle, but during the IVF drug treatment I was only showing 2 follicles. So we had a long talk and the doctor and I are both convinced that my body doesn't react well to the overload of medication I have been on for the last 10 months. He thinks the steroid I was on from January to June might have totally screwed up my AMH levels, since AMH is directly connected to your pituitary gland, and the steroid I was on directly affects that as well. He thinks that all of my hair shedding/loss, the drop in AMH, and the nonreaction to the drugs might all be attributed to the steroid making my pituitary gland shut down. He also added that the combination of all the hormones in the birth control pills and my pituitary gland being messed up could be the reason for no reaction to the IVF drugs. Soooo, what is the PLAN?
Well, we are going to try and prepare my body for IVF as naturally as possible and with as few hormones as possible leading up to another IVF cycle. The doctor is NOT going to give me any kind of hormones like birth control pills or progesterone this cycle to try and force a period to come when they want it to in order to start IVF. He just said we will leave you alone, but you must start on your own no later than Nov 5th, or else we will be forced to push you back into the December cycle. Great no pressure!
The medicine I used last cycle is still being tested, and the doctor said now that he hasn't decided which group of medicines I will do next IVF and he will not decide until those results come back. Which means he NOW isn't opposed to using the same medicines, if in fact the first ones were counterfeit.
We also discussed the hair shedding issue and I told him it was a big concern for me. I told him about my DHEA research and that I had seen several women blogging online talking about their hair loss. The doctor thinks the hair loss is most likely from 1 of 3 things: birth control pills, the predisone steroid I was on from Jan-June, or the DHEA. But that is it definitely from a hormone imbalance of some sort, most likely created by all the stuff I have taken. So I am stopping taking the DHEA for a couple weeks to see if that makes a difference, since that is the only one of the three I have been on most recently. The doctor seemed to have a strong feeling that the hair loss is the bottom fall-out of the predisone. Which to me seems strange because I had hair loss with it in June and July, then it seemed to almost stop in August, and then got really bad again in late Sept/Oct. I wouldn't think that the after effects of something would go up and down like that, but who knows???
My mom found this all natural shampoo, vinegar rinse, and oil spray online that I am going to use to hopefully try and stop the hair shedding/loss. The vinegar rinse says that it is supposed to help remove the excess build up of DHT which is actually testosterone, which is what DHEA is converted into. I read a journal article online that said if women have too much testosterone in their body, either naturally, or they are taking too much DHEA, the body converts it into DHT and then tries to expel the excess DHT out of the body, most of the time through the scalp and hair follicles which leads to hair loss. Ahhh Haaa! I think I may be on to something! So hopefully this stuff will help. Keep your fingers crossed! I am pretty sure by the time we figure this pregnancy hormone thing out I will either have my MD or PhD or some kind of medical research certification!! Ha ha!
Basically I am learning more and more everyday that this journey to have a baby this way is a huge guessing game and really the doctor's don't know much more than I do. They can constantly change up the variables, but when it is all said and done there is no exact science and it is all just a big experiment, that may or may not work. I am glad that the doctor is willing to listen to what I have researched and then we come up with a plan together based on both of our opinions, research, and his experience.
For now we will just go on about our normal lives because there isn't anything we can control and if my cycle decides to come on or before Nov 5th, then we will jump back into IVF mode. If my body decides it isn't the right time, then well..... we will wait. In the meantime, we are sending lots of good energy and love to my friend Dave in New York who suffered a brain aneurysm a couple weeks ago, but is making a miraculous recovery! My problems seem so small next to what you have been through. And Go Cardinals!
Jenny
No comments:
Post a Comment