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Success Stories - High FSH

Here is a story for those who were told that they could not have their biological child because of their high FSH.

My journey with infertility started in 2006. My husband and I got married late. We waited until we finished our school. Since both my grandmothers had multiple (4 and 7) kids and my mom didn’t have any issue getting pregnant, I wasn’t too worried. I thought it was only a matter of time before I got pregnant. I was 33 years old. After a year of trying on our own, we saw an infertility specialist. After a week of testing, I received a phone call from a nurse. She said that my FSH was 23 and I have about 1% chance of getting pregnant. The doctor told me that my only chance of experiencing pregnancy was through IVF with donor eggs. I was devastated. I immediately went on-line, going through all the available literatures on high FSH and infertility. I also switched to a different infertility clinic. The new doctor recommended that I try Chinese acupuncture. I was skeptical but I wanted to give it a try, especially since number of studies had shown that acupuncture could improve infertility treatments.

I chose Dr. Lin because she has a M.D. degree, which made it easier for me to discuss my infertility treatments, and she was trained in China. She was supportive and positive. Instead of treating my high FSH as an incurable disease(?), she said that we needed to correct the balance. I wasn’t sure what that meant but that made me hopeful. She was very patient with my skepticism. What I liked the most about her approach was that she didn’t try to sell acupuncture as cure it all, which, to me, was much more reassuring. She was very much in sync with what was going on with my hormone treatments, IUI, so forth, and worked with me. Again, she was patient with my skepticism and remained more positive than I was.

We first tried clomid stimulation and my ovaries produced one dominant egg. We stepped up to IVF regiment and my ovaries produced two dominant eggs. After maybe 4-5 months of treatments, my husband and I decided that we should give donor eggs a try. My fertility specialist wanted to check if I would be a good ‘receiver’. She put me on a regiment called, ‘estrogen priming’, to see whether my system would respond to an estrogen stimulation. I told my fertility specialist, ‘after [estrogen priming], I want to take a break for few months, while I look for a donor’. Meanwhile, I kept up with my acupuncture appointments and tried to conceive on our own – you never know. To our wonderful surprise, I got pregnant! I delivered a healthy boy on March 2007. To us, this was a miracle.

We tried our luck for the second time in the beginning of 2008. We tried on our own for a few months but knew right away that we needed help. We went back to our fertility specialist and tried another rounds of IUI and IVF regiment with no result. Since nothing had been working, I thought, ‘maybe there’s something to a combination of estrogen priming and acupuncture.’ I went back to Dr. Lin. This time, I saw her with considerably less skepticism. I made all my acupuncture appointments and even took herbal medicine. I started looking forward to the relaxing acupuncture sessions. I did ‘estrogen priming’ and went to acupuncture sessions. What a surprise…. I got pregnant, again! I gave birth to a healthy baby girl on September 2009.

So, in my case, results say louder than words. I’m glad that Dr. Lin did not kick me out despite of my obnoxious skepticism. I saw Dr. Lin a few weeks ago - this time, to keep me healthy and to prevent menopause from knocking on my door too soon. I don’t know about other Chinese medicine doctors but I am impressed with Dr. Lin. I trust her ability and her integrity. She knows what she’s doing. All in all, I would certainly recommend anyone struggling with infertility to try acupuncture/Chinese herbs and to certainly seek out Dr. Lin. As far as I’m concerned, she is the best in town!

-K.

 

I am now almost 14 weeks pregnant with twins!!!!! I definitely believe that the acupuncture helped us get pregnant.

Where do I begin, this was such a long journey for my husband and I. We married in July of 2005. I was 25 and my husband was 31. I come from a very big family and I am the oldest of 7 kids. I thought I would have no problems getting pregnant because my mother and grandmother were so fertile. We started trying immediately in October and were unsuccessful for about a year until we decided to stop so that I could finish my 2 degrees in Psychology and Nursing.

I have been a nanny since 2000 and have nannied for 3 different families with triplets and singleton families until 2005. Each family had their problems with infertility and talking with each mother had me wanting the urge to help families with infertility problems. My husband and I decided to hold off on our expansion of our family and wanted to help hopeful mothers. What I mean by that was, knowing that I was very fertile; I was catering to the idea of donating my eggs to help women who have gone through devastation and disappointment physically and mentally of trying for their own little miracle. Little did I know that during our journey, I was told I may need donor eggs so that I may be able to have kids of my own. During my last semester in school I had sent in my application to donate my eggs through Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine egg donation. Within 2-3 months, I received the phone call that they had found a family for me. I was so excited; words could not describe what I was feeling. I went in and they had me come in on day 3 of my cycle to do a trans-vaginal ultrasound to do follicle count. To be an egg donor, you must have minimum of 12 follicles. Follicles are on each ovary and houses and matures each egg monthly. I was not prepared for the news and what they found. I was 27 during this time and was laying there as the technician said, "this isn't good and what we see is normally what we see on a 40 year old." She had found only 2 follicles on each ovary. Women my age should have 20-50 follicles total! I had a total of 4! I am 27 and was told that I had "40 year old" ovaries! At this point, I get dressed and the nurse comes in and explains to me that I was basically denied to be an egg donor but should see a fertility specialist soon if I was to want kids. She had diagnosed me with premature ovarian failure or pre-menopausal. This follicle count also indicated that my ovarian reserve was depleted. I sat there and tried to take all this in. Here I was trying to donate my eggs to help others and in the end I needed egg donors.
I then decided to see a fertility specialist and saw Dr. Wenying Lin whom specializes in infertility at the same time. I did my research and found that Dr Lin. had extensive training and specialized in women's fertility issues and chose her as my acupuncturist. She took my full medical history and had me start acupuncture twice a week for a month and then once a week for the next 2 months along with Chinese herbs. She had me change my diet to improve my health and worked along with my fertility specialist.

I saw my fertility specialist and went through a round of blood draws for numerous tests. I also did a Clomiphene Citrate Test by measuring the day 3 FSH and estradiol levels, where I took 100 mg of the fertility drug on days 5-9, and the levels were measured again on day 10. The test came back the next morning with more devastating news. My husband and I went in to discuss the results and the doctor informed me that my FSH levels were at 13. It wasn't high but borderline and was told to consider using donor eggs or adopting. She told us that we had 4% of ever conceiving and that we only had a possibility of conceiving one biological child and possibly going into menopause after that child. Not only was I dealing with not ever conceiving but now have to think about hormone replacement therapy so that I would not go into menopause at age 27! It was the most devastating news a 27 year old could ever receive. The tests indicated that there was an egg quality issue and that my ovarian reserve was depleted. So I was now dealing with quantity and quality of eggs left. Because I failed the C.C.T., I was not a candidate for invitro-fertilization. On day 11, I also went in to have the hysterosalpingogram (HSG) procedure where they checked to see if my tubes were blocked. My tubes were clear, so every ounce of hope was crushed again when the reality kicked in that it was down to my eggs. We finally realized after 2 years of trying and month after month of disappointment and being crushed, why my period came on time every month.

After the round of tests, it confirmed that I had premature ovarian failure and Dr. Lin started me on Chinese herbs. I continued to take the herbs and acupuncture. I was feeling exhaustion, depression, stress, and anxiety. I believe that the acupuncture helped me deal with my issues a lot better. It helped me relax and the stress was getting better and my depression was so much easier to handle. I was feeling more energized and felt healthier. Dr. Lin also had me read this book called The Infertility Cure. This book helped me so much in understanding my infertility issues and gave me hope of becoming pregnant despite my FSH levels. Dr Lin said to give her 6 months and be patient before we see any results or become pregnant.
I had spoken to my sister about maybe using her eggs if we couldn't get pregnant. She was very happy to help us and said that she would love to. I also spoke to my mom about going back home to our home country (Viet Nam) to adopt as well. We agreed that maybe in a year we would all go back together and adopt.
March 9, 2008 I did my usual basal temping and taking a pregnancy test in hopes of maybe a small chance of a miracle. It immediately was negative and I threw the test away. Three hours had passed and I went back in to check just in case anything had changed. Surprisingly, I saw 2 lines and ran down to show my husband. We didn't believe it and read the directions and was sad because it said it was invalid after 5 minutes. We decided to not get excited and wait until the morning to test again. I woke up bright and early and tested in excitement and immediately saw 2 lines! It was my husband’s 34th birthday and I kissed him and said Happy Birthday and congratulations, you might be a daddy!! ! !

I am now almost 14 weeks pregnant with twins!!!!! I definitely believe that the acupuncture helped us get pregnant. Everyone is so surprised at how quickly I became pregnant. I am continuing my acupuncture with Dr. Lin so that I will deliver full term with a healthy pregnancy and healthy babies. I also want to continue acupuncture with Dr. Lin so that I would not hit menopause and continue to have maybe another child or two!

 

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