FSH suddenly over 20! What is going on????

[jkph]

I went for blood tests to start a new cycle. My FSH has always been around 6-8. Suddenly, it is 20!! How is this possible when it was normal a few months ago? My estradiol is below 20 too. This has never happened before either. Should I not even bother to start this cycle?

[SC-Impatient_in_VA]

That would actually explain the weird egg results you've had thus far.

I think I would skip this month and try again on a month when it's lower. Obviously it's fluctuating some for you which means you'll get another shot at it being under 10.

[jkph]

How does this explain my egg results? It was normal before. Also my TSH is .74. Is this somehow related?

[SC-Impatient_in_VA]

Your abnormal embryo results -- high FSH is related to abnormal eggs. I don't know much about how TSH relates to it all other than once you're pregnant you have to watch it very closely, but an FSH above 10 can give you fewer eggs with more abnormals - even on months when the FSH is normal.

[jkph]

So, you are saying that my high FSH this month means that the quality of my eggs from previous cycles is bad even though my FSH was normal at the time. So if I wait until it is under 10 will that change the quality of my eggs or not? I am very confused on how this works.

[SC-Impatient_in_VA]

No, not that they were definitely bad but that it explains why you got the bad results in that one cycle. That one cycle may have been affected, but not your others, because your FSH seems to have fluctuated from normal to high. Perhaps it was high that month, did they test?

There are no guarantees of good quality or bad quality from month to month, no matter what the FSH reading is -- but it can provide a clue to the puzzle. Still, some doctors will say that your FSH is only as good as the highest reading ever was -- but that's not the whole story as some women find that they are able to respond well to drugs AND get pregnant in months when their FSH reading is lower.

You can find a lot of stories about this on the High FSH board - even though you might not really be able to be classed as high FSH with just having had one reading. Sometimes one reading is a fluke and the true readings were the lower ones.

If you cycle when it's above 10, you will get fewer eggs than if you wait til it's below 10. There is some indication that cycling when it's below 10 also yields better quality eggs. Some REs won't cycle you for IVF if it's above 10 or 15 (or some other cutoff in between those figures) and will force you to wait - either because they fear your failure affecting their stats or because they don't want to waste your money getting fewer eggs than you deserve.

[jkph]

They did test my FSH on my first cycle and it was normal. I am wondering if doing all of these cycles so close together is throwing off my numbers. My AMH went from 1.4 to .89 after a cycle and then back up to 1.6. My RE said it was unusual for it to jump around like that.

The funny thing is no one at my clinic even mentioned it to me. I happened to go into my portal and look. Otherwise, no one would have even told me about it which I think is pretty crazy. I think I am going to have to cancel the cycle myself.

Have you heard of anyone's FSH jumping so many points suddenly? Especially, when it is always pretty much the same. Do you know what could cause this?

[SC-Impatient_in_VA]

It really is unusual for AMH to jump around like that. It's supposed to stay static but I've seen on here where it sometimes does not. Sometimes people explain it as different labs performed the tests but if you had the same lab do the tests then it should've stayed the same or declined just slightly over time.

I have heard of FSH jumping abruptly but not THAT much. It usually comes with a clear decline in AMH when that's tested but that isn't the case with you. I don't know what else would cause it to do that -- but I do think taking a month off to re-test, just in case your body is getting too hormone-y, is a good idea. And like I said I think your money is better spent cycling on a month when you can get your FSH lower -- more eggs for less drugs, more chances for normal eggs. It makes more mathematical sense to wait a little bit.

If, next month, your result is still high, it'll be time to force your doctor to address the situation because cycling with higher FSH means a change in protocol. (Probably; I don't actually remember which protocol you're using but high FSHers usually don't use Long Lupron or antagonist.) High FSH also changes what drugs are used sometimes as high FSH can sometimes respond well to tweaking the drug types.