Read our story on how at the age of 42 with very high FSH and Low AMH, I conceived with the help of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
My husband was diagnosed with a very poor semen analysis. He stopped smoking, drinking alcohol and also made changes to his diet.
We attended a fertility clinic in Dublin for our first consultation on the 26/08/08 due to male factor infertility initially; we had been trying to conceive for 1yr. It was recommended that we would be suitable for ICSI which we commenced in Oct 2008, unfortunately we had to abandon the cycle due to poor ovarian response. Following a review in Jan 09 we were offered a flare protocol which we had hoped to commence in March 09; however this was cancelled due to a high FSH level of 78. The fertility clinic didn’t give us much hope of conceiving due to the high level. My husband and I were devastated at this; our hopes of conceiving were diminishing but we were not ready to give up. Following a review at the unit I told the Dr that I wanted to try raw plant herbs to reduce my FSH and Siobhan commenced me on further raw herbs to specifically help reduce a high FSH. Over a course of months I saw my FSH level gradually come down to 62.4, 28.7, 19.2, 14.3and more recently in March 2010 it was 10.2, needless to say we were delighted to see the FSH reducing. Siobhan has a copy of FSH Levels.
During the course of attending Siobhan and her continued assessment of my menstrual cycle it became apparent that there was very little to almost no egg white discharge and that my menstrual blood was dark red with clots. It was only through Siobhan that I became aware as to the importance of all of the above being present when trying to conceive and by taking the raw plant herbs my FSH reduced, menstrual blood was bright red with no clots and I was getting egg white discharge. During our attendance at the fertility clinic I have to say that none of the medical staff ever questioned me so in-depth about my menstrual cycle other than how long it was.
In March of this year I had an AMH carried out which came back as 0.32 which indicated an extremely low ovarian reserve, when we attended the fertility clinic in Dublin for what was to be our last time, we were advised against any further ICSI cycles due to my low reserve and FSH, despite my FSH having reduced considerably this was unfortunately dismissed by the Dr, we were advised to consider adoption or egg donation, this news knocked the wind out of us, we were devastated.
Over time my husband and I discussed egg donation which I have to say was an extremely difficult decision to make, we both felt that we were giving up on the chance of having our own biological child, but at the same time we desperately wanted to be parents. We decided to arrange an appointment at another Fertility Clinic and so we began the process of form filling, when we returned for our second appt I spoke to one of the nurse’s as I was concerned that I had not had a period for 60+ day’s, their plan had been to induce a bleed prior to commencing the contraceptive pill. The nurse brought me to a room where she performed a scan, it was then to our utter amazement that we found out that we were pregnant………we were 9 wks pregnant, my husband and I cried tears of joy.
Our journey over the last few years of trying to conceive has been such an emotional rollercoaster to say the least. I would describe myself as a very positive person with an open mind. I tried to remain positive throughout our journey and did anything I could that would increase/improve our chances of conceiving and I honestly have to say that if it was not for the raw plant herbs and acupuncture then we would not be where we are today. We are so happy to be parents, thanks to Siobhan Kehoe and her expertise in raw plant herbs/acupuncture; her background as a midwife; professionalism and not to mention the dedication, and belief in what she does so well. I have to say she helped me keep my positive attitude intact during the times I felt it slipping away.
It is my belief that couples who are experiencing infertility problems should be informed of all the options that may help them conceive including alternative therapies such as Traditional Chinese Medicine. I firmly believe that Traditional Chinese Medicine helped us get to where we are now.
Our baby was born in December 2010, a little girl weighing 8lbs 9.5ozs and very healthy, she is just perfect in every way. She makes our life complete and it is truly wonderful to be parents. We will of course be trying for a brother or sister for our beautiful daughter and I will definitely be using raw plant herbs and attending Siobhan for fertility treatment.
For those of you who are desperately trying to conceive and finding it difficult, I would strongly recommend Traditional Chinese Medicine. It doesn’t happen overnight but it does work.
Rosie, Wexford