Kicking DOR Out The D-O-O-R

The results are in from my most recent AMH test, and they’re certainly not what I or my doctor was expecting.

If you didn’t catch my last post, I’d had an AMH blood test drawn the other week during a visit with Dr. C. This test was to follow up from my June 2015 test. At that time my AMH score was 0.62, which is pretty low. My clinic doesn’t like to see results less than 1.2 for women my age.

If you’re not familiar with AMH, it’s basically just a blood test that doctors use to measure a hormone called anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) in a woman’s body. The test is still somewhat new-ish. The results give your doctor an idea of how many eggs are left in your ovaries. As with most things in life, more eggs are better than less eggs. Low results are also called/diagnosed as diminished ovarian reserve, or DOR. (I’m really trying to be better with the whole acronym overuse thing. I realize that not everyone speaks the language of the fertility-challenged).

I found an online chart here that was pretty helpful in explaining results:

Interpretation	AMH Blood Level
High (often PCOS)	Over  3.0 ng/ml
Normal	Over  1.0 ng/ml
Low Normal Range	0.7 – 0.9 ng/ml
Low	0.3 – 0.6 ng/ml
Very Low	Less than 0.3 ng/ml

My gloom-and-doom consult with Dr. C the other week didn’t really add a whole lot of hope for the results I was awaiting, especially his prediction that my AMH would be even lower than last year’s.

So when this year’s reading came back at 1.39 we were all pretty stunned! My number had more than doubled since last year! To the normal range. Normal! The nurse who gave me my results over the whole was noticeably surprised when she compared my new results to last year’s. When I asked her if they saw this kind of thing a lot, she was like, “Umm, weeeeell, not often. But every once in awhile we’ll see this happen.”

How has it doubled? I don’t know. Some studies suggest that low vitamin D levels contribute to lower AMH results. Supplementing with DHEA and CoQ10 is also thought to help improve results. All these vitamins I’ve been taking this year must be making a difference.

And, prayer. We’ve been regularly praying over my ovary, and I believe that our (and others’) prayers have made this tremendous difference. Thank you, Lord. I mean, c’mon, vitamins can only do so much.

I don’t understand all the science behind these tests, or even what exactly our new normal means for us going forward. I just know that it is a tremendous feeling to, for once, celebrate by sharing some good fertility news.

Here’s to ever upward in this baby-making quest.