The Problem With Fertility Tests And What To Do About It
When you’ve been trying to get pregnant for more than a few months you start to worry that there’s something wrong. You go to your doctor and get some fertility tests. Your doctor tells you that you’ve got low AMH, high FSH and that your eggs are old. You immediately panic and start Googling your results.
After two hours of searching the internet, you feel even worse because you’ve read forums and facts about your diagnosis. Your heart feels heavy as you sink into fear. Fear that it might not happen for you.
What your doctor didn’t tell you was that you can improve the quality of your eggs. There are hundreds of research papers showing this is possible.
Quite often doctors say negative things that get stuck in your head and make you worry. They say ‘You’re 35 and your eggs are old.’ Or they say things that make you angry: ‘There’s nothing you can do to improve your chances, just keep trying for 6 months and then I’ll refer you to a gynaecologist’.
It’s useful to get the tests. It’s good to have the facts and know what is stopping you from getting pregnant. When you use this information it can help you to take action.
The problem is that the test results, the depressing Google research and the negative comments can get stuck in your head and leave you with no hope.
Tests are just a snapshot in time. If you make the right choices then you can turn things around and improve your fertility.
Whether you have a diagnosis or not, then there is something you can do to empower yourself and take control of your fertility. It will help you to understand what you need to change to get pregnant. It will help you to trust your body again.
One approach is to track your cycle. Take your body’s basal temperature each morning and plot the temperature and other key fertility signs. Charting is more than just the timing of ovulation and your fertility window. If you learn to read your chart you’ll be able to tell whether your hormone levels are correctly balanced, if your egg has enough time to mature and whether you have enough progesterone for implantation to occur.
I show my clients what a conceivable cycle looks like on a chart and then we make a plan to work towards one. Usually just before a client gets pregnant her chart shows that she has a conceivable cycle. This is what a conceivable cycle looks like.
Charting empowers you to see that the changes you are making are having a difference on your fertility. You may not be pregnant this month, but charting shows you that you’re moving towards a conceivable cycle and this gives you hope.