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Karen, I hope you have a bfp on the way and this one holds on! How did you find out you have a clotting disorder? Laurie, I don't think my no af means anything except that she hasn't arrived yet. I Oed a little later than normal this cycle, and af really isn't due until tomorrow or Saturday. I am not currently doing anything except for waiting for my hysteroscopy surgery next week (then waiting 3 months for ivf). I hate being "on hold" and wondering if my fsh levels will skyrocket in the meantime.

Good morning, I had blood work which included testing anticardiolipid antibodies which I was positive for.

Wow, Karen, you were up early!! I have never heard of that. Is that a routine test?

I was going to ask the same thing. My temp finally went up. I guess I must have ovulated finally--day 20 of a usually 26 day cycle. We'll see when AF shows up. L

Laurie, do you test with anything besides temp? When do you usually O?

It is a routine test after recurring miscarriages. THe first time I had it done it was negative. When I was seen by my RE he wanted to repeat explaining sometimes in a commercial lab they make mistakes and their equiptment might not pick it up. We paid $300 for the test (b/c it was elective) and it was sent to a lab in Tenn.. I am up at 5:30 a.m..

Karen isn't that really good news then? Treatable?? I need to get up on all this since I go in next month. Ann, all I did since the miscarriage is BBT. I have seen a spike in my temp around Day 13 for the past three cycles. Then this one was different. I would have no way of comparing it to any other year because I never wanted to conceive before. We really, to be honest, haven't gone at this long enough to really say I am infertile. We started in January. However, I see 38 looming around the corner so I panicked. Plus, I am getting the conflicting information about FSH. The OB nurse said the doctor wouldn't have been concerned about FSH if I got pregnant the second month of trying. Ann, I don't understand why your later number isn't just really great news. I was rereading your old posts. Were you not able to feel the fibroids? I just had an annual recently so hope that wasn't what happened with this latest cycle. I hate to be nosy, but what IS the cost of IVF with PGD? And do you pay for every attempt? For all of us, I have to mention this. A woman I know whose last child was born when she was 40, said that she had taken a graduate statistics class and numbers can be manipulated. My DH, who has also taken graduate level statistics, very much agreed with her opinion. So percentages and stats are things I am trying hard not to get caught up with. Laurie

Me again. You guys need to check out tryingtoconceive.com. There appear to be several women on there conceiving naturally after our age and had "high" FSH levels. I googled FHS and clomid, went to number 13 and followed a thread. Laurie

Laurie, the reason the later number isn't good news is because they consider your worst (un-medicated) number to be the number you go by. FSH fluctuates around every month, and good reading doesn't mean things are improving. That comment by your nurse baffles me. For everyone else I have ever talked to, looking at the cd3 fsh is standard practice if you are over 35 and sometimes even younger. I can't feel the fibroids at all. The biggest one is still small. The RE just thinks its position is likely to cause an implantation problem (they can also cause miscarriages). I am not sure if you can see them on an annual, but you can see them via ultrasound. If you don't have infertility insurance, I've heard that ivf costs between $8K-$12K. The egg retrieval is the expensive part. So, for example, say they get 20 eggs from you and 10 fertilize. Then, 5 make it to where they can be transferred back to you. Most clinics will only transfer 2-3. Say they transfer 2 and you have 3 left over. They can freeze the 3. If you want another child, they thaw them and hope they make it through the thaw. If they do, they transfer those into you and the cost is much less than the entire procedure.

Oh, and I took two semesters of college-level statistics, and I agree that manipulation happens in LOTS of statistics!!

My next question was about freezing the embryos. I wondered about that. Dr. Sherman Sibley? has a book that I have only skimmed through. He recommended younger women freezing embryos if they wanted to delay pregnancy. But when I read about IVF on the net, it seems like only "fresh eggs" are being transferred. It is a slow afternoon at work, now I will read up on eggs. I have been reading about late ovulation and short cycles.

They definitely still freeze eggs. I have the ivf info, and it has a section about what they will do with any embryos they can't use. Look on the net for "frozen embryo transfer" (FET) and you will find lots.

hi Karen... I've been reading your posts and just wanted to send some good thoughts your way. My best friend had a high fsh, hadn't been ovulating for a long time and also had the blood clotting disorder. She ended up having healthy twins a few months back via IVF. I know IVF is an expensive option (I don't really think we'd be able to go that route if it comes to it), but I just thought I'd share a positive story with you...it can happen. Good luck to you and everyone on here... (I just started clomid and had my cd3 fsh test on Thursday. I go back in next Thursday for the cd10 fsh test, and I'm hoping for good results...) Take care...

Thank you Val for your positive thoughts. Unfortunately, I am not a candidate for IVF b/c of my high FSH level I would not respond well to the ovulatory stimulating hormone treatment. I am trying to remain hopful that we can do it on our own. I hope you are doing well and I wish you the best of luck.

I also read that each lab is different with what they consider normal FSH levels.

Val, thanks for the success story. Do you know what your friend's fsh number is? Karen, I have read the same thing about labs. Also, there are different ways to test (different assays whatever that means), so the results are different.