Can I get pregnant with VERY LOW AMH

Can I get pregnant with VERY LOW AMH

Transcription :

These days when you’re trying to conceive, AMH, that hormone that we hear so much about tends to be the most important thing in all the focus. And so much of what I do and hear from those members in my Hope coaching program is often about AMH because that’s what they’re concerned about. And as you can see by this member’s post in my program, it is something that we help often and are very capable of supporting and changing, but it’s not always the most important thing that you need to be thinking about when you’re thinking about your fertility. Today I’m going to be talking about what you can do to get pregnant if you’ve got low AMH, and how it’s important, why it’s important, and some tips that you can start utilizing right now to improve that number. So keep watching.

My name is Dr. Mark Sklar, also known as the fertility expert, and I’ve been working with couples for over 19 years through my online coaching programs, and right here in San Diego at my clinic. And AMH, especially in the last 10 years is something that we spend a lot of time talking about and a lot of time supporting, which is why I am devoting this video to this important topic. Welcome back to this episode of Fertility TV. So AMH is such an important topic and one that I want to dive into for so many reasons, which I will do in just a moment.

Before I do that, I do want to just remind all of you that December 9th is my last free live training of 2022, and I want you to join me for that. It’s going to be the way that you can set up 2023 to work for you and not against you. We’re going to be talking about fertility coaching and how valuable it is. AMH will be one topic that I will make sure to cover and address in addition to answering your questions during that live training. So if you want to join me for that live training, and I know that you do use the link in the description below to register and get the link on December 9th.

Okay. So AMH, why is AMH not as important as you think it is? And I know that’s not what you thought I was going to start with. You thought I might start with, well, AMH is so important. It’s one of the most important numbers because that’s all you hear, whether you’re going to your OB/GYN or your fertility clinic. And REI, they focus so much on this value of AMH. And the first thing that I want to say is your fertility is not one number or one value. You’ve probably heard me say this before. So yes, is AMH an important hormone to understand? Absolutely. Is it the only hormone you need to know? No. Do we need to also take a step back and understand all the other variables at play that could be influencing your fertility? Absolutely. And so we need to understand that first and foremost.

The second thing that I want to mention as we’re talking about AMH is that AMH fluctuates. That’s right. It does fluctuate. That might also come as a surprise to all of you because you’re told that AMH is a marker that tells you how many eggs you have left or what we refer to as ovarian reserve. And if that is the case and based on all the knowledge you’ve all been taught and information you’ve been taught over your lifetime, then that number, AMH should only go down over time because theoretically, you are born with all the eggs that you will ever have, and that number only decreases. Well, if that’s the case, then AMH should never go up or should not fluctuate, but we see that fluctuate on a regular basis. And so that alone tells me it can’t be the only number that we rely on and can’t make or be the reason why we make all of our decisions. So that is also an important variable that we need to look at.

Additionally, AMH is something that we’ve only recently started looking at in so much detail, and by recently, I mean in the last 10 years. So prior to that, we looked at a lot of other variables. So why ignore those other variables when we also have those to look at in addition to your AMH levels when we’re making all of our fertility decisions. I also find that AMH is not the most accurate number for that reason that I just mentioned before, which is that it fluctuates. Also, I find that it’s not accurate or can be different depending on the cycle date that you check it. So I like to check it early on in your cycle. So somewhere between day one and day five, but often, we have it checked at any other time of the cycle and that could impact that number. And so when we have all these variables potentially impacting that number, that shows that it can fluctuate, it’s inaccurate, and maybe it just doesn’t tell us everything that we think it should tell us.

So, AMH is an important number that we need to know, but again, we can’t rely on it solely to impact and make all of our decisions. In addition, when we’re talking about AMH, I like to ask the question, how many children do you want? How many follicles are you trying to get? Because this also puts into perspective AMH. If you’re not trying to have, and I don’t mean to minimize this in any way, but if you’re not trying to have a litter of children, then how important is that actual number, right? Because if all we need is one good quality healthy egg to be fertilized and create a good quality embryo, do we really need that number to be so high that we worry so much about it and stress so much about it? It’s just something I would ask you all to contemplate and think about as you gather this information.

Because yes, again, it is important, but does it have to dictate everything we do? And I’m not one to make decisions based off of fear, and I feel like fear-based medicine is not something any of us should be practicing. We should just be looking at what is really in front of us and look at all the information at one time. And I also tend to be someone who’s pretty optimistic and sees the glass half full. And so what can it mean for us in that vein? What does that mean if our AMH is on the lower side, but all the other variables look normal?

So want to expand on that just a little bit because I do think that this is something that needs a little bit more of an explanation. So how can you get pregnant with low AMH? The first thing is, as I just alluded to, I want you to focus on quality versus quantity. How many good quality eggs can we get versus how many eggs can we get? We just want more in number. We tend to be a culture right now that more is better. But how about better quality versus having more of something? And I think that’s an important concept to think about when we’re talking about AMH and ovarian reserve.

Additionally, how important really is your AMH? If you have a regular menstrual cycle, you ovulate regularly and all of that is normal, your other hormones are all okay, do we really need to stress so much about AMH? I mean, on a normal cycle, natural cycle, whether you had 20 antral follicles that were ready to be used or four antral follicles ready to be used on a normal natural cycle, you’re still only going to ovulate one egg, the mature and hopefully the most healthy and normal egg. So do we really care if we have 20 versus four? If in the end it’s really all about one, that’s exactly my point.

And so let’s focus on those things that we can control and think about everything in a more positive light. And let’s think about that one good quality egg that you’re going to release and hopefully fertilize that’s going to produce a beautiful embryo that’s going to implant and help you get pregnant. So that’s why I want you to focus on quality versus quantity. In this situation, the time where this might… We might have to think differently about this, might be if we’re going through in vitro fertilization. If you’re going through IVF, then often we do want more eggs to work with, but we still don’t need 20. And at that token compromising quality. So I would still rather have less with better quality during that time than more and compromise quality. And so I do want you to think about that and take that into perspective as you start to make your decisions. Hopefully, this makes this process a little bit less stressful and allows you to focus on the things you can control versus the things you can’t.

I also want to think about AMH in a different light. AMH or low AMH in this case is a symptom of something. It is not the root issue. So then we have to look back and say, well, what is the root issue? And what are we going to do about that? Instead of focusing here on low AMH, let’s focus on all the other things that have made that happen and address and fix those things, right? These are things we can address. And by that I, and I think you’ve seen in some of the testimonials and posts that I’ve shared either here on this video or in other social media platforms, that if we focus on those main areas that really need our support, that AMH often takes care of itself.

So addressing digestive issues, that I’ve seen many, many times improve ovarian reserve because it allows our body to get back to balance and focus on the things that it needs to because the areas that were being compromised and needed support are no longer an issue. And there’s so many other areas like that. So, some of the tips that I want to share with you right now are what are some main areas you can focus on right now that will impact and improve your AMH levels, but might not be what you think they are? So it might not be just taking a pill or focusing on taking something to improve your ovarian reserve. So let’s dive into those tips right now.

Okay, so I’m going to share three tips that can help you improve your AMH. Before I do that, if you want me to dedicate an entire video to AMH and improving AMH, then I want you to comment below and just write AMH. And that will tell me that this is something that’s important for you and that you want me to create another video on this topic. But the first tip that I want to share is I want you all to take a step back, objectively reflect on your personal health and pick the two main areas that need your attention and support that need to be shifted, that need to be improved.

It might not have anything to do with fertility, but you can objectively take a step back and recognize what areas in your life need more support. Maybe it’s stress, manage it, maybe it’s relationship support, maybe it’s nutrition. I don’t know what it is for you. Maybe it’s addressing certain health issues that you’ve been ignoring or putting to the side because you’ve been focusing on your fertility. I don’t know what it is for you, but I know that you do know what it is. And I want you to take a piece of paper down. I want you to sit down in a quiet room and reflect on what those main areas are that truly need your support. And I want you to start to make a plan on how you’re going to make changes to those areas right now. That is my first tip to improving your AMH, because that’s going to free up your body’s resources and energies to put towards your fertility and reproductive health.

Two, the next biggest things that I see that could impact AMH levels are stress, which I know you’ve heard me say many times. So we do need to work on stress and improved sleep. Your body rests, recovers, rejuvenates, and restores during your sleeping time, and you need good quality sleep, restful sleep for a good length of time, minimum seven hours, preferably eight in a dark room where you can get good, excellent sleep. If you’re not able to do that, that’s what I want you to also focus on, making your sleep as good as it can be. And then I want you to also look at what is causing you more stress in your life, and I want you to change that. Those are two key pieces that I think are invaluable when we need to improve our health, and in this case, our AMH levels.

And then number three, I want you to improve your digestive system. All of us can do better in this category, whether it’s eating better or truly getting to the root issues that are impacting your digestion and fixing those, whatever it is, I know that treating your digestive system can and should dramatically improve your fertility and your AMH results, and I want to see you do that. So those are my three main tips that I want to see all of you start to do now if you want to get pregnant in 2023 and more importantly, improve your AMH levels.

All right. Now I want to hear from you. Aside from commenting in the common section, AMH, to let me know that you want more information on this topic, I also want to hear what you found valuable about this video. Comment below and let me know. And if you’ve got questions about AMH or your fertility, you can also leave those comments below as well. If you like this video, give me a thumbs up. If you’re not already a subscriber to my YouTube channel, I want to see you subscribe. So hit that bell to subscribe and get notified when I put out a new video for all of you. And until the next video, stay fertile.