Welcome! I had put myself on the last ICLW, only to discover that my baby had died 2 days into it. Needless to say, not much commenting got done. This time I want to actually participate.
To sum up, I started 2010 eager to become a mommy. Given my age (30), my family history (a bunch of bunnies all) and initial testing results, I confidently thought it would be a breeze. Well, the good news, I got pregnant both times I tried. The bad, I lost both my angels, late in the first trimester. Two pregnancy losses in less than 6 months can either shatter you or make you stronger and tougher than you were before. Thankfully, the latter has happened. I'm facing demons I never thought I'd never have to face, or more to the point, never could face; recurrent pregnancy loss, the possibility that I might never have biological children, and I'm still standing.
The other thing, I'm a science geek. I'm an immunologist and am intimately familiar with human biology to start with. Now, after countless hours of reading, inventive google searches, trawling of message boards etc I've learned enough about reproductive science to give REs a run for their money. A lot of this blog is about the science and the mechanics of it all, and if any of you want to wade thorough it, there is a lot of discussion on things like PCOS, thyroid issues, egg quality etc. Though I'm really scared, I'm also fascinated by the biology and love talking about diagnosis, treatments, clues, both my own and anybody else's!
So welcome, and I look forward to reading your stories!
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The rest of this post is actually about science stuff (indulge me and read if you feel upto it!)
On Vitamin D and AMH
It looked like I might have PCOS which was compromising egg quality. To investigate this further, we tested AMH, a hormone that seems to be elevated in women with PCOS. To my utter horror, AMH levels came back low, similar to that of a 37 year old's. Interestingly, I had also found that I was Vitamin D3 deficient (I think every woman who has undiagnosed fertility problems and is not a lifeguard or something similar should get this one checked out).
On a hunch, I decided to look whether there was any link between VitaminD3 and AMH. A google search yielded one single clue, this article (which basically says that vitamin D3 is capable of stimulating AMH production) written by a group at Stanford University.
I wrote to the scientists explaining my situation of low AMH and vitamin D3, and asked them if they knew of any studies correlating the two, and whether they were planning to do any. This is the response I got back:
Thanks for your message which I will forward to Dr. Malloy.
The original connection of AMH and PCOS we made was not based on a study but an unusual finding we made in a child with a mutation in his vitamin D receptor. In other subsequent work it is clear that in some organs of the body, vitamin D stimulates AMH. There is no proof that vitamin d deficiency causes AMH deficiency. In any case, you should have your vitamin D deficiency treated. If it turns out that your AMH rises after treatment, I hope that you will let me know. We have considered such a study but to my knowledge no data bearing on this point are yet available.
It was definitely my POA to restore D3 to normal levels and then retest AMH. It is kind of exciting to know that if AMH goes up, my story might assist in starting a new study which might end up identifying a major problem, if D3 indeed regulates AMH. Its a pretty long shot, but at this point, a logical one.
Plus, I'm praying AMH goes up, I do not want to be saddled with a rapidly falling ovarian reserve at age 30 , that would really, really suck. So I'm praying Vitamin D is the answer that will fix all my problems, because right now, I have no other candidates to play biological white knight.
Disclaimer: I've had many theories, always inventive and sometimes even logical in the past few months. Each and every one of them has been shot down by the evil universe. The mental image I have of the process is Peeves the Poltergeist zooming over my head, laughing maniacally as he drops dung bombs on my theories. One day, I will be right about something- looking forward to it!
To sum up, I started 2010 eager to become a mommy. Given my age (30), my family history (a bunch of bunnies all) and initial testing results, I confidently thought it would be a breeze. Well, the good news, I got pregnant both times I tried. The bad, I lost both my angels, late in the first trimester. Two pregnancy losses in less than 6 months can either shatter you or make you stronger and tougher than you were before. Thankfully, the latter has happened. I'm facing demons I never thought I'd never have to face, or more to the point, never could face; recurrent pregnancy loss, the possibility that I might never have biological children, and I'm still standing.
The other thing, I'm a science geek. I'm an immunologist and am intimately familiar with human biology to start with. Now, after countless hours of reading, inventive google searches, trawling of message boards etc I've learned enough about reproductive science to give REs a run for their money. A lot of this blog is about the science and the mechanics of it all, and if any of you want to wade thorough it, there is a lot of discussion on things like PCOS, thyroid issues, egg quality etc. Though I'm really scared, I'm also fascinated by the biology and love talking about diagnosis, treatments, clues, both my own and anybody else's!
So welcome, and I look forward to reading your stories!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The rest of this post is actually about science stuff (indulge me and read if you feel upto it!)
On Vitamin D and AMH
It looked like I might have PCOS which was compromising egg quality. To investigate this further, we tested AMH, a hormone that seems to be elevated in women with PCOS. To my utter horror, AMH levels came back low, similar to that of a 37 year old's. Interestingly, I had also found that I was Vitamin D3 deficient (I think every woman who has undiagnosed fertility problems and is not a lifeguard or something similar should get this one checked out).
On a hunch, I decided to look whether there was any link between VitaminD3 and AMH. A google search yielded one single clue, this article (which basically says that vitamin D3 is capable of stimulating AMH production) written by a group at Stanford University.
I wrote to the scientists explaining my situation of low AMH and vitamin D3, and asked them if they knew of any studies correlating the two, and whether they were planning to do any. This is the response I got back:
Thanks for your message which I will forward to Dr. Malloy.
The original connection of AMH and PCOS we made was not based on a study but an unusual finding we made in a child with a mutation in his vitamin D receptor. In other subsequent work it is clear that in some organs of the body, vitamin D stimulates AMH. There is no proof that vitamin d deficiency causes AMH deficiency. In any case, you should have your vitamin D deficiency treated. If it turns out that your AMH rises after treatment, I hope that you will let me know. We have considered such a study but to my knowledge no data bearing on this point are yet available.
It was definitely my POA to restore D3 to normal levels and then retest AMH. It is kind of exciting to know that if AMH goes up, my story might assist in starting a new study which might end up identifying a major problem, if D3 indeed regulates AMH. Its a pretty long shot, but at this point, a logical one.
Plus, I'm praying AMH goes up, I do not want to be saddled with a rapidly falling ovarian reserve at age 30 , that would really, really suck. So I'm praying Vitamin D is the answer that will fix all my problems, because right now, I have no other candidates to play biological white knight.
Disclaimer: I've had many theories, always inventive and sometimes even logical in the past few months. Each and every one of them has been shot down by the evil universe. The mental image I have of the process is Peeves the Poltergeist zooming over my head, laughing maniacally as he drops dung bombs on my theories. One day, I will be right about something- looking forward to it!
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