Posting this to give hope to others with a low ovarian reserve, hoping to get pregnant. It was here i discovered the possibilities of combining DHEA and ubiquinol after 5 failed ivf cycles.
A year after i had my son (a natural conception) i was diagnosed as having a very low ovarian reserve at 38. I had the egg count of a 45 year old and my mother had gone through menapause at 43. I needed some help getting pregnant again.
I started short cycles of ivf. First cycle was cancelled as i just grew one big folly. Gutting. 2nd cycle was filled with hope, 4 eggs retrieved and 2 beautiful blastocysts. I lost them both at 10 weeks and 8 weeks. It was as if they just ran out of energy and stopped growing. Even more gutting was that the 2nd blastocyst was tested for genetic issues and we'd been told it was a 95% perfect egg. This one didnt even grow into a fetal pole.
2 more cycles came and went one cancelled again and another we couldnt even start as my hormones never baselined. Then someone told me about improving egg quality through various ways. One was to take hormone supplements. My doctor suggested we try DHEA - 25 mg 3 xdaily. I did some more research and found a post here by a lady who got pregnant naturally at 43 with all sorts of homonal issues and swore by a combination of DHEA and ubiquinol. So i started taking ubiquinol too - 600mg first in the gel capsule form and then in liquid form as i was told you absorb more through the membranes of your mouth with the liquid spray than when you ingest it. I also gave up alcohol nearly altogether even tho id been told a glass every other day would be ok, as i read that any more than 4 units of alcohol a week reduces your chances of conception and implantation. Really hard for me as i love booze and it helped a lot with the stress of it all.
Id been told that to see the results we'd need to wait 3 months for the DHEA to take effect. Of course i went head anyway with another cycle as by now i was 39 and was desperate. Plus the ivf clinics reckon its just a numbers game. They retrieved 6 eggs and we got 1 blastocyst using the long ivf cycle. Not nearly as good quality as the first 2 that i lost. It didnt even implant. Totally gutted.
The 7th cycle was my last go as far as i was concerned IVF had impacted my life in everyway possible - from how i felt about my body to my relationshio with my partner and son, as well as stalling my career and quite frankly i was depressed and over it. By now i was 4 months into DHEA and ubiquinol, i had experienced heart flutters early on but it passed as my body got used to it all, by the 3rd month i realised i had much darker thicker facial hair and on my feet! But that nothing a few creams didnt sort out.
They collected 4 eggs and we got 2 blastocysts - and in their opinion not as good quality as the 2 id lost. So we just went ahead with a fresh transfer and froze the other one. I wasnt hopeful. Well blow me down BFP result, stong growth and heart beat at 7 weeks, another at 10 weeks and a beautiful scan at 12 weeks showing everything was healthy and normal. Im now 25 weeks pregnant today, its a girl and we feel truely blessed.
Im convinced it was the DHEA and ubiquinol combo and opting out of alcohol.
And by the way as soon as i stopped taking DHEA and ubiquinol all the dark thick hair fell out and im back to normal.
Good luck to you all. This worked for me, i hope it does for anyone out there in a similar position. Im not a doctor so please dont take this advice as professional. Just sharing my story in the hope of giving hope to others.