AMH and fertility: is your basket empty?

I have been speaking to a few women concerned about their AMH levels recently. When it comes to fertility, your AMH level can be something that you hold on to unnecessarily. It can result in a lot of anxiety especially in women over 40. Therefore, it’s important to put into context what this figure really means.

What is AMH?

Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) is produced in your follicles. It is an indicator for ovarian reserve i.e. how many eggs you have left. A higher AMH level correlates to a higher ovarian reserve, and a lower level says your basket is running low. Until recently this measure was used for women about to undergo fertility treatment. It can anticipate your ovarian response to synthetic hormones and therefore give some estimate of your assisted fertility success rate.

However, for a healthy woman, these levels are thought to predict POTENTIAL future fertility problems. This is NOT definitive. It’s a prediction and results in a lot of false positives. What are the consequences of this? Well for a start, paying to have your eggs frozen for no reason. But more importantly, unnecessary anxiety which impacts your fertility.

Quality not quantity

You need ONE GOOD EGG to conceive so the focus should move away from how many eggs you have left, to elevating the quality of your eggs. It is much more important to focus on your health and preparing your body to conceive by making sure your eggs are in the best shape.

It reminds me of a story I heard years ago about a woman going through fertility treatment. Only one viable egg was harvested during the retrieval process. When that egg was implanted, it split in two and the couple ended up with twins!

Improving egg health

The good news is that are so many ways to enhance the quality of your eggs!

• You are what you eat so make sure you are well nourished

• Reduce your stress levels

• Exercise

• Practice self care

• Limit exposure to toxins that overload your system

• Detox from synthetic hormones

• Get homeopathic treatment

It's never too late to start improving your egg quality. The time is now to kickstart your fertility!