r/DOR

So I recently had some cycle day 4 testing done after 11 unsuccessful cycles trying to concieve, and my results were pretty bad. AMH came back at 0.07pmol/l and FSH at 27.1 IU/L. I really wasnt expecting it at 34. We've been referred to a fertility clinic and have our first appointment in early July. I'm based in the UK and guess I just wondered if anyone else who has been through this had any advice on what to expect? So far I've only been told the appoointment will be at least an hour and they have offered some counselling sessions.

I’m gearing up for my third ivf cycle.

I’m 41 with poor egg quality and DOR. I get pregnant naturally within a few cycles but miscarry due to chromosomal abnormalities. Sperm is normal.

First cycle: traditional IVF. 5 eggs retrieved, 3 mature, 3 fertilized. No blasts.

Second cycle: icsi with zymot and calcium ionophore. 8 eggs retrieved, 8 mature but only 1 fertilized. We transferred that as a 3 day embryo but it failed.

Should I do my third cycle with icsi or natural ivf? My clinic recommends icsi since that is what ”most patients do” but perhaps my old eggs don’t like icsi?

Hi all,

I’m 30F and have been TTC for the past 3 years. During this time, I’ve been pregnant 4 times — 2 chemical pregnancies, 1 blighted ovum, and most recently a missed miscarriage at 7 weeks. All 4 pregnancies were conceived naturally.

I’ve also undergone 3 egg retrievals. In the first cycle, we froze 3 day-3 embryos. The next two retrievals unfortunately did not progress to day 5/6 blastocysts.

After October 2025, we decided to take a break from treatments and focused on improving my overall health through an Ayurvedic approach and lifestyle changes. I conceived naturally again in March 2026, but sadly that pregnancy also ended in miscarriage recently.

At this point, I feel completely devastated and emotionally exhausted. I keep questioning why I’m facing recurrent losses and I’m honestly scared to try IVF or even natural conception again. My AMH is low (around 1.1), while my husband’s DFI is normal.

Has anyone here been through something similar? What changes, treatments, or approaches helped you?

Could this be mainly due to poor egg quality? Should I continue trying with my own eggs, or start considering donor eggs at this stage?

I feel very lost right now and unsure about what my next step should be. Any guidance or shared experiences would mean a lot.

Hi everyone,

I’m 42, single, using a sperm donor, with DOR, very low AMH (0.15), and high FSH.

At 41, I went through 3 failed IVF cycles and 1 cancelled cycle using mini-IVF. In total, I got 7 day-3 embryos, but none implanted, likely due to aneuploidy (my RE recommended day-3 transfers so no PGT-A testing to maximize transfer chances).

As a final attempt before moving to donor eggs, my RE has suggested trying IUI, as one last IVF cycle may not offer much more advantage over IUI at this point. I never tried IUI before. I produced 2–4 mature eggs per cycle, have had a 100% fertilization rate, and usually make good-quality day-3 embryos (2–4 per cycle).

I also just can’t handle the emotional and financial toll of IVF anymore.

Right now, I think I just need a big hug… and maybe some hope.

Has anyone had success with IUI at 42 after failed IVF? I would really love to hear your stories. Thank you

I had about 8 follicles on one ovary this cycle. 6 were mature sizes. Estrogen was close to 2000. They only retrieved 2 eggs

Last cycle we got 5 eggs out of 5 follicles and estrogen was only a little over 1000

I’ve seen other people on here mention having empty follicles. Was it usually due to early ovulation? Towards the end I was on Cetrotide 3x a day because of my LH so I thought that would’ve kept that from happening

I did a dual trigger so I don’t think it could’ve been a bad trigger

Hi everyone, a bit of background about me - 34F with RPL (1 2nd tri loss, 2 1st tri losses and 1 chemical) no LC. AMH 0.09 AFC ranging from 2-5. Possible silent endo. I’m finally mustering up the courage to try an egg retrieval. I have this rational or irrational? fear of ovulating too early and not being able to retrieve any mature eggs. I know I should be prepared for multiple retrievals but for now, I’ve managed to prepare myself for one. What advice or tips would you give me to help prevent this? And also just maximize my chances of success? I value all of your experiences so much and wishing you all the best of luck 💕

Retrieval cycle #2, Day 6 stims today and honestly I’m struggling mentally.

My ultrasound this morning was not encouraging and my doctor more or less told me to prepare for either converting to IUI or cancelling the cycle depending on how things look this Friday. He didn’t sound very confident about moving forward with retrieval.

My estradiol today was 508, which technically has risen appropriately from baseline, but my follicle count/response is what seems concerning. They saw possibly 2 on my R ovary and 3 on my left with one of them being 18mm on the left and saying that one will probably be over mature. Also, I started cetrotide today. 

I think what’s hitting me hardest is feeling like I already know how this ends. I don’t know how to have hope going into Friday’s appointment when it feels like I’m just setting myself up for disappointment again. Part of me almost wants to stop now because emotionally this feels so heavy and pointless, not mention the TWW if we do go IUI route.

For those who had a cycle look discouraging early on: did things improve after day 6? did anyone go on to retrieval after being told to “prepare” for cancellation? how did you decide whether to continue vs stop or switch to IUI? I feel like IUI over cancelling is what I’d want to do. 
I think I just need honesty, support, and realistic perspective right now because I feel pretty defeated. Thank you all in advance ❤️

What do you think of this one? May start IVF this Monday and have some time to contemplate. I’m nervous- been reading mini IVF and PGTA good but we don’t have it here.

Husband had vasectomy M33 - 6 years ago
Me, 36.5, amh 04, FSH 8, AFC 4-8

Cycle day 1: Pergoveris 300 IU
• Cycle day 2: Pergoveris 300 IU
• Cycle day 3: Pergoveris 300 IU
• Cycle day 4: Pergoveris 300 IU
• Cycle day 5: Pergoveris 300 IU
• Cycle day 6: Pergoveris 300 IU + Fyremadel
• Cycle day 7: Pergoveris 300 IU + Fyremadel
• Cycle day 8: Pergoveris 300 IU + Fyremadel
• Cycle day 9: Pergoveris 300 IU + Fyremadel
• Cycle day 10: Pergoveris 300 IU + Fyremadel
• Cycle day 11: Pergoveris 300 IU + Fyremadel

Will have ultrasound check day 7-8

Other meds prescribed- ovitrelle og cyclogest

I done 5 egg retrievals only had 3 embryos, all test and comes back bad ;/ now imma do another rounds , I don’t feel like testing from here on because I feel im loosing embryos nd I can’t risk it whats ur thoughts? Low AHM with Endo Stage 4 ugh

So out of the 4 embryos we've created, 3/4 have been day 6 5AB. I just find it so crazy that that many could be literally the same day and grade. Probably just a coincidence but has any body else experienced this too?

I’m 30F, found out incidentally I have POI a few months ago when I went to freeze eggs after a breakup, knowing my work covers $30k of fertility treatments. I was obviously very shocked and devastated, and it’s been a process dealing with this and coming off BC and figuring out what to do. I had been on BC for 15+ years and sort of hoped it was a fluke of labs being done while still on the pill. To be fair, my numbers DID get better off the pill, especially my estrogen, and I’ve been having a regular period and seeming to ovulate. Nevertheless, my AMH and FSH are still unfortunately very indicative of POI, and I want to explore what I can do in the moment.

If I wasn’t currently single, I’d probably TTC with a partner, but I don’t really feel comfortable being a single mom at this age. I don’t have qualms about donor eggs - honestly, I’d rather be a mom to a donor embryo with a partner than a single mom to a child of my own egg. I know chance of success isn’t great, but I want to see if it’s even worth it to try to retrieve any eggs.

Current numbers on CD2 on my second month off oral BC are .02 AMH, 39 FSH, 21 LH, 75 estrogen, .7 progesterone.

Hi all, I had my first egg retrieval today, I’m 31F and my husband is 29M. My AMH was 0.28, FSH was 10. AFC was 6 this cycle but I had 9 follicles before retrieval 7 ranging from 14mm to 22 mmI did a microdose Lupron protocol and was told I responded well. I ended up with 6 eggs retrieved and trying to stay optimistic. I plan on doing multiple retrievals. Any success stories with similar numbers?

I’m 36 with AMH 0.39 ng/mL, FSH around 11.5, and my baseline AFC in March was around 5. I’m currently doing my first IVF cycle with a luteal estrogen priming antagonist protocol.

Timeline:
-Started Estradiol 7 days before my period
-Started stims (Follistim + low-dose hCG) on CD3
-Had my first monitoring appointment today on CD7 (about stim day 4)

Today’s ultrasound showed:
6 follicles on the left ovary
1 follicle on the right
All still under 10 mm

My estradiol today was 102 and the clinic said my bloodwork looked normal and “where they want it to be.”
Logically I know this is still early and follicles are supposed to still be small at this stage, especially with DOR, but emotionally I keep going back and forth between “okay this is encouraging” and “what if they stop growing?” 😭

I think because I mentally prepared myself for low numbers, I’m actually happy they saw around 7 follicles responding, but now I’m anxious about the next step and hoping they grow more by my Saturday monitoring appointment.

Would love to hear from anyone with similar numbers or DOR who had slow/steady starts and how things progressed from here.

I am thinking of potentially doing 2-3 egg retrievals back to back. For these, I am planning to take a leave of absence from work. I am wondering how much time do I need realistically to be off work and what is the recovery like. Has anyone done something similar?

I have already done two rounds but these were 5 months apart. I stimmed for 12 days each round. For the new rounds, we are looking for duostim and potentially even doing 3 cycles very close to one another.

I appreciate any information and advice!

Edit to add: I have DOR and endometriosis.

Running out of questions to ask about the ivf ordeal, wife’s not responding to low stim protocol, we’ve tried for a month or 2 now and there’s no response and he sees 1 follicle. Just out of ideas and questions, she hasn’t tried the injections yet even though she has them in the fridge or at least 1. Unknown territory and if there’s anymore information I can give I will to you guys but just out of ideas and been questioning the questions yall gave me throughout this journey, she has high fsh, amh not in range .01 was the last test and the most recent time was .08. Is this the journey?

Hello girls, yesterday i went for my cd3 base scan and my RE found 2 follicles at 12 and 20mm already. My progesterone was 103. Another canceled cycle for me..I tend to have lead follicles early on my cycle so he subscribed me birth control to synchronise the next cycle.

Have you tryied it?? im so dissapointed of my body

So I just got my protocol for my upcoming IVF. Low and behold the one month I need my period to be on time I'm 10 days late and negative tests 🙃 so annoying as it will push back me starting even more. My periods are usually bang on 24-25 days so this is odd for me.

I have severe endometriosis and my AMH is 0.4 pmol/l. My protocol appears pretty basic to what I have seen others on? Has anyone had any success with a protocol like mine.

Day 2 of period start

Ovaleap 350 IU

Day 3 of period start

Buserelin 0.5 mg

Potentially day 12

HCG trigger Zivafert

Day 14

Egg retrieval

This is my first egg retrieval so can't advocate for myself until I know if this is going to be the best protocol for me but just seems very basic compared to what I have seen others be on? Especially with severe endometriosis I thought I would be on a longer protocol.

Hi everyone - this is going to be long so apologies in advance. This sub has been the biggest support through this journey and i couldn't have gotten to this point without you all. I will need to do this a third time and am looking for insights on how to improve things for this next round.

Baseline before treatment: AFC 7; AMH .247; high prolactin levels (now fixed with cabergoline).

First round:

BC priming 15 days. MDLF protocol (lupron 5units twice a day, 400-450 follistim (started at 400 and increased to 450 in middle of stims), 150 menopur, trigger with 10k pregnyl).

Baseline AFC 4. 2-3 were growing well. Follicle sizes before trigger 18, 15.3, 18.9. Estrogen before trigger 855.

Retrieved 2 eggs, maturation issues but 1 fertilized with ICSI, embryo development too slow and arrested before freezing possible.

Second round:

Estrogen priming 8 days starting on CD1 (2mg twice a day). Same MDLF protocol as last time (started follistim at 450 units and decreased gradually through stims until about 350 units).

Baseline AFC 12. 9 were growing well. Follicle sizes morning of trigger 14, 18, 31, 21, 12, 10, 12, 18, 11. Estrogen on morning of trigger 2756.

Retrieved 3 (doctor thought they'd get 6 based on measurements and estrogen). All 3 mature, 2 fertilized with ICSI, 1 embryo frozen.

Questions:

-what can I do to improve the synchronicity? I know the sized are a bit spread out, but my estrogen levels had everyone in my care team thinking that some of the medium ones could have eggs as well. I know I did a follicular start for estrogen priming, does luteal start work better to improve synchronicity?

-anything else you would recommend changing? Dose, protocol, trigger? I feel like im doing a lot of this myself, my doctor originally wanted to keep me on bc for round 2 but I advocated for estrogen because of what I learned in this sub.

Tldr - second er resulted in 1 embryo but lots of synchronicity issues (I think)...how to improve this to get a better outcome for round 3?

Just finished my first IVF cycle. It wasn't the worst response but I think the doctor thinks we can do better. My baseline AFC was 7. We ended up with 8 eggs, 4 mature, 3 fertilized, and we will find out Thursday how many made it to blasts.

I asked my doctor if we could do a back to back cycle and today I just got notice that he is starting us on the micro dose lupron flare protocol with ombitrope added and BC priming. Did anyone have more success with this protocol than the standard antagonist protocol? Im hopefull that we can have a better percentage of mature eggs received this time around and ive heard that some people with DOR do better with this protocol. Thoughts?

Thank you!