Day 3 Results Are In

Sort of a good news/bad news thing. My FSH, the cornerstone of IVF, is well below the limit of 10, at 6.5 (the very same blood sample showed an FSH of 5.4 here at home. No wonder they want the blood shipped - they get drasticalliy different results). So that's the good news. Not so fast. My estrogen is elevated. Not drastically, but enough to possibly cause a FALSE low FSH. So my shinny 6.5 could actually be higher. That's where the chlomid challenge comes in. This test will uncover my 'true' FSH, taken on Day 10 - this Wednesday. It is these results that will determine my IVF protocol and our chances of success. So we'll hold our breath until the end of the week. If you're interested in how FSH and estrogen are related, I attempt to explain that here:

...that's if you're up for a science class. This is only my understanding and interpretation of what I've read - not out of a text book. Here it goes: The pituitary gland produces FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) to do just that -go down to the ovaries to produce a follicle, in which an egg resides. Once the follicle starts to grow, it needs to tell the brain to shut the FSH off, because it's doing its job and doesn't need anymore reminders.  So the follicle makes estrogen as a messanger to got back up to the brain to shut the FSH faucet off. As we age, our ovaries get tired and our egg reserves slowly deplete. So the regular dose of FSH to the ovaries no longer gets the job done, and the body has to turn up the volume. Once the ovaries get the hint, they send back the estrogen message, just as loud. Hense the elevated estrogen. Why the FSH does not get reported as elevated is because the estrogen is high and artificially suppressing it. So to get a true FSH with an elevated estrogen, we can take chlomid (which is FSH in pill form) on days 5,6,7,8 and 9. In those 5 days, your FSH should go through the roof, (because you're supplementing with it) and your estrogen should double panic and shut the FSH faucet down harder than usual. So FSH levels should return back down to day 3 levels by day 10. If not, your true FSH is higher than what Day 3 showed. OK - I hope someone got something out of this - I stayed up an hour past my bed time to put it out there - again - only what I understand, please don't take is as medical gospel - I could have some of it wrong.

Day 10 coming up! hopefully my FSH isn't! till next time...