Transcription
Have you been told your AMH is too low to conceive naturally? Maybe your doctor said something like, "Your AMH is 0.3. Your only option is IVF," and then handed you a phone number to call somebody. If that devastating news sounds familiar, then you absolutely need to hear this incredible story.
Today, I'm sharing a powerful success story from one of my Hope fertility coaching program members. You're going to hear directly from her about how she went from an AMH of 0.03 and being told IVF was her only option to naturally conceiving at age 40, despite also facing male factor infertility challenges. This isn't just another feel-good story. This is proof that AMH doesn't determine your fertility fate and that there's so much more to conception than the number of eggs you have.
If you're new here, I'm Dr. Markclar, also known as the fertility expert. For over 23 years, I've been helping women overcome fertility challenges through functional medicine approaches that focus on egg quality, not just quantity. What you're about to hear could completely change how you think about your fertility potential. She's going to share how her AMH more than tripled, how they overcame severe male factor issues, and the exact combination of strategies that led to their natural conception, even after being told it was highly unlikely.
But before we dive into her inspiring story, I want to share something with all of you. If you've been told your AMH is too low or that IVF is your only option, I personally invite you to book a complimentary fertility consultation with my team. On this call, we'll take a deep dive into your unique fertility situation, help you understand what your numbers really mean, and explore natural options that may have been overlooked in your history. The link is in the description below.
Now, let's hear her incredible journey from hopeless to holding her baby. Okay, let's dive in and hear from Trisha.
"Well, before I joined the program, my husband and I, we would start actively trying shortly after we got married. We were unsure about the probability of naturally conceiving simply because he is a cancer survivor and he went through several rounds of chemo when he was younger. So we weren't sure what his situation was there. And then also, you know, me advancing in age also gave me some some doubt that I would have any or as many eggs. But so what I we were trying for about a year and a half. This felt like about a year and a half and nothing was really happening. I was also approaching the bright old beautiful age of 40. So, I wasn't sure what was what would be going on, you know, and I I just knew in in my mind that IVF was not for me. I felt it in my spirit that it wouldn't be my story. Not that anything is wrong with IVF. I think that there's, you know, there's of course many beautiful babies and families that are created from the world of IVF. I just did not feel that that would be our journey and I wanted to give a natural shot a chance. So when I think on my 39th birthday or just prior to my 39th birthday or 38, the time is not even something that I can hold on to anymore. Shortly after I did a little bit of research, I was on YouTube as one would trying to find out, you know, what does this mean? What does that mean? AMH and hormones and progesterone and estrogen and all of these things that I had never ever known before. Understanding the ovulation periods and I never knew I never knew that there was such a science but yet also an art behind conceiving."
"So, I'll pause right here just to chime in and say, you know, she knew that IVF wasn't going to be her path or it wasn't at the top of her list. And, you know, I don't think anyone goes into starting a family saying that, you know, IVF is the way we want to do it, or very few, you know, couples do that. But, she was clear that that was going to be the last resort for her. And and that's okay. You know, that's everyone has their own path on this journey and on their fertility journey that's appropriate for them. And so I think it's important that we respect her path and her decision and others who choose to go a different way as well as so many of you do. When you have questions and need answers, you turn to YouTube. So did she. So let's continue to see what her next steps were."
"Wow. So it was it was a lot for me to learn. And the reason why I wanted to do that is because once I went to my OB and I told them that we were trying to conceive, I wanted to do some blood work. And they did test my progesterone which looked good. They tested my hormones and but they did also test my AMH and they gave me a call and said, you know, your AMH is actually a 0.03 and for them when I looked up 0.03, you know, hearing them say, you know, your best shot is IVF, here's a phone number to call, I just thought this isn't really going in the direction that I that I that I wanted and it was devastating to know that my AMH was 0.03. But it was Dr. Mark Squire on YouTube that told me that AMH is not the indicator of of how successful you will be in conceiving, you know, and I learned so much about oh, you know, that is not what we should be putting our focus and attention on. I learned that it is not how many eggs you have, it's all about the quality of the eggs that you have and it was my goal to improve the quality of my eggs. Yeah. So learning that AMH was"
"Before we get in, while she took a break to to breastfeed, before we get into the rest of her story, you know, I want to comment on that. You know, you've probably heard me say this over and over, she took it to heart. And and I just want to repeat it. The reality is is your fertility is more than your AMH. It is not all about how many eggs you have left. And something you've probably heard me say as well is that AMH is really a very important number when it comes to moving forward with IVF because it helps them determine how they're going to approach the protocol and the hormone medication and dosaging and so forth. But when you're trying naturally, AMH, you know, for lack of a better word, is really just a number. Not saying that we don't want to improve it, but our focus needs to be, you know, more comprehensive than that. So she took it to heart. Uh we can we continue hearing what she had to say."
"was very low was devastating to me because I did not know that you just hearing that you didn't have enough eggs just kind of put me in a bad place. So after that I did a little bit of research and discovered through Mark Squire that and it wasn't about the number of eggs that I had, it's about the quality and it's all about improving the quality and I started watching a lot of his videos and it was so incredibly resourceful and helpful and motivating and it gave me so much hope that conceiving was possible and not to it isn't your end all be all once you hear from the IVF clinic or from your OB that that was your only solution. So, I made my husband and I made a decision uh to join the program and learn more about what I needed to do to improve my egg quality level, but also what my husband could also be doing to make sure that he has soldiers that can, you know, fight them, that can, you know, make make a miracle happen."
"I love how she also included her husband here. Knowing his history, it was appropriate. But so often when we talk to couples, it's so focused, so much focused on the female and egg quality and very little responsibility on the male side of things. And one of our jobs is to really allow all of you to recognize how important that male factor side is and doing enough investigation and support for that. So I always love hearing that piece from couples. I'm glad she mentioned it because it really is going to take two to tango and in her case for sure it was going to take two to tango and we needed to support both of them."
"And you know, hearing from Dr. Mark that it isn't just the egg, but it's the sperm and the egg. And I think so many women carry the weight of needing to be the one who has the perfect reproductive system in order to conceive a baby. It is a 50/50 job that requires both healthy sperm and healthy eggs. So having the right partner that will work with you and to improve their health and their quality of life in order to make this little miracle happen is so so incredibly important. And I will say this to girlfriends and friends all the time. You know, don't carry the weight on your own. This is something that you and your partner need to be doing together. And is equally Yeah. that. So, all that said, once we got some of our labs done, you know, we did well, we did a couple of things. First, we changed our diet. We did the elimination diet in the very beginning, which is really interesting. I learned a lot about what my sensitivities were and what I should, you know, be eating more and less of, which was what I did was great. He did the same thing. I had some labs done shortly thereafter. Listen, I did a lot of things. I ate well. I worked out. I stayed physically active. I did red light therapy. I did acupuncture. And a combination of all of that plus because I am also very grounded in faith. My AMH more than tripled after doing all of this. My AMH was no longer at 0.03. I think it was at like 1.6 shortly, you know, afterwards. And I'm thinking, you know, we get told so many times that all the eggs that you have is all the eggs you'll ever have. And it doesn't like that gave me so much hope and I was so excited that what we were doing was working. It works."
"So I just have to say, okay, I remember seeing her lab result and communicating with her about the shift and the change. We were both so excited. I mean, even right now, I get the chills talking about it and hearing her talk about it. It was really a special moment and it allowed her to, it's not that she didn't have hope. She did. You can hear it in her voice, but it renewed her hope. It renewed that spark and gave her, you know, more power, more momentum behind her to keep going even when things, you know, don't always work out. So, that was huge for her. So all the things that we had her doing, incorporating all of these different therapies, you know, moving forward, changing lifestyle and diet, all of these things really led to this for her and was so so powerful. You also heard her say her husband was doing these things as well, right? Because what we were putting her on, we were having her husband do because we needed to address both of them. So I just want to reiterate how valuable it is. Even though I always say it's not all about AMH and the number of eggs you have left, doesn't mean we don't want to improve it, right? And so that's exactly what we did for her while we were trying to improve egg quality. Okay, back to her."
"Taking care of body, mind, and spirit is literally the biggest hurdle when she passed. You know, that's all you need to do. And but for my husband, unfortunately, when we got his sperm results, it showed up as abnormal. He did not have normallooking swimmers and it kind of put a damper on things and he felt like we were starting at ground zero again. So after a chat with Dr. Mark, he did say that from his sperm results, I think it was path, I can't remember the name, but I believe it was path. We were told that it would be highly unlikely to conceive naturally."
"Yeah. So, we run a test for men that shows us or the company, we know we don't run the test. It's a company we work with that shows us how likely it is for someone to conceive naturally through IUI. And if those things aren't going to work, it really basically means the next step is IVF. And his results came back abnormal enough that basically said we needed to really consider IVF. Now I tell everyone, told them the same thing that if we just take it at face value and we do nothing about this, then really our next steps should be IVF. But it can change. It's not set in stone. And so if we take the necessary steps, more importantly, if he takes the necessary steps, if we add into his protocol a focus on making these changes, lifestyle, diet, so forth, stress management, uh supplements, that if we give it some time, and usually it takes about 3 months, that we hopefully should see change. We often see change, but if we don't, then at that point, I think we can basically say that we need to really consider IVF in that moment in time. And so that was the conversation that we had, which was challenging for both of us because of all the progress she already made and all the hope she was always so positive and stayed, you know, optimistic, which I love. But this was a difficult conversation. So, you know, we had to have it. But they, you know, they made the choice. They were going to truck on forward, make the changes, and see what they could accomplish. Now, this all goes back to faith because we've done all the things. We stayed the course. After we were told this, 2 months later, I found out I was pregnant. Naturally. We went off to South Africa. Had a wonderful time in South Africa. I came home and I went off again to Portugal. While we were in Portugal, I was pregnant the whole time. I didn't know. It wasn't until I came home from this trip, my menstrual cycle didn't start and I was just like, 'God, is this a sick joke?' But lo and behold, after a couple of pregnancy tests, I was pregnant."
"Another thing I want to mention before we continue to hear from her is you heard her talking about her travel. Now, one conversation I remember having with her was that she wasn't going to put her life on hold for fertility. She was still going to live. They were still going to travel. They were going to do the things that they had planned. And I love that approach. It's something I talk about often with members is I don't want you to stop doing things and regretting that you waited or you didn't do something because you were waiting to get pregnant. We have to live our life. We have to keep moving forward even while we're trying and while we're taking care of ourselves. And that's exactly what they did. And then 2 months later, to their surprise, to my surprise, we found out that she was pregnant. And that is why I always say in conception, at least for our journey, was a combination of partnership with the right spouse or partner. Most importantly, having, you know, knowing that you, it requires a team effort and two, staying committed to healthy eating diet"
"To the process"
"And all the things and most importantly, well, these are all important, but just having faith and surrendering and remembering that I'm not in control of this, he's not in control of this, as much as we try to stay so centered on having control over our bodies and our anatomy. And I think as women, sometimes we hit a brick wall when things just aren't going our way. I think surrendering and reminding ourselves that there is something greater at work on our behalf and trusting and believing that because when someone says that it's going to be highly unlikely for us to conceive, twice for us, our experience was twice. First when I had a low AMH and the second time when we found out about sperm quality. Yeah. Within that same year, I we conceived naturally. So I, yeah, we're he's over here doing his thing. I saw so much through this program. I learned so much about beef bone broth. I still drink quality beef bone broth today because of what I was, you know, what we were taught. And then most importantly, I'd also say having access to a community of other women was so amazing. She's going to expand on that, but I have to say two points here. One is belief, faith, trust in ourselves, in the process is something that's so so valuable on our fertility journeys because it's so easy to stray from it and to lose it. And then the second thing that she just mentioned at the end is community. One of the things I am so most proud of with the whole program is the community of women, of couples that support each other on their journey. If there's questions, if someone stumbles, they're there to pick them up and support them. If when someone gets pregnant, they're there to celebrate with them. This community is magical and amazing, and I'm always always grateful for it. So, I'm happy she mentioned it because it is one of the most powerful things about the Hope program. So many wonderful things about it, but this one is really super special. So, I'm glad she mentioned it. Now, I'll let her continue talking about that. We shared experiences and whenever there was something that didn't make sense, especially with maybe some of the supplements I was also taking, when I wanted to learn about which supplements were probably better than others, just having a community to chat to about this was super helpful. And what I I'll even say also what I love most about it is like even now that I have this little one and you know, we welcomed him into the world and still part of the hope program. You know, I can dip in and ask questions and when I need help or even be there at someone else who is going through their journey right now and maybe I can share some helpful tips that they might find valuable. So that's what I really like about the program. It's a community."
"Community is so valuable. Such an important piece. And just as she said, you know, she has her little one. She's not trying right now, but she still gains value because the community, like she's part of the Hope program, the Hope family, as I like to say, forever. So, she could still come in, ask some questions, get support, and more importantly, even better, give support like she mentioned, and support others to achieve those goals that they're trying to achieve. So, such a beautiful, beautiful story. And I'm so grateful to hear her story and share her story with all of you. Now, I want to talk a little bit more about some of the points that I want to highlight for all of you that she said so that we could spend a little bit more time on it and allow you to take some of these things and make them your own. So, after hearing this incredible story, I want to share some crucial insights about what made her success possible. So, what does this teach us about AMH and fertility? First, her story completely debunks the myth that low AMH means you can't conceive naturally. When her AMH tripled from 0.3 to 1.6, it proved that we can influence our ovarian reserve through the right interventions. The conventional wisdom that all the eggs you have is all that you'll ever have is simply just not accurate and research is showing that to be true. Number two, notice how she emphasized that it's not about the quantity of eggs, but the quality. This is a fundamental shift in thinking that I teach all my couples. You can work with fewer eggs if those eggs are of higher quality and your overall fertility environment is optimized. The third thing her story demonstrates the power of addressing both partners, even when faced with both low AMH and male factor issues. They conceived naturally because they worked together as a team to optimize both egg and sperm quality. What you can learn from her journey is that AMH is just one piece of the fertility puzzle. Low AMH doesn't mean you're out of options. It's one data point, not a crystal ball predicting your fertility future. Quality over quantity. Focus your energy on improving egg quality through nutrition, lifestyle, supplements, and stress management. Rather than lamenting the number you have or don't have, partnership is essential. Fertility is truly a 50/50 endeavor. Both partners need to be equally committed to optimizing their health for conception. Faith and surrender. This can coexist with action. You can take all the right steps while also trusting in something greater than yourself working on your behalf. Community support matters. You heard it from her. Being surrounded by women who understand your journey and can offer encouragement and practical advice is invaluable. Advocacy is crucial. Learning to speak up for your needs and seeking second opinions when something doesn't feel right is essential for your fertility journey for all fertility journeys. Our story also demonstrates exactly why my Hope fertility coaching program takes such a comprehensive approach. We don't just focus on one number or one aspect of fertility. We look at comprehensive lab testing that goes beyond basic fertility panels. We look at both partners' health optimization, nutritional protocols tailored to your needs, lifestyle interventions that support hormone balance, emotional and spiritual support, community connection with other women on similar journeys. These are all valuable aspects of it and ongoing guidance and advocacy support. When you address fertility holistically with all of these things and give your body what it needs to create the best possible eggs and sperm, remarkable things can happen, even when the odds seem stacked against you like they were for her. I know that if you've been given a low AMH diagnosis, this story might feel almost too good to be true. You might be thinking, 'That's wonderful for her, but my situation is different or my numbers are even worse.' Here's what I want you to understand. Every woman's fertility journey is unique. But the principles that led to her success, improving egg quality, optimizing both partners' health, comprehensive testing, and having the right support, these principles can work regardless of your starting AMH levels. Your AMH number is not your fertility destiny. Your age is not your fertility destiny. Even past diagnoses are not your fertility destiny. What matters is having the right approach, the right testing, and the right support to optimize what you're working with. If her story resonates with you, here's your next step. Book a complimentary fertility assessment with my team. This isn't about selling you anything. It's about helping you understand what your numbers really mean and exploring options you may not have considered in the past. On this call, we'll review your fertility history and any testing you've had done. We'll help you understand what your AMH and other numbers actually mean for your situation. We're going to explore comprehensive testing options that could reveal optimization opportunities for you and your fertility. We will also discuss natural approaches to improve egg quality and overall fertility and determine if the Hope fertility coaching program could help you create your own success story. You don't have to accept that low AMH means game over. Just like the incredible woman you just heard from today, you deserve to explore all your options before accepting limitations. The link to book your complimentary assessment is in the description below. Before you go though, I also want to share my free master class with you. The proven five-step system to transform your fertility and reignite your hope to get pregnant. This master class includes specific strategies for improving egg quality naturally, which was the key to her success. The link is also in the description below. To keep learning about fertility and hearing more inspiring stories like this one that you just heard, make sure to subscribe to this channel and hit the notification bell. I share new videos every week with real strategies and real stories from real women who have defied their fertility odds. Remember, it's not about how many eggs you have. It's about the quality of those eggs and creating the optimal environment for conception. Your numbers don't define your potential. You're not broken. Your AMH doesn't determine your destiny, and your story isn't over yet. Just like this incredible woman who went from an AMH of 0.03 and being told IVF was her only option to naturally conceiving at 40. Your breakthrough could be closer than you think. Sometimes all it takes is the right approach, the right support, and the courage to focus on what you can improve rather than what you can't change. Take that step today. Book your complimentary assessment and let's explore how to optimize your fertility potential. Thank you for watching and until the next video, stay fertile."