Dhea

[Lesley03]

Hi All,

This is my first post in a long time! I was TTC for my little girl for 18 months. We ended up having 2 unsuccessful rounds of clomid and a final successful round of Letzerole. The only problem our fertility doctor could find was a slightly blocked tube, which was flsuhed out, and a low (13.7) AMH score for me. He told me to take 3 x 25mg of DHEA to improve this - which I did.

So (now you know my story!) we were thinking of TTC baby no. 2 and I started taking DHEA again. Then I got a bit worried because a. I didnt know what changed my body has gone through since having my baby and b. I am not being supervised by a doctor like I was last time...so i stopped after a week. I have now been spotting very lightly for 4/5 days and I am only on CD 12. My cycles are usually 40 days long.

I have had a google and it seems like it could be a side effect of the DHEA, alebit one i never had before. I was just wondering if any of you ladies had/were taking it and had spotting?!

Thanks in advance! x

 

[Syd43]

Hi Lesley. I've just started taking DHEA (not quite two weeks ago) but I get spotting anyway in the days leading up to my period. I haven't heard of spotting as a side effect.

It's interesting that the doctor advised you to take it for low AMH as low AMH is about quantity and I always thought DHEA was for quality. Do you mind me asking how old you are? My understanding is that for someone like me (aged 45) I have a reasonable AMH for my age but the quality of most of those eggs is likely to be poor whereas someone younger with a low AMH may have fewer eggs than the norm for their age but hopefully the quality should be ok.

It generally seems that anyone being advised to take DHEA has to have their levels tested first as if your testosterone level is high the DHEA supplement could be a problem. I'm assuming you had this tested last time but may want to get it tested again this time if you haven't already.

So sorry, not a particularly helpful answer but I definitely haven't heard anyone list spotting as a side effect and quite a few ladies on another forum I'm on take DHEA.

Good luck!

 

[Lesley03]

That is very helpful! Thank you

I'm 27. I was 25 when my AMH was tested. I've tried researching it but can never find what's actually considered low/normal. We saw a private doctor so I think we might book in with him again if we have no BFP in the next few months.

I will stop the DHEA for now, it seems like it's quite strong and like ty say, I should probably have a test before I start it again! I can't remember how it made me feel last time, I was on clomid at the same time which made me feel AWFUL! Xx

 

[Syd43]

It's a tricky one as there's lots of information out there on the ranges and what is considered normal in the UK isn't necessarily normal in the US, you also need to be careful to look for the right measurement as AMH is either in pmol/l or ng/ml, I think it's usually pmol/l in the UK. Apologies if I'm telling you stuff you already know.

Mine was measured again a few months ago and was 11.7 pmol/l which is apparently considered average for someone in their mid 30s. So on the low side in the grand scheme of things but very good for my age.