Premature Ovarian Failure (POF) or Premature Ovarian Insufficiency (POI) is a growing problem as more and more women, young and old, are given the diagnosis. It is thought that the same environmental toxins that are destroying sperm health are also responsible for the decline in ovarian health. We are struggling with a fertility crisis and unfortunately we, as a population seem so unaware until it's too late. Or at least, we think it's too late.
The 2017/18 clinical audit of the Verity Allen Acupuncture clinic saw a (whopping) 63% live birth rate for women having assisted conception (IVF) in the over 40 bracket.
Women over 40 are on average given a 14% chance of success using IVF alone.
AMH
Anyone who has been given the POF diagnosis will have an AMH test result that haunts them at night. But AMH doesn't really mean anything. It simply instructs your IVF consultant as to how much stimulating hormone they would need to use should you have IVF. Yet unfortunately this is the diagnostic used in the fertility clinics when determining ovarian reserve. It is a wildly inaccurate test and women ought not to pin all their hopes and dreams on their AMH test. To read more about this please head over to the blog section.
Instead, I prefer an FSH test. Patients will be asked for a recent FSH result, which we can arrange to be carried out if you don't already have one. In three months of treatment we will retake the test to show how acupuncture is working for them.