New blood test lets you look inside your ovaries!
HOW MANY EGG FOLICLES HAVE YOU GOT LEFT IN YOUR OVARIES?
AMH TEST
As an acupuncturist and naturopath, working with women trying to conceive is a big part of my daily clinic life. Recently, many of them have asked me about the new AMH blood test hitting the headlines in New Zealand. While it’s early days and there appears to be yet more research to do, this simple blood test appears to be a very useful tool for women wanting a true insight into the state of their remaining fertility.
The AMH tests levels of Anti-mullerian hormone. This hormone is produced by egg follicles that the ovaries grow in order to prepare an egg for release. In a nut shell, the more of this hormone you have in your bloodstream, the better off you are in the fertility stakes. Hormone levels reduce with age, and the lower your levels, the less likely you are to conceive.
AMH levels are a reflection of how many egg follicles you have remaining in your ovaries, and it’s also a reflection of the biological health and vitality of those remaining eggs. The biological age of a woman’s eggs can differ from her chronological age. You can be a fit and sprightly 35 year old for example, but have eggs more like those you’d expect to find in a 40 year old woman. A baby girl is born with all the egg follicles she will ever have, and once she starts ovulating from her early teens onwards, the number of egg follicles gradually decline until menopause. The existing test used to guage fertility is the FSH or Follicle Stimulating Hormone test. This test is much less sensitive than the AMH test, and is only able to tell a woman her fertility is declining, at an advanced stage of the process.
Developers of the AMH test are really emphasising this use for the test, suggesting that women in their thirties have a test to determine their likely fertility for the following two years. Based on their results they have a clearer understanding of the potential cost or otherwise of delaying conception. Perhaps they want to travel overseas; take a job promotion… or simply find a man of “fathering” quality. A poor AMH result would give them the option of trying to conceive sooner rather than later. Test results are thought to be 70% accurate.
The AMH also makes the stressful process of fertility treatment a little less of a lottery. AMH testing of women about to undergo IVF allows specialists a clearer idea of the likelihood of success for a particular woman. Understanding the biological age of a womans eggs will allow doctors to tinker with fertility drug doses to maximise a womans chance of success, while minimising the risk of “hyperstimulating” her ovaries… a potentially fatal situation.
Working with women experiencing the grief of infertility, I personally see a great benefit in this new test. I would encourage all my 30 something patients, still putting off pregnancy for yet another year, to have this test.
Lynda Wharton is a Traditional Chinese Acupuncturist and Naturopath with 25 years experience in Holistic Woman’s Health. She is also the author of “Wellbeing – an essential guide to vibrant good health for women available online at www.lyndawharton.com