My Fertility Level: How do I find out?

How to know my fertility level

By Dr. Nutan Pakhare

You only needed one qualitative egg for a healthy conception, so what’s the best way to determine how many eggs are in your ovary?

Checking your AMH level can predict how many eggs you will have in your ovary, thereby predicting how long you will remain fertile. It does not, however, predict the quality of the eggs.

I’d like to explain what AMH is and how it can help women maintain a healthy work-life balance. 

Anti-Mullerian Hormone, or AMH, is a glycoprotein hormone that protects immature follicle cells in the ovaries. AMH tests can reveal if a woman’s ovaries contain immature follicles.

Because of this, a woman’s fertility prospects are indirectly influenced by her level of AMH. If you are a workaholic woman and hope to have a baby in the future, this level might be of interest to you.  According to your age group, here is the normal level,

Age Normal       AMH levels

25 years              5.4 0 ng/ml
30 years              3.5 ng/ml
35 years              2.3 ng/ml
40 years              1.3 ng/ml

High levels of AMH cause what?

Generally speaking, AMH levels in lab tests range from 2.2 to 3.9 ng/ml. If your level exceeds 3.9ng/ml, it would be considered high. Does this mean that your fertility is excellent?

The presence of high levels of AMH can be observed in PCOS and in certain ovarian tumours, such as granulosa cell tumours, but high levels of AMH aren’t necessarily indicative of a woman’s fertility. You will still ovulate the same amount of eggs each month if you have high levels of AMH. 

When it comes to in vitro fertilization (IVF), the higher the AMH level, the better the chance of conception success. When it comes to natural conception, only one egg must ovulate and fertilize.

There are several health conditions affecting the ovaries that can be detected through intensive hormone tests. In addition to PCOS, luteal phase deficiency, premature ovarian insufficiency (POI), and low egg quality assessed by AMH (although controversial), poor ovarian health can be caused by many factors. PCOS is the main cause of high levels of AMH. Women with PCOS experience fertility problems and half-mature follicles due to excess androgen production from their ovaries, which leads to elevated levels of AMH.

In the case of low AMH levels, is it possible to get pregnant?

Even though AMH levels decrease with age, women can still get pregnant into their 30s and 40s. It is believed that the levels of AMH in the blood correlate with the number of immature eggs in the body and not the quality of the eggs, so AMH is used to predict a woman’s ovarian reserve. If you have healthy egg quality, you can produce a healthy child even at age 35 or 40. However, you must make conscious efforts to modify your diet and lifestyle and practice yoga in order to maintain a healthy brain and hormone function.

Also now it is possible to treat some disorders causing low AMH, just as it is possible to treat many other disorders. There are a number of factors that can contribute to low AMH, including poor ovarian health, inadequate thyroid hormone levels, an inadequate diet, and chronic inflammation.

Due to the short luteal phase (days between ovulation and bleeding), it creates an unfavourable environment for pregnancy. A patient with POI ( premature ovarian insufficiency)  has ovaries that stop producing hormones at a young age (usually before 40). By addressing the patient’s fundamental health, these conditions can often be improved. Hormonal communications between the hypothalamus and pituitary glands can affect hormone levels in the body. Yoga can maintain healthy HPO communication and facilitate the normal level and quality of eggs in the ovary. 

The process of follicular growth can be affected by low thyroid hormones. The levels of AMH can be lower even when a woman’s thyroid lab tests are normal due to symptoms of subclinical hypothyroidism. As a way to boost thyroid hormone function naturally, you can add essential nutrients like selenium, reduce inflammation by switching to a sugar-free and gluten-free diet, and take B Vitamins.

Diet, lifestyle, and natural remedies can all be used to overcome low AMH levels for natural pregnancy. Among the nutrients that contribute to hormone signalling and follicle and uterine lining, development is iodine, iron, B vitamins, vitamin D, vitamin A, and zinc. 

Remember that AMH, ovarian reserve, and egg quality decrease with ageing. Therefore, if you are interested in conceiving without a lot of effort and expense, choose the right time and age to maintain a healthy work-life balance.