She Got Pregnant Naturally With Low AMH and High FSH: What Happened When We Looked Deeper

When doctors said her AMH was too low at 0.09 ng/mL and IVF was the only option, one of our Fab Fertile clients decided to look deeper.

Through functional testing and personalized support, she uncovered the health factors that were quietly working against conception and went on to get pregnant naturally after only 4 months in our program.

Every case is unique and outcomes vary. This story is meant to illustrate what’s possible when we look beyond numbers to understand the body as a whole.

Why AMH and FSH Are Only Part of the Fertility Picture

AMH and FSH are helpful markers, but they don’t tell the full story of egg quality or overall fertility potential.

Research shows AMH reflects the quantity of eggs, not necessarily their competence or potential to fertilize and develop into a healthy embryo (La Marca et al., Human Reprod Update, 2010).

Many women with low AMH still conceive naturally when underlying factors such as inflammation, oxidative stress, thyroid balance, and nutrient status are addressed.

The Functional Areas That Made the Difference

Our client’s AMH was 0.09 ng/mL with high FSH, yet she was ovulating monthly. What was standing in her way wasn’t “poor egg quality,” it was her body’s overall health burden.

Through our testing and coaching process, we identified imbalances in several key areas:

• Digestive Health: Gut inflammation and microbial imbalance can impair nutrient absorption and increase oxidative stress. Studies link gut dysbiosis and endotoxins to impaired ovarian function and implantation rates (Qi et al., Front Cell Infect Microbiol, 2021).

• Inflammation and Nutrients: Suboptimal vitamin D, iron, zinc, and antioxidants can disrupt follicular development. Chronic low-grade inflammation may accelerate follicular depletion (Ruder et al., Fertil Steril, 2009).

• Stress and Sleep: Elevated cortisol and disrupted circadian rhythms can suppress reproductive hormones such as LH and progesterone. Stress-induced inflammation and oxidative stress are associated with poorer IVF and natural conception outcomes (Whirledge & Cidlowski, Endocrinology, 2017).

• Thyroid and Adrenal Health: Subclinical thyroid imbalances and adrenal dysfunction patterns are frequently missed in standard labs but can impact ovulation and luteal-phase function.

Once she supported digestion, restored nutrient balance, and worked on nervous-system regulation, her body felt safe to conceive, and she became pregnant naturally.

What We Can Learn From This

Fertility isn’t defined by a single number.
AMH and FSH are data points, but they can’t reflect how inflammation, nutrient absorption, and stress load affect the ovarian environment.

By taking a whole-body approach, we can improve:

• Egg and sperm quality

• Hormone balance

• Cycle regularity and luteal-phase strength

• Implantation and pregnancy outcomes

Next Steps in Your Fertility Journey

Subscribe to Get Pregnant Naturally for evidence-based guidance on functional fertility, and share this episode with anyone on their fertility journey.

Not sure where to start? Download our most popular guide:  Ultimate Guide to Getting Pregnant This Year If You Have Low AMH/High FSH it breaks everything down step by step to help you understand your options and take action

For personalized support to improve pregnancy success, book a call here.

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 – Why low AMH and high FSH aren’t the full story
Sarah shares how many are told donor eggs are the only option and why that message often misses deeper health factors that impact fertility.

01:45 – What this client’s fertility journey looked like before Fab Fertile
Three failed IVFs, two IUIs, and a diagnosis of diminished ovarian reserve plus the emotional toll that comes with feeling “stuck.”

03:10 – The overlooked factors affecting AMH and egg quality
How long-term birth control use, chronic stress, and thyroid patterns (like high reverse T3) can influence fertility even when labs look “normal.”

04:45 – Gut health and fertility: what her stool test revealed
From constipation and loose stools to parasites, C. diff, and H. pylori, how digestive imbalances can block nutrient absorption and egg development.

06:15 – The hidden food sensitivities that trigger inflammation
Non-celiac gluten sensitivity, dairy intolerance, and gluten cross-reactors like tapioca, why eliminating inflammatory foods helped reduce immune stress.

07:10 – Supporting the body as a couple
Why both partners completed functional testing and the elimination diet, and how addressing anxiety, gut issues, and stress improved overall fertility potential.

08:00 – Pregnancy after low AMH: what finally made the difference
After only four months of targeted functional support, she conceived naturally. Sarah shares what changed and how mindset and visualization played a role.

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[00:00:00] Hey there, I'm Sarah Clark, founder of Fab Fertile, and today I wanted to give you some motivation to really keep going and talk about a case study of a success we've had with one of our clients and we specialize in low A MH Hi, FSH, diminished ovarian reserve, or premature ovarian insufficiency. Really, those are complex cases and many times in those issues, we may have been told

donor eggs are the only option. That was certainly the case for me. When I was diagnosed with POI at 28, I was told my only option was donor eggs. And then, years later I discovered I had these food sensitivities, gut infections, and chronic stress was at the root cause of my infertility. And that's why I.

Dedicated my time and business to helping couples with the same diagnoses as me. So they don't need to struggle like I did. We may be told that donor eggs are our only option. We may be told that we had better freaking run to the fertility clinic because, our eggs are diminishing as we speak.

And it is this whole culture that for a couple that's on the fertility journey. Obviously this is a very emotional. [00:01:00] Thing to be dealing with is everyone else in your life, seemingly moves on. You feel stuck and everything revolves around the fertility journey.

We've stopped even having fun with, intimacy, with relationships, infertility impacts all aspects of our life. So I wanted to give you some hope today talking about a client that we had, and then see if there's anything in here that I'm talking about that you're like, oh, wait a minute, I'm experiencing that.

I have that 'cause it's looking at other health issues that and the conventional approach may have been missed. And we see that they're missed routinely. So we're gonna start out. So she's 35. Before she came to us, and this is very common, typically people that come to us, they've either been trying to get pregnant naturally for two years, or they've had at least one failed.

IVF for IUI. So in this case, she's had three failed IVFs. Two failed. I UIs and she was a poor responder, so she has diminished ovarian reserve. Her A MH was at 0.09. And a lot of times we get, myopically focused on the A MH and that's where, you may be told you had better hurry that it's [00:02:00] diminishing as you speak or.

Your only option is donor eggs and no one has looked at the other health issues going on in your body. And so again, we're looking at healing opportunities. She was ovulating every month. She had been on hormonal birth control, so the pill for 15 years, we see this. A lot. He was seeing the other case studies that I've done that we have a theme of being on the pill.

And sometimes people take the pill and they're like, you know what? I don't even feel great on the pill. People might just think all of a sudden they take the pill, they don't realize. And that's when anxiety or depression kicked in. Or also, the pill will completely, decrease your libido.

Also heard studies talking about the pill when you're on it and you meet your mate. 'cause when you're meeting your mate, there's certain pheromones and we're attracted by scent. Because we are animals and the pill mixes up those senses for you. And you may end up picking the wrong mate because you're on the pill, which is an interesting thing to think about.

And then you come off the pill and you're like, oh, wait a minute, this person doesn't even. Feel right to me. 'cause the scent is off. We're attracted people's scent. so she was on the [00:03:00] pill for 15 years. She had a very stressful job. A lot of times people for thyroid.

We talked about this before. Her TSH was normal, but her reverse T three was high. So we're looking at the full panel, not to diagnose, but to educate really, what has been missed on the full panel. And we take a very team approach, a collaborative approach where we'll look at case reviews as a team.

We have a physician who is on the, team as well. Background in functional medicine as well as an O-B-G-Y-N. In on the case reviews and just really give us that full overall picture . We have access to lab tests.

And then we have functional nutritionists on our team. So we really take that collaborative approach to see, what has been missed from a conventional standpoint, and how do we help this person get pregnant naturally? We see this a lot too digestive issues.

She had constipation and loose stools. She was alternating between the two of them. And she was also very active. She was running and doing triathlons and biking a lot. Her partner, it's a couple's coaching program, so we always look at the partner as well. It used to be 60 40 female and male fertility.

And now it's [00:04:00] gone to 50 50. And I've got a number of podcast episodes on Get Pregnant, naturally all talking about male fertility and what we're looking at. But essentially in this case we are looking at blood chemistry. As well as a semen analysis. If we see anything that's off on there, we're looking at the semen analysis through functional reference ranges.

If we see anything off, we'd recommend additional testing for him. Even if at the beginning his sperm is fine if we see anything that could be done to optimize his health, then we're gonna recommend that. So his semen analysis was normal. He did have digestive issues and loose stools, and he had anxiety for years.

So we start both the partners off with our testing. So we did functional testing. We're doing food, stool hormone, and hair. Testing also blood chemistry review. Not to diagnose, but to educate and looking at health histories to then tell a whole story. We start both the partners off doing the elimination diet to really take out those inflammatory foods.

To reduce inflammation and then being able to personalize the diet for you based on testing and how you [00:05:00] feel with the elimination diet. And just to put this out here, full stop if you have a food and you don't feel great with it. Take it out for a period of 16 to 90 days.

A lot of times they're like, oh, I know when I have dairy it makes me feel, X, Y or Z and or Zed. So why do we keep eating it? So take it out for a period of time to see how you feel. That's a sign from your body. A lot of times they're like, Ooh, it's fine. I just get gassy or bloated.

I'm like, no, stop eating it. So in this case, she had non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Again, the theme we see, she was intolerant to food dyes. She was also intolerant to dairy. And then a lot of times we go gluten-free and then there's a lot of gluten-free foods. And in this case, she was intolerant to tapioca, which is a common gluten-free food.

Also, the cross reacts with gluten. We see that a lot where someone's gone gluten-free. And then they're having a lot of oats or a lot of corn, or still a lot of dairy. So hers was the cross reactors of dairy and corn. And then, so both her, and her partner did these changes.

Her hormones. We found that she had issues with her cortisol, the stress hormone. She also had a short luteal [00:06:00] face. We did the stool test. Looking at the DNA of the stool. She had multiple parasites. She had very low stomach acid and and she had c difficile as well. And h pylori, which lowers your stomach acid so you can eat that.

Nice. Nutrient dense healthy diet, but maybe you're not able to absorb the nutrients. I had that as well. Yeah, it's a common theme that we see. So you're eating all this healthy food, then your body can't absorb it. We all have, some h pylori, so it's not to completely eradicate it, but if it starts to overgrow, then that becomes an issue.

And mental, emotional stress again. She actually said to me, before she started, I would make a great case study if this works. And sure enough she has but she was like a worrier. She was a, type, a busy professional. She had to set some, boundaries around work.

She had to reduce some of the physical activity. 'cause for her, for a stress relief, it was, vigorous exercise, which was then to see how you feel the next day. And it's always to your tolerance. And sometimes we've. Forgotten what our tolerance is. And then also her [00:07:00] partner was sensitive to gluten and corn and he noticed improvements with his digestive system and his mood.

He had anxiety for years. And he noticed improvements with his anxiety actually over a very, short period of time. And he'd experienced that his whole life. So within four months into the program, she became pregnant naturally. She really did the work.

We used the testing, developed that targeted diet and lifestyle program for her and her partner. And she committed, did the work, addressed all the issues for her. Digging to the mindset piece was harder, but she was open-minded to see, where can she slow down? Where can she start to visualize this working many times with this diagnosis.

We even had a hard time seeing ourselves pregnant, seeing ourselves with a baby or a toddler. Maybe we can go to the toddler piece. We can't see ourselves pregnant. So it is, adding in that spiritual component too, being able to look for the signs and really, know this is going, to happen.

Hopefully you saw something from yourself in there that maybe resonated with you. You're like, wait a minute, I'm experiencing some of those symptoms. Are [00:08:00] they correlated? And it is to look at the whole body. If that feels right for you, you can book a call with me below for you and your partner.

We can discuss how the Fab Fertile Method can help you. So thanks again for listening.

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How to Get Started With Functional Fertility Support

Book your call here to get your personalized plan and options to help improve pregnancy success either naturally or with IVF treatment. 

Check out our Fab Fertile functional fertility program here and learn how to improve AMH levels naturally.  We work with couples that have low AMH, high FSH, diminished ovarian reserve, premature ovarian insufficiency, and recurrent pregnancy loss.

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FAQs

Can I improve egg quality even if my AMH is low?

Yes. AMH reflects egg quantity, not quality. By reducing inflammation, supporting mitochondria, and improving nutrient status, egg quality can improve over several cycles.

How long does it take to see changes?

Most clients see measurable progress in 3–6 months as inflammation decreases and hormones rebalance.

Is functional testing really necessary?

Testing helps identify underlying imbalances like gut infections or nutrient deficiencies that standard fertility panels miss. It allows us to focus on what your body actually needs.

Does every client get pregnant naturally?

No, results vary. Some conceive naturally, while others go on to have successful IVF cycles after improving foundational health. The goal is to enhance your body’s readiness for pregnancy, whichever path you take.

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Key Takeaways

• Low AMH doesn’t mean no chance. It highlights a need to investigate deeper health patterns.

• Fertility is systemic. Gut health, inflammation, stress, and sleep quality all affect reproductive outcomes.

• Addressing the “terrain” matters more than chasing numbers. A healthy body produces healthy eggs.

• Results can come quickly. In this case, natural conception occurred after just four months of targeted support.  Average success is 12-18 months.

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Related Articles on the Fab Fertile Blog

What does gut health have to do with hormone balance and infertility?

Why Working On Your Stress Really Matters For Pregnancy Success

Pregnant with DOR! How She Improved Egg Quality with Low AMH & High FSH

"Your Labs Are Normal” But Are They? 20 Overlooked Blood Markers & Functional Tests to Improve Egg Quality & Fertility

RESOURCES 

📩 Get your free 10-day elimination diet plan! Email hello@fabfertile.ca with the subject line 10 DAY to receive your guide and take the first step toward reconnecting with your fertility.

Why Genomic Testing Can Help With Recurrent Pregnancy Loss, Birth Outcomes and Preconception Health: https://fabfertile.com/blogs/podcasts/why-genomic-testing-can-help-with-recurrent-pregnancy-loss-birth-outcomes-and-preconception-health?_pos=6&_sid=3b42aa431&_ss=r

Stop Ignoring hsCRP and the Role of Inflammation in Diminished Ovarian Reserve: https://fabfertile.com/blogs/podcasts/stop-ignoring-hscrp-and-the-role-of-inflammation-in-diminished-ovarian-reserve?_pos=7&_sid=f6ac7e389&_ss=r

Blood Sugar and Egg Quality: The Fertility Link You Can't Ignore: https://fabfertile.com/blogs/podcasts/blood-sugar-and-egg-quality-the-fertility-link-you-cant-ignore?_pos=5&_sid=e0fa5a4b0&_ss=r

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