40 Year Old-Egg Freezing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Folks: I know the basics of women’s fertility. I don’t need recommendations regarding my life choices from complete strangers. I came on here welcoming recommendations for increasing my success rates, regardless of what the stats may be. I’m already committed to this process, so any additionally commentary (as well intentioned as it may be), is pointless and is only throwing salt on a raw wound.

Right, but you didn’t give any background so people are trying to fill in the blank spaces. Why don’t you just be honest about what’s going on and then people might be more able to help.

[Anonymous]

I am being honest and have included plenty of personal information on here. I do not owe strangers anything more. I came here for any personal recommendations to increase my odds for my second and third cycles, not for input on my life choices. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

A teaspoon of royal jelly every day.

[Anonymous]

You might consider DHEA - I looked into it, ordered it and then chickened out when my endocrinologist looked horrified when I raised it with her. Does it help with quality or quantity? I think maybe the former- in which case perhaps not really what you need, though better quality is certainly better. To get the number of eggs retrieved higher, I think your RE needs to get more aggressive with your protocol. Hopefully he/she has a revised plan. As I recall, over the course of my three retrieval cycles, my medication doses did ramp up some.

By the way, there are countless women on this forum doing IVF in their early 40s - perhaps all the negativity getting thrown at OP is down to lack of information on current freezing technology but I’ll say it again: freezing now and doing IVF later presents very similar chances of success as IVF now. A conservative estimate is that 90% eggs survive the thawing process. After that unique hurdle, the challenges of fertilization, implantation, chromosomal normality etc are basically the same as straight up IVF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am being honest and have included plenty of personal information on here. I do not owe strangers anything more. I came here for any personal recommendations to increase my odds for my second and third cycles, not for input on my life choices. Thank you.

I never understand why people come on public forums and expect strangers to give them only the information they want and nothing else. Even your family and friends don’t give that to you, why are you expecting it from internet strangers. Agree that people can be kind of rude on here, but you dived in.

[Anonymous]

People are not judging your life circumstances or being dismissive of your hardships. Just pointing out that your plan is a bad one is all. You’re the one moralizing this but PPs have basically just kept to the facts.

[Anonymous]

And I don’t understand why anyone would expect someone to post any additional details on a public forum other than the facts that are truly relevant. Judgement or in insinuations are ccruel, especially when it involves sensitive and vulnerable information. My doctor knows my hormone levels, my medical history, and why I choose not to proceed with an egg or sperm donor. My friends and family also know everything. Everyone is going through something in life and it takes courage to even come on a forum like this. Kindness goes a long way in life.

[Anonymous]

I say this kindly- you have 0 chance of a biological child with 2 eggs from 3 retrievals. Did the doctor not say this to you overtly? In the thaw before the semination you are lucky if one survives.

Unfortunately you waited too long and someone is taking your money unethically.

If you don't want to do donor sperm you need to find peace with not having children.

[Anonymous]

With all due respect, you don’t know if my plan is “bad” if you don’t know what my hormone levels are. Also, I appreciate people sharing their personal experiences, but projecting what I should I shouldn’t do regarding a donor egg or donor sperm is irrelevant to the original question posted. I am not moralizing anything but calling out what is helpful to ME given my circumstances.

[Anonymous]

I say this kindly: reading is fundamental. I have two eggs after ONE cycle and my doctor is planning to change my hormone protocols for my remaining two cycles. That was the whole point of this post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You might consider DHEA - I looked into it, ordered it and then chickened out when my endocrinologist looked horrified when I raised it with her. Does it help with quality or quantity? I think maybe the former- in which case perhaps not really what you need, though better quality is certainly better. To get the number of eggs retrieved higher, I think your RE needs to get more aggressive with your protocol. Hopefully he/she has a revised plan. As I recall, over the course of my three retrieval cycles, my medication doses did ramp up some.

By the way, there are countless women on this forum doing IVF in their early 40s - perhaps all the negativity getting thrown at OP is down to lack of information on current freezing technology but I’ll say it again: freezing now and doing IVF later presents very similar chances of success as IVF now. A conservative estimate is that 90% eggs survive the thawing process. After that unique hurdle, the challenges of fertilization, implantation, chromosomal normality etc are basically the same as straight up IVF.

Even with 90% you are assuming that the eggs aren't bad. At 40 it's not just a survival of the thaw but also are they genetically sound.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I say this kindly: reading is fundamental. I have two eggs after ONE cycle and my doctor is planning to change my hormone protocols for my remaining two cycles. That was the whole point of this post.

I understood perfectly and assumed you'd have 6. Still not enough.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I realize the eggs need to be genetically sound…hence why I chose to pay for 3 cycles. All projections led me to believe that I would achieve at least 20 eggs in 3 cycles. All I hoping for is one miracle healthy baby, not a basketball team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With all due respect, you don’t know if my plan is “bad” if you don’t know what my hormone levels are. Also, I appreciate people sharing their personal experiences, but projecting what I should I shouldn’t do regarding a donor egg or donor sperm is irrelevant to the original question posted. I am not moralizing anything but calling out what is helpful to ME given my circumstances.

No one knows anything about you. However we do know averages. Your odds aren't good. Being a non-responder is not good even if this was IVF vs egg freezing. Your age isn't good for egg quality. Then also your future age won't be good to holding on to an egg and carrying to term.

[Anonymous]

I did not respond as well to the hormone protocol originally prescribed. The number of follicles and eggs changes every month, and based on my hormone levels, my doctor and I were expecting at least 5 mature eggs, hence the disappointment.