40 Year Old-Egg Freezing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

So you came here for people to tell you. Oh no, sounds good?

[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 hope the next cycle does not start with birth control pills. Look into an estrogen priming protocol.

[Anonymous]

Thank you. I will raise this point when I discuss the next hormone protocol with my doctor.

[Anonymous]

As stated in my original post, I came here to get personal recommendations on how to possibly improve my follicle numbers and mature egg count for the remaining cycles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As stated in my original post, I came here to get personal recommendations on how to possibly improve my follicle numbers and mature egg count for the remaining cycles.

My advice is to ask for a refund and save your money

[Anonymous]

Trust me, I am definitely considering that as well.

[Anonymous]

I am also considering going “full blast”, like the previous post shared regarding her IVF treatment. Thank you for that.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the estrogen priming. I would also recommend acupuncture with a practitioner who sees patients undergoing fertility treatment.

[Anonymous]

OP people aren't trying to be rude, just helpful. Our culture lies to women and tells them they can just put off having kids and wave a magic wand at 45 and have a baby via science. Many of us have found out the hard way that isn't possible. Don't you think every single poster here also had unique circumstances? They are giving you advice from their experience. Doctors lie because they want your money, good doctors should be telling you the truth but there are good and bad doctors like good and bad people.

Also, at the end of the day this is a question FOR YOUR DOCTOR. Why do you think a bunch of anonymous strangers with no medical background would have the magic answer to get you more eggs that your actual doctor does not?

Listen to these wise posters, please.

[Anonymous]

Thank you. I will request the estrogen priming and start acupuncture.

[Anonymous]

OP, what was your protocol for your first cycle? Supplements? What are your hormone levels (AMH, FSH specifically)? How many mature follicles did you have at baseline and trigger?

There's a chance that you were over-suppressed on birth control, but many of us can tell you what's worth trying and what's not based on your particular situation. Kindly, something went very wrong if they expected 6-7 eggs per cycle (or 20 over 3 cycles), then adjusted down to 5 during your cycle, then you only got 2. It could be your clinic giving you false hope, or it could be the protocol you were on. I questioning the judgment of an RE that put someone with an AFC around 7 on BCP to begin with, you should have been on estrace priming from the get go. I'd provide more details so you can get some straight advice before you start another cycle at your clinic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP people aren't trying to be rude, just helpful. Our culture lies to women and tells them they can just put off having kids and wave a magic wand at 45 and have a baby via science. Many of us have found out the hard way that isn't possible. Don't you think every single poster here also had unique circumstances? They are giving you advice from their experience. Doctors lie because they want your money, good doctors should be telling you the truth but there are good and bad doctors like good and bad people.

Also, at the end of the day this is a question FOR YOUR DOCTOR. Why do you think a bunch of anonymous strangers with no medical background would have the magic answer to get you more eggs that your actual doctor does not?

Listen to these wise posters, please.

OP, this is harsh but it's true.

-42 y. o.

[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.

No, it's not lack of information, it's because we *are* well-informed. Vitrification has been standard for eggs/ embryos for many years. Most people on this board probably have experience with it. My friend with vitrified eggs lost ALL of them at thawing, and had no chance at biological children at that point. I lost a vitrified, chromosomally normal *embryo* at thawing, which isn't likely, but it happened to me. And if your eggs aren't chromosomally normal (which most of them aren't once you're 40), vitrification isn't going to fix that. OP needs to be realistic about her options at this point.

[Anonymous]

I froze my eggs at 38, and I know women, even doctors, who froze their eggs at 40. . Did your doctor say if you had diminished ovarian reserve?

I ask because I thought at my age, I likely would have less eggs so I declined to take birth control, but it turns out my issue was having enough follicles mature all at the same time. In hindsight I would take birth control to help all the eggs hopefully grow at the same time. I had 18-30 follicles counted during the numerous ultrasounds, 17 eggs were collected, but only 10 were actually mature.

I took a prenatal, ubiquinol, vitamin d, a probiotic, and melatonin for months before my procedure. I also increased my healthy fats and protein and tried to eat a rainbow of vegetables daily. I avoided using plastic (glass storage containers, metal water bottle). I tried to get more sleep and exercise regularly but not lose weight as I am naturally quite thin. I did not have caffeine. I basically tried to get my body as healthy and happy as possible. I also journaled during the injections, ultrasounds, etc. I found it really helpful mentally as it was hard to hear the numbers fluctuate, and I needed a place to process it all. I also used prescription Emla cream for the injections so I actually didn't dread them at all because I couldn't feel them.

Good luck, OP! Just know the PPs are trying to help you and just don't want you to be disappointed, but it is your body/money/time so you do what works best for you. Best wishes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no choice but to wait. I don’t want to just go with a donor. Please post ideas that may work under my set of circumstances. Thank you.

Yeah/ and freezing and then thawing really doesn’t bring down your odds very much given how good current technology is - so stick to your plan and see where three freezing rounds gets you. As for the pros and cons of being an older mom, there’s plenty of pros so I see no reason to rush to donor sperm. That’s a whole new big decision to be made when/if the time comes.

+1

Good luck!