40 Year Old-Egg Freezing
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Anonymous
Egg freezing was considered experimental when OP was in her late 20s/ early 30s. I don't think it will work now, but doing it 10 years ago wasn't a great option at the time, either. |
Anonymous
The experimental label was lifted in 2012. I (like several other posters in this thread) froze in my mid-30s and ended up with a healthy baby. Mid-30s is not too late for egg freezing (especially now, with the technology so much better than when I did it, in 2014), but 40 is probably pushing it, especially since the OP responded so poorly to the meds the first round. |
Anonymous
But getting a sense of quality of embryos and PGS screening embryos will give one a MUCH better sense of future pregnancy success rates than a few frozen eggs. I too would only freeze embryos at this point but that is not what OP wants to do, which is her prerogative. I did not have my first until my mid 40s and that was totally fine. I was definitely better off than having a child in my thirties. |
Anonymous
| acupuncture |
Anonymous
This is absolutely true. My egg quality was much worse than what my numbers predicted. Both IVF and natural conceptions resulting in chemicals confirmed that. I would have had a false sense of confidence if I had frozen eggs. |
Anonymous
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OP, I am in the same exact boat as you are. 40+ years old with really good numbers for my age, and going for egg freezing. My first round resulted in 1 egg and an empty follicle. Tragically one of my ovaries couldn’t be reached during retrieval. I am also an immigrant with no family support here,, not that great a financial foundation and no really close friends close by. The cultural background I come from would not welcome a single mom. So donor sperm and embryo freezing are not really options for me.
With that in mind, this is what I would say. 1. Probability is not predictability Women who freeze in their 30s are more likely to have babies. That’s probability, not predictability. 90% of eggs frozen through vitrification tend to survive thawing- this too is probability and not predictability. As you can see from one of the posters, you may lose all your eggs during thawing even if you used vitrification. You can have 35 eggs frozen in your 30s and not have a single baby out of it. On the other hand I personally know someone who had 10 eggs frozen almost 10 years ago that resulted in 2 babies. We just need balance our hope for the best results with realistic expectations. But what is life without hope? 2. Correlation is not causation Greater maternal age correlates to lower rates of pregnancy. PCOS can correlate to worse outcomes. However, it’s the underlying issues related to aging and PCOS that cause these issues, and not age and PCOS by itself. As science keeps evolving, we will get better answers and outcomes. Remember that it’s been only 10 years since egg freezing has lost its experimental tag. This is also why good IVF clinics will store both your mature and immature eggs, to give you a fighting chance as science and medicine keeps evolving. 3. Statistics need context Statistically, if a 40+ year old, goes through IVF, and retrieves 10 fresh (not frozen) eggs, that may lead to 8 mature eggs, 5-6 transfers, 2 pregnancies and 1 live birth. Yes, statistically the successful outcomes at 40+ are much less than 30+, however they are on par with using eggs frozen at the age of 40+. Also, remember that statistics are not static; as more and more 40+ women freeze their eggs, and go through IVF, we will know more about what works and what doesn’t. RNA sequencing and tests like ERA are still fairly new and still improving. 4. Your eligibility and choices Whether or not you are eligible to freeze eggs at 40+ will depend on your hormonal and other physiological test results, the expertise of the doctors with late maternal age, the quality of the lab and clinic you have approached, as well as the clinic’s own commercial interests such as its SART statistics. Your choice depends on your own circumstances, your financial ability, and doing right by your own self. If it’s okay for a 40+ year old woman to go through IVF it’s okay for them to go through egg freezing. If it’s okay for a 45+ year old man to become a first time father, it’s okay for a 45+ year old woman to become a first time mother. But it will be hard mentally, physically and financially. 5. Use the right resources. As useful as I find the DCUM forums, there will be some on here who will be judgmental or will project their own experiences and expectations on to you. It’s okay. That’s the nature of an anonymous forum. Fortunately, there are other forums that are more helpful and relevant. There’s an egg freezing forum on Facebook that I found really useful and supportive. As for supplements and diet, I have switched to mostly organic food, full fat dairy, more seafood and take a prenatal, Vitamin D, and COQ10. I would suggest referring to the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) II, it’s based on outcomes for a cohort of nurses who choose to go with a ‘fertility diet’ Link here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6079277/ Good luck and baby dust to you OP!!! |
Anonymous
| PP here. The woman who had 2 babies from 10 frozen eggs froze them in her 40s |
Anonymous
| Op- any updates on later cycles? |