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Everything You Wanted to Know about Egg Freezing But Weren’t Sure Who to Ask!

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You’ve been thinking about it. You’ve been talking about it. You’ve been reading about it: egg freezing. Fertility preservation. Oocyte cryopreservation. Putting your eggs on ice. Whatever you call it, you’ve been considering it. And whether it’s been on your mind for weeks, for months, or maybe even for years, you can’t shake the feeling that this procedure is something you want to do—or at the very least, learn more about.

In the age of iPhones, blogs, and Facebook, there’s no shortage of information out there about the egg freezing process. You can get most of your questions answered without even walking out of your apartment! But while we’re big fans of community, particularly one that shares content and empowers women to make educated decisions about their bodies (#trulyMD), not all information sharing is created equal. Some of what’s out there is simply inaccurate. Content can be colored based on an individual’s experience: good or bad.

As fertility MDs, girlfriends, and exercise enthusiasts, we’ve chatted with patients, friends, and ladies we meet on the shower line in the locker room about egg freezing: what they know, what they want to know, and what they wish they knew.

Here are the top five questions we’re most frequently asked:

  1. How do I know if my eggs are any good?
    Hands down, this is the question that we’re asked the most. Will the eggs that I freeze today be good enough to make a baby in X number of years? And unfortunately, despite everything that we can do, answering this question accurately is not one of them. There is no way for any fertility doctor to predict whether the eggs that you make today will have what it takes to make healthy embryos in the future. Although we use factors such as age, follicle count, and hormone levels to guide us in guiding you, there’s nothing out there that can answer your question definitively. However, when all else fails, look at your birth date. Simply stated, age trumps everything. The younger you are when you freeze, the more eggs you’ll get and the better your chances are in the future.
  2. Will I feel crazy on the medications?
    No, you probably won’t. While it’s fairly common to fear the negative side effects the drugs can have on your mind, it’s fairly uncommon to have any such side effects. In fact, most women tolerate the medications without a problem. So, trade the negative energy for the positive vibes! You should feel empowered for going through with the procedure. Giving yourself two to three shots a day for about 10 days makes you a warrior, not a wimp!
  3. Will I gain weight on the medications?                                                                              Here’s the skinny (or the not-so-skinny) on egg freeing and extra lbs. You’re likely going to gain weight during the process. Your pants will probably feel tight, and leggings and loose dresses will be your wardrobe staple for about two weeks. However, for most women this is no more than a few pounds, and the extra weight that is added is shed during the period following the egg retrieval.
  4. Will I ruin my chances of having a baby in the future?
    Unfortunately, with eggs there is no collecting “comp time.” Simply stated, if you don’t use them, you’ll lose them. So, the eggs that we collect during that retrieval are not being taken from you but actually saved for you. There’s no loss, just gain!
  5. Does it matter where I freeze my eggs (a.k.a. should I pick the least expensive option)?                                                                                                                                                  The reality is that not all egg freezing centers/fertility clinics are created equal. Some are way more experienced and way more talented at the freezing process. They not only know how to freeze your eggs but also how to thaw your eggs, fertilize your eggs, and help your eggs become healthy embryos. And while you’ll be spending a lot of time at the fertility clinic for about two weeks, don’t pick a center based on their proximity to your apartment, the color of the waiting room, or the “deals” they’re offering. We’re talking about your eggs and your future fertility. This isn’t a place to play Let’s Make a Deal.

If it’s been on your mind, go and let it out by talking to your GYN or a fertility MD) While you may choose not to do it, you won’t regret not giving yourself that choice. Although you may still play the “should-a, would-a, could-a game,” when you look back on this decision in one, five, or 10 years, you’ll appreciate that you considered all the options and made an educated decision!

Where to Place Your Bet: The Difference Between Egg and Embryo Freezing

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Who doesn’t love a good pre-game? Standing in a parking lot with the sun beating down on your back, relaxing with your friends: life couldn’t be better. While you may don a Giants jersey and your friend Eagles green, your pregame rituals are pretty much the same. Good food, good drinks, good times. When you enter the stadium, that’s when things start to change.

The same can be said for the difference between freezing eggs and freezing embryos. The “pre-game” part is pretty much the same—you take injectable gonadotropins (hormones) on a daily (sometimes twice daily) basis. This doesn’t change whether you are freezing eggs or embryos. Additionally, in both cases the medications and the morning visits will most likely start with the start of your period and go on for about 10 days. Therefore, in terms of the stimulation (a.k.a. the pre-game process) the two are pretty much the same. It is not until the eggs are retrieved that you run to opposite sides of the field.

If you’re rooting for team egg freeze, here’s what your game plan will look like once we start to play ball. Shortly after the eggs are retrieved, they will be evaluated for their stage of development (mature versus immature). Those that are mature will be frozen immediately. And this is where the information about your eggs and your fertility ends. You will know nothing more about your frozen friends other than quantity. We cannot tell how many will be “good” (a.k.a. make a baby) and how many will be bad (a.k.a. do nothing). But as most American possessions go, the more, the better. Women who have more eggs frozen will have a better chance of pregnancy from them in the future.

And in the blue corner, we have team embryo freezing! For those that choose to embryo freeze, after the eggs are extracted they will be fertilized with sperm. The resultant embryos will then be watched over the next several days in the laboratory. How they grow, how they divide, and how they develop is very telling for their health. Some, if not several, will drop off along the way—those that can’t hack it in the lab would definitely not hack it in the uterus.

In many ways, the lab is like the ultimate test of survival, or natural selection. At the end of the game, you may only have a few players on the field, but these players are tough, resilient, and really know how to play the game. They have weathered the storm and are your true MVPs.

In many ways, egg freezing is like drafting a player who has demonstrated potential in college but has not yet played in the big leagues. They should be good, but you can’t know for sure. It’s also hard to survey the newbies in spring training and know who and how many superstars you’ll have at the end of the season.

In the same vein, if your ovarian reserve tests are normal and there are no red flags in your medical history, you should have some good potential in your eggs. Embryo freezing is like signing a player who has already won rookie of the year. You know more about the player’s (a.k.a. embryos’) ability to hit it out of the park because they have already been vetted. Take it one step further…if your embryos undergo PGS (also called CCS or TE biopsy—the chromosomal analysis of embryos), we have even more information about their ability to make a baby. You have vetted them in the most aggressive way possible.

For many women, embryo freezing is not even an option. Unless you have a partner or chose to use donor sperm, without a sperm source, you can’t make embryos. The lack of sperm and the ability to make embryos are NOT a bad thing AT ALL! And we definitely don’t recommend using donor sperm just to make embryos and have more information about your egg quality. In these situations, egg freezing is totally the way to go! Additionally, even if you have a partner, egg freezing may be a better option for you. Not to be Debbie Downers, but nearly half of all relationships end in divorce. So be careful about who you mix your gametes with!

If you are even thinking about freezing, be it eggs or embryos, you’re being proactive. You are several steps ahead of the game. It’s like you’re planning your roster months before opening day! Either way you do it, you’re giving yourself options and choice. And that’s really why you did this in the first place. So however you get on the field, you are here to play ball—go, girl, go!

When to Take the Plunge…Am I Getting Hot?

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Arguably the most popular question we are asked, whether in our office or in the Women’s locker room, is when I should freeze my eggs (a.k.a. at what age). And while in our office we can give you a personalized opinion, it’s hard to tell you exactly what to do while waiting in the shower line (although we will try). But what we do tell everyone (friends, patients, and gym acquaintances) is that the reason to freeze and when is often very personal. And although there are better times to do it, there is really no best time. Here are three tips that should get you “hotter” to getting your eggs “colder.”

  1. How old are you?
    Although you may not look a day older than 25, no matter how much sunblock you use, how healthy you eat, or how many times you hit the gym your eggs don’t really care. Egg quantity declines from the moment you take your first breath (and actually even before that!). Nothing you do or don’t do (minus a bad tobacco habit) will halt egg decline, except egg freezing. Egg freezing offers you the chance to freeze a subset of eggs at a particular age, whatever that age is. And just as egg quantity decreases as you age, so does egg quality. Therefore, the younger you are when you freeze eggs, the better quality those eggs will be. So, while yes, it would make sense for us all to freeze our eggs in our twenties when our eggs are at their peak, most of us won’t need to freeze our eggs. Most of us will not experience infertility and will not need to use frozen eggs to achieve a pregnancy. With all of that being said, if you are looking for that magic age at which you are getting “hot” to the “cold,” we would suggest that you pencil egg freezing into your calendar on your 32nd birthday. For most women, 32 offers you a balance between good egg quality and adequate egg quantity at not too premature a point in your life. Happy birthday!

2. Where are you in your relationship?
While we are not asking you to check the single or married box, we are asking you to evaluate where you are in your relationship. Is it serious, are you on the same page about having children, what is your timeline (and do your timelines match up)? Although these are very rarely fun conversations to have, they are super important. Men will make sperm for nearly their entire lives. They can wait way longer than we can to pull the goalie. Make sure he (or she) knows what you want—and when. This should help you decide when and if you should freeze your eggs.

3. What happened in your past?
We are not here to judge; trust us (we went to college, too!). The past that we want to know about is your medical and GYN history (medications you have taken, surgeries you have had, the pain you feel with your period) as well as your mom’s, sister’s, aunt’s, and grandma’s fertility history. Did your mom have an early menopause? Did your sister have a hard time getting pregnant? We not only mirror our female relatives when it comes to our physical appearance but also how our ovaries function. Therefore, in many ways, before you can move forward, you need to look backwards!

By combining all three—age, relationship status, and your past—we can sum up when and if you should freeze your eggs. And if it adds up (a.k.a. you are getting “hot” to your eggs getting “cold”), the best way to kick the process off is to get real information (#trulyMD) on what the process is like. Not everything you hear or read is true. So, the best advice we can give you is to talk to your GYN, talk to a fertility doctor, or talk to us at Truly MD in the gym locker room about the process. We can help you decided when it’s time to take the plunge!