Could anyone talk to me about egg freezing?

[MMMarmite]

I'm 33 and single. I'd really like to be a parent, but due to mental health problems I'm unlikely to be in a good position (good relationship, enough mental stability for the challenges of parenthood) for a while yet. I'm trying to heal but it's not fast.

I'm starting to seriously think about egg freezing. I've done a bit of googling but not yet persued it further.

Does anyone have experience or knowledge to share?

I e had my eggs removed as we had ivf so that's part of the process. I can give a little insight I guess?

I'm doing it atm - what exactly do you want to know?

I went for fertility tests in Feb 2021 and found out I have severely dimished ovarian reserve (at 34, I had a similar number of eggs left as a woman aged 40-44) which was rather upsetting. They did a blood test (AMH) and a ultrasound scan to determine if any issues with womb etc and to count antrafollicle count (AFC). AMH gives you an idea of how many eggs you have left, AFC shows you how many follicles (and likely eggs) you have growing. They are usually linked, so a low AMH = low AFC. However my AFC isn't quite as bad usually as it should be for my AMH. This doesn't tell you anything about getting pregnant naturally, but just how you'd be likely to respond to IVF/egg freezing drugs. So the lower the AFC, the lower number of eggs you're likely to get.

I have done a few cycles (one with London Womens Clinic which was unsuccessful and I had issues with them but I would imagine they're fine if you have no fertility issues and can just do their bog standard procedure). Now I have changed to Create for natural modified IVF and have had 2 cycles so far with 3 eggs frozen. This is of course very low numbers but I made the decision that if I was ever going to do it, I needed to do it now and I'd rather have a few eggs frozen and feel like I was doing something than just waiting.. the younger you do it the better - definitely under 35 as your eggs would be better quality.

I have suffered with anxiety and particularly health anxiety so the first cycle was difficult but since then I have got used to it and it doesn't faze me at all to do the injections and just get on with life as usual around them. I guess this is also though as I only ever have a few eggs growing so the hormone level/side effects are practically zero. I would imagine if you have decent fertility levels (i.e double digits on your AFC so growing 10+ eggs at a time) that this would be worse.

I also think it is so important that you know none of this is a guarantee that the eggs you freeze will result in a child. It's not an insurance policy as such but I just felt at least I would be doing SOMETHING to try and improve my chances of children in the future.

Sorry, I meant to suggest at the end, I would recommend you go for fertility MOT at one of the clinics (london ones are £350-£400 ish) for ultrasound and blood tests so you can get an idea of your egg reserve/how you'd respond etc and discuss it further with a consultant. They might say you've got loads of eggs left for your age, in which case you could leave it another year for example..

Thanks @Rosiestraws that's helpful. I guess my next step is to contact a clinic and see what they suggest.