Egg freezing - worth it?

[sadsister23]

Is anyone able to give me an idea of whether egg freezing is worth it? I will be 34 this year but my partner and I are not currently in a position to have a child and my age is worrying me. A quick google of percentages of live births from frozen eggs gives wildly different results and I am mindful that fertility clinics could make statistics look more favourable than in reality. Where can I find objective information about this? It is pretty expensive so I only want to do it if there is a reasonable chance of success.

Hi @sadsister23 I think egg freezing is worth it if you have the spare money, know you won’t try to have children in the next 2yrs, are in doubt about your relationship or already can pin-point fertility issues! Have you done hormone bloodwork and checked for your AMH?

It is always best to freeze embryos as they give you a better chance, but if something were to happen to you and your partner then you are back to square one as you can’t use the embryos. Also, here in the UK, I haven’t found the possibility of freezing embryos without the immediate desire for a transfer/possible pregnancy. I am married and my husband and I don’t want to transfer just yet, that’s not the only factor (there are health reasons) but as my fertility is declining (I’m now 37) I had to take the plunge and go into egg freezing to bank some eggs to have as a back up from when/if we do decide/need to do IVF. In hindsight, I wish I had done egg freezing in my early 30s when I first had the idea…after 35 my AMH dropped drastically and I get very few eggs from my retrievals, so it hasn’t been great.

wishing you the very best on your journey! 🤗

@ViVRe thank you so much for your reply! I've had my hormone bloodwork done and my AMH is high because I have hypothalamic amenorrhea. It's strange that you can't freeze embryos unless you want an immediate transfer - what's the point in freezing them if you want to use them immediately???

Can I ask how you chose your clinic? I went to a private clinic for a fertility MOT and they were so money grabbing it has given me a dim view of them and I don't want to be taken advantage of. How did you find out about success rates? I read that it costs £3500 to have the procedure and then £125 to store them, is that about right?

@sadsister23 Sorry, I don’t think I was right…you can freeze embryos and not do an immediate transfer, it’s more
expensive (at least at my clinic, they encourage embryo transfer 3months post collection), but I believe it is possible. It’s more of a norm that couples seeking treatment are ready to transfer (so whether doing a frozen or fresh transfer a transfer is intended to happen sooner rather than later) and any good embryos leftover remain on the freezer for future treatment (if needed) or if no longer needed owners can decide what to do with it. There are particular categories where embryo freezing without transfer is recommended but as I said, it’s worth having a chat with partner if things don’t work out as clinics are quite strict on consents and basically if you don’t see eye to eye on certain topics or choose to go your separate ways your “shot” at fertility preservation can go to waste without the other party.

For example, my husband and I don’t see eye to eye on possibly having to use Sperm or Egg Donors, but even though I froze just my eggs he still has some “power” and needed to provide consents in order for me to be allowed to freeze my eggs alone (I think it’s bonkers that I needed his permission, but I somewhat understand the logic behind it) these consents protect myself and him if we were to go our separate ways.

I searched for fertility clinics around my area and there was one less than 10min from where I live. Read their reviews, did some research online about them and their doctors, went for a little snoop outside and thought they were good/legit enough 🤪 I believe prices can vary depending where you are, but yeah…it can be quite expensive. My total has been £11.063 thus far (this includes initial consultation, exams which are bloodwork and scans - 3 before collection, 2 cycles of egg freezing with retrieval procedure and 1yr of storage included, 2 cycles of meds, cycle review consultation, and 3 counseling sessions per cycle). At my clinic they have a package of 2 cycles for £6090, but my stims medication cost a hefty amount since I was on max dosage, so that’s why the cost was higher 😩

Hope you can find a good place and that all works out for you! 🤗

😧@ViVRe that's a lot, and then you have IVF costs on top! How many cycles are recommended for egg freezing?

Hi,

Just jumping in to mention that not all eggs are mature/viable. I am doing full IVF, and although I’m only 32, there were 10 eggs, 2 were unreachable, only 5 mature, and only 2 ended up making it to blastocyst stage. First embryo transfer failed too. Attrition can be shocking. I’d count on more than one round to be safer.

Here, they recommend 9 eggs frozen for a 70% chance of success if you’re under 35. But that’s for just one child.

Eggs can also disintegrate more easily after defrosting - embryos are more robust, but as pointed out, if you break up, you’ll lose access to them.

I can’t comment much on costs as I’m in Denmark and fertility treatment is free here, but I know a lot of Europe has much more affordable than in the U.K.!

Most people would have to do multiple rounds to collect enough to try and guarantee success. As per pp, from eggs collected you can expect a 30-50% drop off to those that are mature and fertilise, and a further 30-50% drop off to those who develop into viable embryos. Eg from 10 eggs collected having 2 embryos would be normal. Then you can expect it to take at least 3 embryo transfers for success. All of this is assuming there is no other issue with either of your fertility. So essentially, yes it can be helpful but the number of eggs you need to collect is far higher than most people realise, and there is still a possibility you won't end up with a child. It is also potentially a lot of money wasted as if there are no issues with your fertility the majority of people can conceive naturally without too much difficulty up to the age of 40. Best of luck with your decision.

@Copenhagener thank you for sharing your experience, good luck with your journey.

@SErunner do you think egg freezing is a bit of a scam and providing false hope to vulnerable women desperate for a baby unless they do multiple rounds then? This is what I was afraid of.

@sadsister23 it is impossible to predict beforehand how many egg retrievals or IVF cycles one would need in order to reach a viable pregnancy or live birth, there are a multitude of factors that come into play here. It is VITAL to stress to anyone coming into this journey that this is not exact science…all that egg/embryo freezing can do, at the moment, is to give a better CHANCE/increasing odds of preserving fertility (if done at the right time), a CHANCE of postponing the POSSIBILITY of having a child, if you reach embryo stage and do some expensive tests or believe the grading system then maybe increasing the odds of having a healthy child. But again, none of this is set in stone, nothing can be a guarantee…it is still a flawed system but it is a system that certainly allows you a chance, a chance that you might not have otherwise later in life or for some with health problems, a chance that is only possible with some medical assistance.

Statistically speaking there is a preference to freezing embryos over eggs simply because of defrosting process and also to get a better picture of how your odds stack/how many chances you get to try to get pregnant at a later stage. Egg retrieval is just one piece of the puzzle really, it is “assumed” that the younger you are the chances of eggs being healthier increase…we talk about quality vs quantity of eggs, both tend to deteriorate over time, but all you want are as many chances as possible getting those good quality eggs whilst they still exist. However, that’s not all, once you put egg+sperm together you get another picture, not all will reach embryo/blastocyst stage and some that do are also not suitable for transfer. It is that final number of how many are suitable for transfer that may best answer your question of “how many rounds does one need?!?”…but again, even if you have lots of good embryos you might still not know if that will be “it” as some women struggle with other fertility/health issues that involve implantation, recurring miscarriages, etc. - then you go into another sector, is egg/sperm donation a possibility, would you consider having a surrogate if your body can’t support pregnancy?!?

I think this is a lot of information and I’m glad you are taking the time to educate yourself a bit. Ultimately, whatever decision you decide to make, at least you know that knowledge is power and you can have peace of mind making a conscious choice about the topic.

It's so difficult because no one has a crystal ball, everyone is different physiologically and has different personal circumstances, and everyone responds to fertility treatment differently. I think scam is a strong word I wouldn't necessarily use, but I think it is massively oversold and promoted to women, and that a realistic picture isn't always painted.

I guess things I would be thinking about that would guide my decision would be how long you've been with your partner, how certain you are they are the one you will be having children with, do you have any idea when you might have children (given there is never a 'good' time!), financially how much reserve have you got ie is this money you can easily spend or is it you using all your savings, if you do go down the route of freezing will you be able to afford the subsequent thousands of pounds to do the transfers, is there a known reason you may struggle to conceive (family history, other conditions etc). As per pp, it's good you're giving this a lot of thought. I'm sure you will come to the right decision for you.

To give you an example of my story. I started TTC age 29, 18 months off contraception with no success led me to fertility tests where I was told I had a low AMH. Partner all fine. I was told I could conceive naturally but it may take longer. We had IVF age 31 and collected 6 eggs first round with 1 viable embryo which became our daughter. I didn't go back on contraception and we had 3 further rounds of IVF trying to conceive a sibling. 4 embryos transferred, none successful. I have just fallen pregnant naturally for the first time in 6 years age 35. Who knows why now, I have done nothing different. Looking back, do I regret the money we spent (£30k)? No as it gave us our daughter. Was it the best decision financially? Almost certainly not. Would I have conceived both children naturally eventually? Probably to be honest. If this pregnancy fails I have decided I won't do any more IVF and that what will be will be. So for the context of egg freezing, 25 eggs for us yielded 1 successful embryo.

Keep thinking, keep listening to other perspectives/opinions and keep talking with your partner. There is mo major rush. Im sure you will get to the right decision for you.

@ViVRe thank you for explaining. I am only at the beginning of my research, it's such a lot to take in and I see different stats everywhere!

@SErunner it's SO difficult! I've been doing some research this evening and it doesn't seem that egg freezing is as successful as clinics would have you believe and it is almost certain that you would need more than one cycle. One cycle is £3500 not including storage but a frozen embryo is £5500 so that works out cheaper than two rounds of frozen eggs and has more of a chance of a live birth so maybe I will go down that route.

I'm sorry to hear that you had such a hard time with IVF but how lovely that you've fallen pregnant naturally now! Aren't bodies strange? I know you say there's no rush but I am definitely feeling the time pressure due to the quality of my eggs deteriorating because of my age. It's really hard.

I've not gone down this route myself, but found the podcast Freezing Time very interesting! It’s a limited series about one persons experience with egg freezing in the UK.

You would certainly need more than 1 cycle to give yourself a good statistical chance of success. Bear in mind the clinic prices also won't include the medications you need, and unfortunately the stimulation drugs to force your follicles to develop more eggs are the expensive ones. Freezing costs can also be hidden - there is usually a charge for the initial freeze and then an annual storage cost.

It's worth shopping around. Prices do vary quite dramatically and higher cost doesn't necessarily equal better clinic or more reputable doctors. As an example each IVF cycle for us has cost £3500 plus meds on top (around £1800 per round as I was on very high stimulation doses due to my low AMH). Freezing costs at our clinic were £350 for the freezing process and another £350 as an annual storage fee. I don't know if this differs when it is eggs as opposed to embryos.

When I said you have time I was meaning 6 months really isn't going to make any difference. Don't feel pressured into thinking you need to act immediately, your fertility isn't going to drop off a cliff. There does start to be some decline from around age 35 but it is slow to start with, becoming more rapid as you get nearer 40.

@SErunner thank you for explaining - it's so complicated with the hidden fees. I may just contact a clinic and ask for a realistic price to cut through the bullshit. So you had some embryos put on ice after you had your daughter? I think I will broach the subject of frozen embryos with my partner as the eggs doesn't look so good. It's just such a lot of money and I would like to have some money left to look after a baby if I am lucky enough to have one! These fertility clinics must be making an absolute fortune.

@MrsClausMaybe I haven't heard of that, I'll check it out - thanks!