Egg Freezing – Is It The Right Choice for You?

By Chris D. Meletis, N.D.

Maybe you don’t have a significant other. Or maybe you and your partner are career-focused right now and want to put off having children until you are older. Freezing your eggs may sound like a good option. In fact, according to the Society for Reproductive Society, 10,936 women froze their eggs in 2017.¹ But is it the right choice for you? In this article, I will discuss the egg freezing procedure, what it involves, and the pros and cons of freezing eggs. I will also offer some natural alternatives that may extend your fertility, whether you opt-out of egg freezing or want to improve your chances of getting pregnant using your stored eggs.

The Egg Freezing Procedure: What To Expect

Suppose you have decided that freezing your eggs is the right choice. First, you are given artificial hormones to help the ovaries make a lot of eggs at the same time. The doctor removes these eggs surgically. Then, they are frozen until you are ready to become pregnant. At that time, the eggs are thawed, inseminated, then implanted back inside you through in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Egg Freezing Pros and Cons

There are certainly advantages to freezing eggs. After all, as you get older, fertility declines. Freezing your eggs while you are younger means you will have a stockpile of eggs that are more likely to result in pregnancy than the older eggs in your ovaries. Depending on how long you wait until trying to get pregnant, frozen eggs may end up being your best chance at successfully conceiving.

However, there are also disadvantages, which for some women may outweigh the benefits. First, there is the cost. You will spend at least $10,000 on the egg freezing process, which includes the costs of hormone injections, extracting the eggs, and annual storage. Fortunately, some employers now cover egg freezing for their employees so you will want to check that as well as what, if any, your health insurance might cover.

There are also investments of time and health involved in egg freezing. While egg-harvesting is taking place, you will need to visit the clinic at least 10 times. Additionally, you will give yourself hormone injections at home for a week. These hormones can produce troubling, long-term side effects such as hair loss and an increased length of the menstrual cycle.At the time of egg harvest, you will need to undergo surgery with general anesthesia.

And, it is important to remember that freezing eggs will not guarantee that you will become pregnant. Before it comes time to defrost and inseminate the eggs, it is important to check the fertility of your partner. Sperm takes three months to mature so be sure to leave time to boost the sperm parameters if that is necessary. 50% of infertility is caused by the male, and with the investment made in egg freezing you will want to ensure the best sperm health possible. Your uterus also needs to be in tip-top shape to carry the baby to term.

Some eggs will not make it through the thawing. And many women will not even need to use the eggs they froze. They become pregnant naturally without having to have the once-frozen eggs implanted. One study in the United Kingdom found that of 85 women who had undergone egg freezing, 15 were able to have a baby.² Of those, half conceived naturally and did not need their frozen eggs.² Only four of the women who had become pregnant actually had done so using their stored eggs.²

Natural Alternatives to Freezing Eggs

As either an alternative or as a complement to freezing eggs, you can and should take steps to protect and improve the quality of your eggs. Increasing egg health before freezing can improve the odds of pregnancy after the eggs are thawed. And protecting the eggs in your ovarian reserve may help you achieve pregnancy naturally when the time is right. Eating organic food and staying away from food stored in containers with BPA-lining can protect your reproductive tract from environmental toxins. It is also important to avoid using anything that contains toxins known as phthalates and parabens, which are found in many personal care products such as lotions, shampoos, conditioners, and make up.

Dietary supplements to support healthy levels of anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) can also maintain fertility. Cells in the egg-containing ovarian follicles make AMH. AMH is linked to how many eggs a woman has left in the follicles, known as ovarian reserve. Low AMH hormone levels mean low ovarian reserve and an increased risk of recurrent pregnancy loss.³ Too much AMH is also a problem. This often occurs in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

One nutrient that may be helpful in supporting healthy AMH levels is melatonin.. In one study, women with higher melatonin levels in follicular fluid were more likely to have normal levels of AMH.⁴ Higher melatonin levels were also linked to successful IVF outcomes, and more eggs were gathered from women with higher melatonin levels. In addition, women with higher melatonin levels had a greater number of eggs fertilized and higher quality embryos. In women with PCOS, six months of using melatonin led to lower AMH.⁵ Most of the women also experienced more regular menstrual cycles after melatonin.

Vitamin D is another nutrient linked to healthy AMH levels. Specifically, it can raise AMH.⁶

Antioxidants To Boost Fertility

By the time a woman is in her mid- the late thirties, she’ll have more abnormal eggs in her reserve than normal eggs. It is important to protect egg quality and slow this process down as much as possible. By blocking free radicals before they reach the eggs in a woman’s ovarian reserve, antioxidants can protect the quality of eggs. For example, melatonin supplementation can improve egg maturation during IVF treatments.⁹ Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is another antioxidant powerhouse that can increase egg quality. In a human trial, supplementation with CoQ10 led to higher fertilization rate and more high-quality embryos.¹⁰ CoQ10 also has increased the number of ovarian follicles and improved ovulation.¹¹ Other antioxidants such as myo-inositol improve ovulation rate¹² while N-acetyl cysteine increases pregnancy rates.¹³ D-chiro-inositol supports healthy insulin secretion.¹⁴

It is ideal to take a prenatal antioxidant supplement such as FH PRO for Women that addresses all the issues involved in infertility from egg quality to irregular cycles to insulin support. Making sure your prenatal antioxidant includes the active form of folate is also important. Many potential mothers have a mutation (MTHFR) that causes poor absorption of folic acid.¹⁵ If a fetus does not get enough folate, birth defects can occur.¹⁵ The MTHFR mutation can also lead to a reduced rate of live births after IVF.¹⁵

Egg Freezing Is A Personal Choice

Whether to freeze your eggs or not is a personal choice. Some women opt not to because the fertility drugs used in the egg-freezing process can have side effects. Many women simply cannot afford the cost. Whether you choose to freeze your eggs or not, taking a combination of antioxidants and nutrients can help support your fertility as you age. This may result in you conceiving naturally when the time is right. Or, these antioxidants can make the egg-freezing procedure more successful by increasing the odds of your becoming pregnant once the eggs are thawed.

Dr. Chris Meletis

Dr. Chris Meletis is an educator, international author and lecturer. His personal mission is “Changing World’s Health One Person at a Time.” Dr Meletis has authored 18 books and over 200 national scientific articles in journals including Natural Health, Alternative and Complementary Therapies, Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Life Extension, Natural Pharmacy, and PubMed.gov articles.

Dr. Meletis served as Dean of Naturopathic Medicine and Chief Medical Officer for 7 years for the National College of Naturopathic Medicine (now the National University of Natural Medicine). He was awarded the 2003 Physician of the Year by the American Association of Naturopathic Physician of the Year by the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians. He has a deep passion for helping the underprivileged and spearheaded the creation of 16 free natural medicine healthcare clinics in the Portland metropolitan area of Oregon.

References

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