Egg Freezing at 38-39

Answered on 5th March 2019 in Older Women

I decided to freeze my eggs as I am single and haven't found a partner to start a family with yet. I recently completed two cycles of mild stimulation protocol for egg freezing with a clinic and the number of eggs retrieved is low. I am disappointed with the results.

I'm 39, My AMH is 4.5 pmol/l and my AFC is 5 (taken around day 26 of my cycle). All other factors general health/weight/blood tests etc are normal. The Dr informed me my ovarian reserve is low.

In cycle 1, I was put on Bemfola (300iu), Cetrotide (0.25mg) and Ovitrelle (250mcg) and out of 8 growing follicles they managed to retrieve and freeze 4 mature eggs.
In cycle 2, I was given Gonal-f (300 iu), Cetrotide (0.25mg) and Ovitrelle (250mcg) and out of 8 growing follicles they manage to retrieve 5 of which 3 were mature and suitable for freezing. The Dr thought I would respond better to Gonal-f but I didn't.

My question is whether a different protocol could improve my results or should I expect a similar result? I was informed I need approx. 16-20 eggs frozen for a good chance of success with the eggs in the future but given my current results I would need many more cycles and it is getting too expensive. Therefore, I now need to decide whether to stop treatment, hope for the best and stay with the 7 eggs frozen or try a different clinic/protocol to improve my results. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

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Thank you for providing the information of your results and details about your cycles. I agree with your consultant that your egg reserve is low. This means that the potential of your body to grow mature eggs is low. I noted that you were on fairly high dose of hormones (300 IU). The maximum dose we can use is up to 450IU to stimulate the ovaries. In view of your results, I would expect to get approx. similar number of eggs with each egg retrieval - I hope this information is helpful to you.