Endo and egg freezing

[Pinkbear27]

Hi all, I got diagnosed with Endometriomas on both ovaries last week and will be having laparoscopy and excision to remove them soon. I’m wondering whether I should freeze my eggs? I’m 27 and not ready to have children yet but want them in the near future, I’m very worried about my egg reserves. Has anyone here had their eggs frozen with endo and could advise? Many thanks in advance. Take care all.

[Moonglo]

Hiya.

If you can, then do it to give yourself the best chance. It depends on where you live whether it would be covered by the NHS or whether you’d have to pay for it yourself.

I lost an ovary at 17 because of an endometrioma. When I tried IVF several years later, I had so many adhesions inside from other chocolate cysts that I couldn’t produce enough eggs to fertilise.

The procedure to produce those eggs involves injections into your tummy. They’ve got to be careful about the dose because there are risks associated with producing too many at once. And there’s another injection to release the eggs - unfortunately I reacted badly to that one which gave gave me a type of myalgia all over my body. However, I’ve heard such a reaction is rare. It’s just worth asking them to tell you about the procedure and risks.

Best of luck!

[stephkp]

If you go on the HFEA website it will give you some information about egg freezing and costs. Unfortunately I don’t think egg freezing is covered by the NHS unless it’s for very specific reasons. You would potentially need multiple rounds to bank enough eggs as eggs don’t thaw as well as embryos. If you have someone in your life you are wanting children with, it might be with thinking about having any eggs you collect fertilised. I have stage 4 endo and had huge endometriomas on my ovaries. I was going through IVF when my endo was diagnosed and was told they wouldn’t do an egg collection until after I’d had surgery as it increased the risks to me. Also there was the risk they wouldn’t be able to collect the eggs as they might not have been able to get past the endometriomas. It would certainly be worth having a chat with a fertility clinic to see what your options are. Good luck x

[Milly2408]

Your GP can arrange a blood test to check your egg reserve. I'm 26 and have 1 ovary, so I was worried. My test came back normal though which was a big relief, I think it's AMH level they test for.

I'm now also on the mini pill, it stops ovulation so I guess 'saves' my eggs to a point, that was my thinking anyways and hopefully will stop my endo progressing quickly.

I think egg freezing is around £3k initially and then you have to pay each year for storage. You could use a donor or do IVF with a partner in the future (I don't know what your circumstances are).

Hope this helps a little, it's a huge worry :/