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There are many questions associated with fertility treatment, and justifiably so. This field is, after all, relatively new and very few people are intimately familiar with it. Among a wide range of treatments within this field, egg freezing is a key one, and just like with any other field, people have tons of questions regarding egg freezing in Nepal. One of the frequently asked questions regarding egg freezing is- does freezing egg stop periods? Well, the simple and short answer to this is – not permanent. While medicines used to stimulate ovaries for egg extraction during this process do affect the menstrual cycle after egg freezing for a while, it goes back to normal within a month or two. But if you want a bit more detailed answer regarding this, follow this blog along.
In this blog, we provide you with information regarding what egg freezing means, some common procedures used in egg freezing, whether it stops periods, and the best age to freeze eggs. Along with this, we will also provide you with a brief overview of the risks and side effects, as well as the general success rate of freezing eggs. So, with this in mind, let’s get started!
In simplest terms, egg freezing is the process of extracting eggs from your ovaries and then freezing them using advanced medical technology for future use. By using this process, you can freeze your fertility so that if you want to become a parent in the future, you can have a relatively higher chance of a successful pregnancy in the future.
This process is also known medically as oocyte cryopreservation and is among many forms of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). As you may expect from a process that extracts eggs and freezes them, the first step of this process is naturally to stimulate your ovaries to release eggs at the desired time. Once the eggs are released, they are then extracted, selected for damage and viability, and frozen before being stored for future use.
The specific use of the said frozen eggs differs depending on the individual. You may use this procedure to simply get a higher chance of pregnancy in future, or you may use it to donate your eggs. Besides this, you may also use this procedure if you are going to a treatment that can destroy your fertility, such as Chemotherapy and still want to become a parent after the treatment is over.
The specifics of its use vary; regardless, the core point here is that egg freezing preserves the fertility of a woman born as a female person for future use. Now, note that while you cannot guarantee a 100% success rate, this process does increase its chances. So before you head into the procedure, you should keep your expectations realistic.
If you want to know if egg freezing stops periods or not, you might also want to learn a bit about the process of egg freezing. In all honesty, the specific process depends mostly on your personal circumstances, such as your physical and reproductive health. That said, you can get info on general procedures which the experts follow in most cases. So, what are these processes? The common procedure of egg freezing, given that you have average reproductive and physical health, includes:
Before you do anything associated with egg freezing, the experts first need to know about how healthy you are in physical, mental, and reproductive aspects. Therefore, before the procedure begins, you need to meet with a fertility doctor and discuss your medical history with them. This discussion is followed by medical exams, which include a blood test to measure hormone levels and an ultrasound to check your ovarian reserve. During the test to check your ovarian reserve, the expert determines the size and health of your ovaries. Depending on the result, the doctors shall recommend you with a plan that is specific to your needs. The aim of this plan is to make your ovaries produce multiple eggs while reducing the risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS).
Following the medical examination, and depending on the results from it, the next procedure is ovarian stimulation. During this process, you may need to take birth control pills or medications to regulate your menstrual cycle after egg freezing. These medications ensure that your ovaries respond as required, and once you are ready for the process, the stimulation finally begins. For ovarian stimulation, you begin to take daily hormonal injections, which include follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). These hormones encourage your ovaries to produce multiple eggs during the same cycle, and this phase typically lasts for 10 to 12 days. During this phase, the experts monitor you closely by taking regular blood tests and ultrasounds to check how your body is responding to the medications. Depending on how you respond to the medication, the doctors can change the dosage.
During the entire ovarian stimulation process, the experts closely monitor your health condition and progress. For this, you would need to visit the expert a few times for a regular checkup. The doctors usually check the size of the developing follicles and perform blood tests to check hormone levels. The goal here is to ensure that you remain healthy throughout the procedure and that your follicles are at the right place at the right time. Once the experts see that the follicles are ready, they provide you with a trigger shot, which essentially prepares your body for ovulation and starts the ovulation process.
Egg retrieval, also known as harvesting, is the step that follows the stimulation and monitoring phase. Once doctors determine that your follies are ready and fully mature, they carry out this minor surgical process. The good news here is that throughout this surgery, you would not feel anything as you would be put to sleep with anaesthesia. While you are asleep, the express inserts a thin needle through your vaginal wall, which is guided by an ultrasound and collects the ovaries. It is a relatively short process as it only lasts for 10-20 minutes. Once they extract the eggs, they inspect the fluid inside the follicle to select the best eggs. While this is going on, they wait for you to wake up, which you should do within a few more minutes. After you wake up, the doctors tell you about the number of successful eggs harvested.
Although the surgery is pretty painless, you may feel some side effects after it. These side effects may include bloating, mild camping, and spotting. Although uncomfortable, they are not severe, and you can easily take some countertop medications such as painkillers. But just because you seem fine for the most part doesn’t mean that you can stress your body. You still need to rest for a minimum of a few days and avoid stressful activities for a few weeks. Now, do note that if you feel severe pain or have issues such as heavy bleeding, pain in your abdomen, and dizziness, you need to consult your doctor immediately.
The final step of the egg-freezing process is the freezing part itself. That said, you are not involved in this part, so you do not need to worry about your health or any other aspects. In this process, the experts freeze the egg through a process known as vitrification. In this process, the eggs are rapidly frozen using liquid nitrogen. This rapid freezing prevents the formation of ice crystals within the eggs, which, if formed, can easily fail the entire process. These eggs, when successfully frozen, are kept in a frozen stage until a need to use them arrives.
Also Read: How Is Egg Taken for IVF Treatment?
Egg-freezing services have been one of the needed fertility treatment services provided by gynecologists and fertility experts in Nepal. If you are looking for an egg-freezing or oocyte cryopreservation process, it is very essential to consult with experts for better results and advice. Below are the best egg-freezing and fertility experts you can consult in Nepal:
Dr Devi Gurung is among the most experienced obstetricians and gynaecologists in Nepal with more than 30 years of experience in women’s health and fertility services. She offers the best women’s health care in both general and specialized health services. Having broad experience in egg freezing, Dr Devi Gurung provides effective consultation and treatment for optimal results in preserving fertility.
Dr Noora Pradhan is an obstetrician and gynaecologist providing laparoscopic gynaecology and obstetrics. She provides personalized care to the patient using modern techniques in reproductive medicine. Her dedication to providing the best fertility treatment and tailored egg-freezing surgery has made her one of the top doctors in Nepal for egg-freezing and fertility treatment.
Dr. Anupama Gurung (Suwal) is Nepal’s best reproductive health and IVF expert. She is one of the dedicated Obstetricians and Gynecologists who specialize in the latest advancements in fertility care and treatment. Her training and experience in fertility preservation techniques with the latest techniques offer the best fertility outcomes in Nepal.
Now that we have quenched your curiosity regarding the general definition and process of freezing eggs let’s head straight into the core topic of our blog – does freezing eggs stop periods? The simple answer to this is no: freezing eggs does not stop periods, at least not for a long duration.
Now, note that your periods can be disrupted for a month or two during the stimulation phase. However, it resumes its regular cycle a few weeks after the stimulation phase is over. This is because the effect of the stimulating hormones takes a few weeks to be flushed out from your body, and once they are out, your body’s hormones operate as usual, and your period resumes normally.
Alongside the question of whether egg freezing stops periods, another frequently asked question is what the best age to freeze eggs is. There is no simple answer to this question, as the best age depends on your reproductive, physical, and mental health. That said, we can provide you with a general estimation. In general, the best age to freeze eggs is between 25 and 35 years. There are several reasons as to why this is generally considered the best age. Some of the key reasons include:
Did you know that women are born with all the eggs that they would ever have from the start? The only concern regarding fertility is when they are fully mature and are released from the ovary. That said, as you age, both the quantity and quality decrease. Furthermore, the reproductive health of a woman declines rapidly after 35. The egg freezing limit is in the late 40s. Therefore, you should preserve eggs before you cross 35. However, you should also note that since this is a major decision, making it too early can also result in wasted preservation, and therefore, you should wait to be old enough to make the decision. Because of this reason, the lower threshold for preserving eggs is 25 since, at that age, you are old enough to make most of the major decisions.
From what we said prior, you may already guess that the younger the eggs, the higher their quality. This high quality also results in higher success rates when the said frozen eggs are used. Needless to say, the success rate for egg freezing tends to be higher in the eggs of younger women. Because of all of these reasons, the ideal time for egg freezing is between 25 and 35.
The final reason for 25 to 35 being the best age for egg freezing is that freezing eggs at a younger age allows you to have a higher chance of pregnancy at a later date. If you freeze the eggs at an earlier age, you can still use the same egg to become pregnant after 35 or even 40 should you want to become a parent later in life.
Now, you do have to note that 25 to 35 is just the ideal age for egg freezing. You can freeze eggs before 25 as long as you reach reproductive maturity and after 35 till your early 40s. That said, the chances of successful pregnancy through the eggs preserved after 35 are generally lower.
Now, while freezing eggs is undoubtedly one of the best processes to preserve fertility ifor those who are born female, you should note that there are certain risks associated with this process. Although the risks are low, they are nonetheless present in this medical procedure. And here comes the big question – what are the risks and side effects of the egg-freezing process? Some of the rare but still present side effects associated with the process of egg freezing include:
OHSS is a side effect that can affect just about anyone who is going through the egg-freezing process. Symptoms of OHSS can include enlargement of ovaries, leakage of fluids into the abdomen, and electrolyte imbalances. This issue is more common for women under 35, those with PCOS, or those who have a low body mass index (BMI).
One of the key aspects of OHSS is injecting hormones into your system to stimulate the ovaries. Therefore, you should not be surprised to find out that sometimes, these injected hormones can cause some side effects. Although the risk of hormonal side effects is on the lower side of the spectrum, it is still a present risk. This side effect can lead to mood changes and cause undue stress to your mind and body. This can further hamper the process of egg freezing.
Alongside two major side effects on hormones and OHSS, you may also face other forms of side effects, such as skin irritation and ovarian torsion. While skin irritation around injection sites is a relatively common but minor side effect, ovarian torsion is rare but can lead to ovary twists and cut off its blood supply, causing severe pain.
So, by this point, you already have the answer to the key query and more. Now, let’s finally discuss the success rate of egg freezing before we end our topic. So, what is the success rate? Well, in all honesty, the success rate of egg freezing depends on many factors, such as your age, the health of the eggs, and many more. Therefore, it is extremely hard to provide a specific success rate. Furthermore, the success rate also depends on the method used to freeze and thaw the eggs. Therefore, the success rate changes case by case. That said, we can provide you with an average success rate. The average success rate of egg freezing process in various aspects include:
Also Read: IVF Success Rates in Nepal: Conceive Healthy Baby With IVF
Infertility treatment is a relatively new facet of medicine, and because of this, there are many questions regarding just about every aspect of these treatments. The same applies to egg freezing as well since it is one of the most popular methods of infertility treatment and fertility preservation. One of the most asked questions regarding this treatment is – does freezing eggs stop period? Well, the answer to this is “not for long” ” but this is not the only question regarding egg freezing.
In this blog, we gave you answers to some of the most asked questions regarding egg freezing, including does freezing eggs stop period. We hope you found this helpful. If you seek further insights into the various aspects of egg freezing and infertility, do check out some of our other blogs. And if you want the best egg-freezing service in Nepal, look no further than Venus Hospital. Thank you for reading till the end.
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Freezing eggs covers different stages: the preliminary check-up regarding the issues of medical nature, then ovarian stimulation by injections of hormones, the monitoring of follicles development, egg retrieval, and finally freezing the eggs with a special process called vitrification. The purpose is to conserve healthy oocytes for use with possible future fertility procedures. In total, all this usually takes 2-3 weeks.
Freezing of eggs also has some disadvantages. Major ones include:
While egg freezing doesn’t shut down your periods, it delays it for a while. It usually comes back within a month following the egg retrieval procedure.
The cost of egg freezing will vary extensively among clinics and maybe even the number of cycles required; a general quotation one could take is approximately NPR 150,000 to NPR 300,000 per cycle, excluding medication costs or annual storage fees.
Yes, egg freezing does not affect your natural fertility. You can still attempt to conceive naturally even after having frozen eggs, since during such a process, you only remove the retrieved eggs of a particular cycle and not the total stock.
Egg freezing process refers to the process in which a woman retrieves her eggs from the ovaries through a process of hormonal stimulation, then quickly frozen and stored in the laboratory for use later. In this way, she will have an opportunity to use them later if she wants to through in vitro fertilisation.
Your period typically returns within 1-2 weeks after the egg retrieval process. However, it may vary slightly based on your body’s response to the medications.
Most people report mild to moderate discomfort rather than severe pain. The hormonal injections can cause bloating and tenderness, and the egg retrieval is done under anaesthesia, so there’s minimal pain during the procedure itself. Afterwards, some may experience cramping and bloating for a few days, which usually resolves on its own.
