- What do I do if I have low ovarian reserve?
If you have been told that you've got low egg numbers,
or you just wondering what is your actual egg numbers,
follow us today and watch this video.
We're gonna talk about this topic.
So before we start, what do we mean by low egg reserve?
Let's talk about what is egg reserve.
You know that woman are born
with certain number of eggs,
roughly around 2 million when you're born.
By the time you reach puberty,
probably they'll be around 400 to 500,000.
Now, when you try to fall pregnant
or you're trying to check your fertility,
the doctors might order a certain blood test
or an ultrasound.
The blood test called AMH, anti-Mullerian hormone.
This hormone is produced by your body
and tells us roughly how many eggs are left in the ovary.
We know roughly when you reach poverty, there are 500,000.
When you reach toward menopause,
they keep dropping and dropping and dropping.
So this level of hormone will tell us roughly
what is your egg reserve numbers.
We can combine that with another test,
like an ultrasound, and we keep counting
small bubbles in the ovary.
And that tells us also how many eggs
are left in the ovary, what is your egg reserve.
And generally, when you think about it,
I mean, if you have 500,000 eggs,
you don't ovulate all of those eggs,
'cause basically you ovulate one egg a month.
That equates 12 eggs each year.
So between age of, say, you reach property
between the age of 10
and the period stops at age of 50,
that's 40 years of your lifetime
that you're ovulating.
If you multiply 40 years of ovulation,
each year is 12 eggs, it's 480 eggs.
Where does the rest of those eggs go?
You've got 499,000.
And that's why we mean by the egg reserve.
Each month, actually, your body produces a group of eggs,
a range between 10, 40 to 50.
One of them will ovate.
Sometimes two will ovulate.
That's how people get twins and the rest will die off.
When we measure the egg reserve tells us
what is your capacity or the number
of eggs that you produce at each month?
This group of eggs, are they in the lower range,
five to six, or in the higher range, 50 to 60?
And that basically what the test tells us.
So the next question that comes up,
well, can I fall pregnant with this low egg numbers?
Absolutely, I mean the egg numbers only tells you
you've got, how many eggs you've got in the ovary,
tells you nothing about the egg quality.
And we know that egg quality
is more important than the egg quantity.
Unfortunately, we don't have a test that tells us
what is the current egg quality or your egg quality.
But we know that is closely related to age.
So the younger you are, the better quality of eggs,
regardless of the egg numbers.
After all, you naturally ovulate only one egg a month.
And we know roughly the chances
of falling pregnant each month you try is one in six.
So it's a roll of a dice
and this has nothing to do with your egg reserve.
Fertility specialists is the best equipped
medical professional that can give you advice
about your current fertility,
your future fertility.
And it can open the discussion
about how do you envision your family,
the size of the family,
and when to start having this family.
Now you'll tell, well,
if I got a low ovarian reserve,
are there any treatments available?
Well, it depends on where are you mentally,
socially, financially, relationship,
and then we can formulate a plan.
So if you are not ready to start a family
and you haven't found the right partner,
we could freeze the eggs.
So we freeze them for future use
and that's called fertility preservation.
The second option, well, if you have a partner
and they've got lower egg reserve,
but really you want to have three kids,
and you're currently around 37 or 38.
So, probably will be a good idea
to have a chat with us and then we discuss with you
how we can maximize the chances for you,
not only to start your family
but help you complete this family.
And that way comes the role of IVF
and maybe embryo banking for future use.
In the end,, I mean, if you got very low egg reserve
and almost none left in the ovary,
we could try some modalities to stimulate the ovary
to produce any egg.
And unfortunately if that doesn't yield any response,
then we're left with an option of an egg donor.
Egg donors are available
and we've got multiple sources here at IVF Australia
that could provide you with eggs.
There is a condition called premature ovarian failure
and that happens when women when they're younger,
but their ovary stops producing any eggs
due to very low egg count.
And unfortunately, this is a condition
that might be related to certain genes
that we haven't discovered yet.
And sometimes they're related
to certain hormonal imbalances.
A good position to see a fertility specialist,
we know that around 10% of those women
will resume ovulating a certain time of their life.
Thanks for watching.
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