Can a Low Egg Reserve Get Pregnant? - MD. Aret Kamar

A QUESTION CONCERNING WOMEN OF ALL AGES What is a low egg reserve? Is low egg reserve a problem that only concerns middle-aged women?

''Low egg reserve is a problem that concerns women of all ages. As long as the woman produces an egg each month and that one hatches, she has a regular period. Reserve is a situation related to how many eggs can be produced in a treatment period in women who need treatment. As the woman ages, the number of eggs already decreases. If she has a good egg, she will become pregnant. But sometimes there may be 17-18-year-olds and 20-year-old girls who have few eggs, those who do not have eggs, those who do not ovulate, or even those who go through early menopause. The importance of this for us is that a woman with a low number of eggs is likely to enter menopause sooner than it should be. So if the woman is married, we can help her have a child with her egg.

A woman with few eggs can get pregnant and give birth at home if her periods are regular. But if a woman with few eggs is not married and this is realized, her eggs can be frozen and stored today. This is called fertility preservation. For this, every woman should definitely go through a regular doctor check-up. But gynecologists look at whether the uterus and ovaries are normal, if there are cysts and fibroids; they take a smear test and screen for cancer.

However, we look at the ovary to see how many eggs it has. Women should definitely be checked and learn about their fertility, especially when their first menstruation starts. Because the rate and suffering of a woman who gives 20-30 eggs in one treatment is not the same as the speed and suffering of a woman who gives 1-2 eggs.

CAUSES OF LOW EGG RESERVE . Why do some women have low egg reserves and go through early menopause?

''There can be two reasons for low egg reserve. Some women are born with a low number of eggs anyway. It also has a genetic feature. If the mother and aunt entered menopause before the age of 40, girls usually go through early menopause as well. If there are people in the family who go through early menopause, these young girls should definitely go for a checkup. If he cannot go to the doctor, there are now blood tests. In the past, FSH and estradiol were used to measure egg reserve. However, for FSH, it must be in the menstrual period (no egg in the ovary). So it requires a gynecologist control. But today, the AMH test (testing with intravenous blood) directly tells the egg reserve. It doesn't matter what day of your period it is.

Those with an AMH test below one and a half are considered low in reserve. If she's married, no problem. But if she is very young and there is no question of marriage yet, she should definitely apply to a reproductive clinic. The second reason for low egg reserve is that egg consumption is too fast. A woman is normally born with 4 million eggs and enters puberty with 400 thousand eggs. And during the whole ovulation period, she ovulates approximately 400 times and enters menopause. In other words, while the woman lays 400 eggs, she actually destroys 400 thousand eggs. Therefore, the woman ovulates once a month, but that growing egg prevents the growth of other eggs. So when women get pregnant at home, twin triplets and quadruplets don't happen very often.

In our treatment, we eliminate the situation of preventing the growth of the others while that one egg grows. If the woman's reserve is good, we may even get 90-100 eggs in a month, especially in polycystic ovaries. In some women, the eggs can disappear very quickly. This is also a genetic condition. Eventually, the egg will decrease and that egg requires the woman to have a child as soon as possible or to freeze it if needed.''

EGG FREEZING PROCESS How is the egg freezing process actually done? Is it a painful method?

''In IVF treatment, women are taken in menstruation and sometimes needles and sometimes pills are used depending on the number of eggs. As many eggs as the woman can give, they are grown in a healthy way and brought to a certain size. During these procedures, ultrasound controls are carried out in the presence of the drugs used to check how many eggs have grown. At this time, hormone measurements are made. Hormone measurements more or less inform us that it is time to collect eggs.

When the number of eggs is the number we expect, the size of the eggs is the size we expect, and the hormone results are at the levels we want, a cracking injection is done. This needle is made so that the eggs come to us while they are plucked in the sacs that we see on ultrasound. On the day of egg collection, the female arrives on an empty stomach. The procedure is performed under sedation anesthesia. While the person does not feel pain, their eggs are collected vaginally. Depending on the number of eggs, this process takes 1-2 minutes if there is one egg, and half an hour if there are 30 eggs. After the patient wakes up and is taken to his bed, he is checked to see if he has bleeding since the procedure is done with a needle. He can go when he feels good. If the young girl is a virgin and does not want it to deteriorate, this procedure can be done from the abdomen under ultrasound guidance, if the position of the egg is also suitable.

In patients diagnosed with cancer, since there may be no eggs left after radiotherapy and chemotherapy, eggs are collected until the start of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. In the past, embryos were frozen in packages of 4-5 embryos, and when these were thawed, 1-2 of them came out intact. Now, thanks to new freezing technologies, one can be frozen and one can be thawed. When it is solved, it is 99 percent healthy.''