Egg Freezing in the Year of The Dragon 2024
With each new year, the health-related resolutions that run through my mind are pretty basic: eat less ice cream, exercise outside more, go to bed earlier, etc. Most of what I aim for is usually attainable with my own determination and planning.
In contrast, working with people who have resolved to have a baby has shown me time and time again that hard work and determination cannot always get people what they want, when they want it.
They could be waiting on finding the right partner, waiting to finish graduate school, or maybe they are waiting to get over another health hurdle before embarking on family planning.
Whatever the reason for the delay, we are finding many women turning to egg freezing to halt time until they are ready to have children.
For our patients and friends hoping to freeze their reproductive timeline and invest in egg freezing, there are few health-related resolutions we would encourage:
1. Nutrition Changes
Egg maturation is on a 90 day cycle and we therefore encourage major lifestyle changes for at least 3 months prior to your procedure(s). Including but not limited to: decreasing inflammatory foods, increasing your fruits, vegetables and lean proteins.
Take your vitamins, which could include: CoQ10, DHEA, Folic Acid, Vitamin D, etc.
2. Lifestyle Changes
Exercising a few times per week: walking, strength training, stretching, deep breathing, etc.
Sleeping 8 hours each night so that your hormones can reset.
Getting weekly Acupuncture to improve blood flow to your ovaries, help hormone balancing, and decrease stress.
3. BE A DRAGON. Manage your expectations, while still advocating for yourself!
More is not always better, so try not to compare your results with others. Attrition rates can drastically change egg count numbers, so make sure you are communicating clearly about your wishes for your family planning to your doctor.
These procedures are increasingly more prevalent, but it is not always covered by your insurance. So, go to HR and ask what benefits they have for egg freezing!
We live in a culture where our personal timelines are not always aligned with our biological timelines, and egg freezing is one way that patients have the ability to achieve their career and family aspirations without sacrificing the other.
This whole process can be scary and overwhelming, but there are so many practitioners in the world looking to support your egg freezing and subsequent IVF journey.
My Lunar New Year’s career resolution is pursuing more education about this frontier medicine — Assisted Reproductive Technology — so that I may continue to be a dragon for my patients to help them through this process.
If you are debating about freezing your eggs, stay tuned for another blog on pros/cons! This blog is for people who have already decided to do so and know that it could improve their chances of having their own biological children down the road, but it is not a guarantee.