Overview
Low egg reserve is a concerning situation for many women, especially those who want to conceive. Though a low egg reserve does not clearly mean that you can not become pregnant of pregnancy is impossible for you. The first thing that comes to your mind is what a low egg reserve is. It is a stage where you have fewer eggs in your ovaries than others of this age. You are well aware of eggs and their importance as building blocks for pregnancy with sperm. Although reproductive ageing highly impacts the reproductive ability of a woman. Low or diminished ovarian reserve refers to a female who produces oocytes at a rate lower than expected for her age. Low ovarian reserve reduces the chances of pregnancy.
Like every problem has a solution, here also, with some modification in lifestyle adjustments and having knowledge of the right fertility treatments, many women with low egg reserve can achieve their dream of becoming parents.
As well as already read, ovarian reserve refers to the number of eggs you have in your ovaries, which we shed every month with our menstrual cycle.
Women are born with the oocytes that we will ever have in our entire lives. Here, we are born with approximately 2 million eggs, which are reduced to 75% by the time we hit our first menstrual cycle. Throughout our reproductive years, we progressively lose eggs each month to the point where there are around 1,000 eggs left by the time we reach menopause. By a woman’s late 30s, this number will have further declined to around 27,000. How fast we lose eggs during our reproductive years can be unpredictable, but we know for certain that progressive loss occurs.
Diminished ovarian reserve indicates a lower number of eggs we have in our ovaries than the average women of our age. In some cases, you might lose oocytes at a faster rate comparatively. The situation for men is totally different from women, as sperm cells in the testes produce sperm every 3 months from the attainment of puberty. Unfortunately, we as women do not have such equivalent stem cells; our egg reserve is finite.
Even with low egg reserve, pregnancy is possible because only one good quality egg is needed to conceive. Women under the age of 35 with diminished ovarian reserve often conceive naturally due to relatively preserved egg quality. However, as egg quantity decreases, the odds of ovulating a good quality egg reduce, especially beyond age 35, which can make conception more challenging.
Egg quality is a critical factor affecting fertility—it refers to the chromosomal normality and structural integrity of the egg. Quality tends to decline with age due to accumulated DNA damage in eggs that have been dormant for decades. While low egg quantity often accompanies reduced quality, they do not always exactly correlate.
Low egg reserve typically exhibits no outward signs except for fertility difficulties or abnormal menstrual cycles like shortening cycles. Women experiencing recurring miscarriages or inability to conceive despite regular intercourse may consider ovarian reserve testing.
Several causes lead to low egg reserve, including
Age: The most significant factor, as egg quantity and quality naturally decline over time.
Genetics: Conditions like Turner syndrome or Fragile X syndrome can impact ovarian function.
Medical Treatments: Surgeries on the ovaries, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy can reduce egg reserve.
Lifestyle Factors: Smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides and pollutants may negatively affect ovarian health.
Autoimmune Diseases: Some conditions cause the immune system to attack ovarian tissue.
Endometriosis: This condition can affect ovarian function and reduce the number of available eggs.
You can not reverse your situation once you are diagnosed with low ovarian reserve. You can make your body produce more eggs with any treatment, as your healthcare provider can only provide you with treatments for meeting your pregnancy goals. The treatment depends on several factors, as it is determined by how soon you would like to get pregnant, finances, how many children you want to have, and the strength you have to have a child who is genetically related to you. The most common treatment options are egg freezing so that it could be used in the future, or attempting to conceive naturally or with the help of IVF with your own eggs or a donor’s eggs.
Egg freezing is considered one of the most prominent methods for preserving fertility. If you get to know that you might be prone to low ovarian reserve or even at high risk for it, freezing your eggs is a great option before your egg count declines. Egg freezing involves taking hormones to stimulate your ovaries to develop as many eggs as possible. After this, mature eggs are frozen so that they can be used for IVF treatment in the future.
In some cases, your provider will suggest creating embryos, meaning that they would fertilize the mature eggs with your partner’s sperm or donor sperm before freezing them for future use or transferring them to your uterus to get pregnant.
Using donor eggs is recommended when the quality and quantity of our eggs have declined or are poor. In this, fertilization is carried out with sperm from your partner. The embryo developed is then transferred to uterus. Though the baby does not have any genes from you but it will have the genetics of your partner’s unless a sperm donor is considered.
Low egg reserve does present challenges in conceiving, but it does not eliminate the possibility of pregnancy. Women under 35 with diminished ovarian reserve have relatively better chances due to usually good egg quality, while women over 35 face added complexity from declining egg quality. Advances in fertility treatments like ovarian stimulation, IVF, and egg donation have expanded options for women with low egg reserves to achieve pregnancy. Early consultation with fertility specialists and timely intervention significantly improve outcomes. Understanding the distinction between egg quantity and quality and addressing both medically and lifestyle-wise is crucial for navigating fertility with a low egg reserve.
This comprehensive understanding of low egg reserve and pregnancy chances helps demystify concerns and empowers women with knowledge and options to pursue their parenthood goals