Can I Still Get Pregnant With Poor Egg Quality? Here Are The Fertility Details You Need to Know
Are you in a situation where you've discovered that you have poor egg quality? Have you started asking yourself over and over, "can I still get pregnant with poor egg quality?"
You are not alone and you are in the right place.
Today you will discover:
The importance of egg quality to help fertility
If you can still get pregnant with poor egg quality
What to do about it to help increase your chances of getting pregnant
Let's dive in!
What is Egg Quality?
In order to help you answer the question, "can I still get pregnant with poor egg quality?", first we need to talk about what egg quality actually is.
Egg quality refers to the ability of the egg to duplicate chromosomes. Those chromosomes are the building blocks of new life. Both the egg and the sperm bring 23 chromosomes to the table, or rather to the uterus! In order to create the baby.
The eggs that you will ovulate this month actually began activating about a year ago. Of course you've had these eggs in your ovaries since you were born, but it wasn't until about this time last year that they started activating and waking up.
What's happening during that activation? Well, the eggs main focus of their work is to duplicate chromosomes so that by the time the egg is released, it has the 23 chromosomes necessary for making a baby.
Are you with me here?
So in the year leading up to ovulation, the egg is busily getting ready for ovulation by making sure these chromosomes are ready. If it doesn't get to the 23 chromosomes by the time it's ready to ovulate, can you guess what happens?
Well, actually two things can happen.
One, is that the egg may not ovulate at all. Or, second, it could ovulate but then either it can't connect with the sperm or it does connect with the sperm but then it miscarries early because it could never move forward to make a baby.
This is what it means to have poor egg quality.
How do I know if I have poor egg quality?
Knowing if you have poor egg quality in the first place is important. Some doctors will talk about your egg quality depending on certain symptoms you are having. Other doctors will perform some tests to evaluate egg quality.
What causes poor egg quality?
These are some of the most common reasons why you may have poor egg quality
Smoking
Exposure to toxins
Insulin-resistance or blood sugar issues
Elevated testosterone
Nutrient deficiencies in the diet
Here are the most common signs of poor egg quality:
Infertility
History of miscarriages
No signs of ovulation
You can see how those signs of poor egg quality are pretty general. That's why testing is also used.
Egg quality evaluation tests:
Anti-mullerian hormone (AMH): This is a common fertility lab test. It actually looks at your egg reserve (how many eggs are left in your ovary) rather than egg quality (how ready those eggs are to make a baby).
Follicle count via ultrasound: This ultrasound looks at two things. First it looks at the egg size to see if there are mature eggs. Second, it looks to see if there is a "shadow" of an egg that recently ovulated. This test is again helpful to look for ovulation, but again, it doesn't look at the actual quality of the egg.
Egg evaluation via IVF: this is the top way to know if your eggs are ready to make a baby. This is when the chromosomes in the eggs are literally counted to see if they are ready for pregnancy.
So now you are clear on what egg quality is. You also know some of the signs to watch out for in your body and you know the top ways that egg quality is tested for.
Now you're ready to dive into the question, "can I still get pregnant with poor egg quality?
Can I still get pregnant with poor egg quality?
Your chances of getting pregnant with low egg quality will depend on a few things.
The first thing? Getting pregnant with poor egg quality depends on if the egg that actually ovulates is the one with poor egg quality.
Let me explain.
Your ovary has thousands of eggs getting ready for each cycle. Each one of those eggs can have different levels of quality. Some could be good quality and some poor quality.
But if the one that ends up ovulating is the one that has poor egg quality? Your chances of getting pregnant are going to be pretty low.
But if the egg that ovulates is one that has good egg quality? Then your chances jump up again!
If you're trying to get pregnant naturally, you just won't know. If you're trying to get pregnant with IVF, they will be able to tell you exactly how many eggs are "viable" or ready to make a baby.
The second thing that determines your chances of getting pregnant with poor egg quality is if poor egg quality is the reason you aren't ovulating.
Ovulation is a key part of the pregnancy process.
No ovulation? That means no egg to meet with the sperm and no baby.
There are a variety of reasons why you may not be ovulating. But if poor egg quality is causing you not to ovulate? Then you won't be able to get pregnant until you turn the poor egg quality around and start ovulating again.
Can I Still Get Pregnant with Poor Egg Quality? 3 Truths You Need to Know
Poor Egg Quality Truth #1
The only way to truly tell if you have poor egg quality is if you have a doctor look at your eggs through a microscope (typically done in an IVF setting).
Poor Egg Quality Truth #2
Jump back up to the section where I talked about the causes of poor egg quality. If you have any one of those circumstances that leads to poor egg quality, then focusing on improving egg quality needs to be a key step for your fertility journey.
Poor Egg Quality Truth #3
Just because you have poor egg quality today, does NOT mean you have to have poor egg quality tomorrow.
So instead of asking yourself, "can I still get pregnant with poor egg quality?" try a different question like, "how can I start improving my egg quality?".
Because egg quality can change for the better.
Yes it's true!
Remember how I mentioned above that eggs start activating about a year before ovulating? It's really in the final 3 months before the egg ovulates that it does the most activation, aka dividing chromosomes.
Lots of good research has been done on lifestyle changes and supplements to help improve egg quality.
How can I improve my egg quality?
So now comes the fun part! I'm going to arm you with a ton of resources to figure out a way to help improve your egg quality!
Ready?
Let's go!
Here's what to do if you're struggling with poor egg quality
If you want to improve egg quality in 30 days, head over here
Here are 5 powerful ways to improve egg quality
Have you heard of DHEA and CoQ10 for improving egg quality? In this article I explain why one is better than the other for PCOS.
Familiar with NAC? Here's the info you need to know about NAC and PCOS egg quality
Learn the important details about egg quality and PCOS in my ultimate guide here.
Can I Still Get Pregnant With Poor Egg Quality? A Summary
Poor egg quality means the egg doesn't have the correct number of chromosomes in order to make a baby. So if all your eggs that ovulate are in this position? Your chances of getting pregnant with poor egg quality are really low.
If you have some eggs that have the correct number of chromosomes, then you will have a better chance of getting pregnant even with poor egg quality.
But the biggest take-away for today is the fact that poor egg quality isn't something to consider a diagnosis. You can make powerful steps forward to improve your egg quality and I shared with you some of my popular egg quality articles that help you get some information on how to move forward.
Are you feeling broken and lost? Have you been told you've had poor egg quality and you don't want to be disappointed and have a failed outcome on your next egg retrieval?
Get the answers you need to improve egg quality.
Start by booking a PCOS Fertility Breakthrough Session today.
