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Egg donation - for donors | 
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This site has been set up as a result of the lack of easily-available information on egg donation for British women who may be considering it or who want to find out more. It aims to provide straightforward answers to most questions and concerns so that women are more able to make an informed decision or have a better idea of what the whole process involves.
Donating eggs often involves undergoing general anaesthetic, and the drugs and collection procedure could affect the donor's fertility afterwards. If you are considering becoming a donor it's up to you to find out as much as possible about the risks so that you can make an informed choice to go ahead or not, especially if you want to have children at some point afterwards.
I'm writing this as a recent donor myself, as a result of feeling very isolated during my treatment, and in particular because I spent a lot of time worrying about the side effects of the drugs and the collection procedure. If you have any comments (especially about the accuracy of the information), would like to add to the list of resources or would like to add your own personal experience, please contact me at krissf@hotmail.com.
If you want to copy or quote anything from this site please do, but bear in mind the following:
The impetus for creating this site came from my own personal experience and the preliminary resource was the basic medical information I was given by the clinic at the time, and my understanding of the procedures I went through. You may find that other clinics do things differently.
All sources are given in the list of links, except for the information given to me by the clinic. Much of the basic information about infertility, the treatment procedure and the drugs was obtained using the Internet. The National Gamete Donation Trust provides a very helpful information pack for prospective egg donors which you can obtain by writing to or phoning them. Details about the drugs can be checked using a British National Formulary (sometimes available in local libraries; if it doesn't have an up to date one, your own GP or local pharmacist may be able to let you have access to one). The clinic you approach should be able to explain in as much detail as required exactly what the treatment involves, and your own GP may also be able to help.
Legal information can be found on the HFEA web site but if you don't have access it can be sent to you by post. You can find out more about the ethical issues by doing a search on medical ethics, or by contacting your local bookshop (or Amazon). Most large bookshops should have a couple of relevant books in stock, although the technology is moving so fast they are not always up to date with the latest developments.
It is also interesting to check books aimed at infertile couples, although in my experience they contain very little information of direct relevance to potential donors. The advice given to parents about egg donors is not very detailed either, although this is less true of US publications.
Special thanks to Doug Clow who took the time to check the medical details and made useful editorial comments.
