Stress, anxiety, and panic… effects of having IVF?
Welcome back to my fertility series , if you want to check out my previous posts click here: Fertility files
I think I was the minority in my round of IVF- everything happened so quickly- I didn’t have time to stress. Booking me onto IVF was a little bit of a surprise to say the least!
I went to a normally appointment about the fertility drugs I was on at the time (Tamoxifen). They had scanned me to see if I had ovulated. Nothing as per usual. The doctor then said ‘Right we will up your dose’. I must have had a horrified look on my face- he asked what was the matter.
I casually said ‘Christ, If I take anymore I will rattle when I walk’. Confusion hit him. I was asked for the packet and the doctors had prescribed me wrong. He apologised said I was on the highest dose and if that didn’t work then the ovulation inducers wouldn’t work. On that he swiveled on his chair opened his diary and asked if 3 weeks’ time for IVF was acceptable.
With this I was happy- I felt like I had a solution to my hellish 3 yearlong ache for a baby. I never doubted that it wouldn’t work. Was it my age? Potentially I was 23. Did my naivety and lack of research do my favors- yes massively. There was no stressing, throughout the whole situation I was cool as a cucumber. Did that help with the fact that it worked first time of course it did.
As I have got older I stress about everything, I mean everything. I am a mild nightmare. My stress levels would be very different if I had it again. I see people in forums being told not to panic. Panic comes naturally especially when negatives can come out of the situation. It must be horrendous. Anxiety is a vile thing in day to day life. IVF is life changing and the stress that is undergone is awful.
Especially when IVF outcomes can be changed by stress levels and hormone changes. My tips for keeping calm are;
- Breathe through a situation- when an onset of panic comes on. Count to ten and breathe through it.
- Write it down- problems written down solve a lot in my head.
- Think of the worst and best outcomes- I must logically think what the worst and best things to come out of the situation can be.
- Talk to someone. This is a great one- yes, your mum was right! A problem shared is a problem halved!!
If you know someone going through it give them a helping hand. The reason why counselling and forums are great for people. It is the support network that is needed.
