The number of people suffering from infertility is increasing year by year, and many families are suffering from infertility and need to receive “artificial fertility treatment”. Many patients, who do not know much about the process of assisted conception treatment, fail to receive timely diagnosis and treatment, and when they come to our Reproductive Center, their ovarian function has significantly decreased and their chances of getting pregnant are greatly reduced. We have summarized the doubts and mysteries in the minds of most patients, and we would like to explain and clarify them here in the hope that infertile couples will have a better understanding of assisted conception technology, get out of the misunderstanding of IVF and receive timely and appropriate treatment.
Myth 1: “I want to take my career to the next level or to do IVF after I have taken care of my body”
The ovarian function of women starts to decline after the age of 37. If you miss the golden age of conception for the sake of your career, you will not be able to get any medication or so-called “ovarian maintenance” until your ovarian function declines significantly. Therefore, it is necessary to go to a regular hospital for treatment as soon as possible!
IVF treatment is not as complicated as we think, as long as you adjust your mind and arrange your time reasonably, I believe it will not affect your work and life too much.
Myth 2: “Isn’t it very painful and scary to do ovulation promotion injections?”
At present, most of the drugs used in fertility centers are imported drugs with high purity and no impurities, and are administered by subcutaneous injection with a fine needle, which is less painful and less likely to cause allergies and bleeding. Many patients can inject themselves at home, which is very convenient and does not interfere with their work schedule.
In order to make IVF easier and more effective for you, we will also develop some more comfortable and safe plans for you to minimize the inconvenience caused by medication and injections.
Myth 3: “If I use up all my eggs with ovulation, will I have no eggs and have early menopause?”
This is a very common misconception, but it is purely a misconception!
There are about 300,000 eggs on the ovaries during puberty, which are depleted and shrink at a rate of about 30 eggs per day for the next 30-40 years. Without medication, only one egg in a batch of follicles will grow and ovulate each month, and the rest of the eggs in the batch will then wither away. This is a “waste and recycling” process that does not deplete the egg stock and therefore does not cause early menopause.
Myth 4: “Ovulation injections will make you fat?”
Some patients complain of weight gain after ovulation injections. This phenomenon is due to the fact that ovulation injections cause estrogen levels to rise, which causes water retention in the body (i.e. temporary “water retention”), resulting in weight gain or edema. Some time after treatment, as the medication is metabolized and estrogen levels return to normal, the water retained in the body will be excreted and weight and edema will be restored. Some women, fearing that diet and activity will affect the success of IVF, will over-supplement and restrict physical activity, or even rest in bed every day, which will naturally lead to fat accumulation and weight gain.
Myth 5: “Doing IVF will increase the risk of breast cancer?”
In recent years, there are some untrue reports that ovulation promotion may increase the risk of cancer, and there are also gossips that a celebrity has breast cancer because she has done IVF several times. In fact, breast cancer mainly occurs in women who are genetically predisposed to breast cancer, and poor lifestyle habits can also increase the risk of the disease. A large sample of Swedish scientists showed that the risk of cervical cancer in situ and breast cancer in women undergoing IVF is lower than that of the normal population, so undergoing IVF itself does not increase the risk of breast cancer.
Myth #6: “Will egg retrieval and transplantation be painful and hurtful?”
The egg retrieval procedure at our Fertility Center is performed under general anesthesia after the anesthesiologist has prepared a superficial general anesthetic. Patients can be fully awake within minutes after the procedure and do not need to be hospitalized.
The procedure is like a white belt test, completely painless and without anesthesia. You only need to lie down for about 20 minutes after the procedure, and you do not need to be hospitalized, let alone completely bedridden.
Myth #7: “Should I be completely bedridden at home during my IVF treatment?”
Bed rest is not helpful to improve the chance of conception. On the contrary, prolonged bed rest will reduce the blood circulation to the uterus, which will affect the implantation of the baby, and will cause anxiety due to excessive concentration, which may lead to contractions and increase the risk of blood clot formation.
Myth 8, “IVF babies may have defects and be prone to miscarriage?”
Long-term follow-up results from reproductive medicine centers in different countries over the years have confirmed that early miscarriage and abnormal fetal malformation rates in IVF are similar to those in natural conception.
Myth 9: “Will fetal reduction cause miscarriage”
Some couples do not know about the abortion reduction procedure, and they think it will cause miscarriage, so they refuse the procedure, which results in bad pregnancy outcome and regret. The procedure is not like an abortion where the gestational sac is aspirated or scraped out, but only a tiny needle is used to remove the extra gestational sac or terminate the development of the extra fetus, which is technically quite stable and hardly hurts the mother and the retained gestational sac.
Remember this: “The risk of fetal reduction is far less than the risk of a multiple pregnancy!”
Health tip: IVF, includes the process of ovulation injections, ultrasound to monitor follicle growth and development, night injections (i.e. egg breakers), egg retrieval (sperm retrieval on the same day for the male partner), embryo transfer, luteal support, pregnancy test and ultrasound to see the fetus. In the fertility clinic, you should consult with your doctor in detail and take time to attend more awareness classes at the fertility center. Once you have a basic understanding of the IVF treatment process, you will find that many of your previous anxieties and worries are completely unnecessary.