IVF side effects Archives

Side Effects of IVF

February 17, 2011 By Carol Leave a Comment

Before I begin I want to clarify that these side effects shown below are from my my full blown IVF treatment for natural killer cells. Most people would not get these symptoms or the arduous treatment that I have gone though. The images below are the result of what I believe are withdrawal symptoms from steroid treatment. The thing is that shortly after (well immediately) after stopping steroid treatment, my feet started to swell up.This is a treatment you undergo if you have natural killer cells.

A few week later I went Christmas shopping. I was out for the whole day and noticed as the day wore on that feet were increasingly sore. Latter when I came home I stripped off and discovered that my legs had swollen again and had develop this massive rash. It took ages for the rash to disappear – probably about a month. However I am still left with a slight discoloration on my right leg.

IVF and Your Sex Life

September 10, 2009 By Carol Leave a Comment

It’s a pretty delicate topic I know but IVF is not conducive a good sex life. For a start, when you are doing a full stimulated cycle, the following passion killers are likely to, and do, happen:

1. You may bleed for several days after you expect your period to end because you have been taking a contraceptive pill since the start of your period
2. You experience intermittent spotting during your cycle whilst you are taking hormonal treatment
3. Quite likely you may bleed after egg collection and will be feeling quite sore and bloated for a couple of days
4. Your breasts may become sensitive to touch so any foreplay is just out of the question
5. Because you are inserting Crinone Gel to line your uterus, you worry that a pile of it will end up on your sheets (it does!)
6. You decide to avoid intercourse for the for 24 hours after transfer (just in case the embryo falls out)
7. Both of you will continue to avoid intercourse cause you are both scared your partners penis might dislodge the embryo (As if! But as IVF is so darn expensive you both don’t want to repeat the process)
8. You then get your period

I think this just about covers the two months when you are cycling. Of course, you do have breaks in between when things get back to normal – whatever that is. But after several cycles of doing this, combined with all that previous experience of trying to conceive, you sex life just diminishes. You know you need it to bring sexy back but it all becomes too hard during this time. Its pretty ironic that this is the case, given that the old testicles need to be used to produce good quality sperm. See my blog on sperm titled Keeping the River Flowing).

The good thing about not doing IVF: Bringing sexy back.

A Positive Thing About IVF

August 31, 2009 By Carol Leave a Comment

One delicious thing I like about IVF, is that it actually gives me a break from trying to work out when I am ovulating. Seriously! I mean the good thing is that the clinic does all checking and I don’t have to monitor anything. I just have to turn up and follow instructions. Given I am a naturally lazy person, this suits me down to the ground.

It also suits me because I work in a job where I am always monitoring everything – from managing and tracking how a project is running to reviewing and analysing sales data. For me, not monitoring anything is like a dream come true! Hand holding at work is not something I enjoy.

Unfortunately when I am not doing IVF, I am back to monitoring and tracking my menstrual cycle. For some reason, I still have some glimmer of hope that I will conceive naturally even though I know that in our case it is highly unlikely. So with this in mind, I now find myself painstakingly recording the results of urine tests and fertility microscopes. The problem is that I’ve been monitoring my cycle for a number of days and it is now day 19 and I still haven’t ovulated. Although this is not uncommon following IVF treatment, I am impatient for my cycle to get back on track.

In any case, my plan of attack has been to ambush my husband and coerce him into having sex with me more frequently. Such a task I know!! He hasn’t complained yet but I suspect that he has not really appreciated the fact that he has had less sleep. Such is the joy of trying to conceive.

Sure Signs You are Not Pregnant

August 12, 2009 By Carol 2 Comments

Bad news. Constant breast groping has revealed my breasts are back to normal. They are no longer sore and tender and pumped with hormones. The pimples on my face have gone down only to leave my nose with ugly flashes of red (thank God for make-up).

I take the breast thing as potentially bad news – it seems unlikely that I am pregnant. However, I remain in hope that this is not the case. That hopefully, the lack of tenderness I am experiencing is just a sign that my body has worked hard to remove all those excess hormones that developed as a result of the injections.

I really don’t want to think about the consequences of spending another $5,000 on yet another treatment. I am in denial and I am still weeks away from receiving any reimbursement from Medicare for yet another IVF attempt. Next year, some sweeping changes to Medicare will mean that IVF will not get as much favourable treatment so the out of pocket costs will definitely rise. The implications of this are yet unknown.

I contemplate the research I have been doing on IVF and count my fortunes that I do not live in the USA where IVF is more than double the cost of doing it in Australia. I guess there are small blessings in everything. The best blessing though, would be a pregnancy. Who I am kidding!

Five Side Effects of IVF Treatment

August 10, 2009 By Carol Leave a Comment

While I am in in the official two week waiting zone, I thought I would share some of the side effects I have encountered during full blown IVF treatment:

1. Acne
2. Bloating
3. Constipation
4. Spotting
5. Sore Breasts

Without fail, my nose has become victim to acne. Apart from the lumps on my face, I get to look like Rudolph before Christmas time.

Immediately after egg collection, my stomach bloats. The bloating usually subsides after a few days but I have been known to bloat for up to 1 week afterwards. Annoying if you are planning on going out to any fancy outing.

This time around I managed to avoid the dreaded constipation. It can however be a problem. My advice – drink plenty of water because it helps in overcoming this problem.

Light bleeding is common after egg collection. Most times it goes away within 24 hours although this time it lasted for about 4 days. My advice is to have some panty liners on hand.

I touched on the topic of sore breasts a few days ago. All those hormones definitely have side effects. The bad news is that if you aren’t pregnant it subsides just before you get your period. The good news is that maybe you might actually be pregnant. Just wait the full 14 days before pulling out your test strips.