Causes & Treatment
I Need to Have IVF – Should I be Scared? A Fertility Specialist Explains
Dr. Drew Tortoriello | 16 May 2022
Embarking on a fertility treatment path can be nerve-wracking and, for some, it might be a daunting or scary prospect.
But it doesn’t have to be.
By reading this article, you’re already doing what you need to do to help you mentally prepare for IVF: researching what to expect from fertility treatment. While it’s essential to speak with your fertility specialist to learn about what to expect from IVF and how to prepare, reading expert advice allows you to enter your first fertility consultation feeling a little more at ease.
Here, TRB has collaborated with Dr. Tortoriello (Medical Director at Sher Fertility Solutions) to give you expert advice from a fertility specialist about what to expect from IVF. Sher Fertility Solutions (view their profile here) offer cutting-edge fertility treatment at their clinics in New York and Las Vegas. Visit their website and book a consultation here.
If you’re nervous about IVF, read on.
Over to Dr. Tortoriello…
You’ve Got This!
So you (and perhaps a partner) have been working with a fertility specialist and have now come to the conclusion that IVF is the best path forward. How daunting a prospect is this? For some, very.
There is a lot of information on the internet about IVF and although some of it can be very illuminating and helpful, there is no shortage of other sources which are sensationalistic and unscientific.
Given this, and the fact that IVF represents a foray into different medications, more daily injections, and an egg retrieval procedure, it is only natural to feel a bit overwhelmed, intimidated, and perhaps even a bit scared. But it is nothing you cannot handle….in short: You got this!
Five Things to Know About IVF
1: How long does a cycle of IVF last?
Most IVF cycles are over in less than two weeks. And over those two weeks, there are perhaps five total visits to the fertility clinic. That’s it: about five visits over two weeks. You will not be in the fertility clinic every day for a month straight. And when you work with us at SFS-NY, each monitoring visit is made by appointment and lasts no more than 15 minutes in total. (We do not have an early morning “cattle call” in which every patient shows up simultaneously and waits forever to get assessed.)
2: I’m scared of needles: is that a problem?
Most, if not all, IVF medications are taken via very user-friendly subcutaneous injection. If you ice the skin around the belly button area, you may not even feel the needle entry. This is a far cry from the days of IVF when all shots were intramuscular!
You can even take estrogen and progesterone vaginally so your frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles can be entirely without injections, or perhaps do a natural FET cycle with no medications needed at all.
3: Will the IVF medication give me depression or make me irritable?
Most IVF medications do not dramatically affect your mood. The typical IVF medications are injections of the hormones FSH, LH, or hCG. These hormones can have some effect on mood, yes, but they are much easier in this respect than the oral medications typically used for IUI cycles, such as clomiphene or letrozole.
The oral medications lower your real or perceived estrogen levels which can make you feel menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes and very emotional or moody.
4: Will egg retrieval hurt?
The egg retrieval procedure is very well-tolerated. For the egg retrieval procedure at SFS-NY, you are given intravenous sedation, which most patients find quite pleasant. You snooze through the whole procedure, which lasts on average about 15 minutes, and feel no pain throughout.
As you sleep, you are given long-acting medication to prevent any pain later in the day. Most women leave the fertility clinic after the egg retrieval within an hour and feel well enough to go to work the very next morning.
5: What medical support is available to me during fertility treatment?
At Sher Fertility Solutions, NY, your nurses and fertility specialists are always available to you via email or phone, and we are here to make sure that you feel comfortable, informed, and optimistic throughout the entire IVF experience!
IVF is undeniably an emotional prospect but it doesn’t have to be a scary one. Having fertility treatment with a fertility clinic you feel you can trust will help put your mind at ease during this tense time.
The fertility specialists at Sher Fertility Solutions consistently provide personal, compassionate and state-of-the-art care. So book your first consultation with the team here.
Receive more expert fertility advice straight in your inbox by signing up for the TRB newsletter here.
