The Road to Fertility

It is an invariable question that the fertility couple is bound to pose after the final leg of treatment. The hectic activity is over and now is the time to wait for the results and believe me, it can be very stressful. There is definitely the usual about medication and diet and rest, but the most important culprit that has to be tackled is STRESS!! Women should be advised to do whatever keeps their mind off the outcome of pregnancy. this slow de-petalling with "Will it..wont it" causes a lot of problems. Research has shown there are highest level of stress is documented on the day the final test for pregnancy confirmation is made. The Doctor's advice to the couple has to take care of the waiting period as well as the DAY! One way to look at things is to say to one self, I have given my best as has my doctor, ther's only so much i can do, and quoting Scarlett'O Hara's famous words in Gone with the Wind " 'll think about this tomorrow"! It's a...

Doctors will soon encounter this question more and more! Really, in the kind of highly sensitive medical environment that exists in the Fertility clnic, every little bit we do to ease the stress of these couples is less. Then how can we let our fertility seekin couples undergo the multiple heirarchial approch to clinical treatment? The couple would come for initial consult, laboratory workup, ultrasounds, injections, etc. etc. For each appointment they see a new face, who askes the same uncomfortable questions, makes some inelligible notes and hurries upto another couple without properly satisfying either of them! None of them are open with answering queries, solving problems,addressing the doubts. Some of them are unaware of what the previous doctors instructions were. The couple are left confused, intimidated and stressed out with the entire scenario. The picture reminds me of an Assembly line in a factory of say an automobile company. There are metal frameworks on an assembly line c...

That would be any sane self respecting person's first response to an offer of counseling. As mature adults we would like to believe we are totally capable of managing our lives! It's true to an extent. But when the issue is a highly intricate specialised one like an ART treatment, the parameters change. ART counseling is not all about the treatment and clinical jargon, rather it focuses on one to one interaction of the counselor and the couple, their expectations, their understanding and their comfort. Its a known fact that what you understand thoroughly does not scare or stress you. So when a couple steps in to the seemingly confusing and intimidating realm of fertility treatment, they are in for a whole baggage of doubts, conflicts, half baked information received from the Internet and their own interpersonal issues and insecurities. The stage is set for a highly stressed out one and a half month of treatment process until it reaches a peak at the time of final results of the...