Let Go for IVF Success

Preparing for IVF can be a daunting experience, there’s medications to manage, injections to give, clinic visits - and of course there’s your diet, exercise etc…all play a role. But did you know your mind (and your emotions) also influence IVF success? If you’re ‘doing all the things’ but have left mental preparation out of the equation you’re missing out on tools to make this journey less stressful - and hopefully a lot shorter.

Fertility researchers suggest that there are specific psychological factors that are associated with IVF outcomes;

• Your body’s response to mental and emotional stress.

• Your normal (trait) ‘anxiety’ levels - high or low?

• Emotional responses to treatment - hope or hostility?

• Your relationship with your partner…etc etc.

  One important psychological factor that we’ve discussed before, is not so much about the stress experienced when preparing for IVF, that’s undeniable - but the coping strategy used by women in the studies to manage that stress is fascinating.

  How you are coping might be throwing a spanner in your IVF works, but you can learn more adaptive strategies to stack the odds in your favor of a successful IVF.

  Express Emotions or Not?

  “Sharing is caring” is a virtue many of us hold to and “a problem shared is a problem halved” goes the saying but is sharing our struggles really halving that problem (infertility stress) or adding to it?

• A UK/Greek study by Panagopoulou et al., (2005) suggests that emotionally expressive coping (EEC) may in fact be a risk factor for reduced pregnancy rates in women undergoing IVF. Women who coped by expressing their emotions were less likely to get pregnant than were women who did not.

In the study of 342 women participating in the study, 79 became pregnant, representing a success rate of 23.3%. There were no statistically significant differences between women who became pregnant and those who did not in terms of duration of infertility, causes of infertility, previous IVF attempts, or previous children. Emotionally expressive coping was found to significantly reduce the chances of a positive pregnancy outcome; that is, women were less likely to get pregnant if they displayed their emotions concerning infertility and its treatment.

Stumped by this finding? So was I. Don’t we usually feel better after a good cry or vent? Yes it may give us some short term relief but it may not be the healthiest coping mechanism when experiencing infertility. Interestingly, research from other clinical areas, such as with people suffering from insomnia or going through painful medical procedures has shown that an ability not to focus on one’s emotions, but to be distracted from them, can result in beneficial outcomes. Like most research there are other studies that claim the opposite. A mindful approach means we nod to the emotions and thoughts but don’t give them any extra air time. The more frequently we express those negative emotions the longer we’re keeping that stress response going in our experience…the longer we’re exposing our precious cells and reproductive organs to unnecessary stress hormones and inflammation.

A subsequent study by Rapoport-Hubschman et al., (2009) explored a unique coping approach found in mindfulness - “letting go” (acceptance). 23% of the women become pregnant with IVF in this study. Of both coping measures (expressing emotions or letting go) only high ‘‘letting go’’ levels were significantly associated with IVF success: women who became pregnant had higher ‘‘letting go’’ coping levels.

How Does Letting Go Help?

Experts theorise that expressing these difficult emotions keeps ‘infertility’ front and center of our mind and body. It keeps the stress response going with rumination and worry. No doubt you’re well aware that there’s a large body of evidence linking prolonged activation of stress with several physiological systems, including cardiovascular, endocrinological, immunological. However ‘letting go’, is characterized by mental disengagement from the stressful situation and a lowering of stress. Scientists hypothesize that by its effect on worry and ongoing stressful thoughts, letting go may have a beneficial effect on the psychological and physiological responses to stress during IVF.

In my own experiences with primary and secondary infertility everything changed when I threw in the towel. I didn’t quite give up but all of the temping, charting etc was taking up so much headspace it was the only thing I could focus on. Like many women I eventually got to the point of saying “fck it” - and I stopped trying. And of course you know what happened next…

So what’s your coping style? Let Go and Let God? Jesus Take the Wheel? Or rage against the machine?

Tracy