Tell me all the worst things about ivf

[Anonymous]

Lots of things I hate about IVF and the obvious one is that it didn't work. But, I actually really hate the blood tests.
Injection, blood test, and ultrasounds. I couldn't stand doing ultrasounds as I feel really uncomfortable but towards the end, the blood test was worse. I don't have good veins and they were getting really painful from the frequent tests.

[Anonymous]

I would add that my life felt on hold. Going in for monitoring and then needing more or changing the date for the next one. Procedure might be this day or this day. We will have to see. Don’t book a vacation because you aren’t sure when you might need to be back and then need bloodwork after that. Negative test and then got your period. Need to be in town for day 3 monitoring.

Again, it just felt like I was planning my whole life around the tests and procedures and not really able to live my life. Know of a woman who planned her older DD birthday party to be completely able to run by someone else in case her transfer timing lined up with the party date. That kind of stuff is hard..

[Anonymous]

Failure. Everything else (including cost) i can endure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would add that my life felt on hold. Going in for monitoring and then needing more or changing the date for the next one. Procedure might be this day or this day. We will have to see. Don’t book a vacation because you aren’t sure when you might need to be back and then need bloodwork after that. Negative test and then got your period. Need to be in town for day 3 monitoring.

Again, it just felt like I was planning my whole life around the tests and procedures and not really able to live my life. Know of a woman who planned her older DD birthday party to be completely able to run by someone else in case her transfer timing lined up with the party date. That kind of stuff is hard..

The failure and cost were the worst - but this was hard too. You want to buy tickets for something at the Kennedy Center that is a few months away but you wonder if you will need to do a trigger shot during the show. Your parents (who in my case didn't know I was doing IVF) want to come visit but you may have an ER that day. Ditto for a group dinner with friends. Feeling like you can't book a vacation or weekend away even though everyone is saying "take advantage of this time pre-kids to travel).

[Anonymous]

The doctors not having any idea how things will play out for you! It’s super encouraging!

[Anonymous]

For someone who has significant anxiety, IVF is the worst. I chose to get off my medications because I didn’t want to be one them during pregnancy so my emotional state was not good. Every step of the process was nerve wracking—the day 3 results, the number of follicles I had, how many eggs they were able to get, how many fertilized, how many made it to day 5, how many were normal, and of course the dreaded two-week wait. Every phone call from the doctor made my heart race and hands shake. When something didn’t go right I would be a mess for several days. Also, feeling alone during the process because very few of my friends had to go through the process and most didn’t understand.