IVF exercise?

[Anonymous]

Along the same lines of the last post, did any of you, (who've gone through IVF), do any exercise while you were going through the process?

I know I can't do kickboxing, and the nurse told me I should not (and probably would not want to) run. But is the elliptical trainer OK, ya think? Pilates? Yoga? Should I stick to walking? I thought if I at least tried to keep some semblance of my normal life, maybe I wouldn't obsess as much. Many thanks!!!

[Anonymous]

My RN told me not to run once I started stims but that elliptical and fast walking was still okay - I ran until the day I started stims and did elliptical the rest of the cycle. It was one of the only ways to keep my sanity. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I used to run or do pilates up to day 1 or 2 of stims, but otherwise did walking and the elliptical. It actually was uncomfortable to do pilates or swim once I started stimming, and I didn't want to stress my body by running. I would not recommend doing yoga unless it is specifically for fertility because twists could hurt your ovaries. (BTW - there is a yoga fertility class starting up at Spiral Flight yoga in upper Georgetown, if you're interested).

[Anonymous]

I know this might sound lame, but you will understand when you finally get going with this...

If you respond well to stims, and make a lot of nice, big follicles, you will know exactly when to stop exercising. Sometimes you know exactly when to stop doing much walking. I could only get to about 3 or 4 days into my stim, and I was 'feeling' it.

I got to retrieval and I was hoping that DH would avoid even the smallest bump in the road.

Just be relatively careful if you have a high tolerance for pain...because if you stim well, you just don't want to risk ovarian torsion...

I had a lot of bright ideas about what I was going to do throughout my stims...they fell by the wayside once I started.

WLD

[Anonymous]

I ran (3 miles) up to about 7 days of stimming, then switched to bike or walking. You will feel sore so each person is different. I walked the day after retrieval(mainly to help with constipation), ran 3 days after ER, and will probably jog the morning of transfer (day 5). Just listen to your body and instinct. You certianly don't want to risk ovarian torsion.

[Anonymous]

I ran until I started stimming. I gave up boot camp while I was on the bc pills, because I didn't know how long I was going to be on the pills and I didn't want to pay for a whole month when I could only be there for a week or two. I was a 5 days a week 5:45 am boot camp addict and ran on weekends.

I've been riding my stationary bike and doing some weightlifting, push-ups and some ab work. I believe the issue is with the bouncing. I was told I had to give up boot camp.

I saw the doctor this morning and he said that we will probably trigger tomorrow night or Saturday night. I'm older(41), doing the microflare protocol and I only have 6-7 follicles so I'm probably not feeling as much as many of you.

I'll probably exercise up through retrieval and before transfer. After transfer I'm going to take about a week off of everything.

[Anonymous]

I used to do cardio right up until starting stims (and did fast walking up until it got uncomfortable), but after my 3rd cycle failed, I decided to see an MD who also specializes in chinese medicine. He stongly advised stopping all cardio a couple months before doing IVF (I am still allowed to do some walking and yoga/pilates). He said that when you do cardio the body senses stress (as if you were being chased by a tiger or something) and thinks it's not a good idea to get pregnant. I think if I got this advice earlier on in the process, I would have dismissed it -- but now going into my last IVF cycle I decided to go ahead and listen to his advice (even though I'm still skeptical about it). That said, I know women who ran up until their first few days of stims who are pregnant now. Anyway, here's a link to my doctor's book in case anyone s curious http://www.amazon.com/What-Doctor-About-Getting-Pregnant/dp/0446694967

[Anonymous]

For those of you who were successful and stopped or severely curtailed exercise, when did you start back up. After you got a + beta, earlier or later? Also, did you go back to running or other intense cardio?

I am hoping to get back to some form of cardio, albeit gentler, like elliptical, bike or swimming as opposed to boot camp (combo cardio and weights) and running.