Does Stress Affect My IVF Outcome?
Your family and friends may have told you countless times to “stop stressing out” and that “it would improve your chances of success” with in vitro fertilization (IVF) if you were less stressed. This may be completely inaccurate and probably makes you even more stressed. While stress may affect your production of stress hormones, the regularity of your menstrual cycles, and ultimately fertility itself, the relationship of stress with IVF outcome is unproven. In IVF, ovaries are stimulated and eggs are mechanically retrieved without relying on your natural menstrual cycle. Many studies have looked at the relationship between stressand IVF outcome and the results are mixed at best…the same way you would get a 50/50 result when tossing a coin. A Swedish study followed 166 women after their first IVF cycle and found no association between outcome and stress levels 1 . I have had many patients who conceived that were emotional wrecks during the ten-day waiting time prior to their beta h