One biggest misconception I have come across during this journey is realizing just how many people think that all infertility is the same. It's not. There are so many different stories and reasons why a couple is struggling with trying to conceive. Here are just a few: endometriosis, thyroid problems, not ovulating, low testosterone from the male, not enough eggs, fallopian tube issues, cysts on the ovaries or other areas, and the list goes on. . . Mine for example has to due with a lot of freak items that all happened over time (see Bad News Comes in Threes). The loss of an ovary, minimal thyroid issues and a few other factors have made it so that I have a less than 1% chance of getting pregnant. All of my blood work and chemical levels are at a higher than normal level, but because of those few things not being where they should be at it creates that minimal success at conception. That's just my story though.
As I mentioned there are so many other reasons or problems that cause infertility which is why each story and struggle is completely different. The only thing that is not different with each story or journey is the pain, anger and frustration that each of us going through infertility deals with. One thing that has made it worse for me personally is when a person says flat out, 'Well infertility is all just the same right? So and so struggled with it for a year and then got pregnant after one treatment. I'm sure the same will happen to you if you just do everything they did.' Umm..no. I don't mean that in a harsh way, it's just that as I mentioned there are so many different reasons why a couple can become pregnant after one treatment and why others have no success with treatments. I have known people who went through 10 years of infertility treatments, everything from IVF to just taking Clomid, with no success at all. I have also known couples who went through just one round of infertility treatments and ended up pregnant. Each couple had completely different medical issues and were about the same age when their struggle began, but each couple had a completely different outcome.
Like I mentioned, each struggle is completely unique and none are too alike. The only thing that is the same are the emotions that we feel. If you ever come across a couple or individual who is struggling with infertility, I would encourage you to not try and compare their struggle with another couple's. Instead try to encourage and validate the emotions that they are struggling with. Doing something as simple as that will make a world of difference to them.
As I mentioned there are so many other reasons or problems that cause infertility which is why each story and struggle is completely different. The only thing that is not different with each story or journey is the pain, anger and frustration that each of us going through infertility deals with. One thing that has made it worse for me personally is when a person says flat out, 'Well infertility is all just the same right? So and so struggled with it for a year and then got pregnant after one treatment. I'm sure the same will happen to you if you just do everything they did.' Umm..no. I don't mean that in a harsh way, it's just that as I mentioned there are so many different reasons why a couple can become pregnant after one treatment and why others have no success with treatments. I have known people who went through 10 years of infertility treatments, everything from IVF to just taking Clomid, with no success at all. I have also known couples who went through just one round of infertility treatments and ended up pregnant. Each couple had completely different medical issues and were about the same age when their struggle began, but each couple had a completely different outcome.
Like I mentioned, each struggle is completely unique and none are too alike. The only thing that is the same are the emotions that we feel. If you ever come across a couple or individual who is struggling with infertility, I would encourage you to not try and compare their struggle with another couple's. Instead try to encourage and validate the emotions that they are struggling with. Doing something as simple as that will make a world of difference to them.
No comments:
Post a Comment