Stress and infertility 1

For many infertility patients, the achievement of an ongoing pregnancy is maddeningly elusive. The anguish of enduring repeated cycle failures creates overwhelming frustration. As time goes on, the prolonged cumulative effect of this stress can actually cause physiological responses counter productive to reproduction. In the paragraphs below the escalating stages of despair are described and relaxation ideas are suggested to help counteract the deleterious effects of stress. Infertility strikes one couple in six. The older a women the more likely she is to need medical intervention to conceive. In this most intimate area of a couple's life the stress of medical treatments demands escalating amounts of time, emotional investment and money. A woman, undergoing infertility therapy herself, wrote the following quote that eloquently expresses the anguish of an infertility patient.

"My infertility is a blow to my self-esteem, a violation of my privacy, an assault on my sexuality, a final exam on my ability to cope, an affront to my sense of justice, a painful reminder that nothing can be taken for granted. My infertility is a break in the continuity of life. It is above all a wound… To my body, to my psyche, to my soul."
-Jorgensen, l981. On healing. Resolve Newsletter, Dec., 1.

The "wound" to the psyche and soul that Ms. Jorgensen addreesses in her quote is the area where patients can make a difference in their own treatment and is the subject of this article. The physician is providing the very best medical care for the "body" but to treat the "wound to the psyche and soul" will require the mental participation of the patient. This article will empower the infertility client to take charge of the progressive stress levels engendered by infertility treatments by explaining:

1. The progression of infertility's despair
2. The consequences to reproductive function that stress can cause
3. And how to utilize joyful and relaxing activities to diminish stress.

Blenner (1990) describes the predictable progression of infertility's emotional toll. There are eight stages as summarized below. The spiral depicted on the right illustrates the downward drift of emotional health and excalating despair

1. Dawning of awareness: Couples plan the best time of the year to have a baby; realize it seems to be taking longer than expected, still identify with fertile population.
2. Facing a new reality: Diagnosis stimulates couples to face reality of infertility. Blaming, guilt arise. Selective perception of success rates and discounting of side effects and risks of treatment. Begin to isolate themselves.
3. Treatment: Hopeful, excited, high energy.
4. Intensifying treatment: Infertility major focus of life, financial and time sacrifices intensify. Anger or depression occurs. Increasing isolation, avoids activities with children. Loss of control.
5. Spiraling Down: Tearful, overwhelmed, enrages by the injustice of infertility
6. "Letting go": Usually husbands "shut down" first, then wives. Resume social life but activities without children (backpacking). Strong desire to regain control of life, quitting is gradually OK.
7. Quitting and moving out: Initial feelings of relief, followed by grief. Initiation of adoption for some.
8. Shifting focus: For childless couples, peaceful resignation. For adoptive parents, focus on the child.