I found this article through www.health.com entitled, “Stress and Your Fertility” by Susan Dominus.
“Just relax.” is one of the most degrading and dreaded form of advice that infertiles can get while trying to achieve pregnancy. Yet, there is a connection between stress and fertility. Sometimes, stress can cause the absence of a menstrual period in women which is called amenorrhea. The first line of treatment for this condition is for a physician to prescribe Clomid. In this article, the author cites information that a resulting pregnancy from this type of treatment for this type of problem could be at risk.
Of course, being a massage therapist and a recovering stressed out woman, I have a lot of faith in relaxation therapies. These can include: massage; yoga; breathing exercises; yoga; counseling; and hypnosis. Other therapies can be included as well, and it seems that new therapies come along often. According to the article, by learning a relaxation technique while undergoing fertility treatment can help resolve the stress that can induce amenorrhea in the first place.
Emory University’s Sarah Berga, MD, who studies the connection between stress and interrupted menstrual cycles, believes in therapy. Not treating stress-induced imbalances, she says, may put the ensuing pregnancy at more risk. It’s common for women under stress to produce less thyroid stymulating hormone, Berga says. And several studies show that women with thyroid irregularities have babies with lower IQs than women with perfectly functioning thyroids.
Another benefit to relaxation therapy is that couples can learn these new skills together. Going through infertility can be a very rough time for couples and by enjoying and learning a new technique the stress of this time can be reduced. And the skills learned during this time will continue to be helpful in parenting situations as well.
Related posts:
February 2nd, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Hello there! Sorry it took me so long to set up my password to check out your new site. Thanks for reminding me to do so!
My first child is, in my opinion, proof of the relation bet. stress & fertility. I don’t think I’ve shared this with you – but we had some minor fertility issues ourselves. Nothing uncommon, but I believe that I had one very early-term miscarriage. We also weren’t conceiving after a few months of “trying”.
At my annual, my NP said that she thought it might have to do with stress. I had a very stressful job, and she also didn’t like the chemicals that I was exposed to. So we made the decision that I would quit the hateful job and go part-time at a bank instead. A month after starting the new, relaxing, glorious, chemical-free job, I was pregnant w/Bumblebee.
So there’s my story!