I'll close this series with my mantra:
"IVF is Rarely the Only Answer to Unexplained Infertility"
That is not the impression the media will give you, where IVF is given an over-inflated level of credibility and respect that is simply not on the table for holistic fertility support. It is quite normal for a media story to explain that a celebrity conceived with the help of IVF, but very rare for a media story to explain that someone resolved their fertility issues and fell pregnant with only holistic support (rare enough that I have never read that in a mainstream news story, even though practitioners like myself see it happening over and over again).
As soon as you start exploring infertility on the www or on social media, you will be inundated with posts on your feed about IVF (even though less than 5% of couples struggling with infertility will turn to IVF). You will be inundated with 'facts' telling you that pregnancy through IVF statistics are really low if you have low AMH or are over 40 (or both), but no effort is made to explain that most of the pregnancies of people with low AMH or who are over 40 happen without the help of IVF.
In my experience, IVF is unnecessary for many people struggling with infertility. Yes, sometimes it is absolutely necessary, but almost without exception, couples who contact me have the spectre of IVF looming as their next step to take (it’s often the only thing their doctors have recommended).
And yet over half of our intake achieve pregnancy naturally.
Maybe IVF would have worked for them, but in many cases it would have been like using a hammer to crack an egg (a very expensive hammer that puts a huge strain on body and wallet).
For a significant number of our clients we uncover things that have been negatively impacting fertility, and which would have made IVF success less likely. By resolving these issues we are able to help couples to conceive naturally without the need for IVF, for others we are able to support them to prepare for IVF with a much higher chance of success.
For other clients that walk through our doors, IVF is necessary. These clients usually have a horrendous back story, often involving multiple failed rounds of IVF (even some of those achieve a natural pregnancy with us). A simple, off the shelf protocol with little to no preconception care is not going to be enough, and repeating the same protocol with the same clinic over and over again is rarely the answer. They need someone to review everything, to work out what has been done and what has been missed and to pull together a team of experts to guide them through to a successful outcome.
So my number one piece of advice for anyone who has struggled to conceive this year is not to assume you need IVF (even if that is what you have been told). Maybe you can get there without it if you have the right team around you.
But if you do really do need IVF, you may need to invest the time into a few months of expert preconception support beforehand rather than rushing straight into IVF once that option is on the table.
Did you think you needed IVF?
Do you know why?
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