Could therapy help unexplained infertility??

[Litsie]

Hey all, first time posting after 3 years of trying for another child and just like everyone I am getting soooo frustrated!! I am wondering if anyone has tried getting in touch with a fertility consultant? I think my secondary unexplained infertility is related to what's up in my head! I had a miscarriage at 7 months and maybe its an underlying issue?!? Any experiences and recommendations pls?

[itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted]

Hi OP I haven't had therapy but do do fertility acupuncture and reflexology and sometimes they have an holistic element to the treatment about focussing on your body desires etc

So far not worked for me.....

Unless caused by stress I don't think therapy can "fix" infertility or miscarriage- 99% of the time there is an underlying medical issue - age / weight / chromosomes / egg quality/ sperm issue etc etc

[partysong]

Psychological therapy? No it won't help you get pregnant. I am a therapist and it took me 4 years and IVF to get pregnant. Therapy would have made no difference at all, don't let anyone tell you it will.

[ChocolateGateaux84]

Agree with the sentiments above
Be very cautious of any 'therapist' out there offering woo woo psychological interventions claiming it will cure your infertility
Infertility is a medical disease. Unexplained just means not yet explained by medical science. Lots of the time it's down to idiopathic poor egg or sperm quality, or immunological disfunction which is still very poorly understood and treatment is very scatter gun at present

[EL8888]

I doubt it very much, even as a person who has unexplained fertility. I am part trained in therapy and with a partner who is a trained therapist so have some insight into it all

[Oliversmumsarmy]

I don’t know about therapy but if you don’t think it will do any harm then go for it.

I do know of a couple who went through all the fertility treatments etc and failed to get pregnant.

Decided to stop trying due to age and come to terms with the fact that children were not on the cards

Went on holiday and 9 months later gave birth

[Coughy4u]

Not therapy but some people swear by 'the secret' book to achieve goals. Some think its bollocks. You could look into it and decide.

[YeahNahWhal]

for you, OP. Unexplained secondary fertility is such a head fuck. I've been there and I know the desperate search for anything that might help, especially as your near the due date for your little one lost.


We never tried therapy, but I did try acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine and low dose aspirin. Also started on the IVF pathway, with a hycosy to check/flush my tubes.


In the end, we did get our second child (after 18 cycles TTC). Best advice was sex every second day until well clear of ovulation, like a good week past where you think it is. I think my egg quality was waning, as I am now perimenopausal in my early 40s. So we were lucky. I hope you are too.

[Ladymadonna31]

@Oliversmumsarmy I know you mean well but these kind of posts give me an absolute headache!!! So this couple never went on holiday the entire time they were ttc? This was their first holiday since they started? Had they definitely given up? Did they try a new procedure right before they gave up that may have altered hormone profile/cleared a tube? They weren’t timing intercourse? She wasn’t taking any folic acid etc?

Friends of mine who were TTC 4 years just had a lucky natural pregnancy after one round of ivf failed. They keep insisting it’s because they’d ‘given up’ and ‘gone on holiday’ even though they’d been on loads of holidays over the 4 years and even though they’d apparently ‘given up’ she was still going to fertility reflexology every week and they were still timing dtd and taking supplements. So not given up at all really...

It’s more likely that my friends got pregnant due to the hormones in the ivf just before but people prefer the ‘I just gave up and if happened’ line. Now their friends are no doubt telling under poor couples they know people who gave up went on holiday and got pregnant

To the Op. unless stress is actually impacting on your cycle (ie you’ve stopped ovulating) then a therapist is unlikely to help. If you feel you have unresolved issues then it could be useful for you to talk through those regardless. Unfortunately unexplained means there is no medical explanation not there is nothing wrong. One couple I know had unexplained and IVF worked for them first time. Another couple with unexplained took two years to get pregnant then had a miscarriage but they are Trying naturally a bit longer in hopes it will work again.

[Bookiewook]

No direct experience but the lady who recommended my gynae to me said that after seeing lots of other doctors at a few clinics, this doctor reckoned she had something of a mental block and prescribed therapy to her. She then had a successful round.

[Oliversmumsarmy]

So this couple never went on holiday the entire time they were ttc

I don’t think they did.
Every penny went on trying to get pregnant and if they did go on holiday they were still thinking of getting pregnant.
Yes they had given up. At 49 they really didn’t think it was going to be possible

I am sure that the hormones that were still in her system together with the complete relaxation did help.

[Ladymadonna31]

@oliversmumarmy ah ok that’s great! I was going to do another round of ivf but I guess instead all I need to do is completely give up and have a holiday where I’m not ‘still thinking of pregnancy‘and et voila a pregnancy! I wish I’d thought of that.

[EarlGreyT]

@Ladymadonna31
The cynic in me would say that the couple who “went on holiday” actually went abroad and used donor eggs under the guise of being on holiday.

I’ve never found the tales of these mythical couples who gave up and relaxed/got drunk/went on holiday/went on the adoption list in any way helpful.

[Ladymadonna31]

@EarlGreyT given that the chances of a natural conception at 50 are 1 per cent and this woman was 49 I would think you are correct.

Agreed re mythical stories! Generally the absolute exception rather than the rule and not even remotely useful.

[EL8888]

Gotta love a went on holiday and magically got pregnant story. Waiting for a side portion of “you just need to relax”

[Oliversmumsarmy]

Ladymadonna31 isn’t that what therapy does

[GreyGoose1980]

@EarlGreyT
Agree - most ‘friend of a friends’ who are suddenly pregnant after going on holiday and ‘relaxing’ are likely to have gone abroad to do ivf. People don’t tell all their friends the details of their ivf - especially ones who have no understanding of infertility.

[PurpleDaisies]

Have you actually had any experience of infertility oliversmumsarmy? I can’t work out why you’d bother posting such misleading advice (go on holiday and relax) on a thread like this.

[Litsie]

Thank you all for your comments, its great to hear from therapists too. Believe me I went on several holidays in these past 3 years and was relaxed and yet big fat nada! I think ivf is my next 'holiday'!!

[Ladymadonna31]

@Oliversmumsarmy no therapy for infertility does not make you ‘give up and stop thinking about getting pregnant’.

[CkFa]

Google Catching Rainbows. Make up your own mind. They were wonderful for me. Everyone is different. Good luck.

[PurpleDaisies]

Stop posting this rubbish satveer.