To think we don’t know the long term impacts of ivf

[Redteapot67]

I read shocking research (albeit in the daily fail) today that ivf children are x6 more likely to have hypertension, which of course puts them at risk of cardiovascular disease.
It’s a stark reminder the first ivf baby is only 40 years old - we have no idea about the long term impacts on a baby of being born this way which I find frightening.
Please - I just want to discuss this if you are going to be upset by the debate look at another thread.
My personal take is that despite the possible unknown health risks if ivf were my only route to having a baby I would have it.

Worth it though - ivf mum to 11 year old twins. They seem healthy enough to me.

I have a mate whose gone through alot of ivf and is starting to worry about increased risks of cancer etc for herself. I don't know if anything like that is founded?

You can't start a debate on an incredibly sensitive subject and then ban people who are emotionally invested from commenting. If you knowingly upset people on the internet they will respond.

A family member who gave birth via IVF just died of brain cancer a couple of weeks ago Rio and I'm wondering now if it could be related.

Yes totally worth it and I would do every time
But surely they need to urgently research the longer term impacts on baby and mum -across populations of course. For context my non ivf baby was very ill so it’s not like there’s a complete direct link! I guess us also living by a busy polluted road puts our health risks up massively too.

Think twice - no you misunderstand me - I like hearing people’s views and opinions. I just don’t want the debate shut down for fear people might get upset. I think it’s so important to debate these things openly

Please input! Just don’t say ‘you can’t say that’ to someone else

there are all sorts of unknown risks - what if all the mobile phones are behind the increase in brain cancer, wifi etc? Not having a child is a severe and terrible thing to befall a couple, science has found a better answer than nature the best we can do is keep funding scientific research and not worry about the things we can't influence.

I don't really know enough about ivf to think that c it would impact children by it is c known to be very harmful to women. The egg harvesting process has been known to cause early onset menopause for instance. If I didn't have any biological children I may have tried c it. But certainly if I decide to have more children in the future and can't concirvd naturally ivf isn't something I would consider.

As mum of two ivf babies i definately agree - however those of us who’ve gone through it consider its a risk we’re willing to take as the alternative is no kids of our own, which is a huge risk factor for depression, stress, loneliness...

I wish I hadn’t seen this.
But yep. I guess we went into itknowing that so much is unknown still.. ivf is a gamble, an incredibly emotional and expensive gamble and we were so so lucky to have our twins from our first round.

I was concerned to notice that a fair proportion of breast cancer patients I saw in my past job had been through IVF. Made me concerned about effects on the mother, with all the hormone manipulation around ovulation and conception.

Is IVF the only risk procedure though? What about Clomid? I suppose if you wanted a child so much you would make an educated (based on the evidence we have) decision.

yeah clomid, the impact of doing stressful jobs during pregnancy, there are a million ways to scare yourself silly.

In terms of children born from IVF I struggle to believe that it’s the IVF that has caused the health issues. However there are other factors / drugs that are given more commonly in Ivf pregnancies that could be a cause

I suspect that IVF is not v good for the health of the mother potentially but honestly it was worth it and I would do it again

Well, I think that there is a lot we don’t know about fertility, and its possible that IVF children might grow up to have more fertility issues (that by that time have emerged as genetic factors, inherited from parents).

But remember for many health related things, we don’t know the long term impacts of our lifestyle. We can just do the best we can with what we do know.

You might not be able to control that you need IVF, which might have some long term effects. But you can control healthy eating, encouraging exercise, regular dental visits, discussing smoking and responsible drinking etc. We know these things definitely have a positive influence on children’s health. I prefer to focus on this.

You sound like a lazy journalist OP. You just know the emotion a thread like this would evoke.

It's hard to believe that the oldest IVF baby is only 40, that isn't a lot of time really is it, when IVF is now so common place? I imagine certain things will emerge in terms of long term implications, particularly for mothers, but I guess we just have to see?

urgently research the longer term impacts on baby and mum -across populations of course

ummm - long-term impacts have to be investigated in the long-term. how do you plan to do that urgently?

I think it was a typical scaremongering daily mail article. It states ivf babies should be bought up with a healthy lifestyle to help prevent it. Surely anyone who has an unhealthy lifestyle is more at risk of cardiovascular issues.

I don’t know why IVF is being attacked so much lately

I have two perfect IVF dds. Both in perfect health.

My DGM was terrified they would be born with defects as it wasn’t natural

There are millions of kids that have things wrong with them that didnt come from ivf.

I also read that if you drink milk after the age of five you were 60% more likely to sustain fractures than if you didn’t..

It's true that we know so little about so much of this - partially because we still know so little about pregnancy (and particularly early pregnancy) in general. I took artificial progesterone throughout the first trimester, and was told 'studies show its safe'. When I looked into it I discovered that what studies actually show is that it doesn't cause birth defects - but of course that doesn't mean it doesn't cause anything that doesn't show up at birth. I worried myself sick over it - but then, looking at my gorgeous eight week old, born after I'd had three early miscarriages that they thought were related to a progesterone deficiency, would I take it again? Yes.

Well, I think that there is a lot we don’t know about fertility, and its possible that IVF children might grow up to have more fertility issues (that by that time have emerged as genetic factors, inherited from parents)

I had IVF due to getting an infection in my uterus from my coil. Which lead to scaring in my Fallopian tubes, which lead to two eptopic pregnancy’s.

I also know people that had IVF because they are lesbian

I also know people that had IVF because the mans spern was poor quality

The ignorance on these threads is staggering

the theory makes sense to me. in nature the strongest sperm fertilizes the egg. in ivf the sperm the doctor chose fertilizes the egg. logic suggests that this could cause health problems.

however, its normally older parents who go for ivf, and they say older parents are more likely to have a child with health problems. are researchers blaming ivf when in reality its parental age causing issues?

I don't think the daily mail is a reliable source of medical research. Or anything for that matter.