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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be annoyed at IVF comments

484 replies

Strawberryshortcake28 · 20/04/2020 14:43

My IVF was cancelled due to CV which although was devestating I completely agree and understand money and resources need to be better spent elsewhere

What I am annoyed about is the comments I have been hearing about how it shouldn't be available in the first place on the NHS and it is a waste of money

Infertility is a disease! Caused by all different health issues imagine not being able to have your own DC
Imagine trying every month and getting your hopes up for years and years to be disappointed month on month

Imagine watching all your friends have their dc and think you'll never get the chance and feeling like you have nothing in common anymore
Imagine waking up every Xmas or mother's day with no DC to spend it with

Infertility has been the hardest experience of my life and made me severely depressed IVF gives me hope .

Yes you can go private and pay for it yourself but not everyone is in the financial position a lot of couples spend thousands on treatment with no DC at the end the NHS could be their last hope give them one more shot
Yes adoption may be an option but not everyone can be approved or is it an easy process

Aibu to be angry ?

OP posts:
SirChable · 20/04/2020 20:39

@TigerQueenie

No one ‘needs’ to have reconstruction surgery after cancer.

No one needs to have white fillings in their front teeth as opposed to amalgam.

Not everyone needs physio for a torn ACL. I didn’t. (And when I had it - despite wanting it rather than actually needing it - it was covered by my private policy even though it was offered on the NHS)

Not everyone needs smoking cessation services from the NHS. My household earns 6 figures a year. When I quit smoking I paid for it. I could have got it funded by the NHS.

You may wish it were the case, but the NHS doesn’t just cater for need as opposed to want.

DellAmorenonsisa · 20/04/2020 20:40

@Linning so if IVF is taken off the NHS you’re in favour of you not having children? Or... are you in a financial position to pay for it privately? As that would explain your blase attitude toward it being removed. So again if it doesn’t affect you you’re happy for it being removed.

ImPeckish · 20/04/2020 20:40

I've always thought that if it didn't occur naturally it wasn't intended to for a reason

So if a woman has complications during childbirth, we can just let her and the baby die. Because, you know, naturally it wasn't intended for a reason. Same for cancer, right? You get cancer, it must be naturally meant to be, so no NHS treatment for you.

WriteAndErase · 20/04/2020 20:43

Just to really wind up the anti IVF on the NHS brigade, we got NHS funding for IVF because we can't conceive naturally since we're a lesbian couple.

Turned out my wife also has fertility issues so even if she was with a man she would still have needed IVF but we didn't find that out until half way through and it had no impact on our funding decision.

Lynda07 · 20/04/2020 20:43

WriteAndErase: I too never thought of infertility as a 'disease' but apparently some do:

www.bioedge.org/bioethics/is-infertility-a-disease/12551

I don't grudge the op some NHS treatment and I hope it is successful, it does work sometimes. From what I've read, it is not a particularly pleasant thing to undergo, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been brave enough but who knows? Nobody knows how they'd feel in a similar position.

Trapordo · 20/04/2020 20:44

The NHS is not limited to diseases, it helps with cosmetic issues, speech delays, autism, birth control... - note, I am not saying these are less worthy to be under NHS remit, just that they are also not diseases but that their inclusion is less controversial for some reason.

Well obviously autism and speech delay don't come under scrutiny, one is a disability and the other a possible symptom of a disability. If you don't treat speech delay, the person may never be able to communicate Confused if someone doesn't have IVF... They don't have a baby that's biologically theirs. Otherwise their life is the same as it always has been. If speech delay isn't helped, it could literally impact all their chances in life. How can you compare the two?

Leighhalfpennysthigh · 20/04/2020 20:46

@peperethecat my heart goes out to you. I have been there and for me there was no child at the end of it. I hope for you that you get the baby you deserve and long for so much.

For everyone suffering this cruel disease love and hope for a happy ending. And if you don't get yours, then I am proof that there is a light at the end of the long, dark tunnel. There is a life out there for you. It might not take away the pain, but when the time is right, you can smile again and find joy in other things.

lucindalovescats · 20/04/2020 20:50

I'm so sorry strawberryshortcake. Many people just don't understand to be honest. All the research proves that going through infertility causes similar stressed levels to a bereavement or severe illness.
As someone who has gone through IVF , it was like my future had been destroyed along with my hope and dreams. Amazingly I am grateful to say I have two beautiful children (both IVF) but I can't forget that agonising feeling. I can only imagine how it must be for you at the moment. Having treatment cancelled must be horrific. I am so sorry.
Please just ignore the other comments, anyone who has gone true infertility sympathises and understands. Wishing you all the bestxxxx

TigerQueenie · 20/04/2020 20:53

But it isn't a need. It's a want. It may be something you want greatly, but that doesn't make it become a need.

What are the mental health implications when it comes to failed IVF, as the majority of treatments fail.

lucindalovescats · 20/04/2020 20:55

Please ignore my message put on the wrong post, sorry

peperethecat · 20/04/2020 20:56

But it isn't a need. It's a want. It may be something you want greatly, but that doesn't make it become a need.

For some people, including me, it is absolutely a need. It is consuming me. I've never known anything like it.

Until you've been in this situation you can't possibly comprehend what it is like.

bee222 · 20/04/2020 21:02

The comments on this thread are some of the worst I have ever seen on mumsnet.
Honestly - some of you should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves.
It's so easy to make your nasty comments to someone struggling with fertility when you have your kids all nicely tucked up in bed.

Someone even managed to weave in that people with depression should fund their own treatment because they don't want an American style insurance system. Take a step back and listen to what you are saying.

I'm pregnant now but previously tried to take my own life during my struggles with fertility. I was be DEAD now if I was forced to fund my own treatment.

Wannabangbang · 20/04/2020 21:05

I have no idea what it's like to be infertile but i completely sympathise with you op. I think everyone deserves a shot at becoming a parent and should someone need ivf to facilitate this i think it should be provided for, obviously not during covid but in normal circumstances. People that are this bitchy clearly need to have more empathy

FraughtwithGin · 20/04/2020 21:05

Infertility is not a disease.
Infertility may be caused by a disease.
Infertility affects both women and men.
However, the state/NHS should not be obliged to provide a child "on demand" just because people are having fertility problems.
The success rate for IVF is somewhere around 15%, which is a low ROI.

Fromthebirdsnest · 20/04/2020 21:06

People who haven't been though infertility and baby loss do not understand and cannot understand what it's like OP and shouldn't comment on these things ,of course it should be funded infertility is awful and this " well you should adopt " attitude comes from complete ignorance , adoption is a difficult and long road to go down , there isn't enough newborns for the amount of people that want them and there are all kinds of issues plus some people don't want the addition stress of an abused \neglected child it's not nice but it's true one of my closest freind s is the head social worker for our area (I also did after school child minding for her children)and the difficulty s some family's face with children not settling and life long troubles of children who have been abused and also unfit parents fighting tooth and nail for years to keep there babies (even though they have long term substance abuse issues)so they end up in long term foster care is awful, it's not as easy as picking a happy healthy child from the baby supermarket 😒, I'm so sorry your ivf was cancelled i hope you get your little miracle soon xxx

Halo1234 · 20/04/2020 21:09

It's very much a need for lots of people. Mother nature is strong. We are programmed to want to reproduce hence we are all here. To say it's a want is imo the equivalent of saying antidepressants or assess to mental health care is a want not a need (and obviously its not). We are designed to have children and if we cant then our body's should get the help they need to achieve it. The same way we help when other systems dont work they way they should. If you have a strong maternal/paternal drive which lots of do (without it the human race would be long gone imo) it's very much a need to have children.

bee222 · 20/04/2020 21:09

@FraughtwithGin

A baby on demand? that is what you think IVF and fertility treatment is? it's not a supermarket where you can just go demand a baby. How woefully ignorant and naive of you. Have some empathy.

MarieIVanArkleStinks · 20/04/2020 21:13

As someone who has gone through IVF , it was like my future had been destroyed along with my hope and dreams. Amazingly I am grateful to say I have two beautiful children (both IVF) but I can't forget that agonising feeling.

It's devastating. It becomes an obsession. My issue wasn't becoming pregnant. It was staying pregnant. I had miscarriage after miscarriage, and having already confirmed those pregnancies nothing could have prepared me for the devastation of those losses, or for knowledge, once I knew I had those babies inside me, or how much I loved and wanted them.

There were myriad possible reasons why it was happening but nothing confirmed. We at last succeeded in having one healthy child, but his twin died so I've never known a pregnancy where I didn't experience a devastating loss. We were never able to have more. I was really sad, but after what we went through I was grateful to have the one.

It cost our life savings, expensive investigations like Chicago blood tests for elevated killer cells, hidden clamydia tests, numerous intrusive examinations, investigations, attempts with Clomid, failed IVF cycles and one successful. In total this must have seen off in excess of £80,000. But I have my beautiful DS, and would have sold the last thing I owned if it meant the chance to have him.

If other women get instantly knocked up then bully for them, but it doesn't give them more of a 'right' to be mothers than those who have to work so hard for it. And I'm among the lucky ones. There are other women like me who never ended up holding their longed-for baby.

I agree with the PP above. It's one of the worst threads I've read on Mumsnet. The country wastes huge sums of money on causes that are far less worthy, and if you're among the ones who ends up paying for this treatment, you pay handsomely. You can trust me on this.

Much empathy, sympathy and positivity goes out to anyone who is suffering through this. I hope your time will come. Flowers

AnneLovesGilbert · 20/04/2020 21:14

Flowers for you OP. I wish you every luck in your treatment when it resumes.

SerenDippitty · 20/04/2020 21:18

I went through IVF but it did not work for me. I did survive though. I have a life that I enjoy. I would not want anyone to think that if you want a baby but can't have one that your life is over. It feels a bit taboo to say this but it is true.

HavelockVetinari · 20/04/2020 21:22

@Linning you're clearly talking through your hat here - lesbians are just as entitled to fertility treatment as heterosexuals. If insemination or IUI fails you can access NHS IVF the same as anyone else Hmm

JustAboutHoldingItIn · 20/04/2020 21:22
  • @JustAboutHoldingItIn OP never asked about adoption. She posted about IVF*

Yes, I can read. And comment. OP mentioned both adoption and IVF and I chose to put my thoughts down about both aspects and my experience. Like many other posters. I'm not sure why you have taken issue with that.

Fromthebirdsnest · 20/04/2020 21:22

I'm fuming at some of these replies op , a baby isn't a right , miscarriage and baby loss is meant to be ECT ECT honestly do people actually believe that shit? We spend more on.missed gp appointments then we do ivf for God same how can people want to.begrudge someone a chance of happiness?

TotorosFurryBehind · 20/04/2020 21:29

Yanbu. For some people the desire to have children is based on an innate biological drive, to be unable to have a child when you want one is unbelievably painful.

The NHS funds lots of stuff that is not 'essential' or life saving (Viagra for example), it's not a charity, if you pay NI you are entitled to use it.

After years of infertility I finally have my baby, I hope you will too OP xx

WriteAndErase · 20/04/2020 21:30

HaveLock, you don't have to of tried IUI or insemination to get IVF as a lesbian couple.

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