Dr. Rachel McConnell is a Louisiana native who graduated from Louisiana State University Medical School and completed postgraduate training at Tulane University Medical Center before moving west, where she was appointed assistant professor and chief of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. She is now at Nevada Fertility C.A.R.E.S. in Las Vegas. Here, she explains who is a good candidate for IVF.
Although many women achieve fantastic results with in vitro fertilization (IVF) every year, there are a number of reasons why IVF may not be the best option for a woman or why someone may not be a good candidate for the treatment.
One of the first things that pops into my mind is uncontrolled medical issues such as diabetes. If it is uncontrolled, diabetes can certainly be a medical condition that would prohibit a woman from being able to use IVF. She may be a good candidate for the treatment lateronce she has gotten her diabetes under control, but those diabetes issues certainly need to be taken care of before a fertility treatment like IVF can be considered as an option.
As for the other health issues that would be a problem for a woman trying to conceive, any number of medical conditions that would stop someone from trying IVF right away. That is not to say that this same woman might not be able to try IVF later on, but while a medical condition is uncontrolled, that is not the best time to start with a fertility treatment like IVF.
The health issues I come across most frequently with patients include women who come in and may have some type of large uterine fibroids, which can actually make their uterine cavity distorted. Because of that, you would not want to put that patient through IVF without some type of intervention first. Until that patient underwent some type of surgical procedure to remedy her fibroid situation, she may not even be able to carry a pregnancy. So as a physician, you would certainly wait until that treatment was completed before beginning with IVF.
In other cases, you may have some patients who have gotten pregnant in the past, but are just going through miscarriage after miscarriage at the current time. If they have gone through a full workup, and everything else with their health looks normal, then in that particular case I might not recommend IVF as a treatment option for them at the current time. For those particular patients, surrogacy might actually end up being a better and safer option to consider.
In order to be considered a good candidate for IVF, a woman has to be willing to go through and endure everything associated with the process from frequent appointments at the fertility center to the injections that women must give themselves as part of the process.
In terms of pain, I wouldn’t say that IVF is painful. But the injections can be a little bit uncomfortable for some women, so that might be something to consider if you fear that you might not be able to commit to it.
The egg retrieval itself is usually not especially painful. After the retrieval is finished, in many cases I don’t even have to give the patient any pain medications to take home. With some patients, of course their tolerance is not the same so they may want to be given a little bit of pain medication. But in the majority of cases pain medications will not be given after retrieval because the pain does not warrant it.
The only way to tell for sure whether you would be a good candidate for IVF is to visit a clinic and speak with a physician.
The information in the article is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your healthcare provider. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with an appropriate healthcare provider.
