Thursday, February 13, 2003
this is so funny (from the boards)
http://www.fertnet.com/html/crunch_time.html
"There is much mythology regarding the post-transfer period. Programs vary widely in their recommendations for activity after the transfer. I’ve had patients tell me that they were told to lie motionless for several days. Many patients spend the entire 11 days between transfer and pregnancy test in bed, and patients often express intense feelings of guilt and remorse if they have to move about more than they think they should be.
In a word, this is all nonsense.
At Saint Barnabas, we recommend lying down for 30 minutes after transfer. I fully believe that is 28 minutes too long. The uterus is a potential space, meaning that walls of the uterus quickly envelope the embryos after they’re transferred, leaving them really no place to go. Neither coughing nor sneezing, nor picking up a pet nor a young child, nor laughing, nor arguing of one’s spouse is likely to dislodge the embryos after an embryo transfer. I’ve long proposed a research study where we had half of our patients jump up and down on a trampoline after embryo transfer to prove that activity was unimportant. I fear, however, that I may have difficulty convincing patients to sign the consent form for that study.
Why am I so adamant about this? In my 10 years of doing IVF, I’ve found that patients will look for any possible reason to blame themselves if a cycle does not work. I spend an awful lot of time reassuring patients that they did nothing to adversely affect the outcome of their cycle. No one needs a new source of stress during an IVF cycle.
I have few recommendations for my patients in the interval after transfer. It seems prudent to avoid extremes of heat, whether through vigorous exercise, or through saunas, Jacuzzis or steam. It’s appropriate to refrain from alcohol and not to decide to take up smoking or drug use. Embryos that are destined to survive and turn into a good pregnancy are hardy. The course cannot be altered by something going on anatomically miles away from the inside of the uterus.
Copyright David Sable, M.D.
All rights reserved. © 2000"
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