Knowledge Makes IVF Treatment Easier - Why you need to become an expert patient

As a patient, you need to invest energy in doing your homework about your IVF cycle , and learning about the medical details and the technical minutiae. This will make your IVF treatment easier , and much more interesting as well .  You can actually play a game , because if you know what the next steps are going to be, you can prepare for these . You could even compete with your spouse, to see who knows more ! Even better, if you know what's going to happen , you are not caught unawares if things aren't progressing as expected, and can ask intelligent questions and prevent complications.

Thus, if you are taking super ovulation drugs , you know you will start having a vaginal discharge , which is actually a good sign because this means that your follicles are producing oestrogen which is causing your cervical mucus to become stringy and thin. This is not a sign of a vaginal infection , so you don't need to panic unnecessarily. 

Similarly, when you know that the doctor is doing ultrasound scans to track the growth of your follicles , you can eagerly forward to seeing the screen and admiring your growing follicles.  Not only does this make the IVF treatment much less stressful, it also gives you a sense of control , because you know what the next steps are going to be, and you don't get blindsided by unpleasant surprises.  

Equally importantly , if things don't go as planned , you will know that something is amiss , and you will be able to discuss this with your doctor , so that he can explain to you what they can do to tackle some of these unforeseen problems.  Going through IVF can be stressful, but knowledge is power , and you can use this knowledge to make your IVF treatment easier to deal with. 

You can also share your knowledge with the other patients in the IVF clinic , so that you can help them to traverse their IVF journey with greater peace of mind . Being generous with your knowledge will help them - and the best way of helping yourself is to help someone else.  Sometimes there are all kinds of silly niggling doubts which trouble IVF patients.  Patients are often scared to ask the doctor any questions, because they feel the doctor is too busy , or may get irritated if they pester him with their queries.  If you are a well-informed patient, you can be the go-to person in the IVF clinic so that the other patients can come to you and ask you questions . You can help them resolve their doubts, so they can continue their IVF journey being troubled by unimportant worries which don't allow them to sleep well at night .

Rather than complain that the IVF doctor doesn't tell you anything, you need to become proactive, and learn as much as you can about IVF on your own. The more you know, the more your doctor will respect you !

Our free IVF e-learning course at www.ivfindia.com can help you to become an expert IVF patient ! If you need more help, please send me your medical details by filling in the form at www.drmalpani.com/free-second-opinion so that I can guide you better !