Experiences with Fertility Treatments in India - Part 2

My experiences with Fertility treatment started a year ago, in early 2014 and my doctor suggested to drop a few kilos( I am 5.9” and 80 kgs), reduce stress in my life (due to excessive travelling for work), and start the medication Metformin (insulin resisting drug), Meprate (period regulator), and Folic acid. The treatment plan according to the gynecologists across the world was the same.

I started with Yoga and running to lose a little weight. I was also on the medicines prescribed, I started menstruating regularly. But the insulin resisting drug, had some serious effects on my mood.

At work, I would often get frustrated and angry, and when I ate some food, I could feel the physical effect of my anger draining. When I met my doctor for a regular checkup, she informed me that the side effect was rather extreme. She suggested that I stop Metformin and continue with Meprate and Folic acid. I was getting a regular scan almost 1 a fortnight. My scan showed that while there were many eggs in my uterus, none of them were growing to the required size or fertilizing. This is when my gynecologist recommended that I start taking Gonadotropin injections starting with 75ml every day for 7 days. This cost me Rs.14000.

My eggs were scanned during the week and on the 7^th day and she suggested that I take it

for 3 more days. During this scan, my eggs had grown to a significant size . I was feeling a lot of pain in my uterus. I started bloating and I put on about 3kgs in 10 days. My stomach was the size of football, I started having all the symptoms of (what I thought) was pregnancy, back pain, irregular sleep, mood swings etc.  During the ovulation period, I found it physically difficult to have intercourse. 

I called my gynaecologist and asked to see her and after a scan she confirmed, that I developed ovarian over stimulation.

My eggs had grown even larger and fluid was leaking to the other parts of my body. This could also happen while you are pregnant due to the now balanced LSF:FSH. So we had to wait till my next cycle to find out if I was pregnant . As a home remedy, she asked me to drink up to 5 litres of water a day to ensure electrolyte balance, stop exercising and to call her if I felt any shortness of breath or nausea. I was distraught with the fact that my doctor had informed me this was rare and that she was monitoring my dosage closely. 2 days later, I had nausea and she suggested that I check in to emergency services at a hospital close by. Check out Zywee.com to locate a hospital nearest to you.

By the next day, I was given plenty of IV, my blood, weight and urine quantity constantly checked. I was also given an ultrasound to discover any complications  such as the fluid had moving to my lungs or spleen. After 1day at the hospital and Rs.35000 spent , I was discharged and told to wait for 2 weeks for the OHSS to resolve itself. In the next 2 weeks I lost 4 kgs and discovered that alas I was not pregnant. I was asked to stay off all medications for a month.

And for the next month, the treatments ceased, and having a gynaecologist I trust has what's made this journey bearable.

Find a gynaecologist you trust, because the road to having a baby, if one is reproductively challenged is long and arduous.  Log on to Zywee.com and find your trusted doctor.

Experiences with Fertility Treatments in India

I am a 37 year old married woman, eagerly aspiring to motherhood(being a mom), this is my first long  (1.5 years) exposure to the Indian Gynaecological Medical experience.

I first met my gynaecologist; she came highly recommended from trusted friends who are mothers themselves, in mid 2013. She is young and talented doctor, approachable and a typical South Indian family doctor educated in England. Her husband is a Heart Surgeon, so all in all a trusted doctor. So it was very easy decision in placing my ovaries and body in her hand.

My first appointment was easy enough, she asked for my age, previous pregnancy attempts, lifestyle habits, etc. She also wanted to know how long we had been trying to get pregnant. I have not been pregnant before and nor have had any complications. I had found when I was 26 that I have PCOD. The doctor then told me that I would need to start with treatments only if I wanted to get pregnant, which I did not at that point in time, so I continued to live my life. My work took me travelling around the country and the world, which meant I had a hectic life and a very social lifestyle. After my marriage at the age of 33 yrs, I wanted to give some time to our relationship and 3 years down the line started to think on the lines of being a mother. We had not specifically used any contraceptives for the last 1 year. So the lack of pregnancy clearly showed me there was something amiss.

Based on the doctor’s recommendation we took a few tests including hormone’s test (LSH: FSH ratio), insulin level, blood tests to negate any sexual diseases and my husband took a hormone test and fertility test including sperm count and motility. The results were as follows: My FSH (Follicle Stimulating hormone) count was very low and I had an insulin resistance. My husband results were fine.

 

Based on the results, the gynaecologist confirmed that I had PCOD (Polycystic Ovarian Disorder)

By this time more than 6 months had flown by and I had invested Rs.13000 on the hormone test for us. Our appointments and scan were each Rs.500 .I was aware that my age and my lifestyle were an impediment, so I asked the doctor that question that every woman hoping to be a mother asks. “Am I too old to be a mother? Can I become a mother biologically, do I have a defect? Do I have to try IVF?” My doctor very calmly told me that I can be a mother and that PCOD is common enough, with 1 out of every 4 women suffering from this condition, and that this can be fixed. She also assured me, that I will be a mother in a year or so at least by the time I am 38 years old. I left the gynaecologist feeling very confident of her and my abilities.

The journey is far from over, this is just the start, if you or any one you know are in the same situation as me, I'd recommend that you start research early on and get yourself tested and be prepared for an arduous journey.

Empower yourself with information of the best resources available to you, website like Zywee.com provide information about doctors & tests that one can get done, should one find themselves in this situation.

Part 1