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One of the most difficult aspects of infertility treatment may be examining the question of when to stop medical therapy. You may find yourselves asking, "When should we stop? When will we know that we have done all that we can?"
Only you can tell when you have had enough - you need to make the final decision for yourself. Everybody has a different limit - but it needs courage to recognise when you have reached it. Some couples start planning for alternatives early on in medical treatment and when they reach their limits, they are prepared to try something else. Others may keep going to a point which pushes them beyond their final limits - and sometimes even further!
There are several reasons why infertile couples have trouble deciding when to stop treatment. First, there always seems to be a new medical option which promises the possibility of pregnancy for patients who could not be successfully treated in the past, and patient's hopes are kept alive by new developments. The pace of change in this field has been very rapid, so what was just a possibility a few years ago quickly becomes a standard treatment that is being offered to a lot of people today.
When it seems all the medical possibilities have been exhausted, researchers come up with a new solution, offering another chance to people who dream of bearing children. How can you pass up a new treatment when you've been willing to try everything else? Some couples also seem to get "hooked" onto treatment, and are willing to give up everything to pursue their dream of a baby -- they live on hope. Many couples cling to the fantasy that "one more try" would have resulted in a healthy pregnancy. Another reason is that some physicians may not recommend ending treatment.
© Dr. Aniruddha Malpani and Dr. Anjali Malpani www.drmalpani.com
Credits: How to Have a Baby: Overcoming Infertility
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