[ad_1]
January 24, 2022 – Kim Tranell had ovulation, a key procedure in her fourth and final cycle of in vitro fertilization, on March 16, 2020 – the day before the American Society for Reproductive Medicine proposed stopping fertility treatment due to COVID – 19.
In the time between this procedure and embryo transfer – the last step in the process – the rest of the cycle was postponed.
Tranel and her husband have been trying to have a baby since 2017. One miscarriage, countless doctor’s appointments and $ 45,000 later forced them to postpone their plans even further.
“It was devastating,” said Tranel, 39, of Brooklyn, New York. “It was really, very difficult to feel that something we had been waiting for so long and trying so hard for was now being held indefinitely.
The emotional shock was exacerbated by the pandemic stress, she said.
“There were all these jokes about having a pandemic baby boom, and for us it was the other way around,” she said. “Our hopes were dashed at the same time that everything else in our lives slowed down or stopped.”
Tranell’s experience is one of the many victims of COVID-19. As people lose their lives, loved ones and jobs, fertility patients like Tranell face other losses: hope and valuable time in an already difficult, long process.
A cycle of in vitro fertilization or IVF can take 2 to 3 months and includes several appointments, blood tests, tests and medications, often given with vaccines at home.
According to the CDC, 330,000 cycles of assisted reproductive technology – most of which are IVF – were completed in 2019.
But the pandemic halted these efforts for many couples in 2020 and 2021, said Stephen Brenner, MD, a physician at the New York-based RMA Long Island Fertility Center IVF.
“It was an extremely worrying situation for patients, understandably,” he said. “These people are dealing with infertility that they never thought they would experience, and now they are facing another obstacle. They already feel defeated, and now another obstacle is completely out of their control. “
Some of the concerns that led to the delay were resolved with the release of the vaccine, Brenner said. Many patients feared infection with COVID-19 during pregnancy, and vaccines provided protection and reassurance.
But that was not the only concern. Patients like Tranel feared they would face overcrowded emergency rooms in the event of a miscarriage.
According to a study by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, 85% of people whose cycles have been canceled say the experience is “moderate to extremely disturbing.” Nearly a quarter said it was like losing a child.
Even people who did not have to cancel their cycles were affected by the restrictions of COVID-19. An in vitro fertilization patient named Amanda, who wants to keep her last name, went through the in vitro fertilization process without her husband next to her. Many clinics have banned anyone but the patient from attending.
“He couldn’t get in and had to wait in the car,” she said. “It was a strange, detached feeling. This is already a difficult process to begin with. “
Doctors encouraged people to use FaceTime with partners during the procedures to keep them involved, said Lindsay Kroner, Ph.D., a specialist in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at UCLA Health.
But the lack of physical support during appointments is severe for patients, and the insecurity of the pandemic has added to the emotional and financial burden of treating fertility, she said.
“This adds another layer of anxiety to patients and many of them are delayed for many months,” says Kroner. “For many people, a few months can make a big difference.”
Although most clinics have reopened completely and are taking appropriate precautions, the high-transmission Omicron variant has raised new concerns among patients.
“The last jump really woke people up to the huge consequences of this pandemic,” Brenner said. “We thought we were going through this, to get back to normal. The impact was diminishing. That reawakened all this. “
[ad_2]
Source link