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Dr Roseff, I co-own an infertility support group on Yahoo, and we've been having a discussion about instructions after egg retrieval with IVF. In particular, many women are being told by the RE's to avoid intercourse and/or orgasm until the pregnancy test, and if they are successful, they are told to abstain until a heartbeat is detected. Can you explain the reason for this and why some RE's say orgasm is ok and others say it's not? I assume risk of infection is part of it, but I'm not 100% sure. Many women just feel too embarassed to ask the question, so I thought I'd pose it here to you. Thanks!
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Hi,
Glad to hear of another support system for those struggling with fertility!!!
Egg retrieval involves placing a needle through the vagina into the pelvic cavity to aspirate eggs. This runs a risk of infection. When we do anything in the pelvis that runs a risk of infection we tell our patients not to place anything in their vaginas for a certain amount of time afterwards so as to avoid an even greater risk of infection. For example, penile thrusting in the vagina can push bacteria into the pelvis, and we don't want that in a patient who is already at an increased risk of infection.
Here's the (perhaps unfortunate) reason we suggest abstaining from intercourse until a heartbeat is seen following assisted reproduction --> Most miscarriages, if they are going to occur, are seen before the point of getting to a heartbeat in the first trimester. When couples have intercourse in early pregnancy and then start bleeding (miscarrying), they often blame themselves for the loss. They think they "damaged" the pregnancy with coital activity. There's no truth to this, and even though we tell them their sexual relations had nothing to do with the loss, they equate them time-wise and feel guilty. The guilt can have long-lasting adverse effects on their own mental state and on their relationship. So, in order to avoid this, we just say not to have intercourse. Make sense?
Orgasm neither affects getting or staying pregnant. I tell my patients that orgasm is perfectly fine at any time, as long as it doesn't result from intercourse at the times we tell the couples to avoid it. My saying, in fact, is that they need to "hold off on intercourse, but all other forms of sexual activity, as defined by Bill Clinton, would be fine." - LOL!
Hope this helps,
Dr. Roseff in Florida -
HAHAHA!! Love the Bill Clinton reference!
Thanks for explaining this, and for saving the women in my group the embarassment of asking their REs this question in person :o)Comment
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