Fertility counselling and associated risk of infertility treatment

How can a counsellor help?

Our experienced fertility counsellors know exactly what you are going through and can help you to clarify your feelings and deal with your fears. Having a counsellor to talk to, either as a couple or individually, allows you to offload the intense emotions of the experience in a way that you may not feel comfortable to, or even be able to, anywhere else. You don’t have worry about upsetting them by expressing doubts or concerns.

Can a counsellor help me decide?

It is not the fertility counsellor’s role to offer advice, but they will help you to organise your thoughts and feelings so that you can make the right decisions for yourself. They will act as a sounding board, helping you to express your hopes and fears. Often just saying these things out loud, in a safe space, to someone who will listen without judgement, is all that you need.

Exploring difficult issues

While there can be moral and ethical issues with almost all fertility treatment, the use of donor eggs or sperm can be particularly difficult for couples to cope with. Your counsellor can help you come to terms with the fact that only one of you will be the biological parent of your child. They will help you to think about what and when to tell your child about their conception, given that they now have a legal right to know who their biological parent is.

Complete confidence

Everything you say to your counsellor is treated with the strictest confidence. You can say things to them that you may not even be able to say to your partner. Your fertility treatment team will not have access to your counselling notes, so you can be honest and open about how you really feel, facing your fears so that you can find the strength to deal with them.

Unrealistic expectations Despite the high success rates of many of our treatments, it is important to be realistic in your expectations. Fertility treatment may significantly increase the chances of conceiving, but you need to understand that there are no guarantees.

Just like natural conception, fertility treatment doesn’t always go exactly to plan and produce a live birth. Sometimes (thankfully very uncommonly) there may not be enough good eggs harvested. Or there can be “failed fertilisation”. The risk of having a miscarriage, especially in older women can be as high as 15% The “live birth rate” is less than “clinical pregnancy rate” (which is when we show fetal heart beat on USG). Then there is a risk that implanted embryos become lodged in the fallopian tube, leading to an ectopic pregnancy.

Multiple births As fertility techniques have been improved and refined, the risk of the multiple births, which were common in the early years, has been significantly reduced. However it is important to understand that this is still a risk, especially with techniques that artificially stimulate the ovaries to produce eggs. We will do all we can to avoid this occurring, however you need to be prepared for the possibility.

Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS) In rare cases, however, OHSS can lead to severe abdominal pain, excessive growth of the ovaries, collection of fluid in the abdominal cavity and can even need admission to the hospital or ICCU.

Financial loss While you have nothing to physically lose by trying fertility treatment, there is always a risk that you will spend a great deal of money and nothing to show for it at the end. One way to minimise this risk is to opt for one of our fixed price packages, or better still, our guaranteed money-back deals. Take a look at our pricing page to see how much you can save with a fixed price, and what you could get back if your treatment is unsuccessful.