Discontinue Fertility Treatments, Get Pregnant?

Wow, I've witnessed this phenomenon numerous times especially when I ran an infertility support group. It seems like when people take a break from fertility treatments or discontinue them altogether, they get pregnant. At first, I thought it was just coincidence, but according to this article, it's a documented phenomenon. I realize some couples with certain physiological problems must go through fertility treatments to conceive, but for those in the unexplained category, this article may be of interest. Read more:

www.psychologytoday.com

From the article:

In fact, emotional stress is the second-most frequently cited reason for dropping out of infertility treatment, trailing only financial constraints. It's not that the treatments are difficult, but that the people undergoing them simply can't take the conception-related pressure for long. In one Swedish study, a group of couples having trouble conceiving was offered three free cycles of IVF. Fifty-four percent dropped out of the program before completing all three cycles. The reason most commonly given was psychological stress. In an Australian study, couples offered six free IVF cycles completed only 3.1, on average; again, stress and mood effects were the top reasons cited for dropping out.

When treatment and its attendant stresses stop, pregnancy occurs often enough to be a documented phenomenon. A 2004 study from the Netherlands found that 26 percent of women who chose to drop out of fertility treatment after their first cycle went on to become pregnant without further treatment. Thirteen percent of women who dropped out after the second treatment cycle also became pregnant afterward.

Exactly how perceived stress results in reduced fertility is still sketchy, but the links in the chain of causation are becoming clearer. Negative emotions can kick stress hormones like cortisol into overdrive. Those stress hormones, in turn, alter physiology in ways that can be at odds with conception—by lengthening the menstrual cycle, for instance.