Hello All...

I hope no one here is offended by me coming here with this question and I'm not sure if anyone can help me. Here is my situation -

I am a first year nursing student and I am doing a project on fertility drugs. My partner's role is to argue against their use and my role is to argue FOR them. While I can state all the medical facts of why it is safe I would also like to be able to offer and human and personal note of WHY fertility drugs should be accepted...so I was wondering if anyone would be willing (anonomously if need be) to offer me their experiences on why most patients opt to try with fertility drugs despite the risks instead of taking another route.

Thank you all so much for you time. I hope no one thinks I am out of line by posting here...that is truely not my intention!

-Claire

I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for, but I think fertility drugs are good if used properly.

I used injectibles to get pregnant with my son after 10 months of trying without meds. My husband gave me the shots and I had to go to the clinic every other day for an ultrasound to see how my follicles were developing. They monitored very closely to ensure I would not have too many eggs. As it turned out, I only developed two good ones and got pregnant with one baby. I know the clinic I used monitored their patients very well so as to avoid multiple pregnancies.

I would recommend using fertility drugs to someone as long as the hospital or clinic was careful to avoid multiple pregnancies. Also there are so many women out there who need this type of help in conceiving and want their own children and if they can achieve that through fertility drugs, I say go for it.

because if you want a child you are willing to do just about anything

We had to do this type of ethical dilemma presentation as a group project too. Ours was use of side rails in TLC centers. This could get tough because if your instructor will allow you to present a personal opinion she will expect you to have some science to support it. If you are going to support infertility treatment you should quote as many stats as you can as to the statistical success of the different methods, the average wait time for an infant, esp. a Caucasian, the couples who would not qualify for adoption but who CAN conceive with IV or some other method. I think this type of project is assigned to force you to think clearly and to provide support for your position. Be careful of just stating your opinion, the groups that did that without having any back up other than more opinion, got really hammered by the instructor. Do an internet search for journal articles to support your position for the use of fertility treatments in infertile couples. Good luck.

I've never had to deal with infertility personally, but as a women's health nurse practitioner, have taken care of many couples who are enduring infertility. For most women who I have cared for, their reason for taking the risk to be on infertility drugs really has to do with their goals for "right now" rather than a fear of the "later". They want to have a child that they have conceived without a test tube (paraphrasing), and most couples see a baby conceived with fertility drugs as "more natural" than one conceived in a lab or by someone else (as in the case of adoption). They also tend to think that they will not be the woman who gets ovarian cancer as a result of taking infertility drugs, or they feel that if they do get ovarian cancer, it would be worth it, because their kids would be grown and gone before they developed cancer, and that would at least give them the opportunity to parent a child for several years. I'm not saying that these are accurate or right, just passing on the reasons I get the most. As far as the risk for multiple births, many women come to terms with the fact that they are at higher risk for multiple births, and are willing to accept that, or may even welcome it. And men tend to be willing to accept the risk in their wives in order to have a child from their own genes. (No disrespect intended to those men out there, but it has to do with the proverbial sowing their oats, proving their virility.) Maybe this has helped some. I've seen some nurses post here who work in infertility offices. Maybe some of them will see your post and answer too.