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IVF procedure provokes problems in sex
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Scientists from the University of Indiana found that extracorporeal insemination adversely affects the sexual life of spouses.
"For people struggling with infertility, the pleasure of sex often remains in the background, and all attention is focused on fertilization," said Nicole Smith, a specialist at the Center for Sexual Health at Indiana State University. - Couples often report that they feel guinea-pigs when hormones are introduced and sex should be planned. It causes tension, it's not about romance at all. As is known, relations also suffer. "
This study is one of the first in the US. Specialists have set out to study the sexual experience of women during the passage of ancillary reproductive procedures. To assess the effect of IVF on the sexual relationships of couples, specialists used a questionnaire.
Compared with healthy women, women undergoing IVF reported a decrease in interest in intimate relationships. They often had difficulty getting an orgasm, and also there were vaginal pains and lack of vaginal lubrication.
Cooling of relations took place in the emotional proximity of partners and intensified as the course of IVF went on.
When the couple met with the attending physician, first of all they discussed the problems in sexual life. According to Dr. Smith, it is very important that the spouses do not hesitate to discuss the problems with the doctor, because this way the problem can be eliminated at the very beginning, if it is delayed with its decision, then the dissatisfaction will only worsen and the relationship may deteriorate definitively. If problems arise with lack of or insufficient lubrication, the doctor recommends using special products, for example, a lubricant. If the tension is observed not only in sex, but also in relationships, then the situation will help to resolve the psychologist and sexologist.
"Often the cause of such problems is ignorance of how infertility and its treatment affect relationships," the study authors say. "Therefore, it is an important part of assisted reproductive services to provide assistance and support to couples who need to realize that they are not alone and their problems are a consequence of the process through which they are like."
The participants of the study were 270 women and men.
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