When you are going through fertility treatment, it will affect your life in a way that may make you feel that you have changed as a person. If you feel that you have changed then the people around you may also feel that you have changed? Whilst in treatment you may experience some emotional difficulties and these can affect different parts of your life such as your job, social life and also your relationship with your partner.<\/p>\n
Suddenly you can find yourself in a situation where you feel that you are the one that needs help and support and maybe this need for support is a new situation for you? Perhaps you are normally the one that supports those people around you?<\/p>\n
Are you strong enough to ask for help when you feel lonely and frustrated? I write the word strong, because some of us may think that asking for help is a symbol of weakness?<\/p>\n
Are you strong enough to tell the people around you about how you feel? If you want to support in the right way you must tell people how you feel and you need to tell the truth! By telling the truth the people around you can fully understand your needs and support you in the way in which you tell them that you want to be supported.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ask yourself: How much did I know about fertility treatment before I became a patient myself? Not much?<\/p>\n
So, can you expect the people around you understand your situation if you don\u2019t tell them about how you feel and how you want to be supported?<\/p>\n
You need to help people to help you!<\/p>\n
If you don\u2019t feel that you get the support you need, or expect, this can be because the people around you have no idea what you are going through, remember they don\u2019t know anything about fertility treatment<\/strong>, so they may not have the ability to understand what kind of ethical, medical and emotional roller coaster you have entered into.<\/p>\n So we are the first generation to experience these kinds of treatments. Due to these \u2018new\u2019 types of treatment, your lack of openness may make it difficult for people around you to understand what kind of treatment this is and how it can affect your life.<\/p>\n Many of my patients have had different ideas about how to involve their family and closest friends in their fertility treatment, for example:<\/p>\n If you decide to involve the people around you in your treatment make sure you also tell them exactly how you want to be supported and when.<\/strong><\/p>\n Help people to help you, if you need it and when you need it.<\/p>\n Good Luck! This article emphasizes the importance of building an own support network which can ensure that your loved ones understand the emotional, physical, and psychological toll of fertility treatment and can give you the kind of support you would like to have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIVF, sperm donation, egg donation and embryo adoption are all treatments that are still taboo in many countries and many societies.<\/h2>\n
How to tell people around you:<\/h3>\n
\n
This is the advice that I normally give to those who are close to women that are undergoing fertility treatment:<\/h3>\n
\n
\nFamily counselor<\/span>
\nTone Br\u00e5ten<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"