# Could the stress thinking about getting pregnant be causing us to not get pregnant?



## Melts

Do you think that thinking about getting pregnant all the time could be keeping us from getting pregnant?


----------



## wonderstars

I know the stress of all of this (plus remaining at my job because of the benefits during mat leave) have really had an effect on my cycles and I think my ovulation. I definitely can see that it's affecting a lot of things. But how does one stop that? I'm starting yoga and thinking about going to acupuncture. 

TTC is always on the brain and I don't know how to stop that, lol.


----------



## mrs c f

Nope. Stress doesn't cause endo or blocked tubes, low sperm count etc... 
Most ladies on here like myself will disagree. It bugs me when people say dont stress and it will happen de-stressing wont unblock your tubes or increase sperm count. 
For ladies who are unexplained it may be many things but I Wouldn't say it's because they think about it too much. x


----------



## wonderstars

Stress can't alter physiological issues but studies have shown time and again that it has an impact on hormones. It's reversible but it's finding that coping mechanism that helps you balance. I do believe stress can impact but it's easier said than done to cope with it, lol.


----------



## Melts

Wonderstars I am with you TTC is always on my mind and I can't think of anyway to stop it. It is driving me crazy lol. Hubby and I have been taking very relaxing walks in the evening and talking about everything that is going on I think it is really helping manage the stress. I tried yoga a couple of times but I found it to boring so instead we are taking walks. 
I keep hoping that this month will be the month for us. Surely hope can only help? 
Good luck and baby dust everyone.


----------



## lisap2008

No , wanting to be pregnant does not prevent pregnancy.


----------



## velo

Yes stress can definitely affect being able to conceive. A good book on this is the Mind-Body fertility connection by James Schwartz. In some cases high stress can prevent ovulation. In other cases, it can be more subtle - but stress definitely will affect your hormone balance. In the book there is even menton of psychological issues that cause the fallopian tubes to "spasm". There's also many stories of people that were not about to conceive after a long time but were successful after giving up.

That said, have you had a diagnosis re: fertility? If its unexplained, stress may be something to take a look at. Of course its impossible for us to stop thinking about getting pregnant. A good suggestion (IMO) in the book is to have a mantra of I am pregnant (present tense rather than future). Thinking negatively certainly won't help things!


----------



## susan_1981

I wondered about this myself. And I have a friend who used to work at an IVF clinic who said it was amazing the people who cancelled last minute because they were pregnant. 

It took me a long time to fall pregnant with this baby (3 years from the start of TTC) and my husband was diagnosed with a slightly low sperm count - 18 million so not drastically low but my FS seemed to think that it obviously wasn't enough to get me pregnant. But I'm just not convinced that this is the case because obviously I'm pregnant now and also because there are people out there who have much lower counts than my husband who don't try for nearly as long as we did.

But I don't think stressing about TTC does stop you from falling pregnant. I was due to start IVF at the beginning of this year and I was absolutely dreading it. I really didn't want to have to go through with it as I just felt this would involve even more stress than just TTC. So the month I fell pregnant (October/November last year), I was more obsessed than ever with becoming pregnant and here I am 6 months later.

I was under he impression that stress can cause a low sperm count though.

Maybe stress can affect some people's fertility and others not. It does make me wonder though because you look at all the people who say that they focused on something else and boom, they fell pregnant. But like I said, didn't happen like that for me. I was more keen than ever to get pregnant x


----------



## readyformore

Nope. Not at all.

Women get prenant after rape. Women get prenant in abusive relationships. Women that are homeless get pregnant. Women living in areas of warfare get pregnant. Women that have 12 kids and can't afford to feed them get pregnant. 

If stress is causing you not to ovulate, then yes, stress will interfere. 

If you are ovulating, your body does not care what you are thinking about. The sperm and the egg aren't forming some master plan to prevent implantation simply because it's being thought about too much. And the embryo isn't waiting around until it senses PMA to implant. You can have a negative attitude and get pregnant as well.

In fact, until the past 100 years or so, lack of birth control was a HUGE issue for the world's female population. Maternal mortality rates were quite high. Women couldn't feed their children and faced the risk of dying from pregnancy/birth complications. If these women could have stressed themselves into preventing pregnancy, they would have done it. In fact, ancient Egyptians used to make a paste with crocodile dung and insert it into the vagina to try to prevent pregnancy. 
If you could stress about it and prevent pregnancy, that would be WAY better birth control than crocodile dung!:haha:


----------



## wonderstars

What she said. ;) 

If stress is affecting ovulation then it could (it is for me it seems). Otherwise, ba da bing.


----------



## velo

I disagree that if you ovulate all is well wrt to mental attitude. Yes many women getting pregnant unwillingly but if your fertility is already on the margins then it is a different story. Stress definitely affects hormonal balance. A hormonal balance for example could cause an insufficient uterine lining buildup causing failure to implant.


----------



## KJM2

I think stress can be a factor in some cases. We were unexplained reasons for not being able to conceive we tried for 2 and half years we were about to start IVF. I got pregnant the month before we were due to start. We now have an 8 week old baby boy. 

Unfortunatley I found it really difficult to think of anything else when we were trying to conceive it was the first thing I though about when i woke up and the last thing I thought about before i went to sleep it really affected my relationship with my husband. I dont know if it was the idea that something was going to potentially help us that we relaxed a bit we will never know.

Trying to conceive was the most difficult and painful time of my life...... all I can think is Im glad we just diidnt give up but Im not sure how much longer we could have gone on without trying something to help us.

Good luck to you all and I really hope your wishes do come true


----------



## Just_married

As readyformore said, if stress caused infertility we wouldn't have pregnancies from rape, abusive relationships in extreme poverty and famine etc yet it happens all the same. 

My wee gran had 11 kids, when she had her first she lived in a room and kitchen. I can imagine by the time she had 3 & 4 kids she would have been pretty stressed year she went into have more and more.

And just as an extra point about ltttc, she didn't breastfeed or use contraception but it took approx 2 years to get pregnant again between each child. Sometimes we worry so much about it bit our bodies are just doing their own thing. You could never say she was infertile, but if one of us were to take two years to fall pregnant we would be worrying about infertility. 

It's one of the few things that comforts me these days, keeps me sane.


----------

