"Women in fertility treatment often feel they can't catch a break; the issues keep stacking up, cycle after cycle, complication after complication, diagnosis after diagnosis. It can feel like jumping through one hoop only to find three more waiting. Living in a state of fight or flight becomes the norm. What makes it even harder is that this pressure builds quietly over time."
"Hope becomes a verb. It is no longer a simple feeling but an effortful state that requires energy and intention. To hope again means pushing through doubt and re-engaging after being emotionally depleted. This kind of hope drains psychological resources long before treatment begins. Waiting can also become a traumatic state in itself. Days are spent anticipating results, monitoring symptoms, and bracing for impact. Prolonged vigilance is something the body registers as an ongoing threat. Each unsuccessful cycle carries micro-losses that accumulate quietly until the emotional weight becomes undeniable."
Women undergoing fertility treatment experience stress as a single, continuous threat rather than discrete events. Chronic uncertainty and repeated cycles produce a rolling accumulation of emotional residue that prevents full recovery between attempts. Hope becomes an effortful, energy-draining verb requiring intentional re-engagement. Prolonged waiting and vigilance register in the body as ongoing threat and create micro-losses that accumulate into heavy emotional weight. The future can feel suspended as life and self-worth hinge on upcoming results. When problems stack, the nervous system treats them as one overwhelming threat, limiting capacity for reflection.
Read at Psychology Today
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