# IVF Memory loss & IVF?



## Lucia (Aug 25, 2004)

I know short-term memory loss is a side-effect of IVF drugs but I'm quite concerned how bad my memory is after three attempts at IVF this year. (Last one July/August.) It could be entirely unconnected that I have gone from being quite on the ball to doubting myself constantly and being quite lost without my diary but I have my suspicions. The drugs are pretty powerful. 

Has anyone else suffered like this for months after treatment? I'm really hoping things will improve in the future and this isn't a new, forgetful, me!

Any similar experiences welcomed....

Lucia


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## siddiqah (Aug 23, 2005)

hi Lucia

i too am suffering with bad memory and just like you, i had the memory of an elephant. so i know exactly what you are going through. is your bad memory only from during your IVF treatment or are you having difficulty remembering things from before? i have been trying my best to remember things by making an extra effort! effort that i didn't need to put in previously.my last attempt was august/september and I'm starting again this month so i hope it doesn't get worse.

sorry i haven't been able to really answer your question. just wanted to share my experience with you.

siddiqah


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## belle23 (Nov 21, 2004)

Funnily enough I have noticed recently that my memory seems to be much, much worse than ever. I've always had to make notes and lists but in recent months things have become ridiculous. I actually managed to forget something after standing up at my desk. I had just asked the children to put up their hands so I could write down whose mum's could come on our trip, I stood up forgot what I was doing and couldn't even remember what I had been doing when I looked at the list. It was quite worrying. I can go from one room to another and have no idea what I'm doing, even retracing my steps no longer works. I hope it's not permanent as it is becoming a real nuisance.


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## Ms Minerva (Mar 7, 2005)

Hi Lucia,

I suffered reallly bad memory loss when I did my medicated FET during the time when I was taking Progynova and it took about a month or two before my memory really recovered. It was in fact rather a frightening experience - I thought that I was developing Alzheimers, it was really bad.

I had to make lists and write down absolutely everything - couldn't remember peoples names, forgot telephone numbers, my PIN numbers (not good when paying for treatment)   and I normally have a very good memory.

Don't worry, it will get better!


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## Lucia (Aug 25, 2004)

I'm encouraged to hear things will get better! Not only is my memory bad but on occasions I open my mouth and the wrong/no word comes out, it is really bizarre and not something I'm used to. Isn't it irritating that IVF can have such negative lasting effects (that's not allowing for those negative results either...)?

Thanks for all your thoughts and comments.

Lucia


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## Plink (Mar 24, 2004)

Hi 
it may also be that youre preoccupied. Difficult for others  to understand but to recall remember things, you have to have been concentrating and not distracted at the time.
You might be preoccupied with your treatment and outcomes -thats perfectly natural and its not something that we usually tell others, as its private, so we dont get the input from others.
PLink xx


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## Be Carful (Sep 25, 2013)

Hi,
I became a member here, so that I could respond to this old, but still relevant question.  I believe the alternative explanation for member concerns offered in the last response might mislead others with similar side effects into feeling either falsely secure or discouraged from commenting further.  Memory loss and IVF is an area where I know from my own experience women should continue to ask Qs and share incidents without feeling they are not significant or valid.  Sorry about the length, I’ve been trying to cut this down for over a week now, but have to get this off my chest, and if I don’t post today, I probably never will …

Short-term memory loss does not refer to losing ones memory over the short term, but rather to impaired functioning of the short-term memory system, a specific neural network in the brain, which together with the long-term memory system, another neural network in different parts of the brain comprise what we collectively understand as memory per se.  The short- and long-term memory systems work together to hold new and retrieve old information so that we can effectively integrate and learn from our experiences. 

Yes, it is true that you have to pay attention to fully understand what is said, IF the information is complex and new, but when it comes to asking visitors how they like their coffee, it doesn’t take a great deal of memory space to retain that information.  Most people would just make the coffee automatically, no matter how preoccupied, and refresh specific details, if required at the end.  However, to smile and say “white and one, no problem” and then just walk away is quite another thing. 

My friend picked me up to go shopping, saying “Let me show you the new house we bought on the way, it’s just around the corner”, and as she departs from the usual route, I’m thinking,  “where the hell is she going?” and “what ARE we doing here?” when she announces “This is it.”  Hello? A close friend buying a new house is not an insignificant detail!

I am staring to say something and make a detour to quickly explain a related issue, but forget how I got there and what I wanted to say in the first place, mid sentence. 

I am staring into the fridge, completely perplexed, because it’s empty; I’m doing this for some time, because it just makes no sense – I know I bought chicken etc to cook for dinner.  When I finally close the door and turn around, I see everything already set up out on the bench.

I often walk into a room and find all resources to do xyz neatly set up, ready to go, but abandoned mid-way  (answering the phone or going to the toilet will do that), and without recalling to actually starting them – SURPRISE! Great, if I started to bake and can get excited all over again… “WOW, I love banana cake!”

If I agree to do something, anything - important or not, for my husband the next day, he has to write it down and leave the note in the kitchen for me to find in the morning or it will not happen – and sometimes it still doesn’t happen, depending on where I wandered off to and when I had my last coffee.

I can give you countless recent examples of how the impairment of my cognitive functioning is still adversely affecting my life five years after my first and only IVF attempt.  To all concerned members here and women out there googling “memory loss and IVF”, please note, these symptoms did not stop after stopping the drugs, which I took for a total of only 10 days, but remain permanent for me today.  

Please also note that I was never able to go back to work and remain fully supported, without any responsibilities, pressing deadlines or urgent matters to attend, nor was I ever able to pick up on my regular yoga routine, started in my teens, but instead took up gardening and knitting, something I always thought I might do in retirement, - which means that I no longer incur any of the stressors I successfully dealt with as a fit and busy full time career hound, and ongoing part time student  (with accreditations for outstanding academic excellence from THE top university in my state, and offers to any further courses I wish to undertake there).  

There is nothing in my life today, which might stress me to the extend that my memory should be compromised as a result of “preoccupation”, and the only source of these ongoing symptoms, which first appeared during my IVF stimulation phase, are the drugs I was given then.  To the contrary, I still float through my days lethargic, apathetic, and fatigued, with my brain packed in cotton wool, like it first felt when taking the drugs, and I remain in this chemical straightjacket, disconnected from anything that once appeared important to me.  Next to my memory, I also lost my period (whilst ovulating like clockwork and returning normal hormone- and ovarian count levels), 2/3 volume of my long hair (officially diagnosed as “telogen effluvium resulting from stress related to IVF” by a dermatologist), and the ability to effectively plan for my future. 

The latter symptoms, which remain ongoing, appeared within the first couple of months after IVF/ET, along with an extensive list of other physical and cognitive ailments too long to mention without going off topic here.  Two curious related side effects, which I would like to have confirmed by someone (not really, but you know what I mean) include, i. Déjà vu – daily, regularly, and sometimes twice within one hour between ET and the first period, and right after ET, embarrassingly and also the reason as to why I never went to hospital: paranoid delusions – recognizing what they were, I then became convinced doctors would commit me and never let me go home again. 

Paranoid delusions can be caused by severe dehydration and electrolyte imbalance, which coincidentally is one situation that can lead to misdiagnosing Alzheimer’s in the elderly  (I experienced several other symptoms that are also related to this disease, including difficulty to keep balanced, loss of special awareness and direction, and actually getting lost – months after ET).  I experienced the confused thinking patterns despite drinking excessive amounts of fluids, including Gatorade, as advised when complaining about OHSS related symptoms prior to and after embryo harvesting.  

Hence, if this is happening to you, it’s probably not a good idea to go back to whoever recommended Gatorade, but commit yourself to a hospital, so that you can receive fluids intravenously, get the help you need to get back on feet from somebody who does not have a vested interest in continuing with your cycle where it is indicated not to, AND so that your case of OHSS can be recorded in the public domain, leading to a better understanding of the true prevalence rate of this condition.  

Six different IVF specialists tried to sell me another cycle whilst I complained about these and other symptoms.  As one explained:  they were normal and to be expected, and most women dealt with them OK in order to try for a child, but he understood I was emotional, and consequently perhaps prone to exaggerate, having incurred the expense and “inconvenience” of an unsuccessful IVF attempt. 

As a psychologist, who was trained in understanding memory- and related judgment and decision-making processes from a scientific point of view, and who was (a) coaxed into going through with my cycle despite complaining about OHSS related symptoms (which I did not fully recognize at the time, due to lack of and/or misleading initial information), (b) propositioned to change my written contract re (i.) the number of embryos transferred and (ii.) the previously declined extra processes that were applied to them (both at the eleventh hour whilst my stamina and cognitive abilities were severely compromised), and (c) brushed off by the appropriate authorities after filing complaints against the specialist for the above, I pulled out of IVF immediately - at considerable emotional losses, as you are all aware.  Additional reasons included: I was unsure, which specific drug of the potent cocktail I took was accountable for the many adverse and undisclosed side effects, including memory loss; I remained very ill for a very long time – to present; I knew exactly where I stood when my symptoms were then either diminished or outright denied by other specialists (an expensive exercise and lesson learned); and I could not find any supporting evidence for them either in the literature provided by IVF clinics around the world or in their scientific journals. 

Today, having reviewed an extensive body of research that investigated the effects of various drugs on memory and other cognitive functions (only to be found outside IVF literature, e.g., the prostate cancer domain and the stem cell research debate amongst others), I know that the drug responsible for my memory loss (along with a host of other short- and long-term physical and cognitive impairments not mentioned here) was the GnRHa component of my “patient-friendly” stimulation protocol.  

The following is a direct quote from Lynne Millican, R.N., B.S.N., and Paralegal:

“GnRHa's are a class of drugs known as "Gonadotrophin-Releasing Hormone analog/agonists" (prescribed to men, women, and children for a variety of indications - see 'Incomplete A-Z List of 'Off-Label Uses''). There are MANY OTHER GnRHa's besides Lupron - such as Triptorelin (aka Trelstar, Decapeptyl), Goserelin (aka Zoladex), Histrelin (aka Vantas, Supprelin), Nafarelin (aka Synarel), Buserelin (aka Suprefact, Suprecor).”

For a collection of related scientific reports and anecdotal evidence provided by many women, who were also adversely affected by this group of drugs, either during IVF or the treatment of endometriosis, google Lynne’s Lupron information hub.  Another source of information on the drugs you are taking as part of your fertility treatments is the Internet Drug Index “RxList”, where you find extended (yet still incomplete, from my end) tables of side effects that are not necessarily disclosed during consultations or on drug labels. The data stems from the original studies conducted by the FDA to clear these drugs for public consumption, including the doses applied and sample sizes. 

Please be careful with THE #1 indicator for your children’s developmental outcomes: your health.  IVF is an umbrella term for a range of different treatment protocols, many of which do not require the inclusion of GnRHas, and I suggest anyone who was offered this unnecessarily aggressive regime (as recognized by an increasing number of experts now) without disclosure of the possible short- and long-term adverse effects for themselves and their children, discusses other available options with another specialist. 

Good luck with your ongoing treatments,
Jackie
(BBusMan/BAPsy)


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