Smoking while going through IVF

[waiting4babymilby]

Does smoking cigarette's during an IVF cycle lower your chances of it working?

[Heather5]

Well, I'm no expert, but I would think the problem is that smoking produces free radicals in your body, which could then affect the developing eggs. But I also understand that quitting cold turkey could add a lot of stress to an already stressful process. I guess the ideal scenario would be if you were able to quit a month or two before starting the IVF process. Best of luck to both of you!

[amy_1985]

Yeah i know what u mean i do feel guilty everytime i light up! And like you said probs have a better chance if we didnt smoke but theres that many dos and donts its untrue!!

[amy_1985]

quitting cold turkey is the hardest of all iv done it twice now and only quit for about 2weeks a time the temptation was too much especially when everyone around me smokes. I do understand when they say it doesnt help but the way i think about it women have smoked for 100s of years and had sucessful pregnancys/births women take drugs and drink, Even though i smoke i do not condone it one bit dont get me wrong but i honestly think that to totally quit at the mo can do more harm than good because of withdrawls!
My brother has MS he was in remission for 2years last year it came back 5days before he quit smoking the docs said in there opnion the stress of quitting smoking had made it come back, luckily he had steriods and its now back in remisssion>>> Weird eh!!

[waiting4babymilby]

Amy this is so hard, and it's sad that I would still even consider smoking knowing I would prolly have a better chance if I didn't. This is our 2nd and final try so I want to do everything by the book I can to make this work. Just wondered if it caused your chances to go down some lol! I was thinking about just quitting but allowing my self 1 cig a day if need be lol It's so sad but dang so hard to quit cold turkey! LOL

[amy_1985]

Hey :)

As i put in my other post i do smoke maybe 4 a day sometimes more, over here for a IVF cycle you have to not smoke so i did tell a little white lie luckily they havnt caught me out because she said if u smoke or drink u get ur cycle cancelled :-( i figured it would put my body under more stress to quit now so have cut down from 10 a day, i know in pregnancy it restricts oxygen but if and when i get a BFP i will go to my doc for nicotine replacement i know its selfish but couldnt do it before as it would have been on my records that are accessable to the hosp. My heart was literally 144 when we went in for ER as when they put u on oxygen mask n heart monitor they can tell if u smoke by reduced oxygen levels so i didnt have any that day i had one at like 11pm the night before just to make sure lol