Mood symptoms occur even when IVF is shorter

Women on fertility treatment with drugs called GnRH agonists may develop symptoms of depression and anxiety, although the duration of therapy is relatively short.

In the journal Fertility and Sterility, the authors of a new study concludes that there are medications that shoot symptoms, but other factors such as stress of infertility treatment.
The team studied 108 women treated with Israel in vitro fertilization (IVF) at a medical center.
The women received injections of an agonist of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH-a, for its acronym in English), which is one of the drugs used to stimulate egg production in the ovaries.
Agonists increase the production first of two hormones stimulating the ovaries to produce large amounts of estrogen. Then, when estrogen levels drop over time, resulting in temporary symptoms similar to those of menopause such as hot flashes, vaginal dryness and mood changes.
By chance, participants received a "brief" or "prolonged" according to the hypothesis that a shorter regimen would not improve the symptoms of depression and anxiety if the drugs are the cause of mood disturbances during treatment.Forty-eight women received prolonged treatment, first with injections of GnRH-a for two weeks caused a drop in estrogen and progesterone levels. Then, with hormones to stimulate egg production.
The remaining 60 women received the brief treatment that did not include the first phase of GnRH-a. Prolonged treatment lasted six weeks and the short version, four.
Using standardized questionnaires on depression and anxiety, the researchers found that mood symptoms in both groups increased during the second half of treatment (after receiving gonadotropin and increase the level of estrogen).
And the emotional response to treatment and stress are sufficient to cause significant mood symptoms in many women, regardless of use not prolonged (from GnHR-a)

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