Any tips before starting IVF?

I have only one tip:

OPTIMIZE your health and body before starting IVF.

If your body is unhealthy you cannot create a healthy environment to nurture a life. You need to exercise, diet, have supplements, anti-oxidants to create an optimal environment to not just get pregnant but also to carry the pregnancy safely to term.

A few things I wish more people knew before starting IVF:

1. IVF is usually more emotionally exhausting than physically painful.
2. The waiting is honestly one of the hardest parts.
3. Don’t compare your cycle numbers to other people online. Egg counts, embryos, timelines — everyone’s situation is different.
4. Ask questions early. A lot of people later realize they didn’t fully understand medication timing, attrition rates, or what happens if a cycle fails.

Practical things that seem to help:

1. organize meds before starting
2. set alarms for injections
3. drink more water during stimulation
4. wear loose clothes near retrieval time because bloating can get rough
5. have someone available on retrieval day

Mentally, probably the biggest tip is: don’t let IVF completely consume your identity. A lot of people enter IVF thinking “I’ll stay calm and logical,” then realize the hormones + uncertainty hit much harder than expected.

Also, protect yourself from unhelpful people. Comments like “just relax” or “it’ll happen naturally” can become incredibly irritating during treatment.

And honestly — prepare for the possibility that IVF may take more than one round. That doesn’t mean failure. A lot of successful IVF stories involved multiple retrievals or transfers before things finally worked.