OHSS, the IVF Side-Effect Making Women's Fertility Journeys 'Agony'
By Sophie Wilkinson,
The Huffington Post UK
| 02. 08. 2020
“I was in excruciating pain, I was bloated and felt really sick. The doctor had said I’d be able to go about my normal business but I missed work, I couldn’t do anything and I had to stay in bed for six days.”
Carol*, 39, from London, is an IVF success story. On her second cycle, she became pregnant and she now has a joyful toddler. But during her first cycle, as well as the invasive trips to the doctors and grimacing through the daily self-administered progesterone injections, she developed what her doctors called a “borderline” ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome (OHSS).
The symptoms Carol experienced are some of the many side-effects of OHSS, which can range from nausea and vomiting to severe bloating and blood clots. In the worst cases, OHSS can be fatal – according to government records, it has killed two British women in the past 15 years.
Statistics from the Human Embryology and Fertility Agency (HFEA), the fertility industry regulator that is required to record all incidences of OHSS, suggest a third of women undergoing IVF will...
Related Articles
The Center for Genetics and Society is delighted to recommend the current edition of GMWatch Review – Number 589. UK-based GMWatch, a long-standing ally, was founded in 1998 by Jonathan Matthews as an independent organization seeking to counter the enormous corporate political power and propaganda of the GMO industry and its supporters. Matthews and Claire Robinson are its directors and managing editors.
CGS works to ensure that social justice, equity, human rights, and democratic governance are front...
By Ryan Cross, Endpoints News | 08.19.2025
Human eggs are incredibly rare cells. The ovary typically produces only 400 mature eggs across a woman’s life. But biologists in George Church’s lab at Harvard University — a group that’s never content with nature’s limits — just got a...
By Katherine Drabiak, Journal of Medical Ethics Forum | 08.07.2025
Adapted from Mitochondrial DNA at
National Human Genome Research Institute
Recently, media outlets around the world have been reporting on children born from pronuclear genome transfer (sometimes called “3-parent IVF,” “mitochondrial donation” or “mitochondrial replacement therapy”) at Newcastle Fertility Center...
By Nicky Hudson, The Conversation | 08.12.2025
