Welcome to /r/infertility, a shitty community with great members. We're here for women and men dealing with primary or secondary infertility, pregnancy loss, and/or trouble conceiving. This is the place to go when it feels like everyone is pregnant, except you.
If you are pregnant: For the sake of members who are struggling with negative results and the difficult feelings that come with them, we request that all pregnancy announcements be shared only in a Results thread. Please be considerate of the feelings of others, and enjoy the supportive and encouraging environment we all share and have a part in maintaining. Please also read these mod posts on the subject: (1) and (2)
No linking infertility sub posts to subs outside of the infertility family
Some guidelines to consider while you're here:
Mention of pregnancy or live children is a touchy subject in this forum, but may be discussed in neutral, sensitive language, especially in the context of making an introduction or answering a question about success with a particular treatment protocol. Statements of medical facts are very helpful (ex. “We had success after using xyz protocol" instead of "my first IUI resulted in my 2 year old daughter"), but unprompted discussion of pregnancy or children may not be well-received and may be removed. Discussion of pregnancies which ended in loss do not need to be confined to the results or beta hell threads.
Infertility is stressful, and treatment is jam-packed with crazy-making hormones. Sometimes it's easier to step on peoples' toes than you would expect. Please consider the probable emotional state of other members before taking offense, or causing it.
Infertility is isolating, but here we can come together with other people in the world who really understand what we're going through. Sometimes members vent jealousy and bitterness that is unacceptable anywhere else. Most of us can understand and empathize, but if you can't, don't bother trying to change it. It is what it is.
Acronyms: Infertility is not cute, and it is also necessarily full of medical acronyms. For these reasons, many members find cutesy acronyms to be needlessly confusing and annoying. Baby dancing is this but we have sex (or more often endure painful medical procedures) to try to reproduce. Cutesy acronyms (ex. BFP, BFN, AF, BD, DH, Follies, Embies, Spermies, etc ) will trigger the bot. See this community discussion on frowned-upon acronyms and this one detailing many of the common medical acronyms frequently used here.
Infertility sucks. There will be cursing.
So, feel free to vent, but be kind to others; infertility is complicated and often very painful.
Have a question? Check out our [FAQ] which contain helpful posts about what to ask at your first RE appointment, common abbreviations used, and much more. (http://www.reddit.com/r/infertility/wiki/index).
Many members also post links to research, treatments, resources, etc. Fun stuff is always welcome too. Active, contributing members may post links to their personal blogs, but if all you post is personal website and/or blog links, you will be violating the Reddit Rules and your posts will be removed.
No solicitations by non-members will be allowed, including for monetary donations, medication donations, or research participation. Message the mods if you would like to post a request to the sub and you are not sure if it will be allowed under this policy.
You may be considering sharing your unused medication with others to help them save on treatment expenses. However, it is illegal to encourage you to donate medication without going through a pharmacy. It is better to give any unopened medications to your infertility practice; they can take full responsibility for dispensing it, and some clinics have give-back programs.
Are you looking for the right words to help a friend struggling with infertility? RESOLVE published this piece, which might give you some ideas. /r/relationships might be helpful as well.
Join us on our IRC channel!
http://webchat.snoonet.org/infertility
Depending on your personal situation, you might also be interested in:
/r/adoption
/r/BabyBumps
/r/babyloss
/r/birthparents
/r/childfree
/r/cryo_kids
/r/EmbryoDonation
/r/Endo
/r/health
/r/IFAgain
/r/IFadoption
/r/IFchildfree
/r/IFseniorclass
/r/infertilityandfaith
/r/infertilitybabies
/r/IFParents
/r/infertilitysucks
/r/maleinfertility
/r/miscarriage
/r/mrkh
/r/PCOS
/r/plussizedpregnancy
/r/queerception
/r/secondaryinfertility
/r/stilltrying
/r/ttc_pcos
/r/trollingforababy
/r/TryingForABaby
/r/ttcafterloss
/r/TwoXChromosomes
/r/whatworkedforme
