The “Hot Womb” Letdown: What No One Tells You About the Physical Crash After IVF

By Hilary Metcalfe

You’ve braved the injections and tracked every follicle like a hawk. You climbed the rollercoaster of hormones and hope. Then, in a blink, or rather, a groggy wake-up from anaesthesia, you’re done.

And suddenly, you feel it.

Not just dopey or sore. But heavy. Hot. Hollow. Like something enormous has happened, and left your body trying to catch up. Many women call it “the hot womb.” Others describe it as a wavelike collapse, a hormonal void, or even an out-of-body sadness they never expected.

Welcome to the physical letdown after egg retrieval or embryo transfer, one of the most under-discussed experiences in the IVF journey.

I know because it happened to me, and I had already survived endometriosis, misdiagnosis, chronic pain, fertility fears, hormonal chaos, and years of feeling like my body was a puzzle no one else could solve.

I lived in that territory long before IVF mapped new terrain over it, and I felt totally side-blinded, so I wrote this article to help other women understand it and navigate it better. 

Are you in or about to do an IVF cycle or sitting in the emotional aftermath wondering what happened? Then this article is for you. 

Xx,
Hilary 
The SABI Co-Founder, a wellness brand built from the inside out.

The Moment No One Prepares You For

Through my conversations with women navigating fertility treatment—and in my own experience—the hours following egg retrieval are often marked by sensations that feel hard to explain but impossible to ignore.

"Nobody warned me that I'd wake up after retrieval feeling like I was floating above my own body, weepy, and drenched in warmth that didn’t feel comforting - it felt wrong," says Jodie, 34, after her second IVF round.

Many describe:

• A strange heat in the pelvic area, sometimes radiating through the torso

• A hormonal emptiness or sudden emotional crash

• Deep uterine soreness—even when no embryos have been transferred

• And above all, a grief-like heaviness, even in hopeful cycles

These aren’t just emotional responses. They’re physical, visceral, and rarely talked about. So what exactly is going on?

Is It Just the Hormones?

The hormonal crash after egg retrieval is very real. During IVF, ovaries are hyperstimulated to produce multiple eggs, and estrogen levels skyrocket. But once those eggs are removed, there’s an abrupt drop.

It’s not just the absence of eggs. It’s the body’s perception of loss, on a cellular and endocrine level.

Dr. Eliza Morton, a reproductive endocrinologist, explains: “Think of it as a cliff-edge in estrogen and progesterone. That sudden vacuum doesn’t just affect your mood, it affects your physical perception of warmth, blood flow, energy levels, and yes, even grief.”

In many cultures, this would be considered a kind of post-partum of potential. A deep letting go.

But in Western clinics? You're given a juice box, told to rest, and sent home to Google "is it normal to feel like I’m falling apart after retrieval?"

The Role of Anaesthesia: Hot Womb, Cold Facts

And then there’s the anaesthesia.

IVF procedures often use a light sedation or twilight anaesthesia,  but for sensitive bodies, this can still cause systemic responses that linger far beyond the OR. Blood pressure drops, circulation shifts, and the nervous system takes a hit.

Some women experience vasodilation (expanding blood vessels), especially in the pelvic area, hence the “hot womb” sensation. Others feel emotionally raw, almost as if the drugs stripped a layer of protection off their psyche.

“It felt like my womb was on fire, but I was frozen,” says Rachel, 39. 

Emotional Letdown, Physical Grief

Beyond physiology, there’s something deeper.

In traditional medicine systems like Ayurveda or Chinese medicine, the womb is considered a seat of emotional memory. To undergo a procedure where something is removed — be it eggs, lining, or potential, may trigger what one practitioner called “an energetic hemorrhage.”

In Western terms? Unprocessed grief. A disconnect between the mind’s logic (“this is medical, this is hope”) and the body’s sensation (“something was taken, and I am not ok”).

Why We Need to Talk About This

Most IVF blogs focus on tips for success, self-injections, or dealing with the two-week wait. But the actual embodied experience of IVF is often sterilized, medically and emotionally.

And yet, more and more women are saying the same thing:

“I didn’t expect it to be so emotional.”

“Nobody warned me about the after.”

We need a language for this. Not just the hormone charts and retrieval counts, but the emotional anatomy of IVF.

How to Prepare (and Protect) Yourself

If you’re approaching egg retrieval or embryo transfer, consider preparing for the letdown as intentionally as you prep for injections.

Here’s what might help:

• Post-retrieval care kit: Warm compresses, grounding herbal teas (our best recommendations below), electrolyte drinks, and magnesium for muscle calm.
  

• Emotional debriefing: A therapist, doula, or trusted friend to hold space, not fix, just witness.
  

• Partner prep: if you have a partner, then let them read this article! Help them help you, hold space for you, acknowledge the tough part of this process, emotionally and physically. 
  

• Rest and warmth: Your womb is not just a site of procedure, it’s a site of meaning. Keep it warm. Let it feel safe again.
  

• Name it. Share it. The more we name this moment “the hot womb,” the hormonal void, the post-retrieval grief, the less isolating it becomes.

Born From What My Body Needed First

I didn’t set out to make blends. I set out to survive a body that felt unpredictable, painful, and often misunderstood. Every formula began as something I needed personally — something to calm my nervous system after years of endo, something to rebuild my minerals after IVF, something to help my womb find its rhythm again.

What started as my own rescue plan slowly became a body of work shaped alongside herbalists, naturopaths, and reproductive doctors. These blends were never theoretical; they were lived, tested, refined — in real moments of depletion, hope, recovery, and hormonal collapse.

I didn’t set out to make blends. I set out to survive a body that felt unpredictable, painful, and often misunderstood. Every formula began as something I needed personally — something to calm my nervous system after years of endo, something to rebuild my minerals after IVF, something to help my womb find its rhythm again.

What started as my own rescue plan slowly became a body of work shaped alongside herbalists, naturopaths, and reproductive doctors. These blends were never theoretical; they were lived, tested, refined — in real moments of depletion, hope, recovery, and hormonal collapse.

Mama Recover Blend - Rebuilding the Body Between Rounds

Mama Recover was the formula I created in the aftermath of retrievals, surgeries, hormone crashes and the bone-deep exhaustion that follows stimulation cycles. Every practitioner I worked with — the endocrinologists, the naturopaths, the herbalists — said the same thing: 

“You need minerals. You need circulation. And you need nervous system nourishment.”

So this blend was built around three pillars:

1. Mineral Repletion (for hormonal recalibration)

Oat straw and nettle work like multipliers: rich in calcium, magnesium, silica, and trace minerals that stim cycles strip away.
Minerals = steadier mood, stronger tissues, improved blood volume, better hormone recovery.

2. Gentle Uterine Toning (for pelvic stability)

Raspberry leaf and lady’s mantle don’t “stimulate” the uterus — they organise it.
They help the womb feel structurally supported again after swelling, retrieval, anaesthesia, or medicated cycles.

3. Nervous System Soothing (for the emotional crash)

Holy basil regulates cortisol, blunts adrenaline spikes, and calms the limbic system — crucial when your body is coming down from synthetic hormones.

Mama Recover isn’t only a “postpartum tea.” It’s a re-mineralisation protocol for anyone whose womb and hormones have been through too much, too fast.

Safety & Use:

✅ Generally safe between IVF rounds.

These herbs are tonic and restorative, not hormonally active in a way that would interfere with fertility medications or early hormonal cues.

✅ Helpful during breaks: They can support your nutrient stores, circulation, adrenal health, and overall uterine tone before the next stimulation cycle.

⚠️ Stop once stimulation starts or transfer is planned. During ovarian stimulation, implantation, or after embryo transfer, you want to avoid any uterine-stimulating herbs — even mildly toning ones.

👉 Ideal between rounds to nourish and rebuild, but pause once your next cycle or protocol begins.

Gentle Period Blend — For Cycle Regulation

One thing IVF never told me: medicated cycles often leave your body without a real period, or with a period that feels wrong, delayed, painful, emotionally charged, or barely present.

Gentle Period was the formula I created to help my endometris pain at first, and ended being the one to support my cycle come back online at a different time.

It blends herbs known for thousands of years to support:

1. Uterine Circulation + Flow

Raspberry leaf and hibiscus help bring warmth and movement back into a womb that’s been chemically overridden.
This is crucial for clearing residual hormones and restoring healthy flow.

2. Hormonal Detoxification

Nettle and red clover support liver pathways and estrogen clearance — vital after synthetic hormones.

3. Emotional + Nervous System Ease

Oat straw soften PMS irritability, soothe cramps, and help rebalance mood.

Safety & Use:

⚠️ Not recommended during IVF or implantation windows.

Gentle Period contains herbs that can stimulate uterine blood flow or contractions, which are beneficial when regulating cycles naturally but not during luteal or implantation phases.

✅ Can be used between rounds (if no embryo transfer is pending). It helps the body recalibrate between medicated cycles, clear residual hormones, and re-establish a balanced rhythm.

Acknowledging the Sacred in Science

IVF is a marvel of modern medicine. But the body is still ancient, still wise, still sacred.

And it deserves more than silence after surgery. It deserves space to process what it’s just been through, physically, emotionally, hormonally.

Whether or not you retrieve the number of eggs you hoped for, whether or not a baby comes from this cycle, you are still allowed to grieve. And you are still worthy of softness, safety, and support.

Because the womb is not just a factory. It is a feeling place.
And it remembers.

ABOUT HILARY METCALFE Hilary Metcalfe is a Certified Holistic Nutritionist, whole foods chef, and product developer passionate about helping women understand their bodies, cycles, and hormones. After navigating her own hormonal journey—including fertility struggles, miscarriage, and Adenomyosis—she brings deep empathy and insight to her work. At The SABI, Hilary formulates OB-GYN-approved rituals and hormone-conscious skincare designed to support women in the seasons they need it most. Originally from Los Angeles and raised in Baja California, she now lives in Todos Santos, Mexico,, with her husband Kees, their rescue pup Flint, and their rainbow babies, Paloma and Bea.

References

1. Sharara FI, et al. “Hormonal dynamics of ovarian stimulation for IVF and their impact on mood and well-being.” Fertility and Sterility, 2005.
   

2. Boivin J, et al. “Emotional distress in infertile women and men: a meta-analysis.” Human Reproduction Update, 2011.
   

3. Leslie K, et al. “Awareness during anesthesia: a prospective case study.” Anesthesia & Analgesia, 2000.
   

4. Charkoudian N. “Mechanisms of sympathetic vasoconstriction in human skin during normothermia and hyperthermia.” Journal of Applied Physiology, 2010.
   

5. Svoboda R. Ayurveda: Life, Health and Longevity. Penguin Books.
   

6. Kaptchuk TJ. The Web That Has No Weaver: Understanding Chinese Medicine. McGraw-Hill Education.
   

7. Resolve.org. National Infertility Association. https://resolve.org
   

8. Reddit IVF Forum. r/IVF — Community narratives and support.
   

9. IVF Babble. https://ivfbabble.com
   

10. Briden L. Period Repair Manual. Pan Macmillan, 2017.
    

11. Gunter J. The Vagina Bible: The Vulva and the Vagina—Separating the Myth from the Medicine. Kensington, 2019.

HORMONAL & PROUD

Created as a brand to help women navigate the toughest moments in pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum — and practically every stage of life, the SABI aims to change the narrative around our hormones from one of taboo, embarrassment and loneliness, to awareness and even pride. Much more than a wellness brand, SABI offers a carefully crafted line of products to carry you through your hormonal journey; a set of rituals, supportive tools, and ancient herbal remedies that have been tested time and again by women and now, backed by medicine. SABI is a blend of science and nature conceived by women who have experienced the joys and deep implications of bringing a child into the world, the pains of a heavy and difficult period, miscarriage and difficulty conceiving

Here is an invitation to get to know your body and its cycles better and to really understand what is going on inside. Learn to use your hormonal cycle to your advantage no matter your stage of life, and know that you can always support and balance your hormone levels. Look for the right sources of information, know that there is help, and know that you’re supported.

DISCLAIMER

The SABI blog and articles are not meant to instruct or advise on medical or health conditions, but to inform. The information and opinions presented here do not substitute professional medical advice or consultations with healthcare professionals for your unique situation.