Are your hands cold all the time? Do you have a low body temperature (just take it right now, is it is lower than 98?) Hair falling out? Dry skin? I used to show up for my yearly physical, and the nurse would always look at the thermometer and go, "Hm....96...did you just drink something cold?" When I'd say no, they'd shrug and say, "Well, maybe because it's cold outside." Of course, when I started having my miscarriages, I started doing some research which suggested that it was possible, given my below-normal body temps--that my thyroid was involved. What a surprise (not!) to badger them into testing me and for the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH)) results to come back and a whopping 9-point something… [more]

Since I have chronic fatigue immune deficiency syndrome (which was formerly known as CFS, can be also known as Epstein-Barr), one of the symptoms, oddly enough, is trouble sleeping. Lots of people I know who have CFIDS take melatonin (or, something way stronger), and that's usually worked quite well for me. But one of the sites I use for my CFIDS that suggests melatonin, also has a warning about melatonin for people trying to conceive. I'd vaguely "heard" you shouldn't take melatonin while trying to conceive, and here's why: it raises your prolactin levels. Prolactin is the hormone that you secrete in great amounts when you are, well, lactating. This is often a signal to the body to shut off other fertility processes, as, obviously, evolutionarily… [more]

Since I'm interested in international adoption, of course many of my wry friends clogged my in-box with that Onion Magazine article, the tongue-in-cheek romp about fictional adoptive mother breaking her arm patting herself on the back for giving "a real home, in a real country" to "My Daughter, the Most Beautiful Child in the Third World." (the title unfortunately says it all). What it did point out funny-painfully is a problem of adoptive (and prospective adoptive parents like myself) not seeing too far beyond our own myopic wishes for a child...and, a certain look-at-me-I'm-cool, vibe, as if a child were some kind of really neat ethnic handbag. This is no one's fault, but societal forces, including our own celebrity culture, foment… [more]

Did you know that something as small as a nightlight can have a direct effect on your fertility? When I was having a bunch of miscarriages, a friend told me to make sure my bedroom was totally dark--now I know why: melatonin. This hormone is primarily secreted at night, and it requires darkness to be produced. Bright light suppresses melatonin secretion. Less bright light can screw it up. Exposure to light at night can inhibit the pineal gland's production of melatonin. Something as small as a nightlight can actually throw your fertility off, and why? The hypothalamus gland, also located in the brain, is richly supplied with melatonin receptors. This gland regulates your body's overall homeostasis, including things like blood pressure, emotions, temperature, and the endocrine (hormonal)… [more]

I am passing on this tidbit from a press release (3/28/06) from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, an affiliate of Harvard. I was digging through some newsletters, actually to research my novel, i.e., do my OTHER work. But I'm always always finding things to share on the Fertility Blog. Quick summary: these bad health habits really take a toll on the old peepers. BUT you can stop things like age-related macular degeneration by eating a diet rich in anti-oxidants and by taking--you guessed it--fish oil. They're also saying that having these sick (eventually blind) eyes, is also a marker of INFLAMMATION. Anyone see a pattern here? Sick Eyes May Occur in Sick Bodies… [more]

ConsumerLab.com is a handy place to know about. They are an independent lab that tests the purity of nutritional supplements since (sigh) the government doesn't seem to care. The question is not, is there poison, dead rat, etc., in this bottle of gingko biloba, but more, is there any gingko in here, or is it mostly rice powder? I often go there to check out when I buy generic house brands on sale. Often they're good, and then sometimes ConsumerLab.com confirms what I already suspect. You can join for a small monthly fee and look up anything, all the time, or just hang around the website and see what info they make public. In any event, interestingly enough, despite… [more]

This picture is Licette Comanzo Walker, the owner of Comanzo and Company Speciality bakers (photo from Rhode Island Monthly). This is not just some posed picture to make you think some nice caring person is baking your cookies--these really are her cookies. She used to sell her cookies from home to a local coffee shop that I used to frequent. Now they're in fancy schmancy places such as Whole Foods and Oprah's green room. I do occasionally have a bad habit of eating while I write, but these cookies (English toffee, Spiced Chai, Caramel Apple--that one's particularly satisfying) are organic, made of the finest ingredients, and Licette seems to share the philosophy about seeking out small, passionate suppliers (small family run farms for… [more]

WORRIED about mercury? PCBs? Dioxin? Cadmium? I sure am. Of course, I just wrote a column on why fish oils are so good for you, especially if you are trying to conceive. But this begs the question: our seas as so polluted, how can we get pure fish oil? Okay, so here's a compilation of some Mercury, dioxin and PCB safe brands of fish oil. They've come a long way from fish oils of old--some of the flavored ones are pretty decent. Plus, some some in capsules--if you hate glugging oil. Again, this list is for YOUR INFORMATION ONLY. I am not a health professional, I make no guarantees, nor am I RECOMMENDING you take… [more]

(Pig + Algae gene = good source of omega-3 fatty acids?) Read on... When I was little, I remember my mother used to make us kids take cod liver oil. I also remember the taste was totally disgusting. Either I'd have to take it all at once and want to throw up, or, the teaspoon of it would ruin a full glass of orange juice. It was the bane of my childhood. Now, I'm realizing how smart it was. In fact, until the 70s, that was standard practice for pediatricians to recommend it. I don't know why they don't do that any more. Omega-3 fatty acids are incredibly important for fertility and health, and, some studies show, it can even… [more]

In my previous post about ovarian-stimulating drugs and their seeming link to cancer, I talked about how many reproductive doctors (and myself) "feel" this is true. Here is a clinical study that seems to back up this feeling. I'm not sure why they conclude it is "reassuring" but then quickly mumble something about an association with "borderline tumors" and then they immediately back up and call for more clinical trials. I guess it's probably because they don't want to ruin their business, but also don't want it to be found that the treatments cause cancer, like they have recently found out with hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which they put a LOT of women on, without any longitudinal testing (actually, when they finally did some trials, they… [more]