General Infertility

I just started a diet which explains why my mind seems to constantly be on food. Foods that I can eat, foods that I can't, foods that will have ill effects and those that won't, are all that I think about. Many women with celiac disease have to learn to live with this relationship with food. They must stay away from gluten which can be found in most wheat products, rye, oats, barley, and many others. Generally speaking celiac disease is an autoimmune digestive disorder that causes an allergic reaction. Those with the disease commonly experience cramping, abdominal pain, bloating, constipation and diarrhea when they eat foods with gluten. Women also often experience irregular menstrual cycles and celiac disease has been linked to infertility… [more]

At first glance the IVF success statistics don't look that great. The numbers vary depending on where you get your information, but in general only one in three women will deliver a baby after one IVF cycle. Advanced Reproductive Care, Inc. breaks it down like this. 40 out of 100 women will have a baby after one IVF cycle, meaning 60 will not. After a second cycle approximately 24 of those 60 will have a baby. That leaves 36 of the original 100 who do not have a baby, but after a third cycle 14 of them will. These are completely approximate and based on the average IVF patient who is 33 years… [more]

I am addicted to Facebook! I just started a new job that blocks the site, and I still find myself trying to follow a link to a picture or respond to a comment that shows up in my inbox even though I can't access it at all during work hours. I love touching base with people I haven't seen face to face in years. I enjoy checking out people's photos and playing addictive games. I like reading people's witty, often amusing, and sometimes alarming posts. If I was still in the midst of my fertility struggles, though I know that I would hate it. I am as guilty as any other new mother of… [more]

I am shocked at the amount of misinformation out there about the cost of fertility treatments. At just my clinic, you can ask one of the five women that I know who are or have been patients and they will tell you wildly different pricing for the same procedures. Granted, each person's insurance coverage is different - the protocols are not the same - and the timing has been different for all of us, but it is just plain crazy to me that one of us will quote $15,000 as what was spent and another $8,000 - at the same clinic. The truth is that when you sort out the details we are all spending about the… [more]

People struggling to conceive have no doubt heard the advice to be still immediately after intercourse, to put their legs in the air, or to not use the restroom. I have also heard, though, that those are old wives tales and that nothing you do immediately after sex will make a difference in whether or not you will conceive. This rationale makes sense to me for a number of reasons. I tried hours of legs in the air, held it when I really had to "go," and laying flat on my back for as long as possible with no success. I also know plenty of women who intentionally did some of those things in an effort… [more]

There has been a lot of research on a link between diet and reproductive health. Many tout eating certain foods as the answer to infertility woes, or claim that avoiding certain foods will result in improved fertility. I do think that what you eat and drink can play a role, but in no way does that translate into using any kind of diet plan as a "bible" for conception. There will be women who eat the perfect diet and are still unable to conceive and those who subsist on junk and "no-no" foods and easily become pregnant. Regardless, if you are like me, there comes a point when you are willing to try just about anything… [more]

IUI is widely considered the "first step" when a couple begins fertility treatments beyond taking medications. I have had friends state that they are willing to try IUI, but draw the line there. They say that they won't "go as far" as attempting IVF. This decision is, if I am being brutally honest (and I am), baffling to me. IUI is more affordable and less invasive, but there are definitely risks that often are not considered when someone decides that IUI is the better bet. IUI is less effective meaning repeated tries are often necessary. When IUI is successful multiple births occur much more frequently than with IVF. The majority of multiples conceived… [more]

Monitoring your fertility by taking basal body temperature, using ovulation kits, or tracking cervical mucus can contribute to making you feel even more stressed. It brings fertility issues to the forefront on a daily basis and makes infertility an issue not to be ignored, if for no other reason than you can't and still monitor as you need to. Accurate and convenient are certainly not two words that you associate with fertility monitoring. A company out of the UK, though, is trying to change that. A new device called DuoFertility is on the market and is being touted as the most precise and convenient way to maximize your chances to conceive. The DuoFertility… [more]

Women opt to use donor eggs for a variety of reasons, and quite a few people attempting IVF are using them. In 2007 the CDC numbers indicated that more than 10,000 IVF cycles each year utilize donor eggs and that 5,000 or more live births result from these cycles annually. A large majority of women using donor eggs do so because of age. Of women age 40 and older, approximately 75 percent use donor eggs. Younger women also utilize donor eggs for reasons that include premature ovarian failure, absent ovaries, the presence of genetic diseases that could be passed along, unsuccessful previous treatments, or not producing the quality or quantity of eggs necessary for the procedures… [more]

One of the most challenging aspects of infertility is dealing with the financial implications if you have no insurance benefits for fertility treatments. In addition, combining work schedules with the rigorous time constraints of fertility treatments and then managing to get a decent amount of time off for maternity leave if the treatments are successful can be a nightmare. There were many times during our IVF cycle that I was envious of people who lived in mandated states, those who simply paid a co-pay when I was writing massive checks. When I finally did conceive I was especially jealous of the maternity leave of most women in European countries, but knew that I should be grateful… [more]