Author: Lorie A. Parch

Fertility Headlines

Eat for two — even before there are two

Lorie A. Parch

There’s so much about trying to conceive that’s out of our control, so it always seems like truly good news to hear about something we can do that may make getting pregnant (and retaining a healthy pregnancy) a little more likely. That’s why our ears pricked up at new research out of the Netherlands: A new study appearing in the medical journal Human Reproduction looked at the diets of Dutch couples who were planning to get pregnant, and then specifically at 199 couples who’d undergone their first cycle of in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

Since we’re already told you this is a story with good news, you might guess what the researchers found: The healthier a woman’s diet before she got pregnant, the better her odds were of an ongoing pregnancy following fertility treatment.  

Dutch dietary guidelines (what is defined there as a healthy diet) don’t vary a lot from what the U.S. government considers healthy (see ChooseMyPlate.gov for more on that), so this is good news for American women as well, since what we eat is one thing we can do something about, in a host of things we can’t influence. Says John Twigt, one of the study authors, from the department of obstetrics and gynaecology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre Rotterdam, in the Netherlands: “We would like to emphasize the fact that the preconception period is the window of opportunity to optimize the diet in couples planning pregnancy.”

What do you eat? Has your diet changed now that you’re TTC? What have you given up, and what foods have you added?

Author: 
Lorie A. Parch

Fertility Headlines

Even if your husband had a vasectomy years ago, it may not be too late to reverse it

Lorie A. Parch

sperm

New research just out, led by Dr. Paul Turek, a San Francisco-based specialist in male fertility and sexual health, shows that even very old vasectomies — as old as those done 38 years ago — can be reversed with good results, he says. “For decades, conventional wisdom has been that the older the vasectomy, the less likely that ejaculated sperm returns after microsurgical vasectomy reversal. But this may not be true,” said Turek in a press release about the new research, which was presented this week at the American Urological Association in Atlanta.

Turek and his colleagues studied 343 men who’d had vasectomy reversals, comparing those with “younger” vasectomies (those from one to 15 years old) and “older” vasectomies (those 16 to 38 years old) to see if there was a difference in the amount of the sperm in the ejaculate following the reversal. Says Turek, the research found that “older vasectomies up to 38 years did not have worse outcomes after reversal surgery.” That should be reassuring, he says, adding, “don’t be shy about looking into vasectomy reversal for a vasectomy older than 15 years; it can often be reversed quite well.” Turek notes that a limitation of his research was that it did not examine pregnancy rates, but only ejaculated sperm counts in men who’d had their vasectomies reversed.

If your husband has had a vasectomy and you’re considering a round of IVF, it may be worth talking to a specialist in reversals — not least because of the very different costs of the two procedures: “In general, a vasectomy reversal is about one-third to one-half the price of one IVF cycle,” notes Turek, adding that a reversal costs about $5,000 to $9,000, on average. About 5 to 7 percent of vasectomized men get a reversal procedure.

Turek adds that while “you can get great results reversing a vasectomy of any age in the right hands, the problem is that not everyone can do it well.” To find the right specialist, read Turek’s “Insider’s Guide to Vasectomy Reversal.”

Author: 
Lorie A. Parch

Fertility Headlines

More bad news about chemicals and fertility

Lorie A. Parch

cleaning-products

No one wants to hear it, but more disturbing news came out this week from the European Environment Agency (EEA) indicating that many household products, cleaners, cosmetics, and food contain chemicals that affect hormones — and not in a good way.  On May 10, the organization issued a release saying that “endocrine-disrupting chemicals” — meaning ones that affect the hormone system by either blocking the normal effects of hormones or mimicking hormones — seem to be a contributing factor to “significant increases in cancers, diabetes and obesity, [and] falling fertility.” Since reproduction and fertility are, of course, directly tied to hormones, the effects of these chemicals on a woman’s ability to conceive and a man’s ability to get a woman pregnant may be even more pronounced.

The release went on to list some possible effects of these chemicals, including some that lead to low-quality semen in men. Animal studies have shown the chemicals affect the reproductive systems of a wide variety of animals. It’s very difficult to test the effects of these chemicals, since they could have been involved — and hindered — early development of a person’s reproductive system (as well as brain, immune, and other bodily systems), but the effects wouldn’t be seen for many years or decades.

Just as worrisome, another report came out this week in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives with the finding from a Harvard University study that exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) may reduce a woman’s chances of conceiving if she’s undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF). The study looked at 137 women who were having fertility treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital Fertility Center; the researchers measured BPA levels in the women at the time of treatment. What did they find? “The results show a clear trend of increasing implantation failure [in which an embryo doesn’t implant in a woman’s uterus] with higher BPA levels,” reported EnvironmentalHealthNews.org.

BPA is a very common chemical used in the manufacture of many plastics, including some water bottles, the linings of canned food, grocery store receipts, and other everyday items. The Environmental Working Group offers these tips to help lessen your exposure to BPA.

Fertility expert Dr. Robert Greene also offers this good advice about how to reduce your exposure to environmental toxins as you’re trying to conceive.

 

Author: 
Lorie A. Parch

Fertility Headlines

Some things are worth the wait — even a 22-year wait

Lorie A. Parch

We thought we’d end the week with a wonderful, inspiring story:  Did you read the news this week in the Daily Mail, a UK newspaper and site, about a woman who tried for 22 years to get pregnant, to no avail, but at the age of 43 she conceived and delivered a beautiful baby girl?

The Daily Mail reported on Monday that Paula Lackie was told at the age of 21 that she’d never conceive naturally, thanks to damage done to her Fallopian tubes by endometriosis. She went on to adopt two children. To make matters more challenging, Lackie’s second husband, Grant, could not conceive with his first wife, for unknown reasons. But Lackie’s grandmother became pregnant at 43 — Paula’s age now — so Paula always held out hope she could get pregnant naturally, the site reported.

And indeed she did: In April the couple welcomed baby daughter Isla, weighing 7 pounds.

What inspiring stories have you heard about someone having a baby even when the odds were against them?

 

Author: 
Lorie A. Parch

Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

Are you an impatient woman? A Woman’s Guide to Getting Pregnant

Lorie A. Parch

ConceiveOnline.com: You wrote this book to correct misinformation you found about fertility — information that was largely scaring women about their poor chances of conception. Can you share a few pieces of misinformation you were able to correct or clarify in your own research?

Jean Twenge: I often saw the statistic that one-third of women over 35 would not become pregnant after a year of trying – this was often stated as fact with no source. It turns out the source is a medical journal article that analyzed – not kidding – birth records from 1600s rural France! Modern studies find higher pregnancy rates…maybe because we have soap now.

CO.com: As you know, the readers of ConceiveOnline.com are having trouble conceiving, some of them for a very long time – so they’re definitely impatient! Any advice from your research and writing this book for this group of women (vs. people who haven’t started trying yet or have been trying for a short time)?

JT: My first piece of advice is to have your partner get a semen analysis. Almost half of fertility problems are “male factor” (which sounds like a really bad men’s cologne). Because men always have it easier, tests for sperm issues are quick and inexpensive – between $50 and $100 at a doctor’s office (there are home kits too, but they are both less accurate and more expensive).

If the semen analysis is normal, buy a fertility monitor. Charting is great – I’ve done it myself for 8 years – but for getting pregnant may not be precise enough. There are so many days of egg white, and how many differs from one cycle to the next. I got pregnant faster at 39 than at 34, probably because of the monitor. (Although, as I note below, you have to adjust your timing when using the monitor because the day of ovulation isn’t actually the most fertile).

If you’ve been trying for six months using the monitor – especially if you’ve had sex on both high and peak days — I think it’s time to see a doctor. The advice of waiting a year is based on random timing. It also ignores how stressful trying is when you don’t know why it’s not working.

CO.com: In your new book, you explain three ways to monitor ovulation in every cycle (not just when a woman typically ovulates). What are common mistakes in tracking ovulation that you’d like to correct?

JT: I think the most common mistake is waiting too long in the cycle to have sex. For some women, ovulation has already passed or is within a few hours of occurring once an OPK or fertility monitor detects LH (luteinizing hormone). If you have sex that evening, it might already be too late, because the egg doesn’t live very long (about 6 to 12 hours). So just relying on OPKs might not be the best – better to combine it with charting or the fertility monitor so you can get more warning.

We’ll have the second and last part of our interview with Jean on April 23, so please check back!

Jean M. Twenge, Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University, is the author of the brand-new book, The Impatient Woman’s Guide to Getting Pregnant. She has also written more than 90 scientific publications and two books based on her research, Generation Me and The Narcissism Epidemic. Her research has been covered in Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, USA Today, and The Washington Post, and she has been featured on Today, NBC Nightly News, Fox and Friends, Dateline, and National Public Radio. She received a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She lives in San Diego, California, with her husband and daughters.

Author:
Lorie A. Parch
Fertility Headlines

New guidelines issued for surrogates

Lorie A. Parch

Experts believe the number of surrogate births will continue to rise as more people, including gay men, choose the option.

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), the leading professional medical organization focused on fertility and infertility, recently released new guidelines for gestational carriers (PDF). Since ASRM is a medical organization, these recommendations are mostly intended for physicians and other healthcare professionals, but if you’re considering using a surrogate to carry your child, you may want to check out the latest thinking on what can be a very complex issue.

The new document aims to provide more clarity and guidance for good practice on these topics:

  • Screening & testing of genetic parents & gestational carriers
  • Complex medical & psychological issues for gestational carriers, parents & children
  • Updates on optimal screening and testing for STDs and psychological assessments

If you’re considering using a donor or surrogate, you may want to read these ConceiveOnline.com articles as well:

Ways to Strengthen Your Relationship When Using a Donor or Surrogate

Third-Party Reproduction and the Law (a 2009 article, so be sure to check that any specific laws mentioned are still current in your state).

Are you considering using a gestational carrier/surrogate? What are your biggest questions and concerns?

 

Author:
Lorie A. Parch
Fertility Headlines

Why aren’t more young cancer patients preserving their fertility?

Lorie A. Parch

The answer to the question above, according to a recent study in the journal Cancer, is that too often, young women who have cancer simply don’t understand their options when it comes to preventing the loss of their chance to have a child or more children. According to Reuters Health, which reported on the new research late last month, only one in every 25 women who was diagnosed with one of five types of cancer since the early 1990s opted to freeze eggs or embryos prior to cancer treatment — in spite of the fact that 47 to 63 percent said they wanted to have a child or children.

This finding is the result of research on 1,000 women in California ages 18 to 40 who’d been diagnosed with cancer between 1993 and 2007. Sixty-one percent of the women said their doctors talked to them about how cancer treatment could affect their chances of having a baby and how they could preserve their fertility — which means that 39 percent of patients didn’t get that guidance. Just four percent of those who got counseling about fertility preservation took action – by freezing eggs or embryos before, say, they underwent chemotherapy or radiation.

The research found, not surprisingly, that the women who had been counseled about how to save their fertility, or minimize the impact of treatment on their ability to conceive, were much less likely to feel regret later, versus the women who’d never talked to a doctor about their options for having a child or children later before undergoing treatment. Though the most recent data is still five years old, there’s reason to believe we still have a bit to go before all young women who get a cancer diagnosis are aware of all their options for having a family as they consider the treatment plan that’s right for them.

Author:

Lorie A. Parch

Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

More reasons to lose weight before you’re pregnant

Lorie A. Parch

We’ve written before about why it’s a good idea to shed pounds before you conceive — for one thing, it may make it easier for you to get pregnant. And we all know that being at a healthy weight is good for you and your baby, and can make childbirth easier and with fewer complications.

A new study shows more good reasons to lose weight before you conceive — or at least good reasons not to diet once you are pregnant. A study in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB Journal) found evidence that babies of mothers who were dieting around the time they conceived and early in their pregnancy were likelier to have an increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes later on in  life.

It’s worth noting that the research was done in animals – sheep, in particular – and not in humans, and it focused on twin pregnancies. It also looked just at genetic changes that may or may not lead to obesity and diabetes down the road. So it’s far from conclusive. But it is an interesting insight into how changing your nutrition — for the worse, by restricting calories and possibly nutrients in an attempt to shed pounds — around the time of conception might affect your child far into his or her future.

Author:

Lorie A. Parch

Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

Looking for the right surrogate? A new site rates surrogacy agencies

Lorie A. Parch

We recently read about the launch of Surrogacy Advisor, a new site that offers ratings of surrogacy agencies from parents who’ve used a surrogate to carry their child. The site also includes reviews and ratings of fertility clinics.

Surrogacy Advisor appears to be just getting started, so there’s definitely not a comprehensive list of agencies and clinics represented (and some are outside the U.S.), but over time it could become a valuable tool to help would-be parents who are looking for a reputable surrogate or a clinic to work with — one that others in their situation rated highly.  At press time, just 11 surrogacy agencies had ratings, with between three and 22 reviews for each. You can see the average cost for surrogacy at each rated agency, and how long the surrogacy “journey” took, on average, in months.

For fertility clinics, you can see a clinic’s overall score (based on a survey completed by parents who used it), the total number of reviews (at press time, CT Fertility had the highest rating, and also the greatest number of reviews – 26, compared to as few as three for many clinics — though only 10 clinics were listed, including a few outside the U.S.), as well as the percentage of patients who filled out the survey who conceived on the first cycle.

If you’re a prospective parent you can click here to complete a survey for an agency, and the site includes videos and articles about surrogacy as well.

Would you use a service like Surrogacy Advisor?

Author:

Lorie A. Parch

Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

African American women are more likely to experience infertility

Lorie A. Parch
In honor of National Minority Health Month (April), we wanted to bring a bit more awareness to the fact that more African American women are experiencing the heartache of infertility compared to women of other races and ethnicities. According to a release issued by Georgia Reproductive Specialists and Desiree McCarthy-Keith, a doctor with the clinic, “black women have twice the odds of infertility compared to white women. 11.5% of black women report infertility compared to 7% of white women.”

The release goes on to note that black women are less likely to seek the help of a fertility specialist or assisted reproductive techniques (ART) like in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intrauterine insemination (IUI). Possible reasons, says Dr. McCarthy-Keith, are that the cost of treating infertility may be prohibitively high — for black couples as well as those from any ethnic background — and that limited awareness of treatment options and/or access to fertility specialists may hinder black women getting help that would allow them to conceive, carry, and deliver a healthy baby.

Black women may be more medically challenged, too, owing to much higher rates of uterine fibroids, which can impair a woman’s odds of conceiving.

Author:
Lorie A. Parch