What You Should Know About Infertility by Michael Russell

From generation to generation infertility has been a condition that plagues couples worldwide. It is a condition that transcends race and color. Medically speaking, infertility is a disease of the reproductive system. A couple can be diagnosed with infertility if conception is not achieved after one year of unprotected and well timed sexual intercourse. Infertility could also be diagnosed if a woman had suffered several miscarriages (recurrent pregnancy loss).

Who is at Risk? What you should know about infertility is that, it is a major heartache and life crisis. It involves losses for both the individual and society at large. Being a medical situation, both male and female, husband and wife are at risk of infertility. The problems leading to infertility could predominantly be from one of the partners, in which case it is called either the male factor (if the problem is with the male) or the female factor (if the female reproductive system is diseased), or it could be a combination of problems with both partners. In some other cases, the cause could be rightly described as unexplained.

Infertility is therefore not a 'woman's problem' as is believed in some cultures. In fact, approximately 40% of cases of infertility are due to the male factor, 40% due to the female factor, while in the other cases it is either a combined factor or unexplained The cause of infertility is said to be unexplained, if after medical examination, nothing medically serious could be found to be wrong with either of the couple and they still cannot achieve conception after several efforts.

Generally, most physicians advise couples not to worry yet about infertility unless they fall into any of these categories:

- They are under 35 years old and have tried to conceive without success for over 12months.

- They are over 35 and have tried to conceive without success for over 6months

- They are over 30 and have a previous history of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), painful menstrual periods, recurrent pregnancy loss, irregular menstrual cycles or a partner suffers from low sperm count.

If you fall in any of these categories, it would be wise to consult your ob/gyn or an infertility specialist.

Can Infertility be Prevented? In every medical situation, prevention is tied to the knowledge of the underlying cause of the particular condition. In some cases, steps may be taken to prevent some types of infertility, especially with respect to some established risk factors i.e. factors that induce some types of infertility. Except in cases like this, infertility is in most cases, unpreventable. You will understand this better, if you remember that there are still several "unexplained" infertility problems. There isn't so much you can do to prevent what you do not know. Some of the known risk factors that may contribute to infertility include:

Weight problems Age Tubal diseases Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) Endometriosis Smoking Alcohol

It is known that smoking and alcohol are very bad for fertility. Cutting down on caffeine would also do you a lot of good. Fertility and healthy pregnancy (when it does occur) requires you to maintain a healthy body and the best physical shape possible.

Treatment Options - A variety of medication and options exist for tackling infertility. As with other medical conditions, it is always better to research your options, understand the medication involved and its purpose. With more knowledge, you can better discuss with your physician the setting up of aspecific treatment plan that addresses your particular problem.

Treatment options available for infertility include, ovulation inducers, artificial insemination, invitro fertilization (IVF), surrogacy and surgery (in some cases).

Always remember that infertility has no major signs or symptoms associated with it. Paying attention to your body and getting regular checkups will be vital for your fertility.

Controversy continues over prayer, IVF study

A prominent reproductive health researcher has removed his name from the list of authors of a study on prayer and in vitro fertilization published in 2001, but the controversy over the study continues.

The study "Does Prayer Influence the Success of In Vitro Fertilization-Embryo Transfer?" was published in the September 2001 issue of the Journal of Reproductive Medicine (J. Reprod. Med. 2001;46:781-7). The authors studied the use of prayer on 219 Korean women who underwent IVF over a 4-month period. The pregnancy rate was nearly twice as high in the women who had been prayed for, compared with those who had not been prayed for (50% vs. 26%), a statistically significant difference.

The study was removed from the Web site nearly 3 years later after the journal received a number of letters and e-mails critical of the research. The journal's editor-in-chief, Lawrence Devoe, M.D., said the study was removed from the Web site because it generated more traffic than the office could handle. Critics of the study questioned its methodology--involving several "tiers" of people, some praying for the study subjects and others praying for those doing the praying--as well as the fact that no informed consent was obtained.

The study recently was returned to the Web site, and the journal also published a defense of the work by one of its authors, Kwang Y. Cha, M.D. (J. Reprod. Med. 2004;49:944-5).

World-first IVF embryo test

A BRISBANE couple is set to give birth to a designer baby hand-picked from a test tube as part of a world-first IVF test.

The test, developed for Brisbane's City Fertility Centre, is set to revolutionise the booming IVF industry by allowing couples to select disease-free embryos.

They will also be able to pick the gender, and safeguard against lab mix-ups by providing a DNA swab to match with the embryos.

The test, available nationally from July 1, involves taking a single cell from a three-day-old embryo and screening it for chromosome abnormalities which can lead to miscarriage and diseases, including cystic fibrosis and Down, Edwards and Patau syndromes.

The molecular technology, known as MF-PCR or multiplex fluorescent polymerase chain reaction, will cut down the time it takes to scan embryos for abnormalities to just a few hours.

The $500 test is also predicted to slash the cost of IVF treatments from up to $20,000 each.

CFC medical director Glenn Sterling said the test wasn't about producing "designer babies": ""We are examining embryos, not interfering with the genetic make-up. So many women go through IVF and they don't get pregnant, miscarry, or have a baby with major complications, and now they can go, 'Let's get pregnant the first time and not go through the heartache'."

The test took Griffith University's Prof Ian Findlay and scientists from South Australia-based company Gribble Molecular Science eight years to develop.

New freezing technology for stem cells and IVF

The nitrogen-free freezer is the first piece of controlled rate equipment which does not use liquid nitrogen to freeze cells used in IVF. A study reporting a good survival of human embryonic stem cells, mouse embryos and human sperm frozen in Asymptote's freezer has been accepted for publication in the journal Reproductive Bio Medicine Online. Conventional controlled rate freezers are cooled by liquid nitrogen.

But these are inconvenient to use and puts samples at risk of contamination from liquid nitrogen-borne bacteria.

Laboratories which operate under sterile conditions, or require high air quality, should avoid the use of liquid nitrogen freezers, for example laboratories freezing cells for use in cell therapy.

Asymptote has taken technology from aerospace and military applications and used it in its freezer.

The Stirling Cycle engine is a compact electrically powered cooler that can reach temperatures of -100C, low enough to cryopreserve cells.

This unique technology removes any risk of contamination to samples and means the freezer can be used in cleanrooms.

'A lot of people don't realise that bacteria and debris material are found in liquid nitrogen,' says Asymptote's director John Morris.

'Liquid nitrogen freezers can potentially contaminate samples and shouldn't be used in cleanrooms'.

'The nitrogen-free freezer can'.

Although alternative refrigeration methods are available, such as Peltier modules and mechanical compressors, they either lack the cooling ability or are too large and cumbersome to be suitable for use in laboratory scale cryopreservation equipment.

The freezer is small and simple to operate.

It does not have the problems associated with storing and handling liquid nitrogen, and the running cost of the nitrogen-free freezer is estimated to be just 1% of a liquid nitrogen freezer.

Studies are also being carried out on horse sperm and have shown the freezer's ability to freeze larger volumes of cell suspensions in bags.

The freezer can be used either in the laboratory or as a portable device powered from a car battery.

This makes it ideal for veterinary and conservation work where the need for large amounts of liquid nitrogen has previously hindered collections and experiments in the field.

Asymptote is a specialist in controlled solidification research and product development, based in Cambridge, UK.

Its products and process technology have resulted in significant advances in disciplines ranging from human and veterinary IVF to the food and pharmaceutical industries.

From A to Z: Two Vital Nutrients for Enhancing Your Fertility

by Kristen Hart

Did you know that there is one nutrient that researchers have studied continuously because it impacts fertility in both males and females? Did you know that this nutrient has been found in high levels in foods used by traditional cultures to enhance fertility? This amazing nutrient is zinc.

Those native foods high in zinc are also high in another nutrient, and science is just beginning to recognize the important part that this nutrient plays in fertility. Zinc's partner nutrient is vitamin A.

Zinc has been shown to be vital to sperm health and thus vital to male fertility. If a man's zinc levels are low often his sperm levels are also low. Healthy sperm are important not just for fertility, but for the health of your future baby.

Chromosomal changes can occur with low zinc, which can increase your risk of miscarriage and negatively impact your future child. Zinc also helps your body to synthesize and use the hormones you need to get and stay pregnant.

Traditional cultures have always valued foods high in vitamin A -- and indeed, vitamin A rich foods enhance fertility and help ensure newborn health. Taking vitamin A in large quantities during pregnancy is not safe. However, researchers have found that natural vitamin A is vital for conception and for healthy fetal development.

So, how do you get zinc and vitamin A in safe, effective ways? The best way is through foods. You body absorbs nutrients in food much better than it does from pills. And food is a much more pleasant way to enhance your fertility!

Cultures in ages past fed women and men special diets in the months leading up to conception. Shellfish were often part of these diets and we know today that shellfish are high in zinc. In fact, fish were a large part of these diets. Fish oils have natural vitamin A in them - you can take a teaspoon of cod liver oil daily to get the same benefits that these cultures enjoyed.

Other cultures depended on cattle for their nutrients. Beef, butter, cheese, and milk are rich sources of zinc and vitamin A. Butter from healthy pasture-fed cows contains vitamin A and many trace minerals - and no dangerous trans-fats. Recent studies have shown that women who drink milk daily during pregnancy have healthier, higher birth weight babies and are less likely to deliver prematurely. Milk is rich in many vitamins and minerals, as well as protein.

Many seeds and bean are rich sources of zinc. Chickpeas and tahini, a butter made from chickpeas, have been enjoyed for centuries and are especially high in zinc. Carrots and leafy greens are good sources of beta-carotene, which your body turns into vitamin A.

Enjoy a varied diet with emphasis on fresh, whole foods. Pay special attention to adding milk or milk products, leafy greens, and shellfish into your diet. Take a teaspoon (or caplet) of cod liver oil daily. Adding these foods will increase the zinc and vitamin A in your diet and in your partner's diet. Your reward will be greater health and greater fertility!
About the Author

Kristen H. is the owner of http://www.getting-pregnant.com Her site offers an email newsletter series full of information on how to get pregnant naturally. It includes tips on diet, supplements, even how your nightlight affects your fertility!

Fertility and Artificial Light

Artificial light while sleeping appears to interfere with the production of melatonin, which is a hormone associated with ovarian activity. Research shows that women's cycles often normalize when artificial light is eliminated while sleeping. Eliminating the artificial light seems to allow the hormonal system to reset itself, so to speak, and take a fresh start. Couples who were thought to be infertile have been able to conceive by eliminating artificial light while sleeping.

Many women find that menstrual cycles are easier and more harmonious if they follow the cycles of the moon: menstruation on the new moon, ovulation on the full moon. Because we are surrounded by so much artificial light, even while sleeping, it can be a challenge to get in tune with the moon's cycles. Women report being able to gradually harmonize their cycles with the cycles of the moon by sleeping in total darkness, except for one or two nights at the time of the full moon. If you want to try sleeping in total darkness, make some dark shades for your bedroom windows and make sure there is no light of any kind from your clock radio, from under your door, etc.

If you want to try harmonizing your cycle with the moon's cycles, open your shades for one night during the full moon, and sleep in the moon's light. If this is not possible, get a nightlight and use it only during the night of the full moon. You may have to continue this practice for some months, so be patient. You may enjoy seeing your cycles gradually respond to Grandmother Moon's light.

About The Author

Marie Zenack is a teacher of fertility awareness and a facilitator of women's rites of passage.

http://www.menstrual-cycle-period.com/

Teacher Fired For IVF Treatment

Shaveta Bansal - All Headline News Contributor

Milwaukee, WI (AHN) - Kelly Romenesko, a French teacher at two Roman Catholic schools in Appleton, was fired when she and her husband decided to start a family using in vitro fertilization.

The Catholic School system claimed that Romenesko violated a provision of her employment contract saying a teacher has to act in accordance with Catholic doctrine which holds IVF as morally wrong as it replaces the "natural" conjugal union between husband and wife and often results in destruction of embryos.

Though couple used their own eggs and sperm and none of the embryos were destroyed in the process, the church forbids such donations and condemns all forms of experimentation on human embryos, said her lawyer James C. Jones.

Romenesko, 37, has filed a discrimination complaint against Appleton Catholic Educational System, Inc./Xavier, which runs seven Catholic schools in Appleton.

Teacher Fired for IVF Treatment “Had no idea” the Catholic Church was Opposed

by Hilary White

APPLETON, Wis. May 9, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Wisconsin woman has been fired from her teaching position by a Catholic elementary school because she underwent in vitro fertilisation treatments in order to obtain her two daughters. Kelly Romenesko told the PostCresent.com news outlet that she had no idea that the Church was against in vitro even though she is a life-long Catholic and was told that if she underwent IVF it would violate her contract stipulation that teachers must adhere to Catholic principles.

Romenesko’s teaching contract stipulated that she uphold and act and teach in accordance with Catholic doctrine.

Catholic pro-life activists have long complained that the greatest obstacle to their fight is the Church itself whose pastors rarely speak from the pulpit even about abortion and contraception. The Church’s prohibitions against artificial procreation are among its least known teachings.

"I kind of thought that (the contract terms) meant to follow the Ten Commandments, that kind of thing," Romenesko, 37, said.

The Catholic prohibition against artificially assisted procreation extrapolates naturally from previous teaching, but was spelled out in 1986 in the landmark document, “Donum Vitae” or “The Gift of Life.” In it, then-Cardinal Ratzinger wrote that in vitro fertilisation “Entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person.”

The Catholic Church teaches that, even if the procedure did not, as it invariably does, involve the death of many children created in the lab, it would violate the natural and moral law by making the child into a commodity that can be treated as property.

Canadian law regards unwanted embryos left over from IVF procedures as suitable “material” for medical experimentation.

Romenesko’s principal informed her that undergoing IVF would violate the terms of her contract and when she went ahead the ACES/Xavier school system fired her.

“I was astounded. I was shocked. I was crying. I couldn't believe it, and I said, 'Is this the only reason I am being fired', and they said yes.”

The law in Wisconsin recognizes that a fundamental reason for establishing Catholic parochial schools is to promote and cultivate specific religious beliefs and so the ACES/Xavier system is not open to a lawsuit.

Romenesko filed a complaint with the state Department of Workforce Development saying she was fired because she became pregnant, but an investigator found no probable cause that ACES broke the law.

Folic acid boosts IVF multiple births

Adding folic acid to bread flour could lead to more women giving birth to twins after IVF treatment.

Pregnant women are advised to take the natural form of vitamin B to avoid neural tube abnormalities such as spina bifida.

In the UK, it is recommended that women take 400 micrograms a day up to week 12 of pregnancy.

But scientists from Aberdeen University have warned if the Government decide to fortify bread with folic acid this could lead to multiple births for women receiving in-vitro fertilisation treatment.

Multiple births are associated with a range of birth defects, including blindness and cerebral palsy, and often predict poor survival.

A study of 602 women undergoing IVF treatment showed that, when more than one embryo was transferred to the womb, the risk of having twins rose with increased folate intake.

However there was no association between folate levels and the likelihood of a successful pregnancy.

The researchers said flour fortification could result in 600 extra women a year having twins after IVF or ICSI treatment which involves injecting a single sperm into the egg.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) confirmed that it was considering advice to ministers on dietary folate, including the fortification of flour.

Brits warned against foreign IVF treatment

British couples considering going abroad for in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and other types of fertility treatment have been warned against the practice.

According to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which monitors fertility clinics in England and Wales, people who choose to have their treatment abroad should understand the potential risks and implications before booking an IVF holiday.

The HFEA says standards in many countries do not match those in the UK and patients should consider what happens if something goes wrong, whether their information is kept confidential, the legal position of donors of eggs or sperm and how they are recruited, screened and compensated.

Tales of foreign clinics offering treatments to patients that could be dangerous, such as implanting two or more embryos can increase the chances of having a multiple birth which can be dangerous for the mother and the babies.

Infertility Network UK, a support organisation, has supported the HFEA's warning but says patients are being forced to travel abroad because they cannot access the treatment they need in Britain due to a shortage of egg and sperm donors.

This has led to unacceptably long waiting lists in some areas and some clinics have closed their waiting lists.

As many as one in six couples worldwide has infertility problems and fertility treatment is a multi-billion dollar global industry.

Medicine gives life a helping hand

By JOHN CRAWFORD

Special to The Times

Every year, IVF New Jersey would hold a holiday party to which the infertility practice invited former patients. It was a warm occasion. Not only would the patients' children be there -- children brought into the world through the help of the practice -- but the party also demonstrated the closeness that can develop between infertility clinicians and their patients.

IVF New Jersey assists with a momentous and happy time in people's lives, a fact that cements an intimacy between doctor and patient.

"Most doctors don't have that bond with patients," says Dr. Susan L. Treiser, a reproductive endocrinologist and co-director of the infertility practice, which has offices in Somerset, Lawrenceville and Freehold. "It makes it special."

The practice's most successful treatment is in vitro fertilization. Legal and moral issues may surround the unused embryos created through IVF, but the procedure can bring joyous results to patients' lives by literally giving the miracle of life a helping hand. "It is a miracle of life, and in some way, we have a hand in creating that," Treiser says.

On the flip side, the intricate and involved undertaking can also cause lots of stress for those going through it. Patients have frequent and draining visits, and they can be wrung through an emotional roller coaster, going from hopeful to anxious as they wait for results, then to devastated if they don't become pregnant.

The staff does their best to support patients, and if necessary, the practice has psychologists it can refer patients to, Treiser says. "Emotionally and psychologically, it's very difficult. There is no guarantee of success."

Given that the procedure costs about $10,000, patients also may face considerable financial strain if they're paying out of pocket. New Jersey does have legislation requiring the reimbursement of infertility treatment if a business has 50 or more employees.

In a nutshell, the IVF process starts with the patient taking medication to stimulate her ovaries to produce multiple eggs. During a women's normal cycle, only one egg is released, but the medication will increase that number to between 10 to 20.

In a minor medical procedure, the women's eggs are extracted and combined with a man's sperm. About 75 percent of the eggs will be fertilized, and the majority of these will divide into two or more cells to become embryos.

The progress of the embryos is evaluated as they continue to grow and divide in culture for three to five days. Ideally, if enough high-quality embryos are still viable after three days, they will be allowed to grow for an extra two days. Embryos that are 5 days old are known as blastocysts, and because they're more advanced, they have a better chance of conception.

After the embryos are transferred to the women's uterus, patients wait a suspenseful two weeks to see if they're pregnant. Overall, IVF New Jersey has an average success rate of 50 percent with IVF, but that average tumbles in older women. If using her own eggs, a woman over the age of 43 has a less than 2 percent chance of getting pregnant.

For that reason, IVF New Jersey discourages the procedure in older women, though the practice will allow patients up to the age of 50 to undergo IVF if they're using donated eggs from a younger woman.

Typically, an IVF patient is in her mid-30s to early 40s. However, Treiser is seeing more women in their younger 30s, even 20s, using the procedure. "Women are more savvy," she says. "There is greater awareness of women's biological clocks. There is increasing awareness of reproductive potential."

Treiser recommends women under 35 look into infertility treatment if they've tried to get pregnant for a year. Women 35 and older should seek treatment if they've tried for six months. "You don't want to lose your window of opportunity," she said.