fertility matters

Is fertility treatment selfish - an interesting response..

2012-02-02T04:58:00.001-08:00

I’ve just been reading a really interesting piece written by a mother of twins who expores very honestly the self-consciousness she sometimes feels about her children who were conceived using IUI. She tells how people feel no qualms about asking whether her children were conceived naturally and what an invasion of privacy this can seem.

She also addresses the criticism so often thrown at people who can’t conceive naturally that using fertility treatment is somehow “selfish” and that adopting would be a more socially responsible way to deal with the problem. The wild comments under any story about fertility treatment often imply that couples with fertility problems simply don’t think about this and that we are wound up in some feverish consumerism which makes us believe we have the right to anything we want. In fact, this couldn’t be further from the truth and couples going through fertility treatment tend to think a lot about their desire for a child and what it means, as this article so clearly explains…

Ovarian hyperstimulation

2012-01-31T02:12:00.000-08:00

When we think about the risks associated with IVF, we tend to either worry about the possibility of long-term health risks or more often about the risk of the treatment not working. In fact, one of the most serious, and not uncommon, risks of IVF is ovarian hyperstimulation, often known as OHSS.

Stimulating the ovaries to produce lots of eggs is not a natural process, and hyperstimulation is not something that can occur naturally but is a direct result of fertility treatment. Some women are more at risk of OHSS than others, and the team treating you will be keep a particularly close eye out for this if you have polycystic ovary syndrome, if you are underweight or if your have had OHSS in the past. Hyperstimulation can occur during treatment or after successful treatment when the rising hormone levels in early pregnancy can have an effect, which is why women who are pregnant with twins are at greater risk.

When the ovaries are hyperstimulated they become enlarged and the balance of fluids in the body is affected. Fluid can start to gather in the abdominal cavity and this can lead to swelling, dehydration and bloating. Fluid may collect in the lungs too, and the condition can also lead to an increased risk of blood clots. Although OHSS is often mild, the condition can be very dangerous.

Clinics can usually spot women who are at risk of hyperstimulating when they carry out the regular scans during treatment as there will be large numbers of follicles developing. Blood tests can confirm that a woman is at risk. Symptoms of OHSS can include discomfort and swelling in the abdomen, nausea, reduced urine output, dehydration and breathlessness. The first thing that women notice is often a swollen stomach, and the swelling can seem to increase very rapidly.

Ovarian hyperstimulation is thought to occur in about 5% of women having IVF treatment. Although the condition is often mild, it is always important to get medical advice immediately if you suspect you may have OHSS as it can be dangerous. If you are in the middle of a treatment cycle, you may be advised to "coast" for a few days without taking more stimulating drugs to see what happens. If you are close to egg collection, the embryos may be collected and frozen so that they can be replaced safely later.

Mixed Blessings

2012-01-25T14:18:00.001-08:00

I've just been reading a great new booklet from the Donor Conception Network written for anyone who is creating a family that includes children conceived without the help of a donor and also children conceived with donor sperm and/or eggs - hence the booklet title 'Mixed Blessings'.

The Donor Conception Network had seen an increasing number of families in this situation, or considering donor treatment after having a first child either naturally or with treatment such as IVF or ICSI. It was apparent that they wanted specific help and information, and that's the reason the booklet was written.

It has a reassuring common sense tone, and not only gives lots of practical advice and information, but also includes the experiences of a number of parents. Their situations are all very different but their stories help explain the many reasons why people may have a family where their children are conceived both with and without donor gametes.

I'd really recommend this booklet if you're in this situation - you can download it through the Donor Conception Network website here.

Calling anyone in Belfast...

2012-01-24T02:34:00.000-08:00

If you live in Belfast and are trying to conceive, you will be interested in a series of workshops organised by the wonderful Infertility Network UK team in Northern Ireland.

The five workshops cover a range of topics relating to fertility problems, starting with a workshop on nutrition on 26 January. Further workshops will cover dealing with your emotions, relationships, complementary therapy and solutions for stress.

Not only will the workshops prove to be informative, but they also provide a great opportunity to be with others who are in a similar situation and who understand exactly how you are feeling. For more information, see the Infertility Network UK blog.

Three parent IVF...

2012-01-19T06:29:00.000-08:00

The papers have dubbed it "three parent IVF" which is likely to send the anti-IVF brigade off on a familiar rant but in fact a new technique currently being investigated could prevent serious genetic conditions being passed from mother to child. The HFEA has launched a consultation into the process, which replaces the faulty genetic material in the mother's egg, to consider whether the technique should be offered.

The new technique involves using a donor egg and taking out the nucleus, which is replaced with the nucleus from the mother's egg. The faulty material, which is contained in the rest of the contents of the egg, is therefore eliminated which means that the resulting embryo should be healthy. The donor would only have a limited genetic link to the child as the crucial nuclear DNA would still be inherited from the mother.

Scientists are still investigating the technique which has the potential to prevent diseases that are currently incurable and a change in the law would be necessary in order for it to be offered to patients.

You can read a statement from the HFEA about the consultation at www.hfea.gov.uk

New research on how many embryos to transfer

2012-01-12T03:11:00.000-08:00

There has been some interesting coverage today of the study published in The Lancet about how many embryos should be transferred during IVF treatment. Sadly, some of it does illustrate a lack of understanding about current practice and the move towards single embryo transfer.

The research in the Lancet found that the difference in chances of success between single embryo transfer and transferring two embryos was much greater for women of 40 or more and so recommended that there should be some flexibility in the decision about how many embryos to transfer for older women. Interestingly, the researchers found that transferring three embryos did not increase the chances of a live birth in women of any age.

This new research has been used to suggest that the move towards single embryo transfer is somehow flawed, but in fact the research backs up very well the current policy in the UK which is that single embryo transfer is recommended for those who are most at risk of twins - in other words, younger women with a good prognosis. Single embryo transfer would usually only be suggested for women of 40 and above when using donor eggs. IVF success rates for women in their forties are not high, but the age of the donor is the deciding factor when women are using donated eggs.

You can read more about the research on the Lancet website.

The benefits of using frozen embryos

2012-01-07T15:25:00.000-08:00

I'm just back from the annual meeting of the British Fertility Society where there were some fascinating presentations, including one detailing some new research about babies born from frozen embryos. Researchers found that babies born from frozen embryos are heavier and have a longer gestation than babies born after fresh IVF cycles - and are therefore more likely to be healthier.

It's important news at the current time when more and more people are putting back one embryo at a time and using freezing techniques. We often assume that using fresh embryos must be better when possible, but this new research suggests that may not be the case. It isn't yet certain why frozen embryos do so well, although previous research had suggested that it was linked to the fact that only the strongest, healthiest embryos would survive the freezing and thawing process.

Whatever the reasons, this is reassuring news for anyone having fertility treatment. You can read the press release from the British Fertility Society here.

Surrogacy - so easy to condemn...

2011-12-31T09:54:00.000-08:00

I've just been reading a piece by Julie Bindel about how selfish it is for couples to opt for surrogacy when there are so many children languishing in care who need adoptive and foster parents. I normally like her writing, but on this occasion she has managed to link people who choose to go to developing countries to find a surrogate mother with anyone else who needs help to get pregnant in one damning line referring to "expensive complicated medical interventions such as IVF and surrogacy".

I recently interviewed two women who'd had a surrogacy arrangement who agreed to speak to me because they wanted to give their response to the endlessly negative press that surrogacy receives. They were friends, and one had decided to help the other to have the child she longed for but couldn't carry (she'd had to have a hysterectomy for medical reasons). There was no exploitation and no money changed hands. They did it twice and it resulted in two children - now teenagers. They are still incredibly close friends and their families spend a lot of time together. Speaking to them was really moving - they were both strong, positive women who were very proud of the children and of what they'd done. The interview was published in the last edition of the Infertility Network UK magazine.

I'm also never entirely convinced by the argument that people are choosing to go to such lengths without considering adoption. Many couples who can't conceive would love to adopt a baby, but their chances of ever being able to do this are extremely slim as the numbers of babies adopted each year in this country are tiny. That's not due to a lack of couples who would jump for joy if they were able to adopt a baby - it's just that decisions about adoption are not often made so early in a child's life and can take years. It's not fair to blame couples who have fertility problems for what may be seen as shortcomings in the adoption process. Many of the children who need adoptive families are much older and have lived through extremely difficult times which can mean that they need experienced carers - and the adoption process is about finding the right adoptive parents for the child, not about making sure that people who might consider surrogacy or fertility treatment are able to adopt instead.

Of course, Julie Bindel is right that the exploitation of poor women in developing countries is utterly wrong and should be condemned - but it's a shame that she has muddied the waters by appearing to conclude that any surrogacy arrangement or even fertility treatment is somehow just as exploitative and wrong.

You can read her piece here

Happy New Year

2011-12-31T09:11:00.000-08:00

Just to wish you all a very happy new year. I hope you have a lovely evening whatever you are doing and wherever you are, and that you go into 2012 looking forward to the year ahead. I know how difficult it is when you are trying unsuccessfully to conceive and it feels as if your entire life has been put on hold as you wait and wait and wait... It can seem as if there will never be an end to the hurt and sadness that you feel - but whatever the outcome, there will be a time when things are much, much happier.

If you're thinking of making any New Year's Resolutions, I think it's a really good idea to ensure that one of them is to make some time for yourself in 2012 to do some of the things you enjoy in life or find relaxing and calming - and that it might help you feel refreshed and optimistic about what lies ahead.

Take care, and best wishes for a very happy 2012!

Buying Clomid online

2011-12-29T08:29:00.000-08:00

I've just been looking at a website which sells the fertility drug clomifene citrate (often known by the brand name Clomid) direct online, and was shocked at how inappropriate the advice given about it was. I know that sometimes it can be tempting to decide that you'll boost your own fertility if your doctor doesn't seem keen to help and perhaps advises waiting a little longer before starting any treatment. Of course, it's frustrating to feel that you're being left in limbo, which can happen when you're stuck in the fertility maze - but that really doesn't ever make it a good idea to take matters into your own hands when it comes to taking fertility drugs.

The advice on this particular website only suggested seeking medical advice before taking Clomid if you had certain medical conditions - such as polycystic ovary syndrome. It should have insisted that anyone should seek medical advice before using a drug such as Clomid. It isn't appropriate for everyone and won't boost your fertility if you aren't in the category of women for whom it is suitable - mainly those with ovulatory problems. Women should be monitored when they are using it, and you should not use Clomid for longer than six months.

I can't stress enough how important it is not to go down the line of diagnosing and prescribing for yourself in this way. If you think you aren't getting the help you need from your doctor or specialist, get a second opinion, talk to a counsellor or a fertility support group but don't ever take fertility drugs that haven't been specifically prescribed for you without medical advice.

The high cost of IVF

2011-12-26T15:43:00.000-08:00

I was so pleased to see Lord Winston challenging IVF costs in the Independent today. When I started having fertility treatment fifteen years ago, we spent less than five thousand pounds on three full cycles of treatment, which included a number of frozen embryo transfers. Today, many couples would be lucky to see change from that for one fresh cycle. Inflation and advanced techniques may have made IVF more expensive, but I've often wondered how it has become quite so much more expensive.

Lord Winston has calculated that a treatment cycle ought to cost about £1,200 and believes that exploitation is going on in both the private sector and in the NHS. He says the cost of freezing and storage of embryos, eggs and sperm can be hundreds of pounds a year, when the real cost to the clinic is no more than £10 per year.

It's high time there was a debate on this issue. I've done any number of media interviews in the last year or two where the high cost of IVF treatment, often quoted as five thousand pounds a cycle, is used as a reason why the NHS shouldn't be funding treatment. A more realistic price for fertility treatment might go some way towards increasing acceptance of IVF as a treatment for a medical condition.

You can read more here

Getting through Christmas

2011-12-16T06:39:00.000-08:00

It ought to be one of the most enjoyable times of the year, but Christmas can sometimes turn into little more than a painful reminder of what you don't have if you're trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant. Not only does the occasion itself celebrate the birth of a baby, it is also a family event with the focus firmly on children.

If you're feeling low, there are some strategies you may want to consider to help yourself through this time. It is really important to understand that you don't have to do things just because you feel you should at Christmas. If your parents or close family tend to have a big celebration with lots of children present, you don't need to be there if it is going to be very painful. You can opt to see your family before Christmas or for the New Year, and choose to spend Christmas quietly with your partner. You can stay at home, or you may even decide to go away for a few days - or to enjoy some activities you never normally have time for such as long walks in the country or even DIY at home! If you find going to the shops difficult at Christmas, do your shopping online. If you're invited to family-orientated Christmas parties, you don't need to go - choose to attend adult events instead and perhaps go to the cinema or theatre where you can enjoy an evening of your own choosing.

Don't ever feel guilty about doing this - it's not about snubbing other people, it's about self-preservation and ensuring that you can enjoy Christmas too. Close friends and family should be sympathetic to your feelings. If you do what you can to ensure you can get through Christmas without too much upset, it will help you to approach the New Year feeling invigorated with a new sense of optimism about the future.

RCOG Consumers' Forum

2011-11-30T14:16:00.000-08:00

I'm going to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists tomorrow for a meeting of their Consumers' Forum. The Forum is a great idea, providing lay input into the expert papers and guidelines the College produces and the meetings are always fascinating - I come away having learnt a huge amount in a very short space of time! Women aren't always aware how much information the College produces - or how helpful and interesting it can be. It's really worth taking a look at the website if you have a spare moment - see www.rcog.org.uk

IVF blunders

2011-11-23T16:06:00.000-08:00

It's every IVF patient's worst nightmare - to discover that something has happened to the precious eggs,sperm or embryos that you have left at the fertility clinic. The news that a couple from Wales had lost all their donated eggs after an accident at the clinic is heartbreaking - the highs and lows of infertility are hard enough to cope with and it is hard to imagine how utterly devastating this news must have been.

The despair of the couple must also have been felt by the member of staff responsible - can you imagine how awful it would be to know that you might have ruined a couple's only chance to have a baby? It was clearly a mistake, and human error is something we can't ever eliminate entirely, What's really worrying about this story though is that it happened at the same clinic where we recently learnt that stored sperm was mistakenly destroyed. It may be an unfortunate coincidence, but fertility patients will be rightly anxious about entrusting their precious gametes to a clinic which seems to have a less than perfect record on this front. One can only hope that all procedures at the clinic have been reviewed to minimise the chances of anything like these two incidents happening again.

Find out more about fertility problems - free event in Birmingham

2011-11-16T02:27:00.000-08:00

If you live in or near Birmingham, you will be interested in a free event being organised by the charity Wellbeing of Women on December 7. It's an opportunity to hear some experts talk about women's reproductive health and to ask questions. The event is in the evening from 6-7.30pm so you can go along after work.

Professor Siobhan Quenby of University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire will be talking about recurrent miscarriage and Caesarean sections, and Mr Justin Clark from Birmingham Women's Hospital will be discussing menstrual disorders, pelvic pain, endometriosis and fibroids. The event will be held at BVSC, 138 Digbeth, Birmingham B5 6DR.

You can find out more by calling 0207 772 6375 and you can RSVP to apatel.wellbeingofwomen@rcog.org.uk - and for more events organised by Wellbeing of Women see www.wellbeingofwomen.com

Is 57 too old for fertility treatment

2011-11-07T15:03:00.000-08:00

I spent an hour reading the papers at the hairdressers today - a rare treat - but was sad to read the story in almost every paper of the pensioner IVF mother who says she now thinks that there should be an age cut-off for fertility treatment. She'd had a first child in her late fifties after fertility treatment at an overseas clinic, but a London clinic had offered to treat her again to try for a second. One of the reasons her case was said to be different was that her partner was considerably younger, but now they've split up and being a single mum in her sixties is clearly a pretty tough job.

Apparently she now says she thinks that 50 would be an appropriate upper age limit for fertility treatment, and as someone rapidly approaching a half century myself, I think she's right. There are so many women in their twenties, thirties and forties who desperately need donor eggs and it seems only fair that they should be treated rather than women in their fifties, who can hardly have been unaware that they were leaving it rather late to try to get pregnant.

Great first day at The Fertility Show

2011-11-04T13:10:00.000-07:00

The first day of this year's Fertility Show was another huge success. I really enjoyed the day, catching up with so many old friends and making many new ones. Seeing all my old colleagues on the Infertility Network UK stand was a treat as always, and I spent some time with my new ones on the British Infertility Counselling Association stand. It was lovely to see the friendly teams from the Homerton, Guy's and Birmingham Women's Clinic, the fabulous women who run Verity, Zita West and her staff and Brigid Moss from Red magazine who has written a great new book about experiences of IVF.

I hope my talk was OK - this year I didn't speak too fast at least, which is one good thing! But I didn't leave enough time for questions - which was one bad thing!

I'm looking forward to tomorrow - come and see my question time with clinics from the US and Spain and find out all you need to know about treatment overseas!

Are men putting their fertility at risk?

2011-11-03T12:52:00.000-07:00

There was an interesting piece in the Evening Standard this week about the way in which men's lifestyles can put their fertility at risk. We hear so much about women risking their fertility by delaying starting their families or by dieting or by not doing this or doing too much of that. It's good to hear some home truths about male fertility for a change.

The piece was based on a talk Dr Allan Pacey is due to give at The Fertility Show this weekend, explaining how drinking, smoking, recreational drugs and processed foods have led to an increase in male infertility - and unlike women, many men are apparently reluctant to change their lifestyles.

In nearly half of all couples with fertility problems, there is a male cause and it seems that age can make a difference to male fertility too. It's alcohol, poor diet, smoking and drugs such as cannabis and cocaine that can have a really serious impact for men - so if you want a baby, it'sn not just the female partner who should be starting on a health kick...

NHS fertility funds eaten up by single women - if you believe what you read in the papers...

2011-11-01T16:02:00.000-07:00

According to the Daily Mail headlines last week, it seems that couples are 'losing out' in the IVF lottery because single women are being given treatment above them. Just the sort of headlines to confirm the prejudices of those who think the NHS is funding far too much fertility treatment. Apparently, one in five primary care trusts will fund IVF for single women. In theory, at least... And that's where the argument starts to lose ground.

As anyone who has tried to access fertility treatment on the NHS knows, the funding situation is a bit of a mess. Although PCTs may say they would fund treatment for single women, the numbers of single women who've actually received NHS treatment is likely to be incredibly low. IVF is a treatment for those with fertility problems - single women trying to conceive wouldn't start out by opting for IVF as very few women know they have a problem before they start trying to get pregnant. And if a single woman has a fertility problem, should we really say we won't give the necessary treatment to get over a medical condition because she doesn't have a partner? Whatever you think about the rights and wrongs of this, it doesn't alter the fact that the headlines were fundamentally inaccurate.

Reading the stories more closely, they'd carefully avoided any mention of how many single women had received NHS-funded IVF or how much this might have cost. Of course, the reality is that this is one of those occasions when the truth would have got in the way of a good story. Equally, there was no evidence to support the claim that these single women were being given preferential treatment over couples. A handful of single women having NHS-funded IVF hardly merits the headlines, and yet it's probably far closer to the real picture.

It's not too late to book tickets...

2011-10-26T15:00:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's just over a week now until this year's Fertility Show - and my in-box seems to be full of Fertility Show related questions and queries. It promises to be another fantastic event and there are some really interesting speakers and exhibitors. I know I would have felt a bit uneasy about going along to an event like this in the early days of trying to conceive, as if it was some kind of public admission of a problem I kept hoping was going to disappear. In fact, it's ideal for anyone at the start of their journey as there's so much information to access all in one place - and if you're further along the path of tests and treatment, you'll find some of the country's leading fertility experts all under one roof discussing some of the latest developments in the field. I know it may sound a bit strange, but I've always found that there's something slightly empowering about these very special two days at Olympia - there may be some commercial elements to the show, but fertility treatment has become a commercial business - and they don't matter in comparison to the amazing strength to be gathered from spending time in the company of quite so many others who all understand exactly what it's like.

Why don't you just adopt?

2011-09-29T07:35:00.000-07:00

I’ve lost count of the number of times I've been asked why couples who are going through the traumas of fertility treatment don’t adopt. It always annoys me as I think there’s a perception that there are huge numbers of small babies languishing in care because people with fertility problems would rather pay for loads of treatment than consider adopting a baby who needs a home. I hope that today’s news that last year just sixty babies were adopted in the whole of England may help explain why adoption isn’t always an option.

Apparently record numbers of children are being taken into care, but that isn’t being translated into more adoptions. It’s particularly sad that so few babies are adopted, as generally the earlier children find new parents, the more successful adoptions can be.

Apparently it can take more than three years for a child to be adopted. The fact that the average age for adoption is just under four would suggest that many of these children could have been found new families at a much earlier age. Next time I’m asked why we don’t all rush off to adopt children when we find we can’t have our own easily, I shall have some figures to quote back at hand…

A frozen guarantee

2011-09-27T13:14:00.000-07:00

I've just been reading about an American TV presenter in her mid-thirties who has decided that she isn't ready to have children for another couple of years, and so is going to freeze her eggs as an insurance policy. If only it were that simple...

The belief that you can put your fertility on hold by freezing eggs seems to have gained an alarming momentum. Anyone with any experience of fertility treatment could tell you how uncertain it is and that there are never any guarantees - but this woman has somehow been sold the idea that freezing eggs will ensure she has no fertility problems in the future. I'm never entirely sure where this myth originates as most fertility doctors are very honest about the lack of guarantees when it comes to egg freezing, but perhaps the real problem is that so many women want to believe it...

Too old to be a mum?

2011-09-26T07:59:00.000-07:00

I've just been reading about the case of a Brazilian woman of 61 who is expecting a baby in November and the controversy it has caused. I think it's a shame that these very rare cases of much older women getting pregnant after fertility treatment often muddy the waters of the debate about assisted reproduction.

Although we seem to read about women approaching pension age having miracle babies in the papers fairly often, it's really most unusual for fertility clinics to treat women who are so far past the menopause. The woman in this case has said she is in "great health" but what constitutes great health for a woman of 61 is hardly the same as for a woman twenty years younger. By the time the woman's child is 18, she will be approaching 80 assuming she lives that long and it's the decision as to whether this would be fair on the child that should be paramount.

The saddest thing about these stories is that they perpetuate the myth that fertility treatment can offer a solution to age-related infertility. In fact, like many of the older celebrities we read about who suddenly get pregnant at a somewhat advanced age, the woman in this case used an egg from a donor. No matter how fit and healthy we may feel as we get older, getting pregnant gets harder the longer you leave it - and fertility treatment can't reverse the biological clock.

Warning over dangers of multiple births from Canada...

2011-09-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

News from Canada of an expert in multiple births who has accused the IVF industry of "creating a population of sick babies", and has demanded to know why fertilty experts continue to put back more than one embryo.

The multiple birth rate had surged in Canada, and there had been more and more babies born prematurely with low birth weights who were at risk of long-term health problems. Although the number of twins and triplets born after fertility treatment in Canada had dropped a little more recently, it is still around 25%.

In Quebec, treatment is paid for by the state but in the majority of cases only one embryo is transferred at a time, and the multiple rate has dropped to around 5%, but in other parts of the country it's still fairly routine to put back two or more embryos.

Here in the UK, there has been considerable pressure on fertility clinics to reduce the number of multiple pregnancies and many are making great strides to achieve this. Unfortunately others are happy to continue to blame patient pressure for their decision to keep transferring two embryos even where patients are at high risk of a multiple pregnancy.

One consultant told me recently that of the couples they'd advised to have a single embryo transfer who had ignored the advice, every single one had ended up with a multiple pregnancy. The important thing to remember is that if you were going to get pregnant with twins, you will still get pregnant but with one baby who is far less likely to have health problems.

I know it can be difficult to accept single embryo transfer but that's partly because of the way the IVF industry works in this country. For too long, fertility patients have had to take risks with their future children's health and it is important to understand that by having a single embryo transferred you are not being penalised, but are being offered a greater chance of having a healthy baby - it's not always appreciated that multiple birth poses the biggest health risk to children born after fertility treatment.

For more information about single embryo transfer, go to www.oneatatime.org.uk

No more red-headed donors...

2011-09-20T15:10:00.000-07:00

One of the world's largest sperm banks has announced that it can't take any more donations from men with red hair! Apparently, the Cryos sperm bank based in Denmark has seen an increase in donations in recent years and now has more sperm from red-haired men than it can sell despite having customers in more than 65 countries around the world.

It seems that demand for donors with red hair is low, and it's only the sperm bank's customers from Ireland who tend to ask for it. With most of their supplies going to people in Spain, Italy and Greece it's donors with dark hair and eyes who prove the most popular.

New booklet for lesbian mums-to-be

2011-09-13T05:11:00.000-07:00

I've been doing some work recently with a great new organisation working for lesbians who want to have children or who have families, and they've got a brand new booklet due out this weekend packed with information and advice for lesbians who want to start a family. Including tips on monitoring your own cycle, on finding a sperm donor and on fertility treatments and clinics, it also contains an extensive list of organisations to contact who can help with further advice. You can get the booklet from LGroup Families who also organise regular meetings for prospective mothers-to-be and for lesbian families.

The Fertility Show

2011-09-13T02:17:00.000-07:00

This year's Fertility Show is now just a couple of months away, the seminar programme has been drawn up and tickets are on sale. For anyone trying to conceive, I think the Fertility Show offers a unique opportunity to hear some of the leading experts in the country give their views and to make contact with staff from clinics from the UK and abroad, getting an idea of whether they might be suitable for you with more insights than you might be able to glean from their websites.

I know the Fertility Show isn't everyone's cup of tea. Some people do feel that it is too overtly commercial, but the sad reality is that most fertility treatment now is overtly commercial and however much we don't like that, it's not going to change. You have to go to the shown forewarned that perhaps you may find some things there that you wouldn't choose for yourself, but that's not a reason not to go. I feel it really is an unmissable opportunity to inform yourself and there are many excellent organisations exhibiting and lots of really interesting talks. The show is organised by an excellent and very professional team, in conjunction with the charity Infertility Network UK who are running some great workshops for the first time this year. Come along and see for yourself!

New book by Red magazine Health Editor

2011-09-06T14:45:00.000-07:00

If you want to know more about other women's experiences of IVF, Brigid Moss, who is Health Editor of Red magazine, has just written a new book 'IVF, An Emotional Companion' The book covers a range of different fertility problems and outcomes, with more than 20 women telling their own stories along with some quotes from experts in the field. Whatever your personal situation, you will find something to interest you among the real-life experiences here.

Brigid has been through the IVF mill herself, and for me one of the most moving stories in the book was her own experience of miscarriage after getting pregnant with a second IVF baby. Told with great honesty, it details the reality of losing a long-awaited baby and left me in tears.

Thoroughly recommended to anyone who wants to find out more about other women's experiences of infertility and treatment.

Unexplained infertility and undiagnosed coeliac disease

2011-08-23T06:16:00.000-07:00

Anyone experiencing unexplained infertility knows how difficult it can be not to have any known cause for the problem, and how vulnerable it leaves you to every bizarre fertility therapy going. Couples often question their lifestyles, jobs, living situation, past history and pretty much everything under the sun as they seek an explanation - and nowadays there is no shortage of "expert" opinion telling you that if you could just relax, take a holiday, eat more broccoli or less chocolate, spend an hour a day meditating, wear orange knickers or any number of other peculiar suggestions, you would probably get pregnant right away.

In fact, unexplained fertility usually does have a medical cause - it's just that doctors haven't found it. Now, a team at Columbia University in the States have discovered higher than usual rates of undiagnosed coeliac disease amongst those suffering from unexplained infertility. If you have coeliac disease you are intolerant to gluten, but not everyone has symptoms of coeliac disease and some of the signs that you may have the condition such as abdominal pain, bloating and indigestion are not always immediately associated with gluten intolerance.

If you have unexplained infertility and unexplained digestive issues, it may be worth talking to your GP about celiac disease. If you are found to be intolerant to gluten, a change of diet may also help your fertility.

Eating disorders and your fertility

2011-07-26T14:29:00.000-07:00

It has taken a 'celebrity' (I've put it in brackets only because I'd never heard of her..) to raise awareness of the way eating disorders can affect your fertility - but it's certainly time women understood that excessive dieting can damage your chances of having a family in the future. When a woman's body weight drops too low, her periods will stop. Most women know this, but assume that their periods will return to normal once weight is regained. Unfortunately, this isn't always the case and some of those who suffer from anorexia will discover that they don't start ovulating even if they do get back to a normal weight - and medical help will be needed to give any chance of ever having a child.

It's not just anorexia that can affect fertility, but bulimia and yo-yo weight loss too. Bulimia has been linked with polycystic ovary syndrome, which often affects fertility, even in women whose weight isn't abnormally low and yo-yo dieting with rapid weight loss and gain can also play havoc with ovulation.

The obsessive nature of eating disorders means that women often consider any future health issues to be a very low priority, but perhaps education at an earlier stage about the long-term risks for fertility might be a good thing.

Surrogacy law - does it need updating?

2011-07-12T14:55:00.000-07:00

Leading fertility lawyer Natalie Gamble has just sent me a press release about a complicated surrogacy case which has just been through the courts here in the UK. Natalie feels it highlights some of the problems with the current legislation surrounding surrogacy - and it certainly does show how hugely complex the issues can be - see below...

The High Court has made an unprecedented order awarding parenthood to a deceased father of a baby boy born through surrogacy in India.

A couple, known only as Mr and Mrs A, entered into a surrogacy arrangement and their son was born in India on 12 April 2010. The biological parents were Mr A and either Mrs A or an unknown donor. However, under UK surrogacy law, the Indian surrogate and her husband were treated as the baby boy’s legal parents, and Mr and Mrs A applied for a parental order to reassign parenthood and gain a UK birth certificate naming them as mother and father. But Mr A tragically contracted liver cancer during the course of the proceedings and died, leaving the High Court to make a landmark decision to award parenthood to the mother and her deceased husband.

The case was complicated by the fact that only couples – and not single people – can apply for parental orders. When the UK’s surrogacy laws were debated in 2008, Parliament decided that only couples should be able to commission surrogacy arrangements. Parents who apply for parental orders following surrogacy must therefore either be married or living as partners in an enduring family relationship.

Leading fertility lawyer Natalie Gamble, who drafted an amendment to the law in 2008 (which was debated in Committee but rejected) which would have allowed applications from single parents, comments: “The case shows how dangerously outdated our surrogacy laws are. Although Mrs Justice Theis was able to find a way around the law in this case because the father had died after issuing the application, what would have happened if either of the parents had died earlier, perhaps during the pregnancy? This has always been an accident waiting to happen, and the restrictiveness of the current law is leaving children vulnerable and unprotected.

Natalie, whose firm has dealt with many of the leading international surrogacy cases heard by the High Court in recent years including the first to ratify a foreign arrangement, goes on to say: “The case demonstrates the continuing difficulties the courts are facing in dealing with surrogacy arrangements. The High Court is repeatedly having to stretch the legislation in order to secure the status of vulnerable children born through surrogacy, and the emotional and financial cost of this for the family involved is significant. We need a better system of law which caters for these kinds of eventualities, and gives clarity and certainty to ensure that children being born through surrogacy (and their parents and surrogates) are properly protected.”

The case is also the first published case to ratify an Indian surrogacy agreement in which more than expenses were paid to a surrogate mother, following a line of previous published cases ratifying commercial payments for surrogacy made to US and Ukrainian surrogate mothers.

IVF risks

2011-07-04T15:22:00.000-07:00

If you'd read some of the newspaper headlines about IVF this morning, you could be forgiven for getting into a bit of a panic. It sounded as if going through IVF put you at a hugely increased risk of having a baby with Down's syndrome, and that it was the drugs used during fertility treatment which caused the problem.

This research is undeniably interesting, but it's far from conclusive. The eggs of just 34 couples were examined, far too few to be truly representative, and the reason for the problems they found is not clear either. They saw that when older women took higher doses of fertility drugs during treatment, there were abnormalities in the eggs which were produced. These abnormalities appear to be different from the more common problems which occur in older women's eggs anyway.

There are a number of things that need to be understood about this. The eggs studied were far more likely to lead to an unsuccessful treatment cycle or a miscarriage than to a baby with serious problems. The researchers have suggested that ovarian stimulation could disturb the normal process of egg production, but it is also not clear whether the fertility drugs caused problems for the eggs or whether the treatment allowed eggs to be produced from the ovaries which might otherwise never have got as far as being released.

So, we would like to see more research in this field to discover whether pushing older women's ovaries to produce more eggs actually only results in larger numbers of poor quality eggs - but in the meantime you can find out more about the research at www.eshre.eu

Congratulations to Robert Edwards

2011-06-21T04:56:00.000-07:00

It is wonderful news that Professor Robert Edwards, the IVF pioneer, has finally been awarded a knighthood in this year's Queen's birthday honours. It is hardly surprising that the work of the man who changed the lives of so many has been recognised, but it is surprising that it has taken so long. The award comes closely after the Nobel Prize for Medicine awarded to Professor Edwards last year. Maybe, four million babies down the line, the establishment has finally woken up to his amazing legacy - and to the fact that the UK led the way in this field with the birth of the first ever IVF baby in 1978. Congratulations to a truly brilliant and inspirational man.

Varicoceles linked to lower testosterone levels

2011-06-17T15:05:00.000-07:00

Varicoceles, which are dilated or enlarged veins in the testicles, are a common problem for men. They've been linked with male fertility problems for many years, but new research has shown that they can interfere with the production of testosterone. Lower levels of testosterone can have an impact on men's energy levels and muscle strength as well as affecting fertility.

As many as fifteen percent of men have varicoceles, but no medical action is usually taken unless they are painful or thought to be causing infertility. However, the new research suggests that it may be a good idea to opt for microsurgery earlier rather than later in order to prevent future problems.

To read more about the research, visit http://weill.cornell.edu

Precious Babies

2011-06-13T05:39:00.000-07:00

I've had the cover through this week for my new book, Precious Babies, which is out in October. There's something about seeing the cover for the first time that makes a book seem real and I'm so excited about this one. I've wanted to write something aimed at those who are pregnant, or new parents, after infertility ever since I first discovered I was pregnant after my second cycle of IVF. The joy that I felt was tempered with a terrible sense of fear that it couldn't possibly be real, that I couldn't possibly be so lucky and that something was bound to go wrong. Nothing did - but I spent nine months worrying - and in retrospect that seems such a shame. There's nothing anyone can do to change the natural concern you feel when you conceive after experiencing infertility, but by acknowledging the feelings, I hope that this new book can at least make help make those fears fade a little.

The book also covers parenting from birth right through to teens, as I really do believe that the experience of infertility often changes the way we feel about being parents. The parents I spoke to felt very strongly that they were less likely to take their children for granted, and recognised that they sometimes set themselves impossibly high standards to follow as parents. Of course, the experience of infertility fades fairly rapidly, but many of those I spoke to felt that their infertility had ended up changing them for the better, and that they truly appreciated how very blessed they were to have their children.

I hope that Precious Babies addresses many of the issues that concern parents, and I've included expert views and advice throughout in order to ensure that it can offer a rounded view to anyone who has finally been successful after spending some time trying to conceive. You can find out more about the book here

Ideal number of eggs for IVF success?

2011-05-16T06:25:00.000-07:00

If you've had IVF treatment, you'll know how important the number of eggs collected during the cycle can seem - but other than assuming that lots is good, most of us have little idea of what would be the perfect number to maximise the chances of success.

Now, researchers have analysed data from more than 400 000 IVF cycles using information from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to see if they could find a pattern of success related to the number of eggs collected. Looking at the live birth rate, they were attempting to produce a model to predict the chances of success based on the number of eggs and the age of the woman having treatment.

Their research showed the live birth rate rose gradually depending on the number of eggs collected until it reached 15 eggs, at which point it stayed stable until it got to 20 eggs, after which it began to decline. For women under the age of 34 who had 15 eggs, the live birth rate was 40% across the UK, and even for women of 40 and over, it reached 16% if they had reached the desired 15 eggs at collection. So 15 has been deemed as the ideal number of eggs in order to maximise the chances of achieving a live birth after IVF treatment.

You can read more details of the research, which has been published in Human Reproduction, here

New support group for lesbian mothers-to-be

2011-05-08T07:08:00.000-07:00

I went to a meeting this morning organised by a great new support group for lesbians who are thinking about having children. LGroup Families - www.lgroupfamilies.org.uk - was set up by a lesbian couple whose own experiences when they decided they'd like to start a family convinced them of the need for more support and advice. The group organises monthly workshops, often with speakers, for lesbians who want to know more about their options. The group can help women access information and help, and make them aware that they may seek help within the NHS as well as at expensive private clinics.

The group is also now starting meetings for pregnant women and for those who have children which will provide not only an opportunity to get together with others, but may also provide practical advice. Do have a look at the website and event listings to find out more.

Infertility Network UK

2011-05-02T16:02:00.000-07:00

I finished work as a Regional Organiser for Infertility Network UK last month after almost two years as a member of staff, and many more of being involved with the charity as a trustee beforehand. If you're not familiar with I N UK, do take a look at the website - www.infertilitynetworkuk.com . There's so much information for anyone with an interest in fertility, from downloadable factsheets on different aspects of infertility and treatment to a funding section with a fascinating interactive map to show what the current situation for NHS-funded IVF is across the UK. There are details of events and support groups across the country as well as forums and chatrooms where you can talk to others. The charity also supports those who've been successful after treatment through ACeBabes and those who are living with involuntary childlessness through More to Life.

I have had a wonderful two years working for the charity, and it has been great to meet so many lovely people and to do a job which felt worthwhile every day. Do take a look at the website and see what Infertility Network UK can offer...

Canadian study shows costs of IVF multiples

2011-04-15T05:49:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has qualms about the aim to reduce the number of multiple births after assisted conception in the UK should look at a new study from Canada published in The Journal of Pediatrics which analyses the admissions to neonatal intensive care of IVF babies.

The research shows that a hefty 17% of the newborn babies in intensive care were the result of multiple pregnancies after assisted conception, and that a policy of single embryo transfer could save 30-40 deaths across Canada each year, not to mention many serious complications.

The researchers studied a database from one hospital over a period of some years to check for significant complications, and extrapolated those findings to the whole country. They found that twins were more likely to be premature, were more likely to be admitted to intensive care and were also more likely to have other complications. They say that although fertility specialists are aware of the risks of multiple pregnancy, they are still willing to continue with procedures that carry risks for mothers and their babies and that this is partly due to the fact that people are usually paying for their treatment. The couples are therefore willing to attempt anything that might mean paying for fewer cycles, while clinics are pressured for higher "success" rates. The researchers make it clear that they feel the medical system "sometimes has the responsibility to refuse to offer interventions that increase morbidity when there are equally effective alternatives available, which lead to lower morbidity; especially when the large part of the morbidity is suffered by another individual, in this case, the baby." They call for a system where treatment costs are reimbursed and where IVF is regulated in order to save lives and long-term additional expenses.

You can read the report in full at www.jpeds.com

Report on the More to Life day

2011-03-28T15:01:00.000-07:00

We were all delighted that our first ever More to Life day for those who are involuntarily childless was a resounding success, attended by more than eighty people. I must admit I’d been quite anxious in the run up to the day about whether people would enjoy it, but the afternoon of talks and workshops provided an ideal opportunity for More to Life members from across the country to get together and for prospective members to find out more about the charity and what it can offer.

The afternoon was opened by More to Life Chief Executive, Clare Lewis-Jones, who explained a little about the background to the charity and about all the work both staff and volunteers do throughout the UK to enable More to Life to offer help and support to those who are involuntarily childless.

The first speaker of the afternoon was counsellor Jayne Williamson from Aberdeen whose talk was peppered with music, poetry and art. Jayne talked about the coping strategies she suggests in her therapy sessions and about the art therapy she practices. She showed us some of the art work she’d produced herself whilst learning about the process, and explained that once people had overcome their anxieties about putting pen or paint to paper they often found it could offer unique insights, forming a very helpful part of the healing process.

Jayne’s talk was followed by a workshop with Vivienne Edgecombe, who began by explaining that she was going to be talking from the heart about her own experience of involuntary childlessness and about her journey to the realisation that you don’t need children in order to have a happy life. Vivienne looked at the way we can get stuck in negative thought patterns about all kinds of things in our lives, and explained that she uses EFT(Emotional Freedom Technique), or tapping, to help get rid of negative thoughts. She showed the audience how to tap, starting with a tap on the side of the hand and moving around the upper body. She admitted that it might look a bit odd, and explained that there were all kinds of theories about why it might work, but that the important thing from her perspective was that it really did seem to make a difference. Vivienne’s natural enthusiasm and honesty shone through in her talk, which left many of those in the audience feeling really inspired.

The break in the middle of the afternoon gave the audience a chance to get together and chat, to make new friends and to meet others from their local area. There was a really lovely, friendly atmosphere where everyone felt welcomed, and it was quite a feat to encourage the delegates back into the conference hall for the second half of the afternoon!

The final speakers, Hazel Hodge and Rachel Ormrod, are both familiar faces to many More to Life members. Hazel, an active member from the Midlands, spoke eloquently about her own experiences of involuntary childlessness and of learning to cope after a hysterectomy. Hazel shared many of her own ideas and suggestions for focusing on the positives and explained that those without children have two valuable resources, time and money, which they can use to live their lives to the full. Hazel showed her own list of positive things that she intends to do in her life, and discussed her voluntary work for More to Life and with children, as well as her fundraising activities. She explained that a ‘moving on plan’, which she refers to as a mop, is an essential part of learning to cope and of finding a purpose in life.

Rachel Ormrod, our final speaker, was best known to many of the audience as the co-author of ‘Beyond Childlessness’, a great resource for anyone dealing with involuntary childlessness. Rachel told her own story, and talked about the stages of acceptance of her own involuntary childlessness, with a very frank and open account of the lows and highs. Rachel’s husband declared he didn’t want children after they married, and she spent the next 20 years dealing with this before he decided he wanted a divorce, leaving her free to do whatever she wanted with her life. She offered her services to an orphanage in Africa and the picture she painted of the children, longing for parental care, and of herself, living in their world but still feeling the pain of her own childlessness so acutely, was incredibly moving.

The afternoon ended with a presentation of flowers to the More to Life chair, Judy Wingrove, who has done so much to ensure More to Life can continue to work to support those experiencing involuntary childlessness. The day was a great success, and one we hope that can be repeated n the future!

Brighton fertility support group

2011-03-22T12:31:00.000-07:00

The Brighton fertility support group organised by Infertility Network UK will be meeting this Thursday, 24 March, at the Agora Clinic in Hove at 6pm. The meeting is open to everyone - you don't need to be having treatment at the clinic - and you don't need to book to come to the group, just turn up on Thursday evening. Hope to see you there!

Asian support group

2011-03-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

The next meeting of the Infertility Network UK Asian support group will be held this Tuesday at the Harley Street Fertility Clinic in Devonshire Street, which is just off Harley Street in Central London. The Asian support group has proved to be a huge success and has featured on the BBC's Woman's Hour and the BBC Asian Network in recent months. The group is open to everyone - you don't have to be having treatment at the clinic or to be a member of Infertility Network UK. Do come along on Tuesday at 6.30pm if you're interested - it's a very informal, supportive and friendly group.

Tomorrow's More to Life day

2011-03-18T07:02:00.000-07:00

Just to make sure everyone is aware that you can just turn up on the day tomorrow for our first ever More to Life day for the involuntarily childless and pay on the door. It promises to be a fascinating afternoon, and we've got a fantastic range of speakers - and we've also gone far beyond our expectations when it comes to the numbers of delegates. There are details on the More to Life website - the runs from 1.30pm and will be held at The Resource Centre in Holloway. Do come and join us if you can!

More to Life - March 19

2011-03-06T09:20:00.000-08:00

The first ever day for people living with involuntary childlessness has been set for March 19. The More to Life day will be marked with an afternoon of talks and workshops at the Resource Centre in Holloway, and bookings for the day are now open.

The day will include talks from BICA counsellor Jayne Williamson, based at the University of Aberdeen, on coping strategies and a workshop run by Vivienne Edgecombe focusing on childlessness and a happy life. There will be a break with an opportunity to meet up with others from your local area, followed by Hazel Hodge speaking about a fulfilling life without children of your own. The day will end with the co-author of Beyond Childlessness, Rachel Ormrod, speaking about Surviving, then Thriving.

It promises to be a really interesting afternoon, and you can book online at www.moretolife.co.uk

The blog is back...

2011-03-01T06:25:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the lack of posts for the last few months. I've been finishing my new book, due out later this year, which is now finally written and in the editing stages, so the blog is back!

It has been a dreadful few months for anyone needing fertility treatment, as one PCT after another has slashed funding despite the Department of Health and the government making it quite clear that PCTs are expected to be working towards implementing the NICE guideline and providing up to three cycles of IVF. It's particularly sad to see that many of the PCTs are now using the fact that others have already cut funding as an excuse - as if following someone else's bad decision makes it acceptable.

Don't worry - the blog won't all be doom and gloom. There will be the latest updates in fertility tests and treatment, and lots of interesting news and comment so I hope you will enjoy following Fertility Matters again!

Surrey funding cuts

2010-11-12T15:03:00.001-08:00

So Surrey is the latest to jump on the bandwagon - hping to make up a deficit of £125 million pounds by axing spending on tattoo removal, treatments for baldness and guess what... yes IVF. However they managed to end up with a deficit of £125 million pounds, one can safely say that it wasn't by spending money on fertility treatment, which is estimated to be less than half a percent of total NHS spending. And it's interesting that they have managed to cut £7 million from their spending on "management" (which is still going to cost around £10 million a year).

It's easy to cut IVF spending. No one gets terribly upset, apart from the people waiting for treatment who are often so devastated by their experience of not being able to conceive that they find it hard to talk to their friends about it, let alone to start waving placards outside their local PCT offices. The long-term impact for these couples is usually neglected in talk about "priorities". We know that more than 90% of couples with fertility problems suffer depression, and this can often lead to other health problems. In the future, the opportunity to try to have a child if you can't do it easily will only be available for those who have the cash to pay.

What's really worrying about all this is the precedent that is being set. Surrey have cheerfully announced that "If you don't need it, the NHS won't pay for it." Who decides what constitutes "need"? Do you really "need" a hip replacement? Or a cataract operation? Do children "need" free prescriptions? Do pregnant women "need" scans? If the NHS is only there to deal with life-threatening conditions, then we don't "need" an awful lot of what it does, but is that really a future that anyone wants?

Is fertility-related stress a good thing?

2010-11-02T05:33:00.000-07:00

If you've ever worried about your stress levels when you're going through fertility treatment, you can stop worrying now. A new study has found that women who were most stressed during treatment had a higher pregnancy rate than those who rated themselves lower down the stress scale.

The researchers in the States weren't expecting this outcome when they studied more than 200 women going through treatment as it is generally believed that stress has a negative impact on fertility. They found that women who put themselves high on the stress score appeared to have a 20-30% higher pregnancy rate than those who were less stressed

There is nothing less helpful when you are going through fertility treatment than being told that it won't work if you are stressed - infertility causes a huge amount of stress, and telling women that they are making things worse by feeling stressed ends up being a vicious circle - you feel guilty about being stressed which then makes you more stressed, so you have to feel even more guilty about being more stressed etc. For that reason alone we should welcome this new research.

You can read more here

Donor eggs for black women

2010-10-18T05:12:00.000-07:00

As more and more people who need donor eggs consider travelling abroad to avoid long waiting lists at many clinics at home, there is good news for black women from Barbados Fertility Centre. They've been actively recruiting donors locally for some time, and are now in the position of having more donor eggs from black women than they have potential recipients. This may be of great interest to black British women who often face incredibly long waits for treatment with donor eggs in the UK. You can find out more about the clinic and the treatment they offer at www.barbadosivf.org

an interview later...

2010-10-04T07:22:00.000-07:00

I've just done an interview for LBC radio about IVF funding, which they'd linked to Robert Edwards getting the Nobel prize. It's such a shame that on the day one of our country's greatest scientists gets awarded for his ground-breaking work, we end up discussing how to cut all funding for an amazing treatment that was invented here. We carry out less fertility treatment in the UK, and considerably less funded treatment, than most of the rest of Europe - and yet this was a field in which we once led the world.

It always fascinates me when I do these interviews that there is a general assumption that the NHS is funding huge amounts of treatment at the moment, when in fact that isn't the case at all. It's a tiny percentage of the NHS budget and cutting it would cause such distress. Today the person interviewing me equated IVF with breast-enlargement operations for teenagers - it seems to get worse by the day...

IVF pioneer honoured at last!

2010-10-04T03:58:00.001-07:00

What fabulous news that Robert Edwards, the scientist behind the birth of world's first IVF baby, has finally received a Nobel prize!

It has always rather mystified me that Robert Edwards hasn't received a Nobel prize for medicine in the past. His work has led to the birth of millions of IVF babies around the world, and has allowed many couples who would never otherwise have been able to conceive to have families of their own. Working with Patrick Steptoe, he'd been widely criticised for his work, with much scepticism about IVF from the medical profession as well as the church and the general public.

It's just a shame that they waited so long to honour him, as he is now 85 and not at all well. I went to interview him a few years ago, and I know how much he would appreciate finally receiving this prize. He explained to me that his conviction had allowed him to continue his work despite all the opposition, and that had led him to develop what has now been recognised as "a milestone of modern medicine".

It's not often that you meet someone whose life is really inspiring, and who you feel quite humbled to have the opportunity to speak to. Robert Edwards is a wonderful man, passionate about helping those with fertility problems and this is a truly well-deserved, if somewhat tardy, recognition of all that he has done. And on a personal note, it has cheered up my day no end!

Read more here

Reduced cost IVF for charity members

2010-09-17T05:48:00.000-07:00

I wrote a while ago about the Benenden Healthcare Society, a mutual not for profit organisation which provides healthcare to public sector employees - and is offering IVF at reduced cost. The Society has now voted to open up to all those who are members of charities too, which means that anyone who has joined Infertility Network UK for support can benefit from this.

Benenden Hospital in Kent is a subsidiary of the society and has charitable trust status. It provides healthcare for members of the trust, and has its own fertility centre. Although IVF treatment cannot be offered free, it is subsidised - members who have been with the society for six months or more qualify for IVF at reduced cost.

You can find out more at www.benenden.org.uk

Another trust cuts fertility funding

2010-09-16T12:43:00.001-07:00

So, now NHS Bury has decided to stop funding IVF too - apparently as part of a plan to save "millions of pounds". Well, I just hope the plan includes an awful lot of other things, as they're not going to save a single million by stopping fertility treatment.

In 2008, they funded a total of 31 treatment cycles - which means they'd probably struggle to save much more than £100,000 by cutting treatment altogether. That may seem quite a lot of money but in terms of their multi-million pound annual budget, it is peanuts. I suspect the board at NHS Bury could do with a few lessons in health economics - causing so much misery and depression for such a small saving is not good policy, it's a lazy way to make it look as if you are doing something by snipping away at small budgets,

IVF is not always successful, but the pain of involuntary childlessness is far easier to bear if you know that you had the opportunity to try to overcome your fertility problem. And let's be clear, a fertility problem is a health problem not a "lifestyle issue". I am never entirely sure why blocked Fallopian tubes or polycystic ovary syndrome are conveniently no longer classified as medical problems when it comes to funding fertility.

NHS Bury is also cutting "other discretionary procedures" such as cosmetic surgery, apart from in exceptional cases (which suggests a lot of unexceptional ones have been funded in the past) and homeopathy treatments. Says it all really...

Positive new research on DHEA

2010-09-07T05:45:00.001-07:00

It's a subject that has come up at lot recently at the fertility support groups I visit - the use of DHEA to improve the chances of IVF success for women who have a low ovarian reserve.

DHEA is an anti-ageing vitamin supplement and women in the UK have been buying it online - and reporting that their response during IVF treatment has been much improved. It's quite a hot topic amongst the couples at the groups, and more and more have been using it recently.

Now, scientists in Israel have looked more closely at the effects of the supplement - and they found that women who took it were three times more likely to get pregnant than those who didn't. Apparently, the women who'd taken DHEA were also more likely to have a healthy pregnancy and delivery.

It isn't clear exactly what DHEA does to women to make them more fertile, and many consultants in the UK are reluctant to recommend it without larger scale trials - however, if you've got a low ovarian reserve and are having IVF, it's definitely worth looking into.

There's more detail on the research, which has been published in Human Reproduction, here

IVF cuts - make your feelings known...

2010-09-07T05:12:00.000-07:00

It was depressing to get back from my holiday and discover that one Primary Care Trust had decided to stop funding fertility treatment due to the recession.

It's an easy way to look as if you are being thrifty - but the ridiculous thing is that it actually saves a very small amount of money whilst causing a huge amount of heartache. I heard an estimate the other day that in total fertility funding was less than 0.1% of the NHS budget. I suspect far more could be saved by a more careful monitoring of exactly what can be covered by executive expenses - and that wouldn't cause any heartache to anyone.

Clare Lewis-Jones MBE, chair of the National Infertility Awareness Campaign and Chief Executive of Infertility Network UK has made her feelings clear, urging Warrington PCT to rethink the decision; “We are very angry indeed at the decision taken by Warrington PCT to suspend funding for IVF treatment. The PCT has suggested that infertility does not affect general physical health but we deal with patients every day who contact us and whose health has been adversely affected by this illness. NICE Guidance issued in 2004 recommended eligible couples should receive up to three full cycles of treatment. It is high time that PCTs realised the impact infertility has on patients."

I think sometimes Primary Care Trusts are too quick to listen to the small but vociferous minority who oppose fertility treatment and to take their views as being representative. People who are living without the children they'd love are often so adversely affected by their situation that they feel unable to make a fuss when PCTs make decisions like this. Maybe you could help them. Tell Warrington PCT Chair, Mr John Gartside, what you think about the decision.

Mr John Gartside
Warrington Primary Care Trust
Headquarters
930-932 Birchwood Boulevard
Millennium Park
Birchwood
Warrington WA3 7QN

Does ovulation affect your choice of clothing?

2010-08-10T13:34:00.001-07:00

I'm fascinated by some new research which shows that women buy more daring clothes when they are ovulating and imagined it must be to make themselves look and feel more attractive to men. Apparently, the researchers found that outdoing other women was the key factor rather than a simple desire to impress the opposite sex.

The women who chose the more daring clothes were not only ovulating, but had also been shown photos of attractive local women. Apparently the effect wasn't the same when they were shown pictures of less attractive women, or those who lived thousands of miles away, and in these cases they didn't opt for the daring outfits.

The research was carried out by a team at the Carlson School of Management in Minnesota and published in the Journal of Consumer Research - you can read more at www.csom.umn.edu

Pregnancy after miscarriage

2010-08-08T08:29:00.000-07:00

How soon can you try to get pregnant again after a miscarriage? The conventional wisdom has been that women should wait for at least six months, and some recommend waiting as long as eighteen months. However, others have always believed that trying to get pregnant again as soon as possible could in fact enhance a woman’s chances of recovery.

This new study in Scotland looked at the outcome of pregnancy in women who’d had a previous miscarriage. The women were divided into groups depending on how long they had waited to try to get pregnant again. The researchers at Aberdeen University found that those who had conceived within six months of an earlier miscarriage were less likely to lose another baby or to have an ectopic pregnancy, and they were also less likely to give birth prematurely or have a baby with a low birth weight.

The researchers concluded that it was probably unncessary for women to try to delay conception after miscarriage unless there are specific issues that may indicate it is necessary. You can read more about the research at www.bmj.com

Superdrug deal on IVF drugs

2010-08-04T01:37:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has had fertility treatment will know that the cost of the drugs can send the total bill soaring, and patients are often advised to shop around to get a reasonable deal on the drugs they will need.

Now Superdrug has announced plans to dispense fertility drugs with no mark-up on the cost - and this will also apply to other privately prescribed prescriptions. This is due to come into effect right away so if you're about to start a treatment cycle, it is worth checking the price at Superdrug as well as any other outlet you may be considering. However, do keep in mind that when Asda announced a similar scheme for fertility drugs a while back, some NHS hospital pharmacies were cheaper - so do make sure you check!

You can read more about the Superdrug plans here

Reduced cost IVF for public sector workers

2010-07-23T01:40:00.000-07:00

If you or someone you know (a friend or member of your family) work for or previously worked in the public sector then you may want to consider joining The Benenden Healthcare Society, a mutual society which has charitable status and provides healthcare to public sector employees. Unlike private health schemes, the Society is only open to those who work in certain fields, and costs just £1.50 membership a week. Those eligible include people who work for the civil service, armed forces, post office, registered charities, BT, local authorities, in state education, for the emergency services and the NHS.

Benenden Hospital in Kent is a subsidiary of the society and has charitable trust status. It provides healthcare for members of the trust. Originally founded in 1907 to treat postal workers with TB, today it provides care for a most medical and surgical specialities including infertility. Although IVF treatment cannot be offered free, it is subsidised and members who have been with the society for six months or more qualify for IVF at reduced cost.

More to Life Day - March 2011

2010-07-21T04:55:00.000-07:00

For anyone who has imagined that they will have a family, contemplating a future without children can seem a bleak and lonely prospect. More to Life is a charity offering help and support to anyone who is involuntarily childless, whatever their path to that point may have been. Next year will see the first ever More to Life day, with speakers, information, advice and support on hand for an afternoon in Central London. The date has been set for March 19 2011 and we are now putting together a programme of speakers. You can find out about More to Life at www.moretolife.co.uk

Callling London ACeBabes!

2010-07-20T08:16:00.000-07:00

Did you know that there is a special group for families who had to have help to have children? ACeBabes is for anyone who has experienced fertility problems and went on to get pregnant. It provides help and support during pregnancy and for parents- and also offers a great opportunity to meet others who have had a long path to becoming parents.

I'm organising an ACeBabes picnic in Greenwich Park in August for anyone who is pregnant after fertility problems or those who have been successful and their families. Do come along and join me and my own ACeBabes - details can be found here.

Endometriosis

2010-07-08T00:46:00.001-07:00

It's a condition that is not often discussed despite the fact that it is thought to affect 176 million women around the world. Endometriosis occurs when cells which are like the spongy womb lining grow elsewhere, usually in the pelvic cavity. It can be very painful, can lead to heavy or irregular periods and may affect fertility.

Now, the first ever global study of the impact of endometriosis on society has been carried out, and has discovered that women who have endometriosis often have such severe symptoms that it affects their work productivity. The study looked at more than a thousand women from five continents and found that the impact of endometriosis was greater than expected. It impaired life quality in many areas ranging from housework to studying and exercising.

Another alarming fact thrown up by the research was the amount of time it took to get a diagnosis - often a wait of seven years from first seeing a doctor about symptoms to being diagnosed!

It is hoped that this study will help raise awareness of endometriosis and highlight the need for research into finding better treatments - you can read more about the study at www.eshre.eu

Why freeze eggs

2010-06-29T14:19:00.000-07:00

Why do some women choose to freeze their eggs for the future rather than get pregnant sooner? Two new studies have looked into the reasons behind this, and although one which questioned younger women found that they'd rather focus on their careers, the other discovered that it's the lack of a partner that drives women to make the decision when they are older.

We tend to assume that women who have children later do so because they are too busy furthering their careers when they are younger, but in fact most of the women I've spoken to who were trying to get pregnant in their late thirties and early forties are adamant that this isn't the case. For them, it was a matter of waiting for the right partner - so it's not surprising that the idea of egg freezing seems attractive.

In fact, freezing eggs is not a guaranteed insurance policy. The technology is still quite new, and it's an invasive and expensive business. Women have to go through most of an IVF cycle in order to harvest a crop of eggs, and it can take two or three goes to ensure there are sufficient eggs to freeze. If women leave it until their late thirties to decide to freeze their eggs, the chances of success will have diminished as egg quality will have begun to decline.

The studies on egg freezing were presented to the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology conference in Rome and you can read more about them at www.eshre.eu

Fertility support

2010-06-29T06:44:00.000-07:00

I've been facilitating a number of support groups in the last few months, and have also attended some too, and at the end of every meeting I go to, I am more convinced that meeting other people in the flesh is hugely helpful to anyone experiencing fertility problems.

Online support has grown so much in recent years that most clinics have completely given up on the idea of providing a support group for patients - with one or two notable exceptions! It's a great shame, as although patients want good success rates, they also want to feel supported. Too often, patients come to the group with stories of insensitivity and lack of understanding from clinic staff. It's a great shame, as these same staff are often working flat out to improve the clinic and the treatment in every way that they can, but the little things can easily get forgotten.

Chatting to someone else online can be helpful, but actually meeting someone and talking to them is a far richer experience, and can be far more rewarding. I've yet to meet anyone who went to a support group and left concluding it wasn't for them. Once you take the plunge, you may be surprised at how much you get out of it.

Details of support groups meeting in England can be found at www.infertilitynetworkuk.com

Advance testing for menopause

2010-06-27T23:05:00.000-07:00

Researchers have found that they can accurately predict the age at which women will reach the menopause - giving women a clearer idea about their reproductive future.

The team from Tehran tested the levels of Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) which controls the development of the follicles in the ovaries. AMH has been used as a test of ovarian reserve, or the number of eggs likely to remain in the ovaries, for some time. In this new test, blood samples were taken every three years and looked at in conjunction with information about a woman's reproductive history. The women were also given a three-yearly physical examination. 266 women were involved in the study, and the researchers predicted their menopause very accurately - on average they were just a third of a year out. More research is now needed to see if the findings can be replicated in a larger group.

The research is particularly useful for women who want to plan when to start a family, but it is vital to remember that having a later menopause does not guarantee your fertility until that point. Women are less and less fertile for years before they reach the menopause, and there are many other problems that can cause infertility. However, any new research in this field is very welcome and will undoubtedly help many women.

A press release about the research can be found at www.eshre.eu

Official warning on online sperm agencies

2010-06-24T04:21:00.001-07:00

The UK's fertility regulator has just issued a warning about online donor services, after a number of media stories about agencies offering to put people in touch with potential donors.

It all sounds quite simple, but in fact there are very real risks to using this kind of service. The agencies often claim to operate in a grey legal area where they only provide an introduction, rather than eggs or sperm. Even so, many online donor services are still working on the wrong side of the law. The reason for our stringent legislation when it comes to sperm and egg donation is to keep people safe. Using an agency, you can't guarantee you get the donor you think you are paying for, you don't know if sperm samples are screened or are safe and none of the safeguards that the law provides will apply.

I think it's particularly frightening that many of these sites offer fresh sperm. In licensed clinics, sperm samples have to be frozen before use to ensure that the donor hasn't contracted any kind of infection, such as HIV, since he was last screened. With an online service providing fresh sperm, it simply isn't possible that a sample can be guaranteed to be safe.

Not only are there safety issues, using an online agency can cause huge issues in the future over legal parenthood. If a man donates through a licensed clinic, he is not the legal father of the child born through the donation. This is not the case with an unlicensed donation where, in fact, the donor would be the legal father and could be legally and financially responsible for any offspring.

It may seem an attractive idea, it may be quick, but it certainly isn't safe or sensible to use an online agency and you could be creating problems for both yourself and your future child.

The HFEA have issued at statement which you can read at www.hfea.gov.uk

Chlamydia

2010-06-22T15:14:00.000-07:00

I was talking to a journalist earlier this week about what young women can do to preserve their fertility, and came to the probably unhelpful conclusion that most of it was little more than common sense and a healthy lifestyle. However, the one thing that many young women don't think about is chlamydia, and yet it can have such devastating effects on your future fertility.

Apparently one in ten sexually active young people has chlamydia - and that's an estimate which some believe could be conservative. For up to 80% of women who have chlamydia, there are no symptoms which means people don't worry and don't get tested. It may only be years later that they discover their fertility has been compromised.

When I was writing The Complete Guide to Female Fertility I interviewed a young woman who was in her early twenties, but knew she would have to have IVF in order to conceive. She had sensibly been tested for chlamydia at an early age, but it was already too late. The infection had completely blocked her fallopian tubes (which connect the ovary to the womb, allowing eggs to get from one to the other). She was longing for a family, but was too young to qualify for IVF in her local area.

It's easy to forget about something that has no symptoms, that you may not know you have - but if you could be at risk through unprotected intercourse, it's worth having a test. It's simple and quick - and really could help preserve your fertility.

Indian triplets for 66-year old mother

2010-06-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

I've just been reading about the triplets born to a woman of 66 in Northern India. Her doctor seems rather proud to announce that she is the oldest woman in the world to give birth to triplets. This was apparently her third attempt at IVF and she had three embryos transferred as the two embryos put back in the earlier cycles had failed to implant. The three babies are now in intensive care as they are very underweight.

The treatment was carried out at the same clinic in Haryana where a woman of 70 who became the world's oldest mother was treated. The clinic seems to specialise in treating pensioners and the website is quite bizarre, featuring pictures of elderly couples next to tiny babies. In India, the average age expectancy for a woman is 66 and it's even younger for a man, so the clinic are helping to create babies whose parents are highly unlikely to live past their first few years. And surely carrying three babies and then having a Caesarean at 66 is hardly going to increase your life expectancy...

It's stories like these that have to make you glad that we have such a highly regulated system in the UK, and that our fertility doctors consider what is right for potential parents and children when they are making decisions about treatment, rather than the desire to break new ground in totally unethical territory.

The French Study...

2010-06-15T03:40:00.000-07:00

You may have heard about "The French Study" over the last few days... It has been quite widely reported in the media as it shows that there is a small risk of malformation for children born after IVF. The study looked at more than 15,000 IVF children's health records and found that 4.24% had some kind of congenital malformation. It sounds incredibly alarming, and is enough to worry anyone considering IVF.

As usual with these stories, there is a however... First, this needs to be put into perspective, as in the general population who have not had IVF, there is a risk of up to 3% of congenital malformation so the increased risk is very small. Second, although you may not have been aware of this, previous studies had put the figure of congenital malformation after IVF as high as 11%, so this is actually a lot better than many scientists had expected. The French researchers believe their figure is more likely to be correct because this was such a large study.

This is certainly an issue that needs further investigation, and makes the case for more long-term follow-up studies of children born after assisted conception. At the same time, it is important to understand that this increased risk is very small. If you do have worries about it, you should talk to the team at your clinic. See more here

Maybe being calm doesn't make you more fertile...

2010-06-10T15:36:00.000-07:00

It seems to go against everything we've heard in the past, but new research apparently shows that neurotic women are more fertile and have more babies than their calmer laid-back sisters!

The research, which was carried out in Senegal, seems to contradict previous studies in Western countries which had suggested women who were had neurotic personality traits were likely to have fewer children. It is certainly interesting, especially as we tend to assume here nowadays that being chilled and relaxed is key to improving your fertility.

You can read an article on the subject at www.dailymail.co.uk

Is it too easy to buy eggs and sperm in the US?

2010-06-09T14:32:00.000-07:00

I've just been reading an interesting piece in the New York Times which compares the complicated process people face when adopting a child with the ease with which donor sperm and eggs can be purchased in the States. During adoption, the interests of the child are always paramount, as they should be, but with donor conception, the interests of the prospective parents may seem to lead the way.

Columnist Ross Douthat discusses a study of donor conceived adults which showed that many of them felt some unease about their conception, often because money had changed hands. Unlike the UK, donation in the States is not only paid but can also be anonymous. Although getting rid of anonymity in the UK was initially seen to have reduced the donor pool and created longer waits for donor treatment, it is likely that in the long run it will reduce the potential problems of donor conception making it possible to trace a donor parent.

You can read the article at www.nytimes.com

Considering fertility treatment?

2010-06-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

If you're considering fertility treatment, you may be interested in a new publication from the HFEA, called Getting started: Your guide to fertility treatment. It's for those who are at the beginning of their fertility treatment journey and explains what the different treatments are, what to think about before you start, what to expect at a clinic, funding options, potential risks and where to get support.

You can order your free copy at www.hfea.gov.uk/order or pick up a leaflet with a pre-paid order form at a GP surgery.
Each section of the new guide directs people to the HFEA website for more detailed information and the latest data on licensed clinics.

You may also be interested in my books The Complete Guide to IVF of The Complete Guide to Female Fertility , which is also ideal for anyone at the start of their journey and for any woman who is wondering how late she can leave it to have a baby.

Reduced fees for single embryo transfer patients

2010-06-08T05:50:00.001-07:00

Did you know that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) will no longer charge clinics for patients who have frozen embryo transfers after putting back just one embryo in a fresh cycle?

At the moment, fertility clinics pay the HFEA a fee for each cycle they carry out, and the clinics pass this charge directly on to their patients. From October onwards, the fee will be dropped if a patient who had an unsuccessful single embryo transfer goes on to have additional frozen embryo transfers. The idea is that this will help reduce any additional financial burden from the decision to have just one embryo put back at a time.

Single embryo transfer does make sense for younger women who have good quality embryos as it means you are more likely to have a single, healthy baby. However, in the current economic climate many people do worry that it may end up costing them more to get pregnant this way. The HFEA hopes the decision will show the authority's commitment to helping patients who choose the safe and sensible option.

You can see more here

Abortion after IVF

2010-06-07T04:43:00.000-07:00

So, "dozens" of young women are apparently having abortions after getting pregnant by IVF because they have "changed their minds". The report that eighty women who'd had IVF went on to have abortions was said to show that infertile couples were treating babies as "commodities" and it brought out the anti-IVF brigade in force. It's such a terrible shame that something affecting a tiny number of the couples who have IVF every year has been allowed to taint the arguments about whether fertility treatment should be funded by the NHS.

The reality is that the number of women who went on to have abortions after IVF is less than one per cent of the total number of IVF pregnancies. The fact that one woman had told a newspaper reporter that she had been pushed into IVF by her partner, and changed her mind once she got pregnant has been assumed to apply to the other 79 women who didn't continue with their pregnancies. We have no idea what motivated them, but there is no evidence that it wasn't problems with the baby's or their own health, a relationship breakdown or even the death of a partner.

IVF is not something that anyone undertakes lightly - it involves huge emotional and usually financial commitment and is often a pretty traumatic process. The vast majority of those going through treatment would do anything they could to have a child, and using the example of one woman in order to make assumptions and draw conclusions about the three and a half million people having difficulty conceiving is both wrong and unfair.

Secondary infertility

2010-05-24T14:50:00.000-07:00

I've just read a great piece on The Guardian on secondary infertility by the author Maggie O'Farrell.

People who have no personal experience of infertility don't understand how it feels, but there is a generally sympathetic attitude towards those who are involuntarily childless. Not being able to have a second, or third, child doesn't get the same reaction. People tend to assume you should be grateful for what you have - and even GPs are sometimes surprisingly ignorant about secondary infertility, not taking it sufficiently seriously soon enough.

Maggie O'Farrell's moving article points out that secondary infertility can be just as hard to cope with - and I loved her ending - read it and see...

The Complete Guide to IVF

2010-05-21T15:17:00.000-07:00

I'm about to start revisions for a new edition of The Complete Guide to IVF as a new edition is due to be published later this year. It's fun to get a chance to go through your work with a red pencil, but I am going to have to be disciplined and only change what really needs changing - otherwise I won't ever stop...

Website up and running

2010-05-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

Just to say that my website - www.katebrian.co.uk is now up and running again - hooray! Losing it for a while has made me realise my biography is hopelessly out of date. I suppose at least that means I'm busy...

Sextuplets

2010-05-21T05:42:00.001-07:00

The birth of sextuplets to a couple in Oxfordshire has been trumpeted in the media, and many people will inevitably assume that the babies must be the product of IVF. In fact, multiple pregnancies of this order after IVF do not happen in the UK, as our system is carefully regulated to ensure that babies born after assisted conception have the best possible chance of a healthy life.

These six tiny babies were born prematurely, each weighing less than two pounds, and their chances of survival now hang in the balance despite round the clock medical care.

The mother in this case had taken a fertility drug - quite possibly Clomid - and it is here that many multiple birth problems lie. The use of fertility drugs by themselves is unregulated in the UK. People can get them from a GP or they can even be purchased online, and in these cases the ovaries are not always scanned and monitored to ensure that there is no chance of a risky pregnancy with triplets or more. Although our fertility services are sometimes criticised for being too closely regulated, this is one area where we could do with a little more regulation in order to ensure that dangerous high-order multiple pregnancies become a thing of the past.

Newspaper claims sex may become redundant

2010-05-18T01:39:00.001-07:00

So, sex to make babies may become redundant in the future, according to the Daily Mail. I do love these stories. I remember a similar one some years back which claimed that career couples were turning to IVF because they were too busy to have sex!

This story is based on claims that IVF will become so successful in the future, that sex will appear "inefficient" in comparison so over 30s will all be choosing assisted conception if they want babies. It paints a picture of a scarily sci-fi Brave New World.

Of course, it's wonderful that scientists are predicting that IVF will have a near 100 per cent success rate in the not too distant future, but I still can't see anyone choosing it if they don't have to - however much more efficient it may be at baby making than sex. Anyone who had any personal experience of the daily injections, the scans, the blood tests, the visits to the clinic, of egg collection under sedation and embryo transfer, of the traumatic highs and lows and the lack of dignity of it all would know that it efficiency may not be everything. Have a look at the Daily Mail article yourself and see what you think!

The mystery of the disappearing website...

2010-05-18T01:32:00.001-07:00

Actually it's not that mysterious - my website has disappeared from cyberspace, and it's all my fault. I have been getting those "you must pay xx now if you want to maintain your website" for about the last year, and I kept thinking I must do something about it, but was also, in retrospect rather stupidly, worried that they might be some kind of phishing thing from someone other than the website host. Instead of doing the sensible thing and checking it out to make sure I was paying the right person, I put it off, and put it off and put it off... As the website was still there, I forgot about it after a while. Now it has suddenly gone, and I have a terrible feeling I am going to have to start from scratch with a new one.

Maybe it's time to see it as a fresh opportunity for a bright new website... Watch this space!

Make a date for August

2010-05-06T00:52:00.001-07:00

I went to the fertility information evening at Homerton Hospital in Hackney last night and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand more about their fertility - whether you're at the early stages of wondering whether it should be taking so long to get pregnant or further down the line of having tests and treatment.

Consultant Anil Gudi's presentation used video clips to illustrate every condition and treatment he discussed. So often medical explanations can end up leaving you more confused - but having a visual presentation of each subject, from what happens inside the female body during normal conception to how an ovary becomes polycystic was absolutely fascinating - and really gives you a much clearer idea of what is involved.

The fertility information evenings are set to run every three months - so the next one will be on the first Wednesday in August. If you're in London and you want to know more about your fertility, I'd put it in your diary right away!

Human eggs for sale online

2010-05-04T14:40:00.001-07:00

An interesting story in the papers today about a woman who put her eggs up for sale on the internet, apparently not realising that it is illegal to do so in the UK.

The woman - a 28-year-old businesswoman - claimed she needed to sell her eggs to pay off her student loans and was hoping to make more than £4,000 for her trouble. She had apparently read about how much egg donors could earn in a magazine which suggested many women in the UK were already selling their eggs. She posted her ad on a website where she said she'd seen another woman advertising her eggs for sale. The ad was accepted without any problems, and she had no idea that what she had done was illegal.

The woman admitted that her family had been horrified by her plans, fearing that she might regret her decision in the future. However, she remained confident that this would be a good way to pay off her debts whilst helping a childless couple.

Should we be shocked by this? Is it wrong? At the moment in the UK, although it is illegal to advertise human eggs for sale and you can't get paid for donating eggs, you can receive "reasonable expenses" but what constitutes "reasonable" is a grey area. The HFEA is currently reconsidering the rules on payment for egg and sperm donors, and this may clarify matters in the future.

You can read more here

Fertility awareness information evening - London

2010-05-03T08:04:00.001-07:00

There's a free fertility information evening open to all at Homerton Hospital in Hackney on Wednesday 5 May at 7 pm. A consultant from the hospital's fertility centre will give a presentation on fertility, looking at lifestyle issues that can affect your fertility and funding for treatment, as well as answering any questions. I will be there, representing Infertility Network UK.

The evening will be held in the main lecture theatre, Education Centre, Homerton University Hospital, Homerton Row, London E9 6SR. If you'd like to come along you can email fertility@homerton.nhs.uk or call 020 8510 7660 - or just turn up on the night!

Why the use of cheap fertility drugs should be monitored

2010-05-03T07:51:00.001-07:00

There's an interesting comment piece on the BBC website from Professor Bill Ledger of Sheffield University about the risk of cheap fertility drugs leading to multiple births.

There is more now awareness about the dangers multiple births can cause both mothers and babies, and this has led fertility experts to try to put back just one embryo during IVF treatment when there is a good prognosis. However, many women with less serious fertility problems are initially treated with much simpler and cheaper fertility drugs. These drugs are sometimes prescribed by GPs or at general hospitals, and their use is not regulated by the HFEA. Drugs such as Clomid can still lead to multiple pregnancies if women are not properly monitored when they take them, and the comment calls for simple ultrasound scans for all women taking fertility drugs to ensure that they are not putting their own, and their future children's, health at risk.

You can read the piece on the BBC website

Is air pollution affecting your fertility?

2010-04-14T04:57:00.001-07:00

New research from the US suggests that being exposed to air pollutants can decrease the chances of successful IVF - maybe a good excuse to take a long holiday if you're going through fertility treatment...

Women going through IVF had the air quality in their home monitored at specific stages during their first treatment cycle- more than 7,000 women were involved in the study which took place over a seven-year period. The findings showed lower likelihoods of a successful pregnancy in the women who had been exposed to higher levels of pollutants, in particular nitrogen oxide. Conversely, higher ozone levels seemed to show more chance of successful pregnancy.

It is thought that these effects could be mirrored more widely, and that exposure to pollutants may have an impact on all fertility, not just that of women going through IVF. More details can be found here

Donor sibling link

2010-04-06T14:43:00.000-07:00

People who have been born as a result of donor conception will be able to contact others who share the same donor from today. Once they reach 18, those conceived through donor treatment can join the Donor Sibling Link, a new service launched by the HFEA (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority), which will enable them to get in touch with any genetic siblings who have also joined. As donors usually make more than one donation, there may be a number of genetic siblings in different families and this will allow them to find out about one another.

The Donor Sibling Link can only be used by those who were conceived using donor eggs, sperm or embryos and their parents or other family members are not able to access the information.
See more here

Important information for all UK IVF patients

2010-04-02T02:57:00.000-07:00

You may not know that as from April 6, identifying details of anyone who has had IVF since 1991 may be available to researchers. Most people who've had IVF may be quite happy for researchers to be able to use identifying details from their records in order to carry out projects which could be beneficial to future patients, but there are others who don't tell anyone about their treatment and may be worried about this - especially as most people believed this information was confidential when they had IVF.

It is possible to opt out by using a form on the HFEA website but both you and your partner will need to opt out, and you will need to put in the dates of your treatment and where you had it.

There's more information here for anyone who wants to know more about this.

Peckham miracle babies

2010-04-01T04:53:00.001-07:00

The case of the "miracle" babies born to women attending a church in Peckham has been the subject of another BBC radio investigation today.

An "archbishop" who is wanted by the authorities in Kenya to face charges of stealing children is apparently still in the UK, where he had claimed to be able to help women who were often medically unable to have children. The women would go to Kenya and return with babies he claimed they'd given birth to, despite the fact that their DNA did not match that of their "parents".

It is a sad story of the exploitation of both poor Kenyan women and couples with fertility problems in the UK - see more here

Fizzy drinks and male fertility

2010-03-31T03:21:00.000-07:00

Did you know that too many fizzy drinks may affect male fertility? A study from Denmark looked at more than 2,000 young men and investigated their diet and intake of caffeine (including fizzy cola which contains caffeine) before analysing their sperm. They found that there was no clear link between semen quality and caffeine consumption, BUT there was a link when they looked at fizzy drink consumption.

Men who drank more than 14 bottles of fizzy drinks a week (that's about a litre a day) were far more likely to have poor fertility. However, it isn't clear what the cause of this might be. Researchers say it can't be the caffeine, as getting the same amount of caffeine from coffee didn't have the same result. It could be that those who drink lots of cola have other lifestyle factors that may come into play - on the whole they were less healthy, eating less fruit, vegetables and fish and consuming more fast food and alcohol. The one thing that does emerge very clearly from the research is that lifestyle and eating habits certainly do play an important role in male fertility.

You can read the full paper here

IVF and ICSI information evening

2010-03-31T03:06:00.000-07:00

There's a free fertility information evening at Homerton Hospital in Hackney on Wednesday 7 April from 7-8.30pm. Consultants from the hospital's fertility centre will give a presentation on IVF and ICSI and answer any questions. I will also be there, representing Infertility Network UK. The evening will be held in the main lecture theatre, Education Centre, Homerton University Hospital, Homerton Row, London E9 6SR. If you'd like to come along you can email fertility@homerton.nhs.uk or call 020 8510 7660.

US egg donors paid too much?

2010-03-26T06:25:00.000-07:00

The human egg raffle (see previous post), raised quite a lot of debate here about payment for egg donors and whether that might help solve the shortage of donor eggs. Indeed, recompense for donors is something the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is considering in the UK.

However, a new study from the US shows how careful you have to be once you set that ball rolling. It discovered that many egg donors are currently being paid considerably more than the guidelines suggest, particularly those with good grades at good universities. Apparently ads appear in University newspapers across the US offering considerable sums in exchange for eggs. Is that really a route we'd want to follow here? Is it possible to pay donors more than the paltry amounts they currently receive in the UK and still keep the situation under control? And if so, how can that be done?

The egg raffle

2010-03-18T08:40:00.000-07:00

You've probably heard about the human egg raffle taking place to promote a link-up between a London fertility clinic and a centre in the US. Apparently, we are told, this is pretty standard practice in the States and it's not exactly a raffle as you don't buy tickets - in order to qualify you have to go along to an information seminar to find out more about the treatment on offer.
Whether it's a dubious marketing strategy or a slippery path to something far more sinister depends on your point of view.

It's interesting that when another London clinic gave away a number of free treatment cycles, there was no outcry. Is this really no more than a similar free treatment offer for those who need donor eggs? In theory, perhaps not, but in practice the idea of a human egg raffle is highly distasteful - and all the more so to us in the UK because the winner will choose the donor from a wide selection of women who are willing to sell their eggs.

The HFEA came out and condemned the raffle as "inappropriate" and said it "trivialises altruistic donation". But what of the clinic concerned? Splashed across the pages of our newspapers and discussed on radio and TV, it certainly got publicity - and if you're of the opinion that any publicity is good publicity, then perhaps it worked. But will it have encouraged patients to dash off to the seminar for the chance of winning a cycle of donor treatment? Or would it be more likely to encourage them to seek treatment elsewhere?

Acupuncture guidelines

2010-03-15T15:19:00.000-07:00

Complementary therapies for fertility problems are becoming ever more popular, and acupuncture in particular is generally accepted to be a successful alternative or addition to conventional treatments. Having a session of acupuncture before and after embryo transfer is thought to increase the chances of implantation. Indeed, it’s now so popular that some fertility clinics have acupuncturists working on site to provide an integrated service alongside the medical treatment due to patient demand. However, the British Fertility Society has now questioned the accepted wisdom that you're more likely to get pregnant if you've had acupuncture alongside your IVF.

They've issued guidelines which say there's no evidence that having acupuncture (or using Chinese herbal medicine) increases your chances of having successful fertility treatment. They examined the results of fourteen existing trials, which included more than two and a half thousand patients, and found no evidence that acupuncture made any difference to the outcome of fertility treatment. Acupuncturists question the methods used for the trials, but the lack of evidence cannot be entirely meaningless given the number of patients involved.

When The Complete Guide to IVF was published, I was questioned by an acupuncturist who didn’t feel I had been sufficiently positive about acupuncture during treatment in the book. In fact, I am not against the idea of complementary therapies at all, and I think that if they can make you feel calmer and more relaxed, this can only have a positive outcome. I had, however, pointed out that scientific evidence was not clear cut when it came to backing up claims that having acupuncture during an IVF cycle increased success rates. If you find that acupuncture makes you more able to deal with the ups and downs of IVF, then there’s every reason to use it while you’re having treatment. If on the other hand, you are spending money you can ill afford looking and are expecting miracles, it may be worth reconsidering.

You can read more about the British Fertility Society take on this at www.britishfertilitysociety.org.uk

The cost of fertility drugs

2010-03-13T07:04:00.000-08:00

As a quick addition to the previous post about cost-price drugs from Asda, I was with some consultants from an NHS fertility clinic this week who informed me that they sell IVF drugs through their clinic at cost price, and that they are even cheaper than Asda! So do check out all your options...

An existing child...

2010-03-13T06:52:00.000-08:00

Whether you qualify for NHS-funded IVF doesn't just depend on where you live in the UK, it can also depend on your personal circumstances. Women who are overweight, who are over a certain age or under another, couples or single women who need donor eggs or sperm may all find that their situation makes them ineligible. In many areas, having an existing child from a previous relationship means that you won't qualify for NHS help.

If both you and your partner have been in previous relationships and you have one or more young children from either of those relationships living with you in your home, discovering that you don't qualify for fertility treatment may be upsetting as you'd like a child together, but you do have "an existing child". However, what about a woman whose partner has an adult "child" from a previous relationship? She may have absolutely no contact with that young person and it's a very different scenario - yet she will also be deemed ineligible for treatment by many PCTs.

Fertility patients understand that these are difficult financial times and the NHS doesn't have unlimited funds, but is it really right to make up rules which treat people unfairly in order to disguise the fact that fertility treatment is rationed?

Cost price IVF drugs from Asda

2010-03-05T06:58:00.001-08:00

Congratulations to Asda on the decision to sell IVF drugs at cost price. So many people who need fertility treatment have to pay for it privately, and the expensive drugs needed for each IVF cycle make it an even more costly business.

Whilst I'm delighted by Asda's decision, what shocked me most was the profit most other outlets are currently making when they sell fertility drugs. Asda say that if you buy your IVF drugs from them, you will pay around £1,170.00 - buying the same drugs elsewhere could cost you at least £800 more! When you're already spending a lot of money on your treatment, that's not a saving to be sniffed at. Most of us tend to imagine that pharmaceutical companies are to blame for the high cost of drugs, but this reveals that High Street pharmacies could be making a very healthy profit from those of us with fertility problems too.

The Asda pharmacy is online at www.asda-pharmacy.co.uk

PCOS - not too late to book for the conference

2010-03-01T06:47:00.000-08:00

If you have polycystic ovary syndrome, you will be interested in a one day conference due to take place later this month in Reading. Organised by Verity, the PCOS support network, on March 27, the conference covers a wide range of topics including complementary therapy, health issues and dealing with excess hair. See the Verity website for more details.

Get paid to give your views!

2010-01-28T05:30:00.000-08:00

Are you interested in giving your views on the sort of information people need when they're considering fertility treatment. The HFEA are looking for people who would be willing to spare an hour to give their views - and they'll even pay you for it.

Find out more below...

The HFEA needs your views
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority Authority (HFEA) is developing a new publication for people who are considering fertility treatment.

What can you do?
We are looking for people who are considering or have had fertility treatment to attend a focus group in London on Wednesday, 3 February at 5:30pm to 6:30pm. You will be paid £50 for your time.

This is your chance to tell us what you think about our new publication and help others thinking about treatment.

Interested?

Email sharon.neaves@hfea.gov.uk with your name and a contact number. Please also tell us a little about what stage you are at with fertility treatment.

Your travel expenses will be reimbursed after the focus group. Everything you say will be treated confidentially.

New support group for British Asians

2010-01-25T05:47:00.000-08:00

You may have read here before about the new infertility support group planned for British Asians. Things are now progressing, and the first meeting looks likely to be in March. It will be in Central London. If you'd like to know more, email katebrian@infertilitynetworkuk.com

Rocking embryos!

2010-01-24T14:39:00.001-08:00

Well, this is a weird one - scientists have discovered that if you rock embryos gently during the IVF process, pregnancy rates improve. So far, the experiments have only been done on mice, but the results are promising.

When embryos are fertilised in the body in the normal way, they move all the time for the first day or two as they go down the fallopian tube and into the womb where they implant. During IVF, the eggs are left in a dish in an incubator and don't move at all. So, the team at the University of Michigan invented a device to gently rock embryos during IVF, and it increased pregnancy rates by 22% in mice. They believe it worked because the embryos that were gently rocked felt more at home. Trials in humans have now begun.

You can find out more about it at www.ns.umich.edu

Fertility crisis?

2010-01-21T07:05:00.000-08:00

The Mirror is asking if Britain is in a fertility crisis... I thought perhaps they'd discovered something new or exciting, but there's not much in their feature that anyone with a fertility problem wouldn't know already, and a lot of the article focuses on age-related fertility problems.

It always fascinates me that with so much emphasis now on age-related issues, many GPs are still telling women in their 20s who are concerned about not getting pregnant that they are "too young" to be worrying about it. In fact, if you discover you've got a fertility problem in your 20s, you have a far better chance of being able to sort it out with treatment than you do if you are older. Maybe it's time for doctors to read the papers! See www.mirror.co.uk