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.
Showing posts with label Unexplained infertility. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Unexplained infertility. Show all posts
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Friday, 8 August 2008
The treatments that don't work for unexplained infertility
It seems that two commonly used fertility treatments are a waste of time when they're used to treat couples with unexplained infertility. A research project in Scotland looked at the use of Clomid (clomifene citrate) and IUI (intra-uterine insemination) and concluded that they neither of them really made much difference to the chances of conceiving.
The study followed 580 women with unexplained infertility. Some were prescribed Clomid, some were given IUI and some weren't given any treatment at all. Perhaps surprisingly, the lowest pregnancy rates were amongst the group who took Clomid. Although the IUI group did have a slightly higher pregnancy rate than those who had no treatment, the research team say the differences are small enough to be statistically meaningless, and have concluded that there may be no medical justification at all for prescribing Clomid or attempting IUI in women with unexplained infertility.
No one would want to be given a treatment that isn't going to work, and we must welcome any research that looks into the efficacy of fertility treatment. However, it does worry me that this may make it easier for local trusts to cut their spending on infertility yet further - at the moment many will pay for Clomid and IUI, but not for IVF. If they decide to stop spending on Clomid and IUI for unexplained infertility, I fear they are not going to increase their spending on IVF, and some couples may find that they can't access any kind of treatment at all. What's more, commissioners may start to assume that couples with unexplained infertility would all get pregnant eventually if they left it to Nature. I know from personal experience of more than 13 years of unexplained infertility, that this is not the case. So although it's helpful to know that these treatments may not be much use if you don't know why you aren't getting pregnant, it may not be so helpful if you end up not being able to access any other treatment instead.
You can read more about the research which is published in the BMJ at www.bmj.com
The study followed 580 women with unexplained infertility. Some were prescribed Clomid, some were given IUI and some weren't given any treatment at all. Perhaps surprisingly, the lowest pregnancy rates were amongst the group who took Clomid. Although the IUI group did have a slightly higher pregnancy rate than those who had no treatment, the research team say the differences are small enough to be statistically meaningless, and have concluded that there may be no medical justification at all for prescribing Clomid or attempting IUI in women with unexplained infertility.
No one would want to be given a treatment that isn't going to work, and we must welcome any research that looks into the efficacy of fertility treatment. However, it does worry me that this may make it easier for local trusts to cut their spending on infertility yet further - at the moment many will pay for Clomid and IUI, but not for IVF. If they decide to stop spending on Clomid and IUI for unexplained infertility, I fear they are not going to increase their spending on IVF, and some couples may find that they can't access any kind of treatment at all. What's more, commissioners may start to assume that couples with unexplained infertility would all get pregnant eventually if they left it to Nature. I know from personal experience of more than 13 years of unexplained infertility, that this is not the case. So although it's helpful to know that these treatments may not be much use if you don't know why you aren't getting pregnant, it may not be so helpful if you end up not being able to access any other treatment instead.
You can read more about the research which is published in the BMJ at www.bmj.com
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