Herbs that seem to work

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hand.”
Psalm 127: 3 & 4

Whenever my husband comes across articles relating to matters I write about on my blog, he always brings them to my attention, bless his heart. He knows the struggle we went through and so he is with me in this labour of love to help others. About a week ago he brought to my attention a supplement by H.E.R.B.S. STAR (Herbal, Educational, Recreational and Biological Services of Trinidad and Tobago) in one of our local newspapers of some herbs produced by a local doctor that seem to help women with various reproductive issues like polycystic ovaries, fibroids and hormone imbalance get pregnant. There were testimonials of men with infertility issues who took these products and their efforts were aided in achieving pregnancy.


Please see below testimonials of people who have been helped in this regard.


“My name is NG. Thanks to Tisane de La Laja, I delivered a beautiful baby girl a few days ago. My husband and I had been trying to have a baby for ten (10) years without success. We never used any sort of preventative methods. The doctors repeatedly told me that I had polycystic ovaries. We eventually got some of the products from Mr. Morean last year. My husband purchased one bottle of the Tisane de La Laja and one bottle of the Detox Number Three. I used one bottle of the Tisane de La Laja and two bottles of the feminex. Before my husband could complete using his two bottles, I discovered that I was pregnant. I thank God for blessing Mr. Morean with this healing ability.”



EXCERPTS FROM MORE TESTIMONIALS


“My name is JRW. I am a nurse attached to the Maternity Department of the Port of Spain General Hospital (POSGH). I turned 42 on August 23rd. I have a history of fibroids……………………………………….Around July 23rd, I decided to do a medical check-up, Dr. (>>>>>) at the gynae clinic examined me. She opened me up with a cursor (like when the doctors are doing a pap smear). Whatever she saw led her to take some samples with a forceps. She was unsure of what it was that she had observed and sent the tissue sample to the lab. She also wrote up the card to send me for another ultrasound.
The ultrasound was done on July 30th at POSGH. It indicated the presence of a mass in the lower one third of the uterine cavity with a stem in the upper quarter of the cavity. The biopsy revealed that it was a fibroid and that the tissue was non-cancerous………………………………Not wanting to do anymore surgeries, I had heard about the effectiveness of his products and I decided to give in a try. In early August, I purchased half bottle of the feminex and half bottle of the Tisane de La Laja from Mr. Morean. I took smaller dosage that he recommended and some days, I did not even take any of the products……………………………………… After starting the treatment my period came on August 16th and lasted 6 days. I passed a lot of small scabs like when you scrape beef liver………………………………………………. After intercourse yesterday, I felt as if my belly had suddenly gotten hard and like I wanted to go off (for a bowel movement). I was in great discomfort. Only this morning I went to sit on the toilet………………………I passed some wind and suddenly felt this thing come through my vagina……………I collected it and stored it in a jar to show my co-workers. It was the fibroid that had passed out…………………… I thank God that I heard about these products from Mr. Morean because I am really hoping to have a baby and really do not want to have to do another myomectomy or a hysterectomy.”



“My husband and I have been trying to have a baby for seven years without any success. After using Tisane de la Laja and other herbal products from Mr. Morean we are now the parents of three happy children.
We had been going to different doctors and all they said was that I had a hormonal imbalance and my husband’s sperm count was high but the viscosity was low……………………………………………………………… We read some article from the papers concerning Mr. Francis Morean’s products, so we decided to give it a try. Nearing the middle of 2000, we purchased one (1) bottle of the Tisane de La Laja and three (3) bottled of the feminex and one (1) bottle of Masculex for my husband. I did’nt receive any results after I finished the first batch of treatment so I bought just two (2) more bottles of feminex. A month and a half after we used those products, I discovered I was pregnant………………………………………………. I thank God for blessing Mr. Morean with his healing ability.”

Unfortunately, I saw no mention of a website but more information on these products can be had by telephoning (868) 461-4239, (868) 628-1526, (868) 398-0707 or email hyarimamovement@gmail.com

If I was still struggling to have a child, I would certainly check it out, your just never know.

All the best in your efforts and keep clinging to hope.

“The sun will come out tomorrow”

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.

Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hand.”
Psalm 127: 3 & 4

Are you feeling particularly beaten up by infertility today? Are feelings of inadequacy, inferiority and hopelessness crippling you causing you to feel like you want to give up, throw in the towel and find a cave somewhere so that you can be by yourself and wallow in self-pity? As one who has had many of these days during my struggle with primary infertility, I know you have them too.

It is not practical and sensitive of me to say, do not let these days get you down, because that is exactly what they are designed to do, to take the wind out of your sail and cause you to feel like you are being kicked while down.

Instead I will tell you that when those days and those feelings come, it is important that you stay in the moment. Allow yourself to feel the hurt, to feel the pain. Do not get out of bed if you don’t feel like and have to, cry if you feel like, as hard as you possible can because, guess what, “the sun will come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar.” The words of this song are so true because I found that somehow when tomorrow came there was usually new energy, new hope and a new resolve steering me onwards. I guess it is because that is what a new day brings, newness. The Psalmist says, “Your mercies are new every morning Lord, great is thy faithfulness.”


I might have mentioned a couple times on my blog that I am a stutterer. Well, I struggle with feelings of inferiority and inadequacy from I was conscious that I stutter. It did not help when I learnt that I would have to deal with infertility as well. To me, that was a double whammy. To say life has been hard for me because of these struggles would be an understatement. With the help of God though, I have managed to overcome one of my struggles as you all know and not only have I overcome this struggle, I have purposed to support and offer encouragement and help in my own small way to others who are struggling in this regard, by way of this blog. That is a great accomplishment I must say, as I did not know that I would ever be at this place in my life.

What I am saying then is if I did not give up (and at times had good reasons to), I have confidence that you won’t either and you will be a better person for it. It was brought to my attention recently by a fellow blogger that we who struggle are more sensitive and empathetic to others. For quite some time now I find that I surround myself with people who at times need a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on, so this seem very true. I guess it is because we understand pain all too well, we understand yearning and most of all we understand that we cannot take anything or anyone for granted and guess what, we are better friends, better brothers, better sisters, overall better individuals because of this, so, when the bad days and the feelings of inferiority and inadequacy comes, just remember this and you won’t feel too shabby at all. I take comfort in this as well, to help me deal with my struggles that continues.



Be encouraged therefore, and as usual, keep clinging to hope.

Another condition associated with male infertility

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hand.”
Psalm 127: 3 & 4

I am writing this post in total shock after just learning of the passing of Michael Jackson. Please forgive me if there are more typographical errors than usual as I am not really focusing as I usually do.

This is one of those deaths that take a while to sink in. Due to my age, an example would be Princess Diana because when Elvis Presley and John F. Kennedy died, they had not much impact on me as I was still a little girl. Michael Jackson was surely a legend in his time who sadly had a difficult life. May his soul rest in peace.

On to the subject of my post. I thought that I was through focusing on male infertility for now until I read one of my fellow bloggers post on a condition that I have never heard about before. My husband and I struggled with infertility for over a decade during which my husband had an evaluation done and this condition was never mentioned as anything to look out for. The condition is varicoceles, which really is varicose veins found in the testicles. I know varicose veins is a very common condition, but I really did not know that they could appear in the testicles, of all places.

I am attaching the link for this post so that you can read further on what this condition really is as I do not want to take any credit in this regard.
http://thepitter-patter.blogspot.com/2009/06/testicles-ovaries.html

For further reading on varicoceles, its symptoms and treatment options, please visit the following link
http://www.varicoceles.com/symptoms.htm

Hope this information is helpful in your struggle to overcome infertility.

Until next time, keep clinging to hope.

Are our doctors selling us short????

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hand.”
Psalm 127: 3 & 4

I know I might get in some hot water for this post but I am fine with that, it will only be giving me the total blogging experience because I am told that comments can be brutal and I am yet to see any such.

Seriously though, are our doctors selling us short? When a couple battling infertility ends up in a doctor’s office for help, they go there with all intentions that they will get the help they need to make their dreams of having a family a reality. Why then are some couples having such a difficult time. Shouldn’t their doctors do a thorough diagnosis as is possible, instead of giving them a diagnosis of only some of the issues they face, while seemingly ignoring the other possible ones. The reality is when these issues are deemed fixed and the couple still fail to become pregnant, they can become so disillusioned and discouraged because I am sure they are thinking that their troubles are over when in fact, they have only just begun. I know I have been there, because after my surgery for my PCOS and my six months within which my doctor gave me to get pregnant had passed, I went to another doctor for a second opinion and what she discovered was that the walls of my cervix was not building up enough to receive any fertilized eggs. Iar menstrual cycle. I felt disillusioned and discouraged that here I am thinking I was close to my goal of having a family when something new suddenly pops up to set me back. I was even thinking why couldn’t my doctor asked me to come in after this six months had elapsed with no pregnancy resulting just to maybe see what new development there was that was still causing me to be unable to get pregnant instead of telling me to consider other alternatives. I felt like I was been tossed overboard out of a ship, to the sharks.

A friend of mine who did surgery in hopes of having a family told me that after her surgery, her doctor told her only God can help her now. I am sure she probably thought nothing of the comment at the time, and her doctor probably had very good intentions in saying this, because in essence, nothing is really wrong with the comment, but in my opinion, it seem a little cold, like he was actually throwing her out of the ship, instead of offering to still monitor her post surgery.

When I had my son, it was only after suffering a agonizing failed labour that I was told that I had an inverted pelvis why attempts at labour had failed (an inverted pelvis is when your pelvis is too narrow to allow for the passage of your baby). I was very perturbed, probably naivity again, thinking could'nt this have been diagnosed earlier saving me, my baby and my family all this anxiety. What if something had happened to me or my child while they were attempting labour. I am still to check with my doctor just to see if they could possibly have known this earlier.

I am someone who encourages people to read up on their conditions so that they will be able to interact with their doctors in an informed manner, but shouldn’t we also expect that our doctors will do what they are supposed to do and willingly give us any vital information we need as well? After all, they are the experts, not us, the patients.

Is it naïve of me to think that we should be able to find doctors who are thorough and who really care about their patients and their needs, who are not profit driven. When I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, when I did my surgery my doctor at the time only told me that if I did not get pregnant within six months of the surgery, I should consider alternatives like invitro-fertilization. Nothing was said to me that the cysts would return or that I will have other issues like heart disease, diabetes or ovarian cancer to think about. Little wonder I left the doctor’s office feeling that all my problems were fixed.

The other doctors I saw, I must say they were not at all bad, but thankfully, one in particular caused me to rethink how I felt overall about doctors. He was so unselfish, so caring and each miscarriage I suffered, he had nothing but encouragement to give. He did not even charge me for some of my visits relating to my miscarriages. I am truly blessed to have met him.

I have been following up on this tragic case where a mother died in child birth due to complications arising from a c-section. The story is so sad. The mother apparently has fibroids and developed a blood clot during surgery. Her husband is saying, the doctors knew her condition and should therefore have been able to prevent it. Why do I feel we are being sold short by our medical system which is put in place to help us when we are sick and save our lives as much as possible. This is why many people spend the time and money for second opinions because you cannot just rely one as this could cost you your life.

Is it that if doctors become who we really want them to be, we could not really pay them to see us. Just wondering.

I am at a lost so some medical personnel please enlighten my naivity. Please do not let me look bad on the world stage. My readers are counting on me.

Until next time, my readers, keep clinging to hope.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.

Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hand.”
Psalm 127: 3 & 4

A HAPPY FATHER’S DAY to all you fathers out there. I wish for you a blessed and fulfilling day.

Wow, I totally did not plan this, I have been focusing on men and infertility for my past two posts and now it is father's day. How coincidental.

The past two father’s days, my husband was on cloud nine. Our son was born the day before father’s day 2007 and he walked on father’s day last year. I do not know what special he has in store for his father this father’s day. This little boy is a daddy’s boy and has been since. He is now saying daddy and it seem he likes the sound of the word, he just calls it and calls it for no reason. He only needs me when he is hungry or when he wants to cuddle to go to sleep. He is not far off though because mothers are known to be the cuddlers and the caregivers.

My focus this father’s day will be on the men around us who are not biological fathers but who have been performing fatherly functions to our children. Before my husband became a father, he was involved in one of our local schools mentorship program and he was assigned a student who was deemed a problem child. My husband worked with that young man in such a way that at the end of the program he was so well-adjusted. He had secured a job straight out of high school and was living on his own and making his own life decisions. This truly was a success. Sadly these men are not recognized on father’s day because they do not fit the most important part of the meaning of the word father. They have no biological children.

This is why I want to honor these men this father’s day. There are also the godfathers, the uncles who have to step in at times to be father figures to their neice and nephews. The step-fathers who are handed this ready-made role and sometimes all the acknowledgement they receive is a mother saying do not talk to my child like that, you are not his/her father, or a child saying do not hit me you are not my father. Then there are the teachers who from time to time take on the role of father in some of their students’ lives. The adopted and foster fathers and last but not least, the mothers who have to perform the role of fathers to their children from time to time because of the absence of a father for whatever reason. You get the picture, I do not want to leave out anyone who is deserving of this honour, this father's day. A HAPPY FATHERS DAY to you. You are truly impacting our world and without you we would have less well-adjusted children around us.

For those men who continue the struggle to become fathers, I could not complete this post without encouraging you to fight on because when men on earth have done their best, angels in heaven cannot do more.

In the meantime, I encourage you to find something to do this father’s day to make the day fulfilling for you. Spend some time with a fatherless child, or volunteer at a home for aged men. Spend some quality time with your father if he is still around and you will find that the day will not be as difficult to deal with. Most of all, you will feel so good inside.

Until next time, keep clinging to hope.

Men feel it too

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.

Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hand.”
Psalm 127: 3 & 4

A follow up to my post on male infertility........

Again, because infertility is perceived as a woman’s problem, there is more focus on how the woman copes emotionally while the man sadly is left in the shadows once again. I do think that men struggle in the same way as women do but because men are more private and do not talk about their feelings, you never know exactly what they are going through, you have to literally pull it out of them.

When my husband and I were struggling with infertility, I thought I was the only one going through all the emotional ups and downs that comes with this disease because he was always so calm and normal that I thought it did not matter to him whether he had children or not.
It was not until later on in our struggles that I decided to ask him where he stood with all that we were going through with infertility that he admitted to me that it was indeed affecting him as well but he chose to be the one emotionally strong to prevent me from feeling worst. That is really a noble thing for anyone to do. Bless his heart.

I have a very good male friend who he and his wife are experiencing infertility and I do get from him from time to time that he is emotionally distressed about it. He says little things here and there that causes me to believe that he indeed is hurting but because men do not like to talk about private issues like these and they do not wear their heart on their sleeves like women, it is very hard to know exactly what they are feeling. Sometimes I want to reach out to him so much but is often scared because he does not give me enough to use and so I feel afraid that he might think I am meddling. I do reach out to his wife though, in hopes that somehow it would help make their pain a little more bearable, knowing that my husband and I were also battling this dreaded condition. It is a little harder now since I had my son but I am hoping that through my blog I am still reaching them. They remain in my prayers.

I remember the pregnancies I lost, when I told him I was expecting, you could see how is countenance suddenly changed to some degree of sadness, so much so that when I became pregnant with my son, unlike the other times, I did not tell both he and his wife until I was very advanced because I did not want to cause them any more sadness than they were already going through.

For my male readers who are dealing with infertility in your marriage, whether you are the cause or not, I know it is hard but I challenge you not to throw in the towel, your spouse need you and you need her now more than ever. Your marriage needs you too, so fight on together, your faithfulness will surely be rewarded.

For tips on how to cope with infertility, please visit the following link:-
http://infertility.about.com/od/copingwithinfertility/a/copestress.htm

All the best, and keep clinging to hope.

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y T H E O D O R E

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.

Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hand.”
Psalm 127: 3 & 4

Our son will be two tomorrow, June 16. Two years ago we welcomed our miracle baby and now he is growing up, we have no baby anymore. We will not be celebrating his birthday in any public way, we will doing something private. We are not big on throwing him birthday parties, instead we try to invest in more tangible and meaningful things for him and that was one of the reasons why we made the effort to have him visit with his grandparents recently and believe me, the bonding I saw with his grandparents was better than any party you could have thrown him.

I have learnt so much about parenting in this short time. I have learnt what it really means to love unconditionally. To have to discipline our son because of something naughty he did and then watch him run into your arms a few minutes later with a special hug or kiss for you, totally forgetting the discipline he just received. I would imagine that, that is how it should be with our relationship with God as well. He disciplines us and wants us to run into his arms soon after when we need comfort.

Throughout our struggle with primary infertility, I have often heard mothers say that whenever their children hurt, they feel that hurt in the bottom of their stomach, some even hold on to the bottom of their stomachs and cry in pain. I always felt jealous of these moms because I was not sure I would ever be able to relate in this way to what they were feeling. Thank goodness I now totally understand and can relate, even though thankfully my son has not suffered any real hurt, only the occasional falls where he hit his head on the floor. Those do terrify me and I do feel the hurt in my stomach, especially that he cries so hard whenever he suffers one of those falls.

Last night we were watching the movie, ‘not easily broken’ by T.D. Jakes and the physiotherapist in the movie lost her son to a swimming accident. He won his race but he went too hard into the wall of the pool and seemed to have suffered a head injury and sadly died. This overwhelming sadness came over me and I suddenly pictured myself in the same position. Believe me, this was not my child and it was acting, but I felt the pain deep down in my stomach as if it was my child, it was frightening. I saw my husband turned on two occasions and looked at our son who was sleeping on the sofa beside us and I knew he was going through the same thing I was going through. What came to me forcefully was that this child was an only child and his mom was a single mom and so she is now all alone. I revisited the whole issue of having an only child and vowed again that there is no way I will settle with just one child, as long as I can do something about it.

I had no idea parenting was so challenging, but so worth it. Mind you I have heard stories and I have witnessed enough parenting going on around me, but you never know the extent of something until you experience it yourself. At times it has me wondering if this is probably why God seem to not have wanted to give me children, the fact that I might not be able to co-op with it. Trust me with a child as active and daring as ours, you would be wondering too, ‘what did I get myself in.’ The thing is, the minute I start having those thoughts, he does something so sweet, so cute that those thoughts immediately disappear and I start thanking God for him all over again. While visiting with family recently, one of my brother-in-laws said to me that I deserved a medal for parenting, after seeing the amount of energy that our son has and how you constantly have to have an eye on him in case he hurts himself or someone else. I was able to respond to him in the most practical way, that I came into this experience with an open mind. Of course we all would like to think that we will have the calmest and easy to control children, but what a quiet and dull world that would be. Can you imagine it? Quite frankly, I prefer the noise, to me its a sign of life and good health.

What can I say, parenting has taught me unconditional love, unselfishness, patience, “to cry a little, live a little and let my poor heart break just a little, for that’s the glory of, that’s the story of love.” These are the words of a song I heard sang once and I have remembered them since. Parenting has also taught me trust in a new way, because when our efforts to be the parents we ought to be to our son seem insufficient, we can only move onward through faith in God, that everything will turn out well.

One of the vows I have made is to ensure that our son enjoy and live in the moment of his childhood as much as possible, so that when he is older, he does not come up missing anything.

To all of you struggling with infertility, my prayer is that one day you will be able to write a post on your blog site such as this, but you have to hold on to hope. You have to picture it happening for you. You cannot afford to lose heart or hope or else you lose everything.

Until next time, keep clinging to this hope.

Our son's first haircut

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hand.”
Psalm 127: 3 & 4

Today’s post will be on a lighter subject. No infertility and its many causes and certainly no miscarriages. After all, who likes to talk about things like these all of the time. A light moment can be so welcoming when everything else seem to be going awry. I do trust my infertile readers won’t think that I am insensitive for writing this post as we are still in the honeymoon stage of parenting.

One Saturday morning, about two weeks ago, we had just had breakfast and felt we had the energy to take on our son to cut his finger nails, even though he was not sleeping. You must have remembered me mentioning that he does not allow us to cut his nails unless he is sleeping. After all, they were looking like he was being raised by wolves. Turns out he does not really want us to do anything to him, this includes brushing his teeth, combing his hair, changing his diapers, he always put up a fight. Cutting his fingernails started out promising but we soon realized that even though it was the two of us against him, we were still no match for him. (I wonder what they are putting in the children’s formulae these days, they are so strong). We managed to get to the third finger nail and when we could not go on, a bright idea struck me, why not try to cut his hair instead, which along with the long finger nails, did appear as if he was truly being grown in the wild. My husband often said he looked like the cartoon character of John Lithgow in the movie, ‘The Incredibles,’ who has ‘spikey’ hair.

I must say some days, I like the wild hair on him but other days, it is just simply difficult to deal with. This attempt started out promising also, as my husband managed to get the excess hair off rather quickly and the haircut began taking shape soon after. Things quickly got ugly however, as he started to cry as if we were abusing him. He also began sweating profusely and soon he had hair all over his face, in his mouth, in his eyes and was on his back on the ground. We accepted defeat, at least for the moment, gave him a bath and he went to sleep.

When he awoke, we fed him and made our second attempt, this time hoping that the bath and nap would have calmed him a bit. We tried to get it right this time by putting him in a high chair outside at the back of our house. The afternoon was so lovely with a gentle caribbean breeze blowing and birds flying all about and chirping happily in the trees. This was a brilliant idea we thought because he love the outdoors and the ‘birdies.’ We began the task again and soon he began protesting so my husband had to hurry to get it done before he was on the ground again. Not long afterwards we accepted our second defeat this time feeling very guilty because the haircut actually was looking worse than the first attempt.

The next day, he fell asleep in my arms. As I stared at how calm and defenseless he was sleeping, the idea struck me, why not finish the job when he is asleep (hmmm, the bible story of Sampson who had his hair cut by Delilah while he fell asleep in her lap comes to mind. The only difference is, Sampson lost his strength when his hair was cut, my son’s strength seemed to have increased).

Then and only then did we truly complete the task. We felt we could slap ourselves, why didn’t we think of this before? Cut his hair while he was asleep.

We certainly learnt our lesson and next time we will surely get it right. He looks so cute and boyish with his new haircut, we can’t stop staring at him we have taken so many pictures and will be sending some off to family members who cannot wait to see this new look. It was truly worth the war.

I trust you enjoyed the little time away from infertility.

Until next time, keep clinging to hope

Boxer or brief????

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hand.”
Psalm 127: 3 & 4

Infertility has largely been seen as a female problem and so less focus has been given to male infertility.

“Male infertility occurs as a result of hormone disorders, illness, reproductive anatomy trauma and obstruction, and sexual dysfunction can temporarily or permanently affect sperm and prevent conception. Some disorders become more difficult to treat the longer they persist without treatment.”

For more information on male infertility, please visit:-
http://www.urologychannel.com/maleinfertility/index.shtml

For many couple who are struggling with infertility, sometimes it is a male factor infertility or sometimes both because when we were struggling with primary infertility, apart from my Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) condition, my husband was also diagnosed with sperm motility problems (The forward swimming motion of each sperm). This seem to have cleared up on its own because he was never treated. I guess his little guys realized that they had work to do and so they cleared up their act.

My reason for doing this post, apart from it being a reminder because many of you might know this information already, I was reading one of my fellow bloggers blog and I saw where she did a post advising that anti-depressants affects male fertility. I did see while researching that medication taken for high blood pressure and arthritis also affects male infertility.

Fom article
"study of 35 healthy men given paroxetine -- sold as Paxil or Seroxat by GlaxoSmithKline -- found that, on average, the proportion of sperm cells with fragmented DNA rose from 13.8 percent before treatment to 30.3 percent after just four weeks.Similar levels of sperm DNA damage have been linked to problems with embryo viability in couples trying to have children.
The research by Peter Schlegel and Cigdem Tanrikut of the Cornell Medical Center in New York was reported in New Scientist magazine and is due to be presented in November at a meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.A copy of the study abstract was made available to Reuters."The fertility potential of a substantial proportion of men on paroxetine may be adversely affected by these changes in sperm DNA integrity," the experts concluded.

The study adds to concerns voiced by the same doctors in 2006, after finding that two men had developed low counts of healthy sperm following treatment with two different selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).SSRIs like Paxil/Seroxat and Eli Lilly's Prozac, both of which are now available generically, are the most commonly prescribed class of antidepressant.

Glaxo said it was reviewing the investigators' findings, since the study was not conducted by the company."These medicines remain an important option, in addition to counseling and lifestyle changes, for treatment of depression and this study should not be used to cause unnecessary concern for patients," a spokeswoman said."

Please follow the link to continue reading
http://infertility-fertility.blogspot.com/2009/04/antidepressents-ssris-hurt-sperm.

She also did a post advising that Vitamins C and E can help male infertility.

From article
"New research published in Cleveland Clinic's Urology News shows that abnormal amounts of free radicals, naturally occurring but sometimes dangerous molecules that can damage cells, may be responsible for infertility in some men. Vitamins C and E, which are called antioxidants, may have the power to neutralize sperm-busting free radicals......Looking at the sperm of men with unexplained infertility, Agarwal has found that levels of a certain type of free radical, which he calls reactive oxygen species, are especially high in these men.

While low levels of these free radicals are necessary for the production of normal sperm, levels that are too high have been linked to the destruction of sperm"

Please follow the link to continue reading
http://infertility-fertility.blogspot.com/2007/04/vitamins-c-and-e-for-mens-fertility.html

I have often heard it said that men should stop wearing briefs and wear boxers instead to decrease the heat that goes to the scrotum area because this heat can interfere with their fertility. In the same way, they should not stand in front of a microwave when it is in use, I guess this has to do with radiation. These seem to be myths for now as throughout my research I did not find any information to substantiate these claims.

I did find however that men who use laptops on their laps a whole lot could be interfering with their fertility also because of excess heat going to the scrotum.

From the article

"Balancing laptop computers on the lap raises the scrotum's temperature, say researchers including Yefim Sheynkin, MD, FACS, of the urology department at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

About 15%-20% of couples that want to get pregnant aren't able to conceive. Many of those cases trace back to issues relating to the male. Gradually declining sperm production has been noted in recent decades, say the researchers.

Elevated scrotal temperatures have been linked to male infertility. Many factors can raise scrotal temperature, including hot baths, saunas, and tight jockey shorts.

Laptop computers may also belong on that list, say Sheynkin's team. They studied 29 healthy young men ages 21 to 35 for two, one-hour sessions in a climate-controlled room."

Please follow the link to continue reading:-

http://www.webmd.com/infertility-and-reproduction/news/20041208/laptop-computers-may-affect-male-fertility

Hope this information helps if part of your struggles with infertility happens to be male factor infertility.

Until next time, keep clinging to hope

Yes, secondary infertility does hurt too

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hand.”
Psalm 127: 3 & 4

One of my fellow bloggers did a recent post entitled, "secondary infertility does hurt as well," and I feel compelled to share her post with my readers, to stress the fact that persons suffering from secondary infertility do hurt too.

Secondary infertility is when a woman, after carrying a pregnancy to term fails to carry a subsequent one to term. This can be due to various factors, endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome and age among others.

The thing is, many women suffering from secondary infertility get pushed aside because they often have feelings of guilt that they are yearning for more children when some are still struggling to have even one and quite rightly so, because women suffering from primary infertility (the inability to become pregnant at all) do resent these women, thinking that they are selfish to want more children, when they are still struggling to have one. It is selfish to think that anyone should settle for just one child and many women know what their ideal family should look like and does not stop trying for children until they have reached this target. Primary infertiles do know this I am sure but when you are struggling with infertility, as per my experience, you do behave irrationally at times.

I know of a few persons who are suffering with secondary infertility and it does hurt just as much as primary infertility sufferers. I myself is suffering in this regard seeing that I carried my son to term two years ago and still had a miscarriage a few months ago.

With that said, please follow the link to see my fellow blogger’s post and article on this subject and see also the comments of other women suffering from secondary infertility.

http://infertility-fertility.blogspot.com/2009/06/secondary-infertility-hurts-too.html



Until next time



Keep clinging to hope

A matter of the heart

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hand.”
Psalm 127: 3 & 4

Last Sunday a doctor known to perform late term abortions was gunned down while serving as an usher at his Church in Kansas. He was apparently murdered by an abortion activist who is said to be also anti-government.

Apparently this particular doctor and others who perform these kinds of abortions very often come under fire and have protests organized against them.

I was watching Anderson Cooper the other night on CNN and Anderson was talking to one of the colleagues of the murdered doctor, who apparently plans to take over his practice and he mentioned that only late term pregnancies that threatened the life of the mother or pregnancies with fetuses that were severely abnormal and could not survive outside of a woman’s body were actually aborted. Anderson specifically asked him if other abortions outside of this nature were also performed and he said flatly no.

Anderson interviewed one woman who opted to abort her pregnancy because her baby had a severe neural tube defect known as ‘anencephaly’ resulting in the absence of brain or skull. This woman and her family opted to abort their baby to cut down on the amount of pain and distress that they would have to face if they chose to prolong the baby’s life until its demise. This could not be done in her state however, because of laws against abortion, instead they advised her that she would have had to carry the pregnancy until her body ended the pregnancy or have the abortion done in another state that supported abortions of this nature. She was so outraged that she wrote a letter to then Senator, Barack Obama. I am a fan of President Obama, and I would love if he paid much attention to this letter and this woman’s issue and have the laws of the state rewritten to give women in this unenviable position, the right to make up their own minds about these kinds of pregnancies. After all, ‘only he who feels it truly knows.’

Another woman was interviewed who chose to keep her pregnancy even though her baby would not survive very long after birth, due to a chromosomal abnormality known as ‘trisomy 18’ which is incompatible with life. She said she and her family prefers that the baby goes the natural way, that is, die when it was time.

My problem then is, if this doctor only performs abortions of this nature, why then are people so outraged? I guess they probably know otherwise.

I am aware that there will always be people who abuse the system and make it bad for others so it is therefore up to the state and the doctors involved in this regard to ensure that this system is not used by others as a form of birth control but be reserved for people who actually have very good reason to use it.

My family could have been in this position in February 2006, when we learnt that our baby, which I was seven months pregnant with at the time, had a condition known as ‘hydrops fetalis’ where the fetus had too much fluid and also had multiple other disorders e.g. down syndrome and, severe heart conditions and was given only a 30% chance at life. Luckily for us, my body made our decision because the baby died in-utero, about a month after being diagnosed.
I know if our baby had not died, we would have been faced with the decision of whether to abort her and save her having to come into this world and live a compromised life or to let her live even when the odds were so high, and hope for the best.

I do understand the second woman’s position to have her baby go the natural way, but believe me, as per my experience, this wait is very difficult. I had to wait a whole month for tests to be done before I could choose which option I would take and this was painful. You go through a lot emotionally. First of all you are just waiting to hear someone come to you and say this is all but a cruel joke, your baby is fine. Then the days drag along and sometimes you feel like you cannot get up out of the bed to face another day. When those days came, I just lay in bed and stare at the ceiling and the walls, looking for some answer.

Everyone was praying for us, our families, friends, our church but one day I was lying there on my bed and it suddenly occurred to me that my baby was still sick, all those prayers were not answered and sure enough, our baby died shortly after. I even had a dream that our baby was born and was very weak but as each day passed, she became stronger and stronger. I said this to someone, who quickly cautioned me that dreams usually come in the exact opposite of their meanings. Understandably, I was crushed, because I was hoping that this dream would indeed become a reality.

If our baby had survived I believe we probably would have chosen the optioned that prolonged her life as long as possible because we were trying for a baby so long and would give anything to know that she would be around for as long as she could.

All in all, I just cannot understand not having the freedom to make these decisions yourself and instead have them made by someone else. This should clearly be a matter of the heart. Worst if they are allowed to be made by people who have never been faced with a situation as frightening and painful as this.

I therefore have no problem with these abortions if they are practiced within the parameters that they should.

My heart goes out to families having to make the very difficult decisions of whether to keep their precious little ones or not and for those who would give anything to becoming pregnant.

Keep clinging to hope.

Until next time

How come I have no siblings?

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hand.”
Psalm 127: 3 & 4

I am back, thank you for missing me, my vacation was good.

Part of why my vacation was so good was because my sister and I spoke in a way that we do not usually. Firstly, she is a couple years older than I am and secondly growing up we did not bond due to circumstances beyond our control. But my sister and I spoke, with our past challenges remaining in the past, we spoke, we spoke about so many things, from our medical issues to having an only child. Yes I can now talk with my sister on issues like these because guess what, I am now a mother and mothers do speak similar language as we have so much in common and share a special bond.

Some people say that sometimes they feel so dried up for material to post. What I do is search through my daily life for material, a conversation with someone or something I heard or did. Our daily life is filled with so much to blog about. My post today will therefore be based on something my sister and I spoke about on my vacation, having an only child.

Many of us parents who for some reason or another end up with just one child, must have heard the question on occasions, how come I have no siblings?

I am sure this question dig deep into your soul and you have feelings of guilt and regret, especially if you are not able to have anymore biological children. I am sure you have managed to come up with some good reasons to tell your child why they are the only one, but sadly most of them are not able to understand and so the question returns from time to time.

I can imagine the guilt is especially worse if you put off having children until later in your life and now find that you are only able to have one. For those of us who fertility is the cause of us having only one child, the guilt is there but it is not as bad, as I can imagine you can work your way around a reason which can be more understood by your child. You can start by saying your body was not working as it should and so you were not able to have more than the one.

For us, our child is still young and so we have time before he starts asking this question. It is our hope though that he will not have to ask it as we intend to get him a sibling whether by adoption or biologically. I have not ruled out having another biological child entirely especially because I am now hearing that adoption is not as easy as I thought and some persons are having to opt to do fostering because this is easier.

Having your own child rule out all red tapes, all uncertainty if you qualify or not to adopt and so even though the odds are against me, (my Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, (PCOS) is back and is worst than ever), I am willing to fight on because it is sure not over until it is over. (I would say, it is not over until the fat lady sings, but poor lady, give her a break already).

No child deserves to be an only child if this can be avoided. When we found out that we were expecting a couple months ago, we were overjoyed for just the mere reason that our son would not have to be an only child (sadly we lost this pregnancy). Life is filled with so many challenges and so they need even one more sibling to chart the course of life with. My niece said to my sister, after asking her the famous question, “So mom, when you and dad are old I will have to be the only one to care for you both?” My sister said she believed she asked this question because she saw her taking care of our dad, taking him to his doctor’s appointments etc. I am sure that reached deep into my sister’s soul and I emphasized with her so much and vowed again that I would not allow our son to ask us those questions.

This post is in no way geared at making anyone feel uncomfortable and if it has, I sincerely apologize. These are purely my thoughts and that is why what we do is called blogging ‘our own thoughts.’

Remember, you are indeed very fortunate and blessed to have your one child.

Until next time, keep clinging to hope.