INFERTILITY NEWS, FACTS AND VEIWS “Conflicting criteria clarified for diagnosing Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome”

A typical polycystic Ovary

As one who suffers from Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, which was the cause of my decade long struggle with infertility, I am very much interested in any new development relating to this condition.

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome or PCOS, affects millions of women worldwide and is a leading cause of infertility.

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH). This condition causes diverse symptoms, and its causes are poorly understood. The definition and even the name of PCOS have been subject to debate. An NIH panel concluded in January 2013 that the name focuses on a specific symptom - cysts in the ovaries and this symptom is apparently not present in all PCOS cases. This is part of the confusion about the condition, they say.

The Endocrine Society in October 2013, issued a Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) for the diagnosis and treatment of polycystic ovarian syndrome. In the CPG, The Endocrine Society recommends that a diagnosis be made if adult women have two of the three main features of PCOS (diagnostic criteria supported by the NIH panel):

§  Excess production of male hormones called androgens.

§  Anovulation, a condition where the ovary does not release a mature egg each month. This causes irregular menstrual cycles.

§  The formation of clusters of pearl-size cysts containing immature eggs in the ovaries, which is called polycystic ovaries.

Well, I can safely say that my diagnosis was right as it is supported by two of the above symptoms and I am indeed happy to say that this recent development will certainly allow for more accurate diagnosis of this condition, so that proper treatment and management can begin earlier.

The more you know……..

GRATEFUL WEDNESDAYS – Feature 14

As a people, we are very ambitious and this is good, there can however be a downside to this, if we are not careful. We could find that we lose ourselves in pursuing self-advancement; a bigger degree for that bigger salary, a bigger house, a newer car, and find ourselves wondering, why are we not happy, why does our life feel so dull and empty. The thing is, we forget to be thankful for the little things that we already have, without which, our lives would not mean much. Our relationships, our health, our faith, our freedom, I could go on.

There are times in my life when I feel I could have achieved more in certain areas, and as a result I beat upon myself and take on a 'woe is me' attitude. Thankfully, I am soon reminded that less I be accused of being ungrateful, I do have many other things to be thankful for.

In my pursuit to become a more thankful and happier person, in general then, I am urged to add a new posting feature to my blog, a segment dedicated to being thankful, which I have decided to call ‘GRATEFUL WEDNESDAYS', my gratitude journal, if you will, where I will, on Wednesdays of each week, post one thing in my life that I am thankful for, regardless of how small. 

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Today I am grateful for health.

I am grateful for the health of my children. For all my pregnancies, my main prayer was that my babies  be born healthy. All parents, I believe have that prayer as well and do believe they got their wish, only to find that before their baby’s first birthday, they are faced with devastating news that their baby has a terminal illness. Such was the case for a young couple, of which the mother appeared on the Today Show on NBC just last week. She said that when she received the diagnosis that her son had a fatal genetic condition, she peed in her pants. At that moment, she became me, as I vividly remembered how I fainted on my OB’s examination table, when my husband and I received the devastating news that our SaraMarie (our first miracle) was gravely ill. I could not hold back the tears, and the host of that segment had problems holding back hers too. They lost their son two weeks ago.

I am grateful for my health and the health of all my loved ones. Our health is not by any chance 100%, but at the moment neither am I, or any of my loved ones battling any terminal illnesses, that I am aware of.

For this I am extremely grateful. 

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES (STD’S) AND INFERTILITY

image by: http://www.magazine.ayurvediccure.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/sti.jpg

Many couples who have been diagnosed with infertility will find that their inability to have children is as a result of untreated sexually transmitted diseases.

Every year at least 111 million new cases of curable sexually transmitted diseases  occur among young people, according to recent studies. STDs affect human fertility primarily through infections of the female upper genital tract and, less frequently, through obstructions of the male vas deferens. Too often, kids who have unprotected sex think that the worst that could happen is getting pregnant or contracting some kind of treatable disease. Even more frightening, they often don’t know when they are engaging in risky sexual behaviours. We need to open up our informational initiatives to make everyone aware of what’s at stake and what to do about it.

The top five sexually transmitted diseases that affect infertility are Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, (these two are responsible for causing PID - pelvic inflammatory disease), Syphilis, and HPV.

These cases of infertility could certainly be prevented if we adopt proper family planning measures and seek to educate ourselves about the link between infertility and sexually transmitted diseases. Using a condom each time we have sex reduces the cases of STD’s but does not prevent them completely, so it is important that when we suspect that something could be wrong, we visit our doctor so that the necessary diagnosis can be done to ensure early treatment.

PID is the most common cause of infertility and describes an upward travelling infection in the female body resulting from her engaging in sexual intercourse with an infected partner. If untreated, this usually leads to fallopian tube, ovarian and/or pelvic damage. Chlamydia and Gonorrhea are also responsible for causing infertility issues in men as well, resulting in scarring and blocked sperm passage.

Treatment

As soon as possible, antibiotics for gonorrhea and chlamydia infection are usually given by mouth or by injection into a muscle. If needed, the antibiotics are changed after test results are available. Most women are treated at home. However, hospitalization is usually necessary in the following situations:

·         The infection does not lessen within 48 hours

·         Symptoms are severe

·         The woman may be pregnant

·         An abscess is detected

In the hospital, antibiotics are given intravenously.

Treatment for PID includes surgery to remove scar tissue that may occur. In severe and rare cases that do not respond to treatment, surgery to remove the infected organs may be necessary. For men, treatment for blocked sperm passage and scarring includes surgery as well. 

Resources:          http://www.theafa.org/library/article/preventable_infertility_the_sti_link/

                         http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/sec22/ch248/ch248a.html

                         http://womenshealth.about.com/cs/pid/a/pidtreatments.htm

                         http://www.std-gov.org/stds/chlamydia.htm

                       http://www.umm.edu/patiented/articles/what_tests_used_diagnose_male_infertility_000067_5.htm

DEALING WITH UNEXPLAINED 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

"HOPE MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE"

 

 

It is estimated that about 15 to 25% of persons struggling with infertility, will be told that their diagnosis is unexplained infertility and this is when all initial tests done, comes up with no reason for not being able to conceive.

This I believe, is the most difficult infertility diagnosis to receive, because you won’t know what kind of treatment to undertake for your condition, as you really don’t know what to treat, and this can prove to be very frustrating.

Here are some sites that talk about unexplained infertility and which tell you also, how to deal with this, if you have been so diagnosed.

http://pregnancy.families.com/blog/dealing-with-unexplained-infertility

http://www.conceive.com/unexplained-infertility-tests.php

From the site:

“It can be hard to deal with the fact that you are infertile but some couples have experienced what is known as unexplained infertility. It can be heartbreaking to want to get pregnant, and not know what is wrong with you. Usually women who have gone through intrauterine insemination and in vitro fertilization unsuccessfully are given an unexplained infertility diagnosis.”

The book, If at First You Don't Conceive: A Complete Guide to Infertility from One of the Nation's Leading Clinics by Dr. William Schoolcraft, MD HCLD, has very helpful information on this subject as well. Get your copy today.

Be encouraged, and until next time, keep clinging to hope.

My Infertility Story – Dealing with miscarriages

This is, as you can well imagine, the most difficult part of my story to tell and I know I will be tearing up as I will have to relive the devastation and sadness to relate it to you. I am alright with that though, because as long as my story helps even one person, then it would be well worth it.
With that said, when I was diagnosed with infertility, I did not know that I would have had to deal with miscarriages as well, and in all honesty, I was not expecting to deal with any. It was while recently reading up on my diagnosis (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, as I still do so), I am finding out that there seems to be a higher rate of miscarriage among women with this diagnosis. Not that it would have made much of a difference had I known this before, as you cannot be really prepared for tragedies such as miscarriages, but I would have known to at least expect them.
As a result of this when I had my first miscarriage, I was totally devastated. I longed for the day when I would receive a positive pregnancy test and often wondered if I was so unlucky that the tests I bought were defective. This was seven years into my struggle and numerous occasions that I had tested. The manufacturers of pregnancy test must have seen a dramatic increase in their profits over this period, because of me. I was overjoyed, to say the least, when I received my first positive pregnancy result. I thought I was dreaming as my husband and I stood over the test and stared at it. It felt like Christmas. We hugged and I did not know if I was to laugh or cry. One thing I knew though, I wanted to climb on my roof top and declare to the world that we were finally pregnant. It was such a surreal experience. I remember calling up our family right away and telling them the good news, which I learnt very soon after, was really not the right thing to do. I also began planning my pregnancy wardrobe, the nursery, I was totally in ‘pregnancy zone.’
The next day I called my doctor, made an appointment and went in to see him. He confirmed the pregnancy and told me to come back for an ultrasound as it was too early to do one. I went back and my doctor did the ultrasound. He found the sac for the pregnancy, but sadly there was no fetus to be found. I really could not believe what was happening. How can there be no fetus, where else could it be, I thought. He seemed quite perturbed himself and decided he would comfort me by saying, "well you are indeed pregnant as the sac is there." Whatever does he mean, I thought, I don’t want to only know that the sac is there, I want to know that our baby is there as well.
I was diagnosed with a ‘missed abortion’ which is the term given to a pregnancy where no fetus is found. We were totally devastated. I cannot forget the look on my husband’s face, he was so distraught. He just stood gazing in space. I felt so helpless and sorry for him. Then it was time to break the news to our family. My mother-in-law would be the hardest one to break the news to, as she was ecstatic when we told her we were pregnant. When we did, I could sense the sadness in her. The whole feeling of guilt began welling up in me again that I lost touch of how I was feeling and began feeling that I had betrayed my mother-in-law, having lost the grandchild she had longed for, for so long.
I just could not function after that and had to ask my doctor for some sick leave. I stayed in bed and cried for most of the time, only coming out to study for an in-house exam, which surprisingly I passed. I could not believe it.
We managed to pick up the pieces and move on with our lives, ofcourse not giving up on our dream to have children. Shortly afterwards, I began feeling pregnancy symptoms. We did a test and sure enough it was positive again, I felt as if we had hit the jackpot, luck was on our side. I was in 'pregnancy zone' again and on an emotional high, only to quickly hit another low, when our doctor attempted to confirm the pregnancy and found out it was a ‘false positive’ one. We were not pregnant. He explained that my hormones were out of balance and that was what tricked my body into acting as if I was pregnant.
We were again devastated. I felt as if someone was playing a cruel joke on us and I was not amused. What did we ever do to deserve this, I thought.

We were only halfway into our experience with miscarriages, with the worst still to come.

More in next post, you cannot afford to miss it, or you’ll be missing out.

My Infertility Story - My relationship with my doctors

Your relationship with your doctor or specialist is very critical to your overcoming infertility. Apart from checking his success rate and making sure that his costs are affordable to you, you should trust him enough to believe that he has given you an honest and true diagnosis, or else you will find yourself with lots of regrets in the very near future. You also cannot feel that your doctor is more influenced by monetary gains than he is committed to helping you overcome your condition. This holds true even more if you find that you are over 35 and battling infertility, as you are now becoming less and less fertile as you progress in age and does not have time to lose unnecessarily.
When I first received my diagnosis, (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), we were young, newlyweds and still on cloud nine and was in no way prepared for this. Furthermore, I was never in a position to have heard about this condition before, so to begin with, I was intimidated to say the least. I could not even pronounce the term for a while and my speech problem (stuttering) did not help, so I was not at all eager to talk about it. I really did not know how to interact with my doctor on my visits to him as I did not know what questions to ask or even what I was dealing with. I did not have the luxury of the internet at that time so I could only rely on what my doctor told me. My speech problem did not help either as I stutter more when I am faced with a subject that I do not know much about. I did not have a relationship with this doctor at all and I also found that, he was one who just threw information at you and it was up to you to understand it or not. He was very busy as his waiting room was always full. In all fairness though, I think the patient has the responsibility to ensure that they know enough about their diagnosis, and if not, be prepared to ask the doctor questions, so that they can participate in their treatment process, in an informed manner. I did not do that at all, so I cannot blame my doctor there.
When I was first pregnant, I was referred to an OBGYN as my previous doctor had now gone totally into specializing. This was to be the best doctor I had ever met.
As soon as I walked into his office I felt at ease and when he learnt of my struggle with infertility, he was very excited to learn that I was pregnant. Sadly, shortly after I began seeing him, I lost that pregnancy.
He appeared as distraught as my husband and I were. He even said he felt like it was his child and that he had had experience with losing a child. He was present when his wife lost their child and it was very traumatic for him.
He was the doctor I saw throughout all my subsequent pregnancies and sadly miscarriages. He shared in our joys and he also shared in our tears. At times when we went to see him we forgot that he was actually our doctor, we felt as if he was a friend. There were times, because of our circumstances he did not charge us for visits, so you know that he was not really in the business for money, he had a heart and a genuine desire to help his patients.
He was also very honest in his diagnosis. He tells you exactly what is going on so that you do not go away having hope in something that will not be. I remember though when I lost my last pregnancy, I was seven months pregnant at the time and when he realized that something was wrong with the pregnancy, you could tell he did not want to tell us exactly what was happening. He could not even look in our eyes. I had to force the information out of him and he told us he cried when we he heard that we had lost pregnancy, as the baby died in utero shortly afterwards. I am so sorry he was not a specialist in his field although he did what he could to help. No doubt I would have overcome infertility sooner if he was.
Everyone might not be as lucky as us to find a doctor of that kind, but it is important that whomever you get, you try to establish a relationship sufficient to allow you to feel comfortable and trusting enough so that you do not have those issues distracting you from focusing on your treatment.
By now I knew much more about my condition and so the doctors I saw later on in my treatment journey, I was thankfully able to interact with, in a more informed manner and was able to participate more in my treatment process. One in particular one, a female, when I called her to confirm my appointment she wanted some insight into my condition. When I began to speak I was stuttering and so she apparently mistook this for nervousness and seemingly became impatient.
I was of course turned off by this but went to see her anyway although with some reservation. It turned out that she was much nicer and patient in person. She was probably having a bad day. All in all by this time in my treatment journey I knew I had to become proactive and take charge of my situation, if I was ever going to triumph over my condition. Most of all though, I knew I never wanted to leave another visit with any other doctor feeling the way I felt when I was seeing my first doctor, who gave me my diagnosis.

My Infertility Story - My diagnosis & treatment journey

There is a saying that goes, “first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a carriage.” I looked and looked for my baby in a carriage but he chose to turn up after a decade long of struggling with infertility and I am so happy he did.
I love children so much and as a child growing up I was the baby sitter on Saturdays for children of our family friends who had to engage in domestic duties away from home. I seemed to have been a natural at this even at that early age, as I was able to balance this baby sitting with my Saturday duties. I enjoyed this privilege so much and so at that early age, I knew I wanted children of my own some day. I day dreamed a lot when I was a young girl growing up. I guess this was because of my humble beginnings, where we did not have much and so I always yearned for a better life and that life included a handsome husband, the home with the white picket fence and of course the ‘pitter patter’ of little feet in my home.
Little wonder I was so eager to start having children after I was married, and as soon as a year afterwards, (even though it is recommended that two years after marriage is a good time to start), my husband and I began trying to conceive. I am not sure how ready for children my husband was at that time, but he did not object to this and I was all the more eager as my mother-in-law was becoming quite anxious to have grandchildren as well. Unfortunately, we tried to conceive for a while but with no success.
A little background into the history of my condition, at about age 19, I realized that my periods were irregular and sometimes would not show up for about three months. I was referred to a doctor and the only diagnosis he gave me was that I was not ovulating. He prescribed birth control pills to induce ovulation and so my period would show up whenever I took them and disappeared it I did not continue to take them.
I went back on birth control pills on a more permanent basis after marriage, but of course discontinued them when we started trying to conceive, and so my periods became irregular again. Even though this was the case, I was still very hopeful that I would become pregnant, but no pregnancy resulted. This lasted for about a year after we began trying. At this point we decided to get a doctor’s intervention and we were referred to a one who told me once again that I was not ovulating. He also suspected I might have endometriosis, another common condition that causes infertility. He later ruled that out however, as I was not displaying most of the symptoms. We told him of our desire to have children and he recommended that I go on the fertility drug Climophene Citrate (Clomid), which I did.
Look out for more of my diagnosis in next post.
Irregular Periods:-
Having suffered with irregular periods for quite a while, I know firsthand that it can be a very inconvenient issue to have to deal with. Your period can show up at the wrong place and at the wrong time, causing you embarrassment. It also makes conceiving even more difficult than it already can be. You also cannot shake the feeling that your body is just not performing as it should be.
Are you having irregular periods? Please check out the following link for helpful information:-
http://www.womentowomen.com/menstruation/irregularperiods.aspx
From site:-
“……A textbook period happens every 24-29 days, but in truth what is “regular” covers a wide range.
Cycles between 23–35 days are very common.
A woman may get her period only one to four times a year.
Or she might have periods that occur two to three times in a month and involve spotting or extremely
heavy flow.
Alternatively, she may have heavy episodes of bleeding every two to three months.
Irregular periods are simply what is irregular for you.”


What is Endometriosis?


Endometriosis may have many appearances.
This photo includes white endometriosis,
clear endometriosis, red endometriosis and powder burn lesions.

From site:
“ Endometriosis is the growth of cells similar to those that form the inside of the uterus (endometrial cells), but in a location outside of the uterus.
Endometrial cells are the same cells that are shed each month during
menstruation.
The cells of endometriosis attach themselves to tissue outside the uterus and are called endometriosis implants.
These implants are most commonly found on the ovaries, the Fallopian tubes, outer surfaces of the uterus or intestines, and on the surface lining of the pelvic cavity.
They can also be found in the vagina, cervix, and bladder, although less commonly than other locations in the pelvis.
Rarely, endometriosis implants can occur outside the pelvis, on the liver, in old surgery scars, and even in or around the lung or brain.
Endometrial implants, while they can cause problems, are benign (not cancerous).”

Please check the following site for further information:-
http://www.medicinenet.com/endometriosis/article.htm