INFERTILITY FACTS, NEWS AND VIEWS - Endometriosis: there could be better treatment and management.....

Endometriosis, a condition affecting over 176 million women and girls, occurs when endometrial tissue, which lines the inside of the uterus, is found outside. In the majority of cases, this tissue is usually trapped in the pelvic area or lower abdomen, but it can also be found in other areas of the body.

Endometriosis is a common cause of infertility problems.

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say they have uncovered cellular activity that may provide a better understanding of the mechanisms behind the condition. This is according to a study recently published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

While the cause of endometriosis is largely unknown, the researchers say that they know there is a genetic component, an environmental component and an inflammatory component, but it is difficult to tract the exact series of events leading to individual patient’s symptoms.

The Researchers  say  their findings could lead to the creation of better drugs for this condition and  help to determine the best treatment for patients. resulting in better management. Further, these  findings could make it possible for the development of a  "patient stratification system" similar to that used for breast cancer patients. This involves treatments being individually developed and tailored to the molecular characteristics of patients' tumors.

Great news I might say, since so many women struggle with infertility caused by endometriosis.

image by: http://www.physio-pedia.com/Endometriosis

“Laparoscopic Excision Surgery For Endometriosis Frees Patients From Chronic Pain And Complications.”

Women who are diagnosed with Endometriosis, sadly deals with a lot of pelvic pain and discomfort caused by gastrointestinal and urinary tract conditions. I totally understand this, because my Polycystic condition, causes similar discomfort as well.A Laparoscopic Excision surgery eliminates this pain and discomfort, according to an article in Medical News Today.

The article also advise that women who suspect they might have endometriosis, get an accurate diagnosis sooner than later, so that they can be accurately treated and in so doing, minimize the chance of infertility, when they are ready to have children.

For more on this subject, please visit the link below.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/236843.php

From the article:

“Keynote speaker and women's health advocate Padma Lakshmi, an international supermodel and TV show host, who co-founded the Endometriosis Foundation of America to encourage research to help other women to avoid her ordeal, declares: "Endometriosis is one of the most treatable, but least treated of women's health problems. Like me, many women suffer debilitating pain and other symptoms for as long as a decade before receiving an accurate diagnosis and proper treatment. 


Many women suffer silently or use painkillers, sometimes for years. Because pelvic pain can have many different causes, including appendicitis, bowel obstruction, ovarian cysts, pelvic inflammatory disease, diverticulitis, ectopic pregnancy, fibroids, IBS and many others, correct treatment can often be delayed further, as endometriosis is sometimes not immediately diagnosed. 


For example, in women with endometriosis on the intestines, symptoms may prompt a physician to suggest GI tests, which will not reveal the true problem. 


Lakshmi continues saying: "If a woman wants to have children, it's critical to get an accurate diagnosis and treatment as soon as possible. Endometriosis is one of the top three causes of infertility. Many women are delaying childbearing into their 30s and even 40s these days, but if you have had untreated endometriosis for many years, it may be too late. And that is a real tragedy." 


The currently most effective treatment is laparoscopic excision surgery as alternative medical therapies for endometriosis are extremely limited.”

PASS THAT SUNSCREEN PLEASE!!!!!!

Summer is well underway now and many of us are making multiple trips to the beach and hence have been using a lot of sunscreen to protect us from the sun’s harmful rays.

But wait, before you lather on that sunscreen , do take note. According to a recent study conducted by a team at the University of Switzerland, chemicals in sunscreen have high estrogenic activity.  Chemical estrogens are “gender benders” and can cause a whole host of health problems for both sexes.  Chicago Healers Practitioner Dr. Martha Howard highlights some of the issues:

 Women

o   Increased breast and uterine cancer

o   Uterine fibroid tumors

o   Endometriosis

o   PMS

o   Irregular Periods

o   Migraines

·     

    Men

o   Reduced penis size

o   Increased testicular cancer

o   Undescended testicles

o   Breast enlargement

o   Lowered sperm counts

o   Sexual identity confusion

o   Impaired male fetal brain patterning

Fear not, though, as it is easy to prevent exposure to these harmful chemicals and their effects by using organic, chemical free sunscreens.   Applying these will ensure a happy, healthy and sunny summer!  Dr. Howard recommends:

·         Desert Essence Organics Age Reversal Mineral Sunscreen, SPF 30

·         MyChelle Sun Shield

·         California Baby SPF 30+ No Fragrance Sunscreen

Post image by:  http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2010/7/19/1279552288349/Sunbathing-at-Elbe-river--006.jpg

INFERTILITY AND YOUR MARRIAGE

A couple of days ago, I was watching the reality show ‘Kloe and Lamar’, a spinoff of the Keeping up with the Kardashians series on E-Television,  (yes I watch that show and I am glad that I have been watching it because now I have information for my blog. It is not a guilty pleasure, but I found myself watching it because there is absolutely nothing else to watch on cable on Sunday nights).

Kloe and Lamar have been married for almost two years now and they have been trying to conceive for about a year or so. After some nagging from her mother together with her frustration from trying and not being successful in conceiving, she decided to visit her doctor to find out if something is wrong with her.

The doctor did an examination and sent her home to await the results. As is expected, she was anxious and began googling possible problems that she could be experiencing which could have contributed to her failure to conceive. At one point I heard her ask if anyone had ever heard of endometriosis. Deep down I was hoping that this was not her problem, because this could further compromise her chances of getting pregnant, depending on the stage endometriosis she has.

After a while, the anxiety of waiting got to her and I heard her exclaim that she will probably turn out to be the infertile wife, who have her husband leave her, because she cannot give him children. That struck me, because in this age of technology and information, I thought we were ways from that notion. I have been reading a lot of infertility stories through my blogging and I have not come across any woman, who has had their husband leave them because of their struggles with infertility. Instead, these men are doing everything they can to support their wives, even if sometimes they trip over themselves.

I am not saying that cases where a husband leaves his wife due to infertility does not exist, because I have heard of one such case, but this is certainly in the minority and is cruel, if you should ask me. Why should  a woman be so severely punished for something that is happening to her, that she has little or no control over.


Men, in all fairness I know this is also a difficult time for you, because it is indeed hard to keep up with the roller coaster of emotions that you wife will subject you to. Let's face it, we are not given a handbook for any struggles that life throws our way, but you still can offer support to your wife without having all the answers. You can simply just be there to wipe her tears and to hold her. My husband did not do much by way of physically supporting and comforting me during my struggles with infertility, and I know now, that this is because he did not know how. The amazing thing however, was that in his silence, he was still there and I felt his presence, enough to assure me that we were indeed, in this thing together and as a result of this, our marriage benefited by becoming richer and stronger and when our prize for enduring this difficult period came (our son), we were able to celebrate, with confidence, that God had truly favoured us.

I wish the same for all of you who are struggling with infertility. May your marriage benefit tremendously from this struggle and may you find God’s favour as we did, and may you emerge better wives and husbands as a result.

N.B. Men, do check out this post that I did earlier on 'what he can expect when she is not expecting' which is really a book written by a man who found himself dealing with infertility in his marriage.

http://onereachinganother.blogspot.com/2011/03/what-he-can-expect-when-she-is-not.html

image by: http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/shine/health/couple.jpg 

ENDOMETRIOSIS AND TRYING TO CONCEIVE

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"

Padma Lakshmi,, model, actress and host of ‘Top Chef ‘on Bravo, opens up about her years of struggles with endometriosis, to co-host Meredith Vierra on the Today Show, along with chief medical correspondent, Dr. Nancy Snyderman. Padma did several surgeries, before becoming pregnant last year and giving birth to her miracle baby girl, in February of this year, after being told that she would never get pregnant naturally. Padma says, looking at her daughter, shortly after giving birth, "I can't beleive she is actually here.......thank you for my daughter."

See video clip of interview at:-

 http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/37127530#37127530

Endometriosis affects one in ten women and is one of the leading causes of infertility. It’s symptoms include:-

• Irregular, heavy and periods 
• Backache
• Pelvic Pain 
• Infertility

The good news is, there are treatments available to help you conceive and some of these are:-

• Using birth control pills or the fertility drug, Clomiphene Citrate (Clomid) to regulate your periods.
• Laparoscopy to remove tissues which causes the condition.

Endometriosis does not mean that you will never get pregnant, it is just important that you get diagnosed early, listen to your body when it is telling you that something is wrong and seek the necessary help soon, so that your dreams to conceive, can come through earlier.

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

“IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T CONCEIVE”

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 with great pleasure that I introduce 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, Director of the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine.


This book covers areas such as:-

• The basics of what you should know - Understanding the Fertility Fight.
• The most common fertility challenges – Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), Endometriosis and tubal and uterine challenges, among others.
• The most common solutions – The donor sperm option, and egg donor option and Invitro –Fertilization, etc.
• Preserving mind and Spirit – A look at the emotional challenges of infertility.

I highly recommend this book for persons currently involved in the fertility fight and can be a great gift for anyone you know also engaged in this fight.

"IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T CONCEIVE"

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 with great pleasure that I introduce the book, IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T CONCEIVE, a complete guide to infertility from one of the nation’s leading clinics. Authored by Dr. William Schoolcraft, MD, HCLD, Director of the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine.

This book covers areas such as:

• The basics of what you should know - Understanding the Fertility Fight.
  


• The most common fertility challenges – Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), Endometriosis and tubal and uterine challenges, among others.
  


• The most common solutions – The donor sperm option, and egg donor option and Invitro –Fertilization, etc.
  


• Preserving mind and Spirit – A look at the emotional challenges of infertility.
  
  

I highly recommend this book for persons currently involved in the fertility fight and can be a great gift for anyone you know also engaged in this fight.

Get it at, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and Borders.

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

Endometriosis does not have to be an infertility sentence

“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

JUST A LITTLE SOMETHING TO LIFT YOUR SPIRITS IF YOU HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH ENDOMETRIOSIS AND IS FEELING PARTICULARLY HOPELESS ABOUT CONCEIVING AT THIS TIME.

Chances are you already know this, but I still feel compelled to remind you.

If you have been diagnosed with endometriosis, there is good news. Endometriosis does not have to be an infertility sentence. Many women with a minimal to mild case of endometriosis do go on to having normal healthy pregnancies. Some even without difficulty I might add. Those with a more severe case still end up having children but with some degree of difficulty.

I know of many women with endometriosis who now have their normal healthy children and others who are currently pregnant and their pregnancies are progressing well.

Please click on the link below to continue reading about Endometriosis and infertility and the treatment options available.
http://www.endometriosis.org/infertility.html



Good luck



Until next time

Image by:
http://www.harrycutting.com/photos_people/photo_27_J185-22.htm

Why the Epidemic????????

“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

Just the other day I was talking to a friend about my blog and she was saying that so many of her female friends are diagnosed with reproductive problems, mostly Uterine Fibroids, Endometriosis and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). She further went on to say that she and her mother were having a conversation on the same subject and her mother was saying that in her days you did not hear about so many of these conditions in women. Some women are even diagnosed with more than one of the conditions, which makes conceiving even more difficult.

To make matters worse, these conditions are not just restricted to women of childbearing age who are considering having a family, young girls are also affected. My PCOS started affecting me at age 19 but I was diagnosed way in my twenties and just last week a friend of mine was telling me that she knows of two girls about age 16, who were diagnosed with ovarian cysts.

These days it is like every other woman that I come across has one of the various reproductive disorders, or knows someone who do.

My question then is, why the epidemic? Is it environmental factors (global warming), our water, our food, or is it the stresses of life. Many medical conditions, including infertility, I learn, are caused by stress and so there is also a rise in various cases of cancer, heart disease etc. There are also diseases now that I have not even heard of before.

Many of the reproductive diseases, I found out in my research, the causes are not known exactly. PCOS is said to be hereditary even though there are various other factors that could contribute to it. Bottom line is, you cannot do anything to prevent them and so, if you are to be a victim, when you are diagnosed, you have to act quickly to treat these conditions so that your dream of having a family can be realized.

After you have had your family, it is still necessary to continue with proper management of these diseases so that further serious conditions do not develop.

ALL THE BEST

Until next time.