INFERTILITY NEWS, FACTS AND VEIWS: Male Infertility

When a couple is diagnosed  as having infertility issues,  the woman is the first to wonder what could be wrong with her, the man is usually looked at secondary.  In my case, my husband was  examined long after I was diagnosed.

Male Infertility contributes to a couple’s infertility quite significantly with  up to 80% of cases  cannot be diagnosed or treated. This is why according to an article in Medical News Today,  a team of Bay Area  Researchers is examining  the factors both physchological  and biochemical which tells when sperms are fertile and infertile.

Read more by following the link below:-

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/272851.php

From the Article

“At the 58th Annual Biophysical Society Meeting, which took place Feb. 15-19, 2014, in San Francisco, Calif., the team presented its work to identify and characterize proteins known as ion channels, which are crucial for sperm fertility and expressed within a sperm cell's plasma membrane.

To study ion channels, the researchers are recording the electrical activity of sperm ion channels under strictly controlled conditions.”

Overall, the findings from this research could prove crucial in future development  of  new pain management therapies  as well as diagnostic tests and treatments for male infertility.

image by: http://eivf.net/blog/2013/12/20/male-infertility-is-not-uncommon/

MONDAY RAMBLINGS - When the shoe is on the other foot.......

When my husband and I began trying to start our family, I had no problem when people asked us if we had plans to have children. Some even wanted to know what we were waiting for.

As soon as I became aware that I had infertility issues and my struggles intensified, I felt differently about those questions, to the point where when persons asked the question and then add, 'you guys are not ready yet? I quickly responded 'no, we are not ready' just so I was not tempted to give additional information.  This worked for a while and then I started feeling like a fraud. Why was I misleading people, I asked myself, when I would have moved heaven and earth just to become pregnant. Why was I so cruel to myself.

The questions did not stop, they became more frequent even, but this time my answers changed. I started responding with, 'its in God's hands,' hoping that persons would read between the lines and get the message that something was preventing us from realizing this dream.

Well, there are persons that I do know of now, who have been married for just about the time when you would expect them to start their family and dare I ask. I am tempted though, but when the shoe is on the other foot, it is an entirely different story. Knowing the difficulty I had with these questions, I do not wish for anyone else to experience this on my account, and so I am happy to join the wait to see what unfolds.

In the same way, there are persons I know who are struggling with infertility and I am so careful what I say around them and stands eager to offer any assistance, as a result of my journey.

All around us, there are persons struggling with one thing or another and so for the few who are so blessed to not have any struggles, it should not be too hard to understand that pain is pain  I want to encourage us all then to try and put on someone else's shoe, (the saying goes - 'never judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes), you will be amazed to see how much more there is to understand about life's struggles and pain, and as a result be there for each other and empathize more.

I hope this Monday Ramblings feature makes sense, if not, then I guess it would have lived up to the segment name.

HAVE A BLESSED MONDAY






post image by: http://mychinaconnection.com/english-proverb/the-shoe-is-on-the-other-foot-or-walking-in-someone-elses-shoes/

GRATEFUL WEDNESDAYS – Feature 17 - GRATITUDE ENCOURAGES BLESSINGS.

Today I am grateful for gratefulness.

I started this grateful Wednesday segment on my blog, about a year now and one thing I notice is that once you have decided to be a grateful person, it takes some amount of effort to foster this grateful attitude, because there are days when you wake up and because of circumstances in your life, you will find it challenging to be grateful.

When I was struggling with infertility, if anyone had ever told me to be grateful, I would have probably snapped at them. What would I be grateful for, when what I believe that every woman has a birthright to (the right to be a biological mom) was eluding me. On even the brightest, sunniest of days, there was always a dark cloud hovering above me. The thing is, I still had a lot to be grateful for, life, family, love, I could go on, but this unhappiness was robbing me of the opportunity to see this.

I would want to hope that even if I had not overcome my infertility issues, as hard as it might be, by now, I would have come to a place of acceptance and recognize that I am still whole even without children and can still strive to be my best self.

From experience, when you foster a grateful heart, you are a happier, lighter spirited person and even when things go wrong, and you are tempted to revert to a woe is me attitude, because of this resolve, you can still push through and be grateful for even the trials, because most times they do make us better  individuals. 

Just thought I would let you in on a little secret, if you do not already know, gratitude encourages blessings.