The best fertility option

Written by Michael Vass

Interesting news for those couples looking to add to their families but having difficulty. While medical technology has advanced significantly in the past 2 decades, and news of families using various methods to become pregnant has become headlines and television shows there is evidence that anything beyond natural sex is a waste of time, money and effort.

A recent study, published in the British Journal of Medicine, looked at 580 women that were having infertility issues. The women were split into 3 roughly even groups and watched over 6 months.

One group of women were told to use the fertility drug clomifene (also known as Clomid or Clomifert). The drug is a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) and had the known side effects of hot flashes, abdominal discomfort, visual blurring, and/or reversible ovarian enlargement and cyst formation. Extreme cases are known to have abnormal uterine bleeding, nausea, and/or vomiting, reversible alopecia, and/or ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Of this group 26 or 14% were able to become pregnant.

Another group of women were told to use artificial insemination where sperm is placed into the reproductive tract of a female. This concept was first developed for the dairy cattle industry. Costs range from $500 and up for each attempt at insemination, which can be very costly over repeated attempts. Of this group 43 women or 23% became pregant over the 6 month period.

The last group of women were advized to increase their sexual activity with their partner. That group had success rates of 32 women or 17% of the 193 in the group.

It was found that while the numbers for artificial insemination were higher, they did not reach a difference that was significant enough to be considered.

So what can we take from this? Perhaps one thing.

A nice dinner costs about $150 for 2, satin sheets another $70. Flower about $50. a nice music CD $20. Total cost is $290 and a great atmosphere. That’s a savings of $210 (or more since the CD and sheets don’t need to be repurchased and the meal can be just as good and cost a little less).

The result of this relaxed night are equal to artificial insemination, according to the study and I have to imagine far more pleasant. There are no negative side effects like the drug, and there are definite health benefits – it’s a cardio workout that burns tons of calories.

So just have a nice night, and stop stressing. You won’t be any worse off than any other method.

Birth Rates Linked to Maternity Support

The New York Times Magazine features a must read which discusses some of the disturbing declining birth rate trends seen in some European countries.

Laviano, Italy now features one of the better maternity support programs in Italy. The town will pay you about $15,000 for the birth of a new baby and the program seems to be working. The town houses about 1600 people with capacity for 3,000. Hence, the reason for the birth program. In fact, Italy has one of the lowest birth rates in Europe and the world with 1.33 birth rates per women. The article states that the entire continent is behind the replacement rate 2.1 children per women.

The article notes:

“Demographers and economists foresee that 30 million Europeans of working age will ‘disappear’ by 2050. At the same time, retirement will be lasting decades as the number of people in their 80s and 90s increases dramatically.”

One demographer told Fertility Blog, “It’s like a business. As people get older, they produce less revenue for the economy. At the same time, they’re an increasing expense. Businesses can’t work that way and neither can societies.”

One more important thing we would like to point out. Scandinavian countries have one the highest birth rates per child-bearing age women of 1.8. This could be easily explained by the generous programs in countries such as Norway which guarantee 54 weeks of maternity leave and about $6300 upon the birth of a child.

Fertility coaching, another avenue of approach

For those couples that are hoping to raise a family but are learning that they are incapable of doing so there used to be no alternative other than hoing the doctors were wrong. With advances in technology there have been many new advances that have provided renewed hope.

IVF, or in vitro fertilization has become one of the leading items to help families grow. but even with this ground breaking medical breakthru only 1 in 4 fresh eggs are potentially able to become fertilized. While this can improve many future families chances greatly there is another option.

A fertility coach has become an increasingly popular option. There are several different schools ogf thought on this including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). A study by researchers from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, found that CBT can aid fertility by reducing anxiety, which often inhibits ovulation.

They took 16 women who had not had a period in six months and had all been diagnosed with functional hypothalamic amenorrhoea – a condition in which the hormone that triggers ovulation has been at a very low level. Half were given CBT for 20 weeks and half were merely observed. At the end of this, six out of the eight women given CBT regained full fertility and two of them became pregnant within two months. In the eight women who didn’t, only one recovered her fertility.

While this sutudy had very positve results for a small group of women it’s not an absolute answer for every woman. Still CBT is another alternative that those seeking families might want to investigate.

Breaking News: Vacations Discovered as New Fertility Drug

I’m pushing for a long term study and I bet the results would mimic the following. If we go on vacations about 3% of our lives (2 weeks out of a 52 week year), I would bet that much more than 3% of all pregnancies occur on vacation. 

Did you ever get back from vacation and you say something like, “I’m so relaxed. I don’t even want to go back to work.” Makes sense because that’s what vacations are for. We go on vacation to get away from the daily rituals of life and to re-charge our batteries. In other words, to de-stress.

Stress affects the hypothalamus, a specific area in the brain which secretes hormones that travel through the blood to the pituitary gland. These hormones cause the pituitary gland to release FSH and LH hormones. The LH hormones then stimulate the ovaries to produce estrogen. As one famous fertility expert once said, “Reproduction is the world’s greatest miracle because so many things have to be right and so many hormones have to be balanced. It’s just a miracle that it ever happens.”

So if you want to increase the chances of getting pregnant and experiencing the miracle, go on vacation.

Older fathers share risk in offspring health

Written by Michael Vass

**This is a repost from Male Fitness Blog which applies to this blog**

Modern medical research is amazing these days. The things we learn about the human body, health and fitness today makes us have to re-think all those givens we took for granted. This is especially true for men’s health.

One example is a recent finding about a man’s age and how that affects the health of his offspring. I for one believed, as do my friends, that a man can father a child well into his 90’s. That there was no time limit or negative associated with increasing age for a man and the risk of child defects and deteriorating health. It would seem this belief could be quite wrong.

As a man of 40 (ok 39 and 9 months) that has no children now, this caught my attention. Previously I believed that there was no time limit, other than the fact that I am growing too old for some women. I have always maintained the hope that one day I can have children, and that they would be healthy and strong.

But according to an article in the Daily Herald a man’s biological clock exists and is counting down. The clock works out like this:

• 20s: Men have the maximum amount of mature sperm cells and the least DNA damage. The risk of producing birth defects in offspring is as low as it ever will be.
• 30s: The mid-30s bring a significant increase in sperm DNA damage and thus an increased risk of producing birth defects. One in 99 fathers ages 30-35 sires a child with schizophrenia vs. one in 141 for fathers under age 25.
• 40s: The risk of schizophrenia doubles in children of fathers in their late 40s compared with children of fathers under age 25. Men 40 and older are nearly six times more likely to have offspring with autism than men younger than 30.
• 50s: The DNA cells that create sperm have gone through more than 800 rounds of division and replication, vastly increasing the chances of mutation and birth defects. The risk of schizophrenia almost triples for children of fathers 50 and older; one in 47 fathers sires a child with the condition.
• 60s: 85 percent of sperm is clinically abnormal.

Now research on this issue is still being done. There are no formal conclusions yet. But it is advised that

“If you’re drinking or smoking, if you’re working in toxic environments with pesticides, X-rays, solvents or ionizing radiation, these things affect you as well as women, and will ultimately affect the children you conceive.”

I had never really considered that. I’ve always had a mental image that said I can always have kids. That somehow my smoking never had an affect on ability to have children, and my age was irrelevant. But this new data gives me pause.

Now that does not mean I would not still want children. It does give me a further reason to be in better shape and without my nicotine addiction. Nothing is more motivating that the desire for offspring, as I’ve understood the nature of the world. Thus nothing is more motivation to be healthy than providing them the best start in life I can.

Just a thought. Something to think about.