AssistedConception.org

There are currently several different clinical treatments for infertility. The course of treatment recommended for you and your partner will depend on the nature of your fertility problem. When seeking fertility advice you should discuss all aspects of you and/or your partners infertility with your consultant. If you are not sure why you have been reccommended for a specific treatment then make sure that you ask the questions. You do not have to “just accept it” just becuase this feels like your only hope to have a child.

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Approximately one in six couples experience fertility problems while trying to conceive and there are a number of factors, both male and female, that can affect your fertility. In nearly 30% of cases the cause is attributed to the female, 30% male, 30% both and 10% unexplained. Unexplained infertility is probably one of the most difficult to come to terms with, as the not knowing exactly what causes the problems may become exacerbating. In addition to this, there will always be hope that any problem may rectify itself, which may often be the case in what is known as the ‘miracle baby’. Our case studies details some couples experience of this.

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As a teenager I had the dreams that most girls had. I never imagined being a career person, my ambitions were to be happily married with four children, live in a quiet village, roses round the door etc… fairy tale!

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I was diagnosed with Endometriosis when I was 20 and was given minimum treatment for it. Four months before I was due to marry I saw my consultant again, who advised me that as I was going to start trying for a family soon after my wedding he was not prepared to treat me further. He was very rude and dismissive and I was too naive to fight so I walked out of his office without even thinking of the consequences.

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The desire to have a family had always been with me since my marriage in 1999. My wife Tracey, however, did not feel ready for this huge commitment. When the time came that both of us were ready to start trying, Tracey came off the pill and we both felt that it would only be a matter of time before we announced a pregnancy. In the first 6 months we were unsuccessful, and Tracey felt she should go to the doctors. Her main question was whether or not her irregular periods were affecting our chances. The doctor suggested that Tracey should try a course of Clomid, designed to make her more fertile. We were told that if she wasn’t pregnant within six months we were to return to see him.

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Helen and I were married in August 1991. After a few years, we decided to try for a family and expected that children would come along naturally. This did not happen as we thought it would. We buried our heads in the sand hoping that things would change, they didn’t and eventually decided to go for help.

Investigations showed that Helen had some problems and it was suggested that we consider assisted conception, specifically artificial insemination. In December 2003 we received an appointment from the NHS for 2nd June 2004.

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I must have read a hundred personal accounts of other people’s Infertility Treatment in publications and websites over the 6 years of my own quest for a baby, and the comforting thing is that in some way, I have been able to identify with every one of them. Every one’s journey is different with it’s own twist and turns, bumps and hurdles, but the aim is the same for all of us, we all want to be parents. We all fantasise about that day when we hold our baby for the first time and feel that unconditional, all consuming love that we have longed to feel.

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Background

As a little girl you grow up dreaming of getting married and having children, the maternal instinct is in us all, it’s what we are designed to do physically, mentally and emotionally!

I was no different to any other kid except I always though that my path to motherhood would not be straight, I don’t know why, I just always had this gut feeling.

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Our IVF Adventure - Part 1, Acceptance

Our journey into the realms of assisted conception began after a laparoscopy confirmed what I had suspected for some time, that I had endometriosis. I was 27, my husband Gary 29 and we had been trying to conceive for about a year. I had always suspected that something wasn’t quite right with me, but after numerous GP’s told me I was merely a ‘cyber-chondriac’ I had just about convinced myself that things would be fine. It was almost a relief then to be told that my fears were justified, but it was a shock to be told that the disease was at an advanced, severe stage, and that I was probably also suffering from polycystic ovarian syndrome to boot.

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Extreme exercise can stop a woman’s periods

Injections of a hormone made by fat cells can jump-start an idling reproductive system, research shows. Twice-daily injections of leptin restored menstruation in female athletes who had become so lean that their periods had stopped. The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center team said the injections might also prevent bone loss and treat the eating disorder anorexia nervosa.

Their findings are reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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New fertility treatment ‘closer’

Fertility treatment has tended to rely on freezing embryos. The prospect of women routinely freezing unfertilised eggs for IVF has moved a step closer after research.
Thirteen children were born after 68 couples underwent treatment by Italian doctors who froze unfertilised eggs.

Egg freezing is not new but doctors have struggled to achieve live births and tend to rely on freezing embryos as eggs are more vulnerable. The team from Bologna’s Tecnobios Procreazione now wants to improve the number of eggs which survive freezing. The team froze 737 unfertilized eggs using the same method of slow freezing used during the cold storage of embryos but only 37% of the eggs survived the process of freezing and thawing as unfertilized eggs are vulnerable to ice formation.

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Polycystic ovarian syndrome affects almost 25-30% of women who are experiencing fertility problems. This is the commonest cause of female infertility and it is also the one with the best chance of successful treatment. The symptoms may vary from extremely irregular cycles to almost completely absent cycles (Amenorrhoea). Some women have an excess of body hair, and although this is sighted as one of the most common symptoms of PCOS, it actually only occurs in 40% of cases. In addition to this, an excess of body weight and acne may also be attributed, but again not in all cases. I highlight all of these symptoms and stress that they are not always presents as this was not my experience.

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Endometriosis is thought to affect approximately between 1 and 15% of women. Of the women affected, many go undiagnosed as there are no symptoms present. Of the women unfortunate enough to suffer badly from the disease, most experience fertility related problems. This may be secondary infertility, in that they may have already had a child and experienced difficulty at a second conception, at which time the condition is diagnosed.

The endometrium is otherwise known as the lining of the womb and the disease manifests itself as the same cells are established outside the womb e.g. on the ligament supporting the uterus. in the ovaries, tubes, pelvis, bowels, bladder, etc. In patients with endometriosis, these cells, like the endometrium, respond to the monthly hormonal changes. When a woman with endometriosis menstruates, the endometrium is shed in the form of a period, the endometriosis breaks down in the same way but because these cells are trapped inside, and cannot escape, they form swellings filled with dark blood (known as chocolate cysts) and adhesions which may damage the tubes.

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ICSI is a relatively new procedure which has been successfully perfomed throughout the world since the late 1980’s. For many couples, particularly those where the male partner has fertility problems, ICSI may be the only option.

The ICSI process is identical to that of IVF, with one additional step: a single egg is injected with a single sperm. This is a micro-manipulation technique which overcomes the problems of low sperm count, poor motility or abnormal sperm.

If no sperm are present in a semen sample, procedures are available that can allow sperm to be collected from different parts of the male reproductive tract, depending on the nature of the problem.

IVF is the process by which a woman’s (or donor’s) eggs are fertilised with either her partner’s (or donor’s) sperm inside a glass dish, In-vitro (Latin for ‘in glass’). In order for this procedure to be carried out, the woman’s normal fertility cycle must first be suppressed, clinically referred to as ‘down regulation’. This is done using fertility drugs known as gonadatrophins, which are normally administered either as a nasal spray or injection. Down regulation can take anything between 7 to 28 days to occur with an average of 15 days. During down regulation you may have a period but this is not always the case; blood samples and scans may be used to check that you have down regulated satisfactorily. Once the normal hormonal cycle is suppressed, doctors now have control over your cycle, which enables them to stimulate your ovaries using gonadotrphins in the form of daily hormone injections. The hormone injections usualy last between 7 to 14 days, with an average of 10 or 11 days.

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CRADLE is a registered Scottish Charity (Charity No. SC035955) that provides support to individuals and couples experiencing infertility. Our organisation is run for patients by patients. Our aim is to provide education and support to those with infertility issues or who may be currently going through fertility treatment.

Our group members consist of couples and individuals who have had successful as well as unsuccessful fertility treatment. As a group we recognise the need for continued support from a subfertility diagnosis, through treatment and coming to terms with childlessness.
Couples who have been successful in treatment may find themselves, once again, on the emotional roller coaster of fertility treatment should they wish to have another child or even those who have previously had a child naturally, but are having difficulty in subsequent pregnancies. This can be equally if not more stressful than previous treatment cycles as the reality of ?knowing what your are losing? can be difficult to deal with and there can often be high expectations involved.

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Please contact us if you would like any information regarding our monthly support group meetings or forums.

If you live in the West of Scotland area and would like to attend one of our meeting and/or recieve our Cradle Talk Newsletter or information pack please contact us with your name and address either by telephone or email.

General Enquiries
email: cradle@assistedconception.org

Cradle Members Management Committee

Sam MacCuish
email: sam@assistedconception.org
Tel No 0141 560 2347 (private dedicated Cradle support line) Sam gave birth to her second child, baby James in Dec 2004 and has daughter Abbey, now 4, both through ICSI (endometriosis/pcos/male factor infertility)

Wendy Blainey
email: wendy@assistedconception.org
Tel No. 01355 523 780 Wendy has Callum born in July 2005

Gillian Barrett
email: gillian@assistedconception.org
Tel No. 01355 524 281 Gillian has Carly and Joni born July 2005