Infertility All In Your Head?

I stumbled across this recently: a survey of 1,000 women in 10 countries found that nearly half of them believe they're infertile because of “God's will” and half also feel infertility is attributable to “bad luck”.

image: freedigitalphotos.net

The study covered the countries of China, India, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia.

Hopefully my readers and Houston Fertility Center patients know by now that what is in your mind – whether it's stressful emotions or negative beliefs – is NOT the cause of your infertility. But the study highlights how self-defeating thoughts can certainly prevent you from taking the steps necessary to resolve your problems, including infertility.

Yes, your beliefs can get in the way of your getting pregnant, but only if you let misinformation prevent you from believing that the conditions causing infertility are physiological and treatable – not “only in your mind”.

~ Dr. Sonja Kristiansen M.D.

One Possible Answer for Recurrent Miscarriage

Being unable to get pregnant when you're ready to have a child is difficult enough. Conceiving and then losing a pregnancy adds to the emotional burden. Going through early miscarriage more than once deserves medical attention. This, too, is the realm of a reproductive endocrinologist.

In fact, some of my patients at Houston Fertility Center don't consider getting pregnant their primary problem. For them, the mystery is “Why can't I carry a pregnancy?”

There are several possibilities, but much of what we know about the causes of recurrent miscarriage (RM) remains theoretical. Patients struggling with RM might take some comfort in the fact that it is a research arena of great interest.

A recently published study may shed some light on yet another possible explanation. Researchers in The Netherlands looked at the human endometrial stromal cells (H-EnSCs) of women with RM and fertile women. Their findings support their theory that, for reasons not yet fully understood, “H-EnSCs of fertile women discriminate between high- and low-quality embryos whereas H-EnSCs of women with RM fail to do so.”

In other words, while women with RM seem to conceive more readily than women without RM (a concept called “super-receptivity”), the lining of their uterus is more often facilitating the implantation of non-viable embryos. These pregnancies are destined to end from the start.

While you might feel callously dismissed by some who offer condolences like “It just wasn't meant to be” and “Don't worry, you'll have a baby the next time” – know that there are healthcare providers out there, like the Houston Fertility Center staff, who take your concerns to heart and offer the best that science has to offer.

~ Dr. Sonja Kristiansen M.D.

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Why Would a Woman Be a Surrogate?

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Of the many ways to use assisted reproductive technology for growing your family, perhaps no other produces more raised eyebrows as gestational surrogacy. That's understandable, especially in light of surrogacy's history and resulting legal issues.

Traditional surrogacy – in which the woman who carries the pregnancy is also the egg donor – is so fraught with potential issues that many fertility specialists and third-party matching agencies avoid it altogether. Instead, they and many infertile couples favor using gestational carriers – women who carry a pregnancy created by the IVF union of the couples' own eggs and sperm. Gestational surrogacy removes many of the legal and ethical issues from this infertility solution.

But there's still quite a bit of mystery in this process. The idea of a woman carrying a pregnancy and delivering a baby for another family to raise still makes some people uncomfortable. It's a very private experience, for the most part, so we don't often get to hear voices like Kymberli Barney's, a woman who experienced PCOS-related infertility and went on to become a gestational surrogate.

If you find yourself edging toward the idea that surrogacy might be your best option for finally having a baby, I encourage you to read Kymberli's brief story. And of course, as always, Houston Fertility Center staff will be happy to provide you with assistance in learning more about the incredible choice of surrogacy.

~ Dr. Sonja Kristiansen M.D.

Frozen Sperm Last Long, But Age Still a Factor

This past August, twin girls were born to a woman in Minnesota following IVF using donor sperm. The real news here is that the sperm had been donated and cryopreserved in 1971.

This news article on TwinCities.com offers interesting details about the donor and his journey to “carry on his family's bloodline.” The story is also yet another that points to the resiliency of sperm cells and their viability for fertility treatment by patients who need to use frozen donor specimens to conceive.

The article also importantly points out that even our amazing assisted reproductive technology cannot completely defeat the power of passing time's impact on fertility. All that could be revealed in the media about the donor's age was that he was at least 25 years old when his deposit was made. Presumably, since the donor participated in the selection of a couple in this unusual case, he was not too far from age 25 in 1971.

While men have always been thought to be able to father children later in old age than can women, we are now learning that, in reality, there are greater chances of older men passing on inheritable mutations. Reproductive specialists recommend that young men who will face impaired fertility – such as from cancer treatment or even being in harm's way in terms of military deployment or job-related risks – can take steps to preserve their future fertility by banking their sperm.

~ Dr. Sonja Kristiansen M.D.