Jeffrey D. Fisch, M.D. Medical Director, Sher Fertility Institute Las Vegas The holidays can be especially tough for those struggling with fertility problems. So much of the season centers around family and children. It can be hard for infertile couples to be around other people’s kids when they are having trouble starting their own family. Here are five simple steps to help make the holiday season a time of anticipation and joy instead of anxiety and sadness. 1. Be proactive. Take charge of your own fertility and regain control of your reproductive life. If you are having trouble conceiving on
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By Jeffrey Fisch, MD Medical Director, Sher Fertility Institute-Las Vegas Every patient wants to know if the medical treatment they are considering will be successful. Fertility treatment is an especially costly gamble, both emotionally and financially, so it is not surprising that an informed consumer wants to go where they have the best chance at successful treatment. Unfortunately it can be difficult to determine who is truly the “best” given competing claims, inflated percentages and manipulated statistics. Today’s internet savvy patient needs to sort through exaggerated claims, and try to compare “apples to apples.” This seemingly simple task is harder than
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By Geoffrey Sher, MD Executive Medical Director, Sher Fertility Institutes Various sources have stated that it is not a good idea to take birth control pills before IVF – or before starting controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) in a cycle of IVF. The reason quoted is that it can suppress the development of ovarian follicles, prolong the stimulation regimen, and negatively impact egg/embryo quality. This is only half of the story and therefore renders this line of reasoning incorrect. It is a fact that if a woman goes directly from Birth Control Pills to ovarian stimulation without overlapping the last several days
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Jeffrey Fisch, MD Medical Director, Sher Fertility Institute Las Vegas Fertility Clinic The good news is that normal pregnancies generally do not need any help. Everyone tends to think of pregnancy like getting a new kitten. You are responsible for it, and it is your fault if something happens to it. In reality, a pregnancy is much more like a parasite that has invaded the woman’s body and taken over her brain. They are not so much cute and cuddly at this point as ruthless, tenacious and hardy. A normal embryo can take care of itself in most any uterus.
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Jeffrey D. Fisch, MD Medical Director Sher Fertility Clinic Las Vegas The short answer to this question is – not necessarily. Bleeding during pregnancy is not “normal,” however it is pretty common. About 40% of all pregnant women will experience bleeding heavier than a period. Only about half of those who bleed this heavily will ultimately miscarry. Fifty percent of women who bleed heavier than a period will NOT miscarry. In the IVF setting, the most common cause of bleeding we see is caused from the vaginal suppositories irritating the outside of the cervix. This will not affect a pregnancy at
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Jeffrey Fisch, MD Medical Director Sher Fertility Institute Las Vegas When the Beta hCG level rises slower than expected there can be several explanations. Most commonly it indicates a pregnancy that may be failing. In this case, the level may peak and then fall back to zero. We call this a “biochemical” pregnancy, meaning the only way we knew you were pregnant was from the biochemical test for the hormone level. While it is always sad to lose a pregnancy, most biochemical pregnancies are genetically abnormal and would never have made a healthy baby. Another more worrisome possibility is that the pregnancy
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In the early stages, before we can see the pregnancy with ultrasound, the best way to know if your pregnancy is doing well is to see a doubling of the Beta hCG level every 48 hours. Pregnancy is traditionally dated by the start of your last period. However, with IVF, we know the conception day. This is the day of egg retrieval. You are already two weeks pregnant at this point. You will be about 4 weeks pregnant when we can detect the hormone levels in your blood. One the Beta hCG level gets into the 5,000-10,000 range it may
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Jeffrey D. Fisch, MD Medical Director Sher Fertility Institute Las Vegas Fertility Clinic The culmination of an IVF treatment cycle and the real “moment of truth” is the post-IVF pregnancy test - known as the “beta hCG” or simply the ”beta.” A woman is considered pregnant if an embryo has implanted into her uterine lining. This embryo implantation involves the embryo ”invading” the uterine blood supply. We can identify that this has occurred by detecting the hormone hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) in the mother’s bloodstream. This hormone has two parts – alpha and beta. We measure the beta portion of the hCG molecule (BhCG). The presence of this
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By Albert Peters, D.O. Medical Director, SIRM – New Jersey Fertility Clinic In part I of this two part series, I discussed the scope of Recurrent Pregnancy Loss (RPL) and three of its known etiologies. These included genetic, immunologic and hormonal causes, and their management options. In this part, we will discuss the remaining two causes and management options. Infectious causes have been implicated in RPL. Specifically, bacteria such as Ureaplasma and Mycoplasma that can colonize in the uterine cavity have been implicated in RPL. These conditions can be detected by simply culturing the cervix. If these bacteria are isolated, simple antibiotic
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By Hyacinth Nicole Browne, MD Associate Medical Director Sher Institute – New York Fertility Clinic It has been suggested that the upper limit of normal for Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) in infertile women who are trying to conceive should be 2.5 mIU/L instead of 4.5 mIU/L as is used by most laboratories. A TSH level greater than 2.5 mIU/L, in the setting of a normal serum free thyroxine (T4) concentration, is associated with a disorder known as subclinical hypothyroidism. People with subclinical hypothyroidism tend to be asymptomatic, but it has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes in infertile women. Infertile
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General Infertility | admin November 21, 2011 | 
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