Blog
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For employees embarking on their fertility journey, it can be a stressful and exciting time – requiring a number of trips to the fertility center for blood work, monitoring, the embryo transfer and follow-up consultations. However, treatment schedules can become unpredictable at times, and it can take anywhere from months to years for fertility treatments to be successful. With all of this uncertainty, employees may become overwhelmed trying to balance fertility treatment, work, and their overall mental wellbeing. How can you as an employer better support them through this process?
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National Infertility Awareness Week: April 28th Webinar
The final webinar in the series focused on the unique challenges for single parents by choice and the LGBTQ+ community. In this session we discussed …
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National Infertility Awareness Week: April 27th Webinar
The second webinar in the series focused on the issues related to infertility of the male partner. In this session we discussed leading causes of male …
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National Infertility Awareness Week: April 26th Webinar
The first webinar in the series was of interest to people who face challenges in getting pregnant. In this session we discussed common causes of infertility, …
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What You Need to Know
There are several lifestyle factors that can have a significant impact on a person’s fertility, including diet, exercise, sleep, stress, alcohol consumption and drug use. While it is common knowledge that recreational drugs are to be avoided during pregnancy, many may not think about how these substances can affect fertility years before they try to conceive.
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According to the American Cancer Society; about one in every 250 men will develop testicular cancer during their lifetime. It’s a disease most common in young men, with an average age of onset at 33 years old. Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer, as was NFL punter Josh Bidwell.
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Infertility affects about 1 in 5 women (19 percent) who have not had a prior birth during their reproductive years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s not just a woman’s problem; male factor infertility causes some 30 percent of infertility cases. Infertility itself is stressful for most people, and fertility treatment may increase the psychological distress and anxiety they feel. Let’s look at how this may affect your employees and what can help them.
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Inventing In-Vitro
Did you know that Dr. Steptoe and Dr. Edwards weren’t the only ones who first developed IVF? Until recently, many were unaware of a third, indispensable contributor: Jean Purdy. Jean Purdy was a British nurse and clinical embryologist who joined Dr. Patrick Steptoe and Dr. Robert Edwards as a lab technician and quickly became an equally valuable partner in developing the first successful method of in-vitro fertilization.
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When it comes to infertility, Black women are underserved even though they are nearly twice as likely to experience fertility issues compared to White women. Specifically, 48% of Black women may suffer from infertility, versus 31% of White women. Unfortunately, Black women are only half as likely to receive fertility treatments.
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Having a family-building benefit is now considered a necessity for employees. Companies across different industries are utilizing a managed fertility benefit as part of their toolkit to recruit and retain top talent. When it comes to designing a managed fertility benefits plan, there are 4 main things to consider.
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WINFertility to provide complimentary fertility benefit management services for female naval aviators and Naval Aviation personnel.
Greenwich, CT, October 12, 2021 – WINFertility (WIN), the nation’s leading fertility benefit management company with the largest portfolio of employer clients, empowers female Naval Aviators’ choice to pursue career and family, in partnership with Read More
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Infertility affects one in eight Americans today – or about 7.4 million men and women – more than those impacted by diabetes, breast cancer, or Alzheimer’s Disease. As infertility becomes more pervasive among women in the workplace, employers who provide support, patience and understanding for their employees during their fertility journey can reap the inherent benefits of happy and productive employees.
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If you’re looking into IVF, you may have seen references to PGD and PGS. Both are types of genetic testing performed on cells from embryos in the embryology lab, but they have different purposes and screen for different genetic problems. Many people having fertility treatment will not need to have either of these types of testing done, but in some cases PGS or PGD may help your reproductive endocrinologist find healthy embryos to implant in your uterus during IVF treatment.
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Making Parenthood Possible
Gestational surrogacy is an arrangement where a woman agrees to carry and bear a child for another person, who will be the legal parent after birth. The child is not genetically related to the surrogate. The embryo is created in IVF with eggs and sperm from the intended parents or from egg and/or sperm donors, and is then transferred to the surrogate who carries it and gives birth.
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The Building Blocks of ART
Since the first “test tube baby” conceived via IVF was born in 1978, more than 8 million babies have been born around the world from this form of assisted reproductive technology (ART).
About 1.9 percent of all babies born in the U.S. each year are …
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Getting the Gift of Giving Birth
Conception depends on uniting a healthy egg with sperm, one of which fertilizes the egg and, if all goes well, results in the growth and implantation of an embryo in the mother’s uterus.
Assisted reproductive technology has made it possible for people …
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Planning for a Future Family
Fertility preservation involves freezing eggs, sperm, or embryos for use in the future to have a biological child. There are several reasons why a person or a couple might choose to do this.
In every case, however, IUI (for sperm) or IVF (for eggs or …
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Learn About Adoption and Fostering to Adopt
Adoption or fostering to adopt can be a thoughtful and loving choice to build a family, helping a child in need of a family. There are many reasons to adopt, and much to know about the process of adoption, including the emotions that may be experienced.
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Employee turnover can be disruptive, costly, and resource draining for any business. As such, retaining top talent is usually a high priority for most companies, regardless of size.
According to the Work Institute, in 2019, the cost of turnover was over $600 billion. Research shows that replacing an employee who …
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Men Suffer, Too
Infertility has traditionally been perceived as a woman’s medical issue. Modern medicine has proved that isn’t accurate – as much as one third of all cases of infertility are due to male factor infertility alone and another 10 percent result in combination with female infertility. The emotional effects of infertility on men are often overlooked as well.
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What You Need to Know
You may be familiar with donor sperm and its use in fertility treatment. Did you know that more and more men are choosing to freeze their own sperm and store it for future use? Sperm freezing, also known as sperm banking, allows a man to preserve his fertility and, with it, the possibility of a biological child.
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If you’re a Human Resources Director, what if the health insurance options you provide could benefit both your employees and save your company money long term?
Research shows that businesses that offer their employees fertility benefits insurance end up saving money in the future.
Sound interesting?
MORE THAN JUST 401K AND GYM MEMBERSHIPS.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cite that about about 12 percent of women in the U.S. struggle to get pregnant, and the same …
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Helping All Your Employees Helps the Company, Too
Family-building benefits are increasingly popular with employees. More and more companies are offering at least some coverage for fertility treatment, while others include fertility preservation such as egg freezing and sperm freezing. But these programs are not always a good fit for all employees.
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Takes Effect February 15, 2021
The Child-Parent Security Act which goes into effect in February 2021 legalizes the use of gestational surrogates in New York State. Surrogacy had been prohibited in the state, forcing male same-sex couples and other couples struggling with fertility who needed surrogacy to go to other states to build their families. The former legislation also did not clearly define who the legal parents are when a child is conceived by …
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Costs and Other Considerations for Building Your Family
Adoption can be a loving choice to build your family. There are many reasons why adoption can be a good option for singles and couples who want to have a child. Let’s explore why people adopt and other considerations when you’re thinking about adoption.
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Taking the First Steps Toward Family Building
If you’ve been trying to conceive without success, how do you know when it’s time to get help? Are you ready to consider fertility treatment? Is your partner in the same place as you are? Here are some things to do before you start on your fertility journey.
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RMA of Connecticut, a leading fertility practice and participating WIN provider whose exceptional quality and care helps couples and individuals grow their family, is spearheading a Holidays at Home social media initiative aimed at helping those suffering with infertility during the holidays.
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Handle the Stress of Infertility and Social Isolation
The holidays normally are stressful for people struggling with infertility. The many social occasions and family get-togethers can be warm and supportive, or they can be more like the Spanish Inquisition.
Why haven’t you …
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BCBSRI Members Receive 24/7 access to WINFertility Nurse Care Managers, who Provide Clinical Oversight, Emotional Support, Advocacy, and Education, Enhancing the Patient Experience for those Members Facing Fertility Challenges
Greenwich, CT, October 27, 2020 – WINFertility (WIN), the nation’s leading fertility benefits management company providing access to dedicated clinical support for millions of families, has announced a new collaboration with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island (BCBSRI). …
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Can You Resolve This?
Infertility can be emotionally stressful for both partners. Either or both of you may feel guilty or angry at being unable to conceive. If you are having fertility treatment, you may also feel worry and stress about paying for treatment, and you may feel increased stress and grief if the treatment is not successful after one or two tries.
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How They Influence Your Ability to Conceive
About 10 to 15 percent of couples are impacted by infertility. Many factors can influence your ability to get pregnant, including the lifestyles and health of both partners, male or female. Let’s take a look at how lifestyle and your health affect your fertility.
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Why This Matters
Inclusivity for all employees is more important now than ever before. Many companies increasingly recognize that providing benefits that are important to a diverse range of employees is essential to recruiting and retaining them. Inclusive family-building benefits cater to the unique needs of different individuals.
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How It Can Support Patients Along Their Journey
The trend toward use of technology and telecommunications in health care has accelerated recently. Even before the pandemic hit, there was a significant increase in the number of physicians who were interested in using digital tools such as remote monitoring and tele-visits, according to a study carried out by the American Medical Association. Insurance payers and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have Read More
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Who Needs It and Why
Service in the U.S. military entitles active duty personnel and veterans to medical coverage. However, benefits do not include IVF or most other fertility treatments unless the service member had a serious illness or injury while on active duty which caused him or her to lose natural reproductive ability, according to TRICARE.
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Why Employers Must Help Employees Address Them
Modern life is complicated. That’s true for everyone, but it’s especially true for your employees who have families or want to have families. The majority of married couples are in two-income households, according to the Pew Research Center. When both partners work, having and caring for children is increasingly difficult. Yet most households need two incomes to support themselves and their children, and many women and men do …
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Planning Ahead for a Getaway
Many of us are longing for a summer vacation that isn’t a staycation. But what if you’re in IVF treatment?
There may be times in your IVF cycle when you need to stay home, but, often, it’s okay to travel if you plan ahead.
- Check with Your …
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- Check with Your …
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Nice-to-Have or Essential?
In recent years, more and more companies have begun offering family-building benefits to their employees. The trend started in high tech, and expanded to banking, consulting, law firms, and other companies in competitive fields.
Providing fertility treatment coverage and …
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More than Success Rates
When you and your partner decide it’s time to get fertility treatment, you need to find a reproductive endocrinologist. That’s a physician with special qualifications who focuses on reproductive endocrinology and infertility treatment.
You may …
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What You Need to Know
Fertility medications are a normal part of fertility treatment and are commonly used in IUI and IVF. They are used to stimulate ovulation, prepare your body for IVF treatment, and to help avoid recurrent pregnancy loss.
Your reproductive endocrinologist will develop a treatment …
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How Larger Benefit Buckets Support Inclusivity
Infertility used to be regarded as a “woman’s problem.” Over time, research and medical practice came to recognize the importance of male factor infertility and to develop treatments for men’s fertility problems as well. Benefits for fertility treatment focused on coverage of specific conditions and treatments.
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5 Tips to Pass the Time
Anyone undergoing IVF treatment is familiar with the two-week wait. It’s called the luteal phase, and happens at the end of the IVF cycle. It’s the time that needs to elapse between embryo transfer and the pregnancy test. The two-week wait is an emotional time while you’re waiting to find out if the IVF cycle was successful and you are pregnant.
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Dr. Barry Witt, Medical Director WINFertility
Pros and Cons of Each
Egg donation has made it possible for thousands of women who couldn’t conceive with their own eggs to get pregnant and have a baby. Donor eggs may be used in IVF treatment for women who have premature ovarian failure (menopause before age 40), diminished ovarian reserve (lower quantity of eggs), or poor quality eggs due to the woman’s age.
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WINFertility is here to support our patients, providers and partners through COVID-19. Rest assured that the safety, health and emotional well-being of our patients is our primary focus. Our clinical and operational teams are prepared and dedicated to guiding members and providers through the unique challenges that come with delaying treatment during this pandemic.
Patients
If you are in fertility treatment, your treatment most likely has been delayed by closure of fertility clinics, in order to conserve resources for treatment of novel coronavirus …
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Why It’s the Latest Fertility Trend
Egg freezing, also known as oocyte cryopreservation, has become increasingly popular in recent years. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) removed its designation of the procedure as experimental in 2012, sparking enormous growth. There aren’t any comprehensive numbers on egg freezing in the U.S., but the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) found in a survey that the number of women freezing their eggs is surging – from 475 in 2009 to nearly 8,000 in 2015. Estimates are that thousands …
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What Does Family Mean to This Generation?
The millennial generation are all adults now and at the height of their childbearing years. Millennials, defined as those ages 22 to 37 in 2018, are the second-largest generation in the U.S. electorate, behind Baby Boomers.
How do they feel about having …
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PGS, PGD, and Their New Names
Preimplantation genetic testing of embryos to be used in IVF is a fairly recent innovation in fertility treatment. Most people will not need genetic testing as part of their IVF treatment, but it can be very helpful to patients whose families have inherited genetic diseases, women who are older, and people who have experienced recurrent pregnancy loss.
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Tips to Handle Uncertainty and Anxiety
Struggling with infertility is stressful enough in itself. The emotional ups and downs of fertility treatment, uncertainty, and feeling a lack of control often heighten people’s feelings of anxiety. Environmental stressors like viruses, other illnesses, family problems, and worries about your job only add to the tension.
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It’s Good for Employees and for Your Business
More and more companies are offering family building benefits to their employees. More than 400 companies include coverage for fertility treatment, according to a survey by Fertility IQ in 2019. From Starbucks to Bank of America and Tesla, offering coverage has expanded from the high-tech sector to banking, consulting, law firms, and other industries.
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Protecting Your Relationship During Your Journey
When you’re TTC and on your infertility journey, you realize right away that it’s personally stressful and difficult. People who are struggling to conceive often report feeling depressed, anxious, and as if they have lost control. Infertility and fertility treatment are also very stressful to a marriage or relationship.
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Communication is Key
Whether your company has just started offering family building benefits or has been providing them for some time, communicating with your employees is key.
You’re showing your employees that they matter, families matter, and that your company cares about their hopes and dreams. Here are …
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Lifestyle and Environmental Factors That Affect Conception
Men are found to be the only cause or to contribute to infertility in about 40 percent of cases. Anything that negatively impacts production or quality of sperm or its delivery to the female partner’s vagina can cause problems with conception. Some of the more common issues which affect sperm formation include diabetes, chromosome defects, hormone problems, and varicocele, enlarged veins in the scrotum …
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Can What You Eat Help You Conceive?
Since ancient times people have tried to treat infertility by eating certain foods. Oysters were reputed to be an aphrodisiac and to enhance male fertility.
Many of the beliefs were based on the shape of the food (bananas, pomegranate seeds) or its relationship to …
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Physical Limitations, Injuries, Psychological Factors
Infertility is defined by WHO as “a disease of the reproductive system defined by the failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse.”
Yet there are many factors that can limit …
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Grief at Loss Mingles with Joy and Fear
You may not have heard of the term “rainbow baby,” which has come into use in the last few years. A rainbow baby is one born after the loss of a child through miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death. The situation is more common than you might think. Most women who miscarry go on to have healthy pregnancies after a miscarriage. Only about one percent of women are unfortunate enough to have recurrent miscarriages. But due to the silence and stigma around miscarriage, few people have revealed they are having a …
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Finding a Road to Parenthood
An estimated 0.6 percent of the U.S. population identifies as transgender, according to a recent study by researchers at the Williams Institute. That’s more than a million people; double the amount of those who identified as transgender 10 years ago. Some stories have begun to surface in the media about transgender men becoming pregnant and …
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A Time to Believe
The holiday season can be a difficult time for people who are trying to conceive. Seeing other happy family members and friends with children can make your heart hurt, when you’re wondering if you will ever have a child of your own.
But the holidays …
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About 10 percent of heterosexual couples in the U.S. are defined as infertile, based on the inability to conceive after 12 months of unprotected sexual intercourse. When women have trouble conceiving, they usually are the first to look for causes of infertility and to seek treatment.
Yet modern science has …
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Protecting Your Future Family
If you’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer, you probably have a lot of questions and concerns about cancer treatment. If you are still premenopausal, in your fertile years, you should be aware that cancer treatment can affect your fertility and your ability to have a family in the future.
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Peter Nieves, Chief Commercial Officer WINFertility
As open enrollment for employee benefits begins, fertility benefits are increasingly important to employees and companies. Here are six terms every HR person should know when offering, or considering, family-building benefits.
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It’s Not What You May Think
In 2014, Facebook and Apple began offering egg freezing as an employee benefit. Many other high-tech companies followed suit in the following years, as well as companies in banking, consulting firms, law firms and others with stiff competition for top candidates. The assumption was that egg freezing was an appealing benefit because it allowed young women to postpone starting a family and focus on their careers, while preserving the ability to have a family later. In 2016, more than 7,000 women froze their eggs, according to the …
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How Common Is It?
Even people who have had one or more children may have trouble conceiving or carrying a child to term again.
This is known as secondary infertility. It’s more common than you might think, and people who suffer from it often get less sympathy than people diagnosed …
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IVF and More
The tightening job market has led many employers to offer more inclusive benefits as a means to attract and keep employees. Nearly one-third of employers with 500 or more employees now offer some sort of fertility benefits, according to a survey of 677 employee benefits managers by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. Smaller companies are less likely to offer coverage, but the percentage with 50 or fewer employees who provide fertility benefits has …
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It’s open enrollment, a period of time when companies share the benefits package they are offering to employees for the coming year and the choices employees have.
If you are trying to conceive or considering that you may need help starting a family next year, look for these family-building benefits in the package your company is …
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It’s Not Only Your Uterus
Infertility is more than a problem with your reproductive system. It can affect your whole life in ways you may not expect.
If you’re struggling with infertility, you may have issues with any or all of these areas. …
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And One Thing You Should Say
If you have a friend or family member who’s trying to conceive and having problems, your impulse is to comfort them and try to give them hope. But sometimes we all unintentionally say (or text) the wrong thing, something that comes out badly or is actually hurtful.
Here are seven …
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Options for Having Children
Raising a child is one of life’s most challenging and rewarding experiences. More and more same-sex male couples want to be parents and share their lives and love with a child. Gay men have three options for family building: having a biological child with an egg donor and a gestational surrogate, adoption, and fostering.
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You and Your Partner Decide
Some of the biggest stressors when you’re trying to conceive are the well-meant (for the most part) comments of family and friends. Infertility treatments can be very stressful. You may find you’re more irritable than before, and the thoughtless questions and observations rub you the wrong way. Most people really aren’t out to hurt your feelings or anger you. Many of the hurtful statements come from the ignorance of others about your circumstances or about infertility.
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“Just Relax” and Other Useless Advice
People who are TTC are often inundated with well-meaning but bad advice, from old wives’ tales to the latest snake oil in social media.
Friends and family usually don’t mean to be hurtful, but their comments can feel that way when you’re struggling with infertility. Telling …
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How can Employers be truly inclusive with their family-building benefit?
Heteronormative Definition Has Negative Effect on LGBTQ Patients
Infertility is often defined as not being able to get pregnant or carry a child to term after 12 months of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse. A woman may be diagnosed as infertile after less than 12 months, depending on her age and diagnostic test results.
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Is It All In Your Head?
Infertility is known to cause stress. Women with infertility report high levels of anxiety and depression. But does stress cause infertility? The answer to that is not clear.
Researchers don’t understand the role of stress in infertility. Even intense …
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Does Age Have an Effect?
The average age of first-time fatherhood in the U.S. is almost 31, and fatherhood in one’s 40s is becoming much more common than in the past. A man’s fertility doesn’t decline as sharply with age as a woman’s does.
Many celebrities (and non-celebrities) have become fathers in their 50s, …
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What Do We Know?
Cannabidiol (CBD) oil is a hot new product that is reputed to help treat a plethora of medical problems. Its proponents say CBD can improve pain from inflammation, anxiety, epileptic seizures, weight gain, sleep problems and even infertility.
What is it, and what do we know about it? …
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A Controversial New Treatment for Infertility
In April 2019, a young woman in Greece gave birth to a baby who had not two parents, but three, due to the use of mitochondrial replacement therapy.
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Why Are Sperm Counts Dropping?
You may have heard talk in the media that sperm counts are declining in men all over the world, specifically in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. This was reported in a recent definitive study published in Human Reproduction Update.
What seems to …
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The Future is Now
Single embryo transfer (SET) has become the standard of care for IVF treatment, based on new guidelines issued in 2017 by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART). This is a huge departure from IVF treatment in the past, when two and sometimes three embryos were transferred in the hope that one would implant and result in a baby.
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Uterus Transplant
Carrying and giving birth to a baby is an experience many women want with all their hearts. For some women this has been an impossible dream because they are diagnosed with absolute uterine factor infertility.
Yet a recent clinical trial at Baylor University has brought new hope through uterus …
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How Will It Affect Payers?
Under a new law enacted in its 2020 budget, the state of New York will mandate coverage for IVF treatment by certain large-group insurance plans. Egg freezing for medically-necessary fertility preservation will be required by all private insurance plans.
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4 Simple Changes for the Better
When they are struggling with infertility, both men and women feel stressed and distressed. In about 30 percent of cases of infertility, both women and men have problems that need treatment. It’s clear that fertility is not just a woman’s problem.
But did you know that lifestyle …
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It’s All About the Sperm
Throughout history women have taken the blame for infertility. But modern science has found that the causes of infertility fall into three groups, each responsible for about one-third of infertility cases: women’s problems, male factors, and a combination of both or no known cause.
Male factor …
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Solutions for Uterine Issues
For National Infertility Awareness Week, we’re looking at common causes of infertility and what can be done to address them. Uterine factor infertility is one of the most common reasons for difficulty getting pregnant.
Problems with the uterus affect the embryo’s ability to implant in …
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Fallopian Tubes and Your Fertility
When it comes to fertility, it’s all about getting an egg and sperm to meet. Tubal factor infertility is a common condition in women where the fallopian tubes are fully or partially blocked. Here’s what you need to know.
Tubal Factor Infertility
Blockages of …
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Your Eggs and Fertility
For National Infertility Awareness Week, we’re looking at the top five causes of infertility and what you can do to overcome them. Ovarian disorders are the most common cause of female infertility. What are these disorders? Can you still have a biological family?
Common … Read More
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Who’s Doing It, Why and How
More and more high tech companies and other companies in competitive industries are offering oocyte cryopreservation, known as egg freezing, as a fertility benefit to employees.
Egg freezing for a long time was an experimental procedure, but in 2013 the American Society for Reproductive …
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Most people dream of having a family someday, even before they consider a partner. In fact, many assume that having a baby the old-fashioned way is a natural birthright. After all, we are made to be sexual beings so anyone can get pregnant, right? Wrong.
Infertility is a hot-button issue today, affecting one-in-eight Americans, …
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Emotional Support as well as Benefits
Employees who are struggling with infertility can be distracted from their work, even more so if their employer isn’t understanding of the stresses and time demands of fertility treatment. But employers who are supportive can reap the benefits of employee loyalty and productivity.
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Gestational surrogacy has been in the spotlight in recent years. A number of celebrities have used gestational carriers to carry their biological child, including Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, Jimmy Fallon and Nancy Juvonen, and Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent. Using surrogacy is not a decision made lightly.
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More Than Medical Infertility
When most of us think of fertility benefits, we think of couples who have been trying unsuccessfully to conceive a child for 12 months or more. That’s the definition of medical infertility.
Managed fertility benefits can definitely help your employees who are struggling with …
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So your company has decided to offer family-building benefits to your employees. That’s wonderful! You’re demonstrating that employees matter, families matter, and your company cares about them. Family-building benefits help you hire and retain critical team members in a competitive jobs marketplace.
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3 Ways to Comfort and Communicate
No one is fully prepared for the emotions you feel when you’re struggling with infertility. Every couple dealing with fertility issues or undergoing fertility treatment rides an emotional roller coaster, which may include anxiety, depression, anger or feeling out of control. It’s not unusual to grieve if an IVF cycle fails, or to mourn for the family you fear you’ll never have. Men and women tend to react differently to the challenges, and that can cause further strain on a relationship.
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It’s Not Just a Woman’s Problem
Throughout history people have thought of infertility as something that happened only to women—and if men were affected by it, it was shameful. The woman usually took the blame and was called “barren.” But a man who couldn’t father children was held to be “less of” a man.
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Fertility Benefits Plus Adoption and Surrogacy
More and more companies are offering fertility benefits to their employees. The number of companies providing these benefits has been increasing dramatically. Fertility benefits are becoming a valuable recruitment and retention tool. This trend began in the high-tech industry with companies like Facebook, Google, PayPal, Intel and Salesforce, who were in the top 10 tech …
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Less Shame and More Sharing?
Throughout history people have viewed infertility as shameful and demeaning. Usually the woman was thought to be at fault if a couple had problems trying to conceive. Women were usually blamed—or blame themselves—for miscarriages. People didn’t tell others they were undergoing fertility treatment, or only told their closest family members. Not being able to have a baby made both women and men feel inadequate, like they were failing. Losing a pregnancy meant you had to mourn in silence.
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Coping Hints to Help You Through the Season
When you’re TTC and not having success, the last thing you may want to do is sit down to Thanksgiving dinner with a large group of relatives or go to a holiday party with people who don’t know that you’re in fertility treatment. Many people find the holidays stressful even when they’re not trying to get pregnant. Seeing other people’s babies and children can cut like a knife when you want your own so badly. When you’re in fertility treatment, well-meaning people can say things and give advice that’s …
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Is Being Covered Enough?
The vast majority of people in the U.S. live in states which do not mandate insurance coverage for fertility treatment. Only 17 states have infertility insurance coverage laws. And what insurance is required to cover varies greatly from state to state. In fact, only eight states (Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, and …
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Health Insurance May Not Cover the Cost
When young people have cancer, their family’s primary focus is to get the treatment they need to save their lives. That’s the first priority for any cancer patient. But for people who have not had children, there’s another urgent concern—preserving their fertility, so they can have a family in the future. And most states do not require health insurance to cover the cost of fertility preservation. Only about 5 percent of new cancer diagnoses happen in young people …
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Infertility is a common problem in the U.S. About 10 percent of women ages 15-44 (6.1 million) have difficulty getting pregnant or staying pregnant to deliver a healthy baby, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And it’s not just a woman’s issue, and it’s not in her head.
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Help Online, In Person, and On the Phone
If you’re struggling with infertility, you know how emotional the journey can be. The ups and downs of fertility treatment, the excitement of taking steps to have a baby, the sadness and even grief if your efforts aren’t immediately successful—many patients describe it as an emotional roller-coaster ride.
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With 66 percent of employers projected to offer fertility benefits in 2019, more and more of them are trying to determine the best way to offer these benefits. Do you just increase insurance coverage and set limits on the number of IVF cycles, or impose a lifetime cap? Or do you get managed benefits with clinical expertise to guide your employees through the process?
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Pros and Cons of Oocyte Cryopreservation
Since egg freezing became a viable reproductive technology, fertility preservation has been a concern for cancer patients, women in their late 30s, and women with a family history of early menopause. In recent years many high-tech companies have offered egg freezing as a benefit to their employees, so they can concentrate on their careers and not worry about having a baby until later. Increasingly, egg freezing clinics are popping up around the country, targeting millennial women with advertising and information …
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Asking for Fertility Benefits
Most large employers have open enrollment for their health insurance plans in the fall each year, so their employees can select the type of plan and coverage they want for the coming year. If you’re thinking about getting pregnant next year or actively trying to conceive (TTC), open enrollment is a good time to investigate your company’s coverage of fertility treatment. And if they don’t cover fertility treatment, you can start building a case to get fertility benefits.
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It’s Not Because of You
The “manosphere” is in turmoil over news of declining sperm counts in men all over the world. A landmark study published in the journal Human Reproduction Update last summer found that sperm counts dropped by more than half over four decades of data. People have been blaming everything from chemical pollution to the feminizing of men by society.
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How Much Time Do You Have?
Did you know that the general fertility rate in the United States is the lowest it’s ever been? A major reason for that is millennials in their peak fertility years are delaying childbirth or even deciding not to have children. Many of them are loaded with student debt and feel they can’t afford children yet, while others are pursuing higher education or their careers. Most millennials are waiting later to marry for all these reasons and many others. They are realistic …
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How Advanced Reproductive Technology Has Made SET the Standard of Care in IVF
In the past, the normal protocol in IVF treatment was to transfer two embryos, and sometimes three, to improve the chances that one embryo would implant and result in a healthy pregnancy. The downside was a greatly increased chance of having twins or high-order multiples like triplets.
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Why One Baby Is Better, For You and the Baby
The number of twin births have almost doubled in the last four decades. Besides the effect of maternal age (i.e. older women who are able to get pregnant are more likely to have twins than younger women), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says more than one-third of twins and more than three-quarters of triplets and other high-order multiples resulted from assisted reproductive technology (ART). The practice of transferring two …
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More Than 71K Babies Born, and Fewer Multiples
#DYK that more babies are being born from assisted reproductive technology (ART) in the U.S. than ever before, and that the outcomes are better for both mothers and babies? The latest national and clinic-specific data on ART were recently released by SART, the Society for Assisted Reproductive …
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For Women Choosing to Delay Childbearing by Daniel E. Stein, MD RMA of New York, a participating provider in the WINFertility Network
Read MoreFor millions of women worldwide, the challenge to remain active in the workplace while maintaining their reproductive potential remains …
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As part of the National Infertility Awareness Week (#NIAW #flipthescript) Julie Medley shares here story a former patient at PREG and proud adoptive mom!
Don’t ignore the opportunity to share your infertility story with others. Many of you
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are scared or embarrassed to talk about your struggle. I understand that. I’ve been
there, so I really do. …
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As part of the National Infertility Awareness Week (#NIAW #flipthescript) Meeting or Beating the Age Barrier of Infertility by Elena Trukhacheva MD, MSCI, President and Medical Director of Reproductive Medicine Institute Aging oocytes, Advanced Maternal Age, Diminished Ovarian Reserve…by any other name, these …
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As part of the National Infertility Awareness Week (#NIAW #flipthescript) a word from Shweta Nayak M.D. For those looking to start a family, or those further along on the spectrum who may be utilizing Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), it can be easy to get lost in the details. Those details can be as …
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As part of the National Infertility Awareness Week (#NIAW #flipthescript)
As part of the National Infertility Awareness Week (#NIAW#flipthescript) Rhonda’s Story from www.pregonline.com
When I was 37 I decided to have my eggs frozen. It was beginning to concern me that I was getting older but didn’t have a prospect for a husband. The doctors were able to retrieve 12 eggs. So I began to feel relieved that I had my …
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As part of the National Infertility Awareness Week (#NIAW#flipthescript) John S. Rinehart MD, PhD, Reproductive Medicine Institute (www.teamrmi.com) talks about Selecting embryos for Invitro FertilizationA constant challenge for patients using Invitro Fertilization (IVF) for fertility treatment is deciding which embryo to transfer and how many to …
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What Matters Most to You
Making the decision to use donor eggs in IVF is often not easy. If you’ve had failed IVF cycles using your own eggs or been told you have insufficient ovarian reserve for IVF, you and your partner may need time to grieve before moving on to donor eggs. Once you are ready, however, donor eggs are a kind of miracle. Eggs from young, healthy donors make it …
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Should You Consider It?
Have you ever had acupuncture? It’s now widely accepted in the medical community as a treatment for chronic pain and some other conditions like arthritis. When you have an acupuncture treatment, the practitioner inserts tiny, sterile needles on places called acupoints, stimulating the body’s self-healing process. In traditional Chinese medicine, the …
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What You Need to Know
There are several reasons to consider using a surrogate to bear your child. Male same-sex couples who want to have a biological child often use a surrogate. Some women are unable to carry and bear a child due to cancer treatment, genetic conditions, having had a hysterectomy, or medical conditions that make it dangerous for them to get pregnant. Sometimes couples use a surrogate when other fertility treatments have not been successful for them or there are problems with the female partner’s uterus. You may have heard of celebrity …
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Polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS, is the most common ovulatory disorder among women with fertility problems and affects as many as 10 percent of all women in their childbearing years. What treatments help when infertility is related to PCOS?
What is PCOS?
PCOS is a hormonal disorder that disrupts the …
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Today, 1 in 8 couples experience an infertility diagnosis. Many couples will turn to assisted reproductive technology (ART) when they have difficulty conceiving. In 2015 (the most recent year reported), the number of IVF cycles reached an all-time high at 231,936 cycles, according to the CDC. FertilityIQ recently Read More
Did you know about 68 percent of large employers offer some kind of reproductive assistance as part of their health insurance plans? Have your employees started asking for coverage for fertility treatment? Before they start lobbying you, investigate how you can offer a flexible plan that helps you provide the coverage they want while managing the costs. These questions will help you get …
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Why It’s Time to See a Reproductive Endocrinologist
If you’re like most women in their fertile years, your gynecologist is your go-to doctor. For many women, the gynecologist is the only doctor they see regularly. This is the physician who checks your reproductive system, provides birth control, helps you deal with UTIs and STIs, and cares for all parts of your reproductive system. But if you’re TTC, it may be time to move on to a fertility specialist, a reproductive endocrinologist who focuses only on conception.
Reproductive endocrinologists (REs) …
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It’s Open Enrollment time—and time for employees to consider the different health insurance options for the upcoming year. It’s also one of the few times you can make important changes to your employer-provided benefits.
Do you offer managed fertility benefits? It’s …
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It’s Open Enrollment time again—the one time each year when people can review their health insurance benefits and make important changes, depending on their personal health needs. Well, that’s what we are supposed to do. Instead, many ignore Open Enrollment, assuming their health coverage is just fine.
What about fertility … Read More
Learn more about fertility benefits and how managed fertility coverage can be a viable tool to enhance recruitment, increase workplace satisfaction and retention, and boost your bottom line.
It’s no news that today’s demographics are changing. Generations ago, women had babies in their 20s and went to work in their 30s and 40s. Then in 2016, the US birth rate hit a record low as the …
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Fertility Myths: True or False?
If you’re TTC, no doubt you’ve heard all kinds of crazy things about what you should—or shouldn’t—do to get pregnant. A lot of old wives’ tales are just that, tales without any science or facts behind them. So don’t believe the horror stories. Here are a few examples, and guidance to whether they’re true or false.
Ever heard of the “million-dollar baby”? That’s not far-fetched, especially when millions of uninsured men and women attempt to have a family without the consideration or knowledge of cost or best practices in fertility medicine. Many women have serious health complications with fertility treatment–all paid for by the employer’s insurance plan. Others run out of money for fertility treatments before …
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Getting a lawyer is probably not something you think of first when you’re TTC. But there are certain types of assisted reproductive technology (ART) that affect your parental rights and even your child’s ability to inherit from you, depending on your state’s laws. Most lawyers are not knowledgeable about reproductive law and may not have been exposed to the many issues in this area.
Patients seek out fertility testing and treatment when they have difficulty becoming or staying pregnant. Standard testing includes analyzing semen and reproductive hormones in the blood, as well as checking to see if the fallopian tubes are open or blocked. Some men and women are found to have abnormalities in these basic tests, while others are told they have “unexplained infertility”.
Irrespective of what their fertility doctor finds to be the reason(s) they are having trouble achieving a successful …
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Most women have an OB/GYN they see regularly for birth control, Pap smears, STI testing, and any issues with their “lady parts.” For many women, the gynecologist is the only physician they visit on a regular basis. Gynecologists can be on the front line of detection for health issues like high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes. They can also play an important role in how you manage your fertility, and discussion of fertility should be part of your care.
Protecting Your Fertility
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Your OB/GYN can detect and treat infections that can directly impact …
By: Daniel Stein, MD, RMA of NY
It is estimated that approximately one of every eight couples (12%-13%) suffers from infertility, a disease defined as the failure to conceive after twelve months in women 35 or younger, or after six months in women older then 35. Couples who fail to conceive month after month often wonder when to seek help, and from whom.
Do you want to have a baby, but not just yet? There are some good reasons why you may want to freeze your eggs instead of taking a chance that you’ll be able to get pregnant down the road. Egg freezing, or oocyte cryopreservation, is a relatively new technique for fertility preservation. It allows you to “stop the clock” on the aging of your eggs. Here are 4 very good reasons why you may want to consider egg freezing.
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You’re Over 30, and You Haven’t Met the Right Partner
There are two parts to this one, age and life circumstances. …
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Is infertility a taboo topic in your workplace? It is for many employees and employers. According to one study, 47 percent of employees with infertility are not open about it in the workplace. The problem exists that employees with infertility that do not feel supported may end up quitting, actively looking for another job or staying even though they are unhappy.[1]
How can …
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Millions of top American workers dream of having a family someday—even before they meet Mr. or Ms. Right. But today this dream is put on hold because of an increasingly common disease called infertility.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), infertility is a disease of the reproductive system defined by failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular …
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Want to hire the most qualified candidates available? Want to make sure they stay for years? Then consider offering fertility benefits. Employees over 30 are the largest group seeking fertility benefits as they prolonged starting a family during a highly reproductive time to finish higher education and specialized career training. Now their body clocks are ticking…
According to the World Health Organization …
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Most women have an OB/GYN they see regularly for birth control, Pap smears, STI testing, and any gynecologic issues. For many women, the gynecologist is the only physician they visit on a regular basis. Gynecologists can be on the front line of detection for health issues like high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes. They can also play an important role in how you manage your fertility, and discussion of fertility should be part of your care.
Protecting Your Fertility
Your OB/GYN can detect and treat infections that can directly impact your …
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Need to Boost Your Bottom-Line? Want a Competitive Advantage in Recruiting and Retaining Talent?
Look no further than your health benefits plan. New studies show that employee benefits are a dynamic tool for employers who want to recruit and retain top-tiered employees, and fertility benefits, specifically, are in high demand.
Wonder what your employees are up against with fertility treatments today? Infertility is defined as the inability to conceive after a year of unprotected intercourse or the inability to carry a pregnancy full-term.
Fertility treatments are those medications/procedures that increase the chances of pregnancy. Here’s a quick review …
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Knowledge is power, especially for employers today. While most companies deal with this ever-growing condition, few employers understand it.
To help those with this disease, it’s vital to learn more about it and support a family-friendly work environment with fertility benefits. Here are some facts you must know:
Family-friendly workplaces and a family-friendly society are goals for a healthy community. While many consider an on-site day care or family leave policies to be the epitome of a family-friendly workplace, others believe fertility benefits are the best place to start.
Infertility is a Disease
Many of your top …
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Are you noticing many women today are prolonging starting a family? As the biological clock ticks away, more women are considering egg freezing as a viable fertility treatment.
Understanding Egg Freezing
The process of egg-freezing or oocyte cryopreservation involves stimulating the ovaries with hormones …
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Looking for “Proven” Ways to Boost Employee Retention?
Consider fertility benefits. With one in eight US couples experiencing infertility, failing to address it in the workplace can have wide-spread consequences.
Findings show that employees with access to fertility benefits are more positive and more …
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Can You Get Pregnant If One of You Smokes?
Did you know many people are not aware that smoking affects your fertility? And this is true for both women and men! Most people know that smoking causes lung cancer, COPD, and heart disease.
The Center for Disease Control and …
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Did you know that fertility medications can add up to more than 30 percent of the cost of an IVF cycle? And we’re not talking pocket change here. The cost of medications such as clomiphene citrate (Clomid and Serophene), injectable hormones called gonadotropins (Follistim, Gonal-f, Repronex, Menopur, Pregnyl, Ovidrel, and Novarel), and other injectable hormones like Cetrotide (Ganerelix) or luprolide (Lupron) generally runs $3,000 to $5,000 per fresh IVF cycle. Older women may need higher dosages to stimulate ovulation, and costs may be as much as $10,000 per cycle. And these costs …
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It’s Not Too Late to Have a Child
Maybe you’re a successful businessman, and you’ve poured all your energy and time into building your business. Maybe you’ve been dating for years, and you still haven’t found Ms. or Mr. Right. Maybe you’re divorced without children, or you were deployed in the military and weren’t home to have children.
Preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) is a type of genetic testing which is increasing in use as part of IVF cycles. Here are a few facts you should know if you are considering IVF.
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PGS Screens for … Read More
There is more than one type of adoption, including adopting from the foster care system, adopting a child in the U.S. or another country, adopting a stepchild or adopting an embryo. You can read all the medical information available. But sometimes you need to hear someone’s story to understand what will happen when you adopt embryos.
Arizona Reproductive Medical Specialists (ARMS) wants you to “Listen Up!” when it comes to issues around infertility. Building awareness can help empowered you as you move along the family building journey.
Couples Wanting to Get Pregnant Can Help Increase Their Chances by Making Smart Choices
Even if you aren’t having fertility issues, it may take up to a year to get pregnant under normal conditions. Clinical infertility can further complicate the process and create extra stress as you try to conceive, so it’s important to know how to …
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Atlantic Reproductive Medicine Specialists wants you to “Listen Up!” when it comes to issues around infertility. Building awareness can help empowered you as you move along the family building journey.
The cost of fertility treatment can be a barrier between patients and …
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Fertility Specialists Medical Group wants you to “Listen Up!” when it comes to issues around infertility. Building awareness can help empowered you as you move along the family building journey.
Many transgender individuals are of reproductive age at the time of transition, so it is imperative that family-building goals are part of the conversation. Though not exhaustive, this post is designed to help transgender individuals understand their fertility options and barriers they may encounter at different points in transition.
Fertility Specialists Medical Group wants you to “Listen Up!” when it comes to issues around infertility. Building awareness can help empowered you as you move along the family building journey.
“Freezing Time” with Fertility Preservation
By Kristi Maas, MD, MEWho, Me?
If you are reading this, chances are you are someone who may be interested in having children at some point in your life.
Will Surgery Help?
Did you know that five to 10 percent of all women have endometriosis? It’s a very common condition when tissue that is normally found inside the uterus grows outside the uterus. This tissue may grow on your ovaries, on the outside of your uterus, on tubes, and even on the intestines or bladder. It can cause pain and adhesions. Many women have symptoms such as pain and heavy bleeding during their periods, while some women have none.
Piedmont Reproductive Endocrinology Group (PREG) wants you to “Listen Up!” when it comes to issues around infertility. Building awareness can help empowered you as you move along the family building journey.
The PREG Simply IVF Method
Dr. John Nichols, Founder and Medical Director at Piedmont Reproductive Endocrinology Group (PREG), has always been on the forefront of advanced reproductive technologies to help patients to achieve pregnancy and the families that they so desperately desire. The Simply IVF procedure, now being offered …
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A gestational surrogate or gestational carrier is a woman who carries a baby that was conceived via IVF, using the intended mother’s egg or a donor egg, and the intended father’s sperm or donor sperm. The surrogate has no genetic connection to the baby. She carries it and gives birth to it, then releases it to the couple who contracted with her. In most cases the surrogate is a commercial surrogate, who is paid a fee to carry and deliver the baby. Sometimes a friend or family member will volunteer to be an unpaid surrogate mother. This is known as traditional or altruistic surrogacy, and …
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What’s Deductible and How to Take Advantage of It
If you’re thinking about fertility treatment or have already had it, you should be aware that many of the costs may be deductible as medical expenses on your federal income taxes. According to an IRS rule, medical expenses that exceed 10 percent of your adjusted gross income may be itemized and deducted from your annual taxes. IRS Publication 502 includes treatment for fertility enhancement and specifically mentions IVF, …
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What Does That Really Mean?
For women starting fertility treatment, your ovarian reserve is one of the first things your fertility specialist will assess. What is your ovarian reserve, and what does it mean if it’s diminished? Can you still get pregnant?
In many cases, IVF is the best fertility treatment to help infertile couples have a baby. But it doesn’t work every time. The live birth IVF success rate for women under 35 is 40 percent on average—which means 60 percent will not succeed in getting pregnant and delivering a baby from any given cycle. For most women the success rate on average is 20 to 35 percent, according to RESOLVE, the National Fertility Association.
Article Contributed by:
Shashwat P. Baxi, MBAFor full disclosure, my wife and I have decided to hold off on having children for at least a couple years to be able to develop our relationship as a married couple before introducing a child into our family. With that being said, this is not a story about my life or a personal encounter with infertility. We haven’t come to that fork in the road yet, so I have no clue about whether or not we will face that situation in the future. I’m writing as a professional in the infertility space that wants to shed some light on …
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Can It Improve Outcomes?
Everyone knows that maintaining a healthy weight is good for your body and your overall health. But did you know that being overweight or obese can not only affect your fertility, but also fertility treatment? Can weight loss help you get pregnant?
A congenital abnormality of the uterus is a malformation that is present from the time a baby is born. About 3 in 100 women have a congenital malformation of the uterus, also called the womb. Most of them don’t cause any symptoms, and some don’t cause any problems. You may not know you have an issue until you can’t get pregnant, or you get pregnant and have a miscarriage.
It’s All About Sperm
Did you know male infertility causes almost half of infertility cases? About 90 percent of infertility in men is due to sperm—its quality, quantity, or the ability to deliver it to the woman’s uterus. To get a woman pregnant naturally, a man must produce healthy sperm which move well, in enough volume, and be able to have an erection and to ejaculate.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), sometimes known as polycystic ovarian disease (PCOD), is one of the most common hormonal disorders among women in their childbearing years, according to RESOLVE, the National Infertility Association. It’s responsible for as many as one third of infertility diagnoses.
5 Tips for Telling Friends and Family
There’s so much secrecy around infertility. When you’re having trouble TTC, you may feel guilty or inadequate, and wonder, “What’s wrong with me?” Many people keep quiet about their fertility problems because it’s so painful for them to discuss and they don’t want their friends and family to pity them or disapprove. But recently more people have begun coming out of the infertility closet.
One of the less common forms of male infertility is azoospermia, which is defined as a complete lack of sperm in a man’s ejaculate. It occurs in only about five percent of men with fertility problems. Treatment depends on the type of azoospermia a man has, but there is hope that he can still become a biological parent.
How Can You Get Treated and Preserve Your Fertility?
A diagnosis of breast cancer is shocking to a woman, and even more so to women in their child bearing years. Breast cancer is rare in younger women, but it does happen. In the U.S., nearly 49,000 women under age 50 are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, and almost 11,000 of those are under age 40, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Before and After Your Visit
So you’ve been TTC without success for a year (if you’re 34 or younger) or six months if you’re 35 or older. You’ve decided to consider fertility treatment. How do you find a reproductive endocrinologist to guide you through the ups and downs of IVF and help you get the baby you want so badly?
Diminishing Ovarian Reserve – Can You Still Have a Baby?
Every little girl is born with all the eggs she will ever have in her life. These eggs are her ovarian reserve. Nearly every month after she reaches puberty, one of those eggs will mature and she will ovulate. If she doesn’t get pregnant, she will have her menstrual period. This natural process goes on until she reaches menopause, although as she gets older, she may not ovulate every month and will start skipping periods.
Next Steps to Have a Baby
Clomid, also known as Serophene or clomiphene citrate (the generic name) is the most commonly prescribed fertility medication. Clomid is often used to help women ovulate who are not ovulating naturally or ovulate irregularly and want to get pregnant. It’s often part of treatment for women with PCOS, and may be used in women under 35 who have unexplained fertility.
The Effects on Your Fertility
If you or your daughter are being treated for cancer, your first concern is to save your or your child’s life and health. That has to be your first priority! But something else to think about and to discuss with your oncologist if you or your child are still in your fertile years is the effect of cancer treatment on a woman’s fertility.
#DYK you can be infertile, even if you’ve had a child? Many couples who had an easy time conceiving their first or even second child may find it hard to conceive another one. Secondary infertility is defined as the inability to get pregnant and carry a child to term following the birth of one or more biological children who were conceived without assisted reproductive technology, according to RESOLVE, the National Infertility Association. It is diagnosed when women under 35 have been trying to get pregnant for a year without success, or over 35 and have been trying for six months.
What Is and Isn’t True
One of the most misunderstood treatment choices for infertility is preimplantation genetic screening, known as PGS. PGS is a screening procedure that checks the number of chromosomes in an embryo, using a few cells from its outer layer. The test looks for abnormalities like too few or too many chromosomes. Chromosome abnormalities are the major cause of failure to implant in IVF treatment and of miscarriages.
Now What?
If your fertility specialist recommends using donor eggs, you may be wondering what to do. Can donor eggs help you have the baby you want? How do you feel about taking this step?
If you and your partner decide to use donor eggs, what happens next? Here are …
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Are You at Risk?
Recurrent pregnancy loss is emotionally devastating to the women who suffer from it. Feelings of sadness, grief and guilt may overwhelm you. Having one miscarriage is harrowing enough, but having two or more, as recurrent pregnancy loss is defined, forces you to deal with profound loss again and again.
A failed IVF cycle can unleash an overwhelming torrent of emotions. Going into the cycle, you felt anticipation and building excitement, hoping this will be when your family starts, and worry at the same time. Will it work? When a cycle fails, you and your partner may feel grief and even anger. What went wrong? Is it someone’s fault that IVF didn’t work? Should you try again?
A Guide to Conceiving a Baby of Your Own
Do you want to have a child of your own, but you don’t have a partner? Maybe you feel your biological clock ticking and are worried that it’s too late to wait. Choosing to become a single mom is not an easy decision to make. It may hurt to realize that your dream of a husband and family may not happen when you want it to or the way you thought it would. It’s okay to grieve for that dream and feel the pain.
One of the most important decisions you have to make with your fertility specialist during IVF treatment is how many embryos to transfer. In an IVF cycle, your eggs are combined with sperm in the lab. If all goes well, some of the eggs will be fertilized and will develop into embryos.
When they …
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This story is based on the real-life experiences of patients and fertility specialists in dealing with unexplained infertility. Alexis and her husband James are composite characters.
Just Married
Alexis and James got married when they were both 30 years old, and they weren’t in a rush to have a family. “We wanted to have some time as a couple and enjoy ourselves,” Alexis said. So they used birth control and were kind of relieved every month when her period came …
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Interview Transcript contributed by
Dr. Kirtly Jones
Utah Center for Reproductive Medicine, a participating provider in the WINFertility NetworkInfertility affects 12 percent of women in the United States. This equates to 7.3 million women between the ages of 15-44 every year having difficulty getting pregnant.
National Infertility Awareness Week motivates people who are struggling to conceive to #StartAsking questions about infertility and to speak up about the support they need to overcome it.
Infertility is not failure. It is not your fault. And it may not prevent you from having a …
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Article contributed by:
Desireé McCarthy-Keith, MD
Georgia Reproductive Specialists, a participating provider in the WINFertility NetworkCouples and individuals who are planning a pregnancy often ask, “What can we do to improve our chances of getting pregnant?” Although some aspects of your personal or medical history cannot be modified, adjustment of certain lifestyle behaviors can improve your fertility. The greatest non-modifiable factor affecting fertility is the age of the female partner. Awareness of the significant impact of aging on fertility potential …
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Article contributed by:
Marta Montenegro, MS, SFN, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
IVFMD South Florida Institute for Reproductive Medicine, a participating provider in the WINFertility NetworkNo doubt you have made many lifestyle changes to increase your chance of pregnancy, such as dietary modifications, supplementation, or even acupuncture. But do not forget about proper exercise. Many women who have struggled with fertility issues due to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), advanced reproductive age, and endometriosis, as well as those who undergo in-vitro fertilization (IVF), may find …
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Article contributed by:
Desireé McCarthy-Keith, MD
Georgia Reproductive Specialists, a participating provider in the WINFertility NetworkMaintaining a healthy weight is important for general wellness, and having a weight outside of the healthy range can be harmful to your fertility. Both underweight and overweight women are at risk of decreased fertility.
Article contributed by
Juergen Eisermann, MD FACOG
IVFMD South Florida Institute for Reproductive Medicine, a participating provider in the WINFertility NetworkHere we are- affluent, educated and career oriented. All that college- and post graduate training is finally paying off. Our daughters are into exploring the options and career choices offered to them, and they are doing a fabulous job!
Patient Comments contributed by:
Spring Creek Fertility, a participating WINFertility Provider Network“I always get very nervous when I have a doctors appointment. I was telling the nurse who brought me back how nervous I was and she dropped everything, told me her story and journey through infertility, and gave me a hug. I knew from that point that I was in the right place. She most definitely didn’t have to do that but it’s the little things that mean the most”.
“This process if very new to me and the people at SpringCreek make themselves approachable and available for any …
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Article contributed by:
SpringCreek Fertility, a participating WINFertility Provider NetworkWhat is Infertility?
Infertility is a disease of the reproductive system that inhibits a couple’s ability to have a baby. Infertility affects men and women equally without discrimination, and for this reason both partners should actively participate in the diagnosis and treatment process.
Infertility is not uncommon and you are not alone
One in every eight couples of childbearing age have received an infertility diagnosis. One …
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Article contributed by:
Matthew A. Lederman MD
RMA of New York, a participating WINFertility Provider NetworkAs we are committed to assisting the millions of couples and individuals struggling with infertility, RMA of New York is proud to support National Infertility Awareness Week (NIAW), taking place April 24-30th, 2016. In 1989, National Infertility Awareness Week was founded by RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, our partner in promoting awareness of reproductive health and improving access to infertility services for all.
Understanding infertility is the …
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Article contributed by:
Shweta Nayak, MD
Reproductive Medicine Institute, a participating WINFertility Provider NetworkAs much as things change studies of primordial egg counts on histologic specimens of humans have shown not only does the primordial pool get smaller with age, but when modeling algorithms are applied, the decline in a woman’s eggs appears to be biexponential with the count decreasing as early as the early thirties and more rapidly after 37 (Hamish 2010).
Beyond bench data, clinical research also corroborates this. Data from donor insemination …
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Article contributed by:
Santiago L. Padilla, MD
Fertility Specialists of Maryland, a participating WINFertility Provider NetworkInsemination procedures are utilized to improve fertility. Initially, inseminations were done by placing the semen sample on the cervix (cervical insemination). It worked well for patients needing donor sperm insemination or insemination of partner’s sperm due to intercourse or ejaculation problems, but it was less successful in patients with infertility diagnoses.
Are you TTC and having problems? Do you feel ashamed, or guilty, or sad? It’s National Infertility Awareness Week, and it’s the right to time to #StartAsking questions and to ask for the support you need. You can ask anything you want. Don’t feel embarrassed! Here are ten questions to help you #StartAsking.
Article contributed by:
Dr. Todd Deutch
Advanced Reproductive Center in Illinois, a participating WINFertility Provider NetworkThe Language of Infertility
Learning the language of infertility is important to helping you with your fertility treatment. In the doctor’s office, online, or in your support groups, you may be hearing all kinds of new words and acronyms. By understanding the medical terminology, you have a better sense of what to expect from each cycle. To help you learn the language of fertility treatment, here is a quick guide to …
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Article contributed by:
Elena Trukhacheva MD, MSCI
Reproductive Medicine Institute, a participating WINFertility Provider NetworkWith the development of purified injectable gonadotropins, better ultrasound techniques, and optimization of the IVF laboratories, pregnancy rates after IVF treatment improved significantly – as high as 60-70% per transfer for the patients with the best prognosis.
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Article contributed by:
Santiago L. Padilla, MD
Fertility Specialists of Maryland, a participating WINFertility Provider NetworkOvarian reserve testing is done to identify patients who are at risk of diminished ovarian reserve (DOR). Over time, eggs decrease in quantity and quality and do not regenerate. The number of human eggs in a female is approximately 1–2 million at birth, and approximately 400,000 at the start of puberty.
Article contributed by:
Piedmont Reproductive Endocrinology Group, a participating WINFertility Provider NetworkOnce your retrieval is completed, other than taking your prescribed medications, there is nothing that you can do to positively affect your outcome. The best thing you can do to produce a healthy pregnancy is to rest and leave the embryo culture to us. Your doctor will need to relay pertinent information to you during your cycle so, please provide a number which you can be reliably reached.
In attempts to alleviate your anxiety, we have outlined a day by day …
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Article contributed by:
Lindsay Thomason, WHNP
Piedmont Reproductive Endocrinology Group, a participating WINFertility Provider NetworkWhat would you be willing to do to have a child? Would you cut back on some things financially to afford the proper treatment? Would you commit to taking shots? Would you undergo a surgical procedure?
When you are ready to consider IVF, researching the success rates of fertility clinics is a big factor in making a decision on where to go for fertility treatment. This is just one tool in your fact-finding, but it’s an important one.
About 85 percent of fertility centers report their statistics …
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Becoming a Parent Through Surrogacy
Gay men face more challenges in becoming parents than any other group, both biological and financial. The good news is that there are ways to overcome many of these barriers.
Gary Gates, a demographic expert with the UCLA School of Law’s Williams …
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What’s the Difference?
If you’re looking into IVF, you may have seen references to PGD and PGS. Both are types of genetic testing performed on cells from embryos in the embryology lab, but they have different purposes and screen for different genetic problems.
Many people having fertility …
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When women are trying to conceive, often the first medical professional they consult is their gynecologist. For many women, the gynecologist may even be the only physician they have seen on a regular basis. How do you know when it’s time to consult a fertility specialist?
A reproductive …
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What You Can Do to Help
When you’re trying to conceive, it may seem like everyone is getting pregnant but you. Fertility problems are pretty common, especially in women over age 35. What are some of the most common causes, and what can you do about them?1) You’re Underweight or Overweight
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Many underweight, overweight, and obese women are able to get pregnant. But many others have trouble conceiving because of their weight. Women who are underweight may have irregular menstrual cycles and may stop ovulating. Women who are overweight or obese may also …
Same-sex female partners who want to have a baby have a number of different treatment options to help them conceive. Reciprocal IVF, sometimes called partner IVF, is an option that allows both partners to be physically involved in their child’s conception.
This is very appealing to some couples. …
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Have you been diagnosed with cancer and are getting ready to start treatment? If you are in your fertile years, whether you’re a woman or a man, or you have a child who needs treatment, it’s important to understand if and how you can retain the ability to have a family.
What is … Read More
Why Do You Need So Many Sperm?
We’ve come a long way since infertility was considered a “woman’s problem.” Now it’s known that male factor issues contribute to as much as 40 percent of infertility. That’s why semen analysis is one of the series of tests performed to determine the fertility treatment you need as a couple, to start a family.
Saving Receipts Can Save You Money
Whether you’re just starting fertility treatment or you had treatment in the past two or three years, saving your receipts may save you money by reducing your income tax expense. It’s true! Many people will be able to use the IRS rule that allows you to deduct medical expenses that exceed 10 percent of your adjusted gross income when you itemize on your Federal income tax return.
Five Actions to Help You Afford Fertility Treatment
So you’re under 35 and you’ve been TTC for a year without success, you’re 35 to 38 years old and have tried for six months, or 39 or older and have tried for three months. Or maybe you’re a same-sex couple who wants to have a baby. You’re thinking it’s time to explore fertility treatment. You really want to start a family. You feel it in your heart and in your bones, this is the right time. But …
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New Year, New Hope!
All of us make New Year’s resolutions, and very few of us keep them!
When you’re trying to conceive, your hopes and dreams may be mixed in with disappointments and worries. But there are some resolutions you can make, and keep, which will help you …
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How Egg Freezing Works: Should You Do It?
Oocyte cryopreservation, or egg freezing, is a hot topic lately in fertility preservation. Women who undergo cancer treatment during their fertile years may lose their fertility from the chemotherapy drugs or from radiation treatment. Egg freezing is one way to help preserve their ability to have a child in the future.
It’s Not Good to be Hot, Hot, Hot!
Did you know that heat affects a man’s fertility, and not in a good way? Too much heat is the enemy of sperm production. Why does that matter, and what can you do? Here are a few facts.
Did you know that 30 percent of infertility is related to problems with the male partner? Male factor infertility is diagnosed by finding a low sperm count on a semen analysis. Millions of sperm have to be produced by the man’s testicles and delivered to the woman’s body in order for just one lucky sperm to fertilize an egg.
If you’re trying to conceive and looking into fertility treatment, you’re probably finding a lot of strange terms out there. In vitro fertilization, or IVF, is pretty well known these days.
But what is ICSI? When is it needed? Does it improve your chances of having a baby? Are there risks?
ICSI and IVF
ICSI is an acronym for …
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Why Some Offer It, and Some Don’t
Did you know that one in eight couples have fertility problems, but less than 30 percent of employers provide insurance coverage for fertility treatment? That’s from the 2010 National Survey of Family Growth from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
When you’re having trouble trying to conceive, infertility can be a long and lonely road. Many people only tell their closest family and friends that they are struggling with fertility problems. Celebrities traditionally have been very secretive or even denied having fertility treatment. In recent years, however, some celebs have become more open about IVF and other fertility treatments.
Could Your Thyroid Be the Problem?
If you’re trying to conceive and having trouble, you’re not alone! In a recent survey, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 10.9 percent of women 15 to 44 years old reported having fertility problems or were unable to carry a baby to term.
That’s 6.7 million women.
Can Stress Keep You from Getting Pregnant?
If you’re trying to conceive and not having any luck yet, you know that not getting pregnant can stress you out. Starting fertility treatment can also be a stressful time.
You may have heard stories from other people about being “so …
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What Genetic Testing Can and Can’t Do
Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS) are genetic testing that can be performed on embryos before they are transferred to a woman’s uterus as part of IVF treatment. This testing can screen for some types of genetic diseases and disorders, so embryos without those defects can be transferred.
Endometriosis and Infertility – Can Surgery Help?
Millions of women in the U.S. have endometriosis, a condition when tissue that lines the uterus grows outside it. The tissue may grow on the fallopian tubes, which carry eggs to the uterus, or your ovaries, sometimes even on your bladder or intestines. Endometriosis can be painful, because this tissue which is in the wrong places tries to bleed and shed each month as if it were in the uterus, irritating the organs where it grows.
PGD, PGS, Family Balancing
Ever since the first “test tube baby,” people have been speculating about the possibility of creating “designer babies” and selecting for preferred characteristics.
Advanced reproductive technology has not progressed that far, and it is not likely to ever be ethically …
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Which Option is Right for You?
Vasectomy is a form of birth control for men that is meant to be permanent. During vasectomy, the tubes that carry sperm are closed or blocked. Vasectomy is nearly 100 percent effective at preventing pregnancy. But what if your partner has had a vasectomy, and now you want to have children?
If you’re investigating fertility problems and looking into IVF as a treatment, you may have heard of hysteroscopy.
What is this procedure, and do you need to have it done before you have IVF treatment? Recent research has shed new light …
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Building a Family on Your Own
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Everyone is familiar with the ticking biological clock that many women hear. Thousands of women have decided to become single moms with sperm donors when they haven’t found the right partner and they fear time is running out to have a family. Did you know that some men feel the same way? Maybe they haven’t found the right partner, and they want to have children before they reach middle age or older. Some single men, both gay and heterosexual, are choosing to become single parents through adoption or hiring surrogates to bear their …
Do you really want to have a family, but you’re starting to get worried? Maybe Mr. Right hasn’t appeared, or he turns out to be Mr. Wrong or Mr. I’m-Not-Ready-to-Commit. Meanwhile your biological clock is ticking. What’s a girl to do?
Confronting the fact that you may be running out of time is very difficult and painful. It really …
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Very painful menstrual cramps, long-term back pain, deep pain during or after sex—does this sound familiar? People may say you’re being a drama queen during your period, but these can be symptoms of endometriosis. Over 6.5 million women in the U.S. suffer from it. Endometriosis is a condition where tissue similar to that in the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus, and the tissue grows, bleeds and sheds every month the same way your uterine tissue does. It can grow on your ovaries, your fallopian tubes and on other tissues in your abdomen. This often causes swelling and extreme …
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Deciding to use donor sperm to help you have a baby is a big decision. Whether you are a single woman who wants to conceive, a lesbian couple, or dealing with male factor infertility or genetic issues, there are important questions to consider when selecting donor sperm.
If you’re under 35 and have been trying to conceive for a year without success, or you’re 35 or older and have been trying for six months, it’s time to think seriously about getting fertility treatment. If you are 40 and have been trying for three months, or you or your partner already know you have a fertility problem, the time to act is now.
IVF is a fertility treatment in which eggs are fertilized by sperm in the lab. The fertilized eggs grow in special incubators to the point where they have enough cells to be transferred to the potential mother’s uterus.
Despite the struggling economy, biological clocks keep ticking and workers continue to pursue the American dream of having a family. How employers respond to employees’ needs can make the difference between a strong, stable workforce and one that is continually on the move in search of a benefits package that meets personal well-being goals.
Can You Still Become a Parent?
Getting pregnant is a complex process. Although it may seem pretty simple on the surface, a lot of things have to go right when you’re trying to conceive. Male factor infertility is diagnosed when there are problems with the male partner’s sperm or his ability to deliver it to the female partner’s uterus. Male factor is found in half of all couples who seek fertility treatment.
Every day you see celebrities who are 40 or even older sporting baby bumps. Most of them deny they’ve had any fertility treatments.
People may say “40 is the new 20,” but it’s not true where your fertility is …
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“I was shocked. I was devastated. I was depressed. I felt like less of a man.”
Many men faced with an infertility diagnosis often feel disbelief, despair and even shame, emotions more and more research shows may be just as intense as their female partners’, contrary to popular belief. For decades, studies on emotional responses to infertility suggested women suffer much more than men.
When You May Feel Grief and How to Cope
Grief is the strong emotion you feel at a profound loss. It may be overwhelming sadness. Often you feel numb or unable to carry on as if life were normal. Most people think of grief as something you feel when you lose someone or something you love, but many people feel grief for other important losses or even a loss that hasn’t happened yet. Loss of a job, death of a beloved pet, a diagnosis of terminal illness, or loss of anything that’s important to you in your life may cause you to grieve.
Mother’s Day is just around the corner..& I always dream and prayed that one day I would become a mom and I could celebrate like everyone else. I am now a mother to a gorgeous and healthy baby boy and for this Mother’s Day all I want is to hug, hold the hand or even be that shoulder to cry on for all those still dreaming to be a mom.
Take time to plan
Before you decide to begin infertility treatments, it’s important to set out your plan and goals. It’s important to know how far you are willing to go with treatment – are you prepared to try medications but not ready to try surgery? Your opinion may change as you are going through your treatment, but it is still important to have at least a general idea of what your boundaries will be.
Infertility can be very difficult to deal with, but it doesn’t have to be. With a supportive community, a positive attitude, and a good fertility doctor/ fertility nurse, approaching the challenges of fertility can be far less painful than it first seems.
Here are ten tips for surviving infertility:
1. Build a … Read More
There comes a time where in life you question why things happen to you and why you are put in situations. We can’t always question life but I know I did. As some of you may know earlier this year I went through a procedure to remove my Fallopian tubes due to an ectopic pregnancy. I was devastated… I questioned myself and wondered what I did wrong, I questioned my faith and asked if I was not meant to be a mother.
Jennifer and Scott Messer were no strangers to the emotional rollercoaster of infertility. After multiple rounds of artificial inseminations that resulted in miscarriages and one failed cycle of in vitro fertilization, they decided to take some time off to regroup and decompress. When Scott asked Jennifer if she was ready to try again, a billboard led them to Georgia Reproductive Specialists in Atlanta, Georgia, where they were introduced to the concept of CGH, or comparative genomic hybridization.
The story of Dr. Howard Jones and his wife, Dr. Georgeanna Seegar Jones, and how they established the first IVF center in the United States is one of the most important stories in reproductive medicine. In 1981, the first IVF baby in the U.S., Elizabeth Carr, was born at their center, the Jones Institute.
On December 30, 2014, Dr. Jones …
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Lindsey and Jason Gantt had a long road ahead of them from the moment they exchanged vows in November of 2011. This is a story about a couple’s struggle with infertility that not only has a happy ending but a miraculous one. Attention to details and taking the time to optimize Lindsey’s health is ultimately why this is a success story. Comprehensive, team-based care played a crucial role in Lindsey and Jason’s success.
With the exception of in vitro fertilization and associated techniques, no procedure has improved fertility chances for males and females more than insemination, particularly intra-uterine insemination.
Intra-uterine insemination is used to treat both male and female sub-fertility by increasing the chances of …
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About 30 percent of infertility issues are due to weight management problems, according to the National Infertility Association. Being overweight or obese contributes to a woman’s ovulation and menstrual becoming irregular, which in effect causes a reduced response of fertility treatment. On the other hand, losing excess weight lowers visceral body fat—the most internal layer of fat close to the organs—and is linked with improvement in reproductive functions.
Thanks to continued advances in reproductive medicine, in vitro fertilization (IVF) has become a highly successful treatment for infertility. IVF treatments are more invasive than other treatments and can be a costly option, particularly for patients lacking fertility insurance coverage. Many patients believe that IVF provides their only chance of having a baby; however this may not be the case.
“My embryos were normal, but I didn’t get pregnant.” It’s one of the most common statements we hear from many of our patients who come to us for second or third opinions.
How do we know the embryos created in an IVF cycle are normal before we transfer them to the uterus? The simple answer is, we …
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I recently attended a PCOS conference where physicians argued whether the name PCOS best describes this condition that affects so many women. Over the years, caring for women seeking solutions for their PCOS related symptoms, I’ve heard stories from women who’ve seen many physicians trying to find answers. They’ve gone to gynecologists, endocrinologists, internists, dermatologists, surgeons and reproductive endocrinologists seeking solutions to dealing with periods, pre-diabetes, blood pressure, acne, hair loss, obesity and infertility.
When discussing matters of infertility, advancing age has long been the first issue addressed, with the ticking of the biological clock almost always assumed to be associated strictly with the woman. But research is now showing that the passage of time has an impact on both the mother and the father, and that for both genders, approaching childbearing at an advanced age is accompanied by a higher risk of infertility, as well as of adverse pregnancy related outcomes. Understanding the role that paternal age has on infertility is essential to taking a measured, intelligent approach to your …
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Not long ago our practice had two special patients named Wendy. They were very different as individuals, but they shared the common trait of helping me with my own personal struggle with hope. Each Wendy faced the emotional struggles of multiple failed attempts to conceive and a suboptimal medical prognosis. As each progressed through treatment, I saw hope rise and then fade from their eyes.
Five Ways to Cope with the Emotions of Infertility
Perhaps the greatest loneliness of infertility is how life goes on. You pass people on the street, rolling a baby in a stroller. Family and friends seem to conceive without effort, have children—and wonder out loud why you’re not participating in this way of life. The unconscious cruelty of people you love is hard to bear.
The implications of AMH testing are causing some real concerns throughout infertility clinics worldwide. But what is AMH, and what information does it provide? What impact does AMH have on IVF success? Should women interested in future fertility have their AMH level checked now?
AMH stands for Anti-Müllerian Hormone. This is …
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Three Ways to Get the Support You Need
If you’re trying to conceive and finding it hard to get pregnant, you may think you’re the only one going through this. Just the sight of someone else with a baby may make you feel sad and lonely. Fertility problems can cause feelings of isolation, depression or even anger. Men are affected as well as women. Friends and family members who haven’t been through this often don’t understand and may hurt your feelings without meaning to.
Many women dream of having a family from the time they are children themselves. But sometimes life’s circumstances disrupt the timetable to start a family when you are young and fertile. Medical conditions, career demands or just not meeting the right partner can delay childbearing. And the biological clock keeps ticking.
Some …
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Springtime and Fertility
Many cultures associate springtime with fertility. Birds building nests and laying eggs, rabbits (who are known to “breed like rabbits,”) and flowers blooming through the snow are common images in the spring, as are baby animals. In Chinese medicine eggs, nuts, berries and other foods that can sprout and grow are symbols of new life and fertility.
Whether you have an iPhone or an Android phone, whatever you want to do, there’s an app for that. That includes fertility tracking! There are many apps, some free and some not, to help you track your menstrual period and predict when your most fertile days will occur.
All of them revolve around tracking the first day of your …
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Fertility treatment is an emotional rollercoaster. Every new IVF cycle brings hope that it will be successful and will be the beginning of your new family. Advances in assisted reproductive technology have helped many people become parents who never would have been able to 20 or 30 years ago.
Have you ever heard of ectopic pregnancy? In a normal pregnancy, the egg is fertilized by the sperm in a fallopian tube. The fertilized egg then travels through the fallopian tubes to the uterus, over the course of three or four days. The fertilized egg implants in the uterus and grows, over time, into a baby.
In …
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Did you know that the costs of your fertility treatments may help you reduce your income tax payments? There is an IRS rule that allows medical expenses that exceed 10 percent of your adjusted gross income to be itemized and deducted from your annual tax bill.
Fertility treatments are medical expenses. Here are …
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Should You Worry About Risks?
Ever since the first “test tube baby,” Louise Brown, was born 36 years ago, people have wondered if assisted reproductive technology, or ART, increases the risk of birth defects. There have been many studies done in the 30+ years since IVF, IUI and other procedures like ICSI began to be performed. The vast majority of babies born from ART are healthy, as Louise Brown is.
Steps to Protect Your Fertility From Cancer Treatment
Breast cancer is an emotionally devastating disease for many women, especially when it strikes a younger woman. More than 16,000 of the 200,000 women who are diagnosed with breast cancer each year are in their childbearing years. You may not know that breast cancer affects men as well, although in much smaller numbers than in women. Over 2,600 men were diagnosed with breast cancer in the past year.
About 10 million women in the United States have “had their tubes tied,” a form of female sterilization called tubal ligation. The fallopian tubes can be tied together in surgery, cauterized, closed with rings or clips, or be blocked with Essure, a microinsert which causes scar tissue to form and block the tubes. The goal is to prevent eggs from traveling down the fallopian tubes to be fertilized. Tubal ligation is meant to be a permanent form of birth control.
It’s All About the Two of You
Valentine’s Day carries a lot of emotional freight. It’s hard for any relationship to live up to the romantic ideals and sexy images we’re surrounded with in the media and social media. Did you really need to see the selfie your friends took in the champagne glass tub in the Poconos? Your emotions may be on a real roller coaster ride if you’re undergoing fertility treatment. Bloating, hot flashes and mood swings from the fertility drugs can be rough to deal with.
Boxers vs. Briefs and More
When a couple is having trouble having a baby, throughout history it’s the woman who gets the blame. Nobody ever called a man “barren,” did they? But modern research shows that 40 to 50 percent of infertility is due to male factors.
There are lots of old wives’ tales–and new …
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Miracles Can Happen From the Kindness of Others
Most people are familiar with or have at least heard of IVF and IUI, the most common forms of assisted reproductive therapy (ART.) Thousands have used donor sperm or donor eggs to conceive and start a family. Embryo donation is one of the more controversial means of third party reproduction, when a third person donates embryos to enable an infertile individual or couple to become parents.
Although many people believe infertility is a “woman’s problem,” 30 percent of infertility is related to male factor problems.
If your partner has been diagnosed with male factor infertility, your fertility specialist may recommend intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) as part of your IVF treatment. What is ICSI, and what are the risks and …
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How Does Your Weight Affect IVF?
The health benefits of maintaining a normal weight have long been understood in the medical community. People who are overweight have a higher incidence of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and cancer, and have a greater risk of complications during pregnancy. People who are underweight or overweight, both men and women, suffer from a higher chance of infertility. Often this is due to hormonal problems caused by too much or too little body fat.
Are You More Likely to Get Pregnant, or Not?
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common causes of infertility in women. As many as 10 percent of women experience this disorder. PCOS is a hormonal problem which causes women to have a variety of symptoms, including irregular or no menstrual periods, acne, obesity and excess hair growth. Symptoms may start to appear in your teenage years as menstrual irregularity, or you may not notice anything until you start trying to get pregnant, and can’t.
Can We Have Another Baby?
If getting pregnant with your first child was a breeze, you may be surprised when your next pregnancy doesn’t happen as easily. If you’re under 35 and have been trying for a year, or 35 or older and have been trying for six months without conceiving, you may have secondary infertility. Secondary infertility is surprising and emotionally upsetting, but it’s also quite common.
A Quick Rundown on Drugs Used in Fertility Treatment
When you start fertility treatment or begin researching it, you may find an alphabet soup of different drug names. If not A to Z, they do run from Clomid to Vivelle, and beyond!
Some of them will play a role in the treatment plan your fertility …
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It’s Not a “Turkey Baster” Treatment!
Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is a commonly used treatment for infertility when there is unexplained infertility, mild male factor infertility or when the female partner has cervical mucus problems. Some reproductive endocrinologists will also prescribe ovulation stimulating drugs for the woman before performing IUI.
What’s Age Got to Do With It?
It seems like every day, celebrities over age 40 are featured in magazines, entertainment TV shows and gossip websites with “baby bumps,” glowing and babbling about how excited they are to be pregnant. Some deny that they have had fertility treatment, even at advanced ages.
In …
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State-of-the-Art Ways to Create Your Own Family
The urge to have a child is one that many people feel, whether they are straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Most of us grow up in families, and we naturally want to have families of our own as we become adults. Families come in many flavors, and they are more inclusive these days than the old-time definition of “blood kin.”
Is This a Serious Symptom?
If you feel like you’re having fertility problems, you certainly aren’t alone. Did you know that 10 to 15 percent of couples of reproductive age in the United States have trouble getting pregnant?
Some causes of infertility do not have any …
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No Myths, Just Facts!
Whether you’re getting ready to start your first IVF treatment cycle or you’ve been through IVF before, you probably have heard a lot of crazy advice on how to make sure your cycle is successful.
Does anything really make a difference? Are there …
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Injectable Drugs and Your Eggs
If you’re looking into fertility treatment with IVF, you’ve probably heard that drugs to stimulate ovulation play an important role.
Why are these needed? What do they do? Here are a few …
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Starting IVF Treatment When You Work
So you’re ready to start your first IVF cycle. It’s a stressful and exciting time—and it also requires a number of visits to the fertility center, including visits for blood work, monitoring, the embryo transfer and follow-up consultations.
What can/should you …
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Making a Stressful Time Better For Both of You
Going through fertility treatment is full of stress for any couple. You may have feelings of sadness or even shame that you haven’t been able to have a baby without help. One of you may feel hopeful that IVF will work for you, while the other may feel worried and apprehensive. The cost of fertility treatment adds an extra element of concern for many couples.
How Do You Decide How Many Embryos to Transfer?
One of the advantages of IVF treatment is that you and your fertility specialist have the ability to limit your chances of having a multiple pregnancy by making the decision of how many embryos to transfer. Multiple pregnancies include twins, or are called high order multiples when there are more than twins. Some other fertility treatments like intrauterine insemination (IUI) with gonadotropins, injectable fertility drugs which stimulate egg production, are more likely to cause high-order multiples, which increase the …
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Thousands of American women have fertility treatments including IVF every year, and it has been proven to be safe over time. However, in very rare cases, there may be complications which can be serious.
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) identifies risks in these …
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Assisted reproductive technology (ART) procedures may require the transfer of embryos to a woman’s uterus to start a pregnancy. Embryo transfer from the laboratory to a woman’s womb is an important step, and choosing the optimal number of embryos will help prevent medical complications.
The …
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Why Did My IVF Cycle Fail? What Should I Do Next?
So you had your first IVF cycle, and it failed. You are probably feeling a lot of emotions—disappointment, sadness, maybe even anger that you didn’t get the result you wanted from fertility treatment. The first measure to take is to let yourself grieve a bit. It’s okay to feel disappointed and sad. Give yourself a week or so to get through this before you decide what to do next.
How You Can Pay For Fertility Treatment
Consulting a fertility specialist may help you save time and money when you’re having fertility issues, because a reproductive endocrinologist is an expert and will focus on procedures most likely to help you get pregnant and have a healthy baby, like IVF. If you’re thinking about IVF treatment, you may be concerned about the cost and how to pay for IVF.
What Are Your Options?
If you’re under 35 years old and have been trying to conceive for a year, or you’re over 35 and have been trying for six months without getting pregnant, you should consider consulting a fertility specialist. The reproductive endocrinologist will test both you and your partner (if you have a male partner) to determine what is causing your fertility problems.
When are the Best Days to Get Pregnant?
You know the old joke about the rhythm method for contraception. “What do you call people who use the rhythm method? Parents.” All jokes aside, methods for monitoring a woman’s fertile period have been in use for many years, with varying degrees of success in preventing or causing pregnancy. They all hinge on trying to determine when you are ovulating and having sex or artificial insemination within a few days before or after, if you want to get pregnant, or abstaining, if you don’t. The “fertile window” is defined …
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Can You Take the Stress of IVF?
If you’ve been trying to get pregnant without success, you know how stressful infertility can be. Family and friends ask well-meaning questions that hurt, like, “When are you going to start your family? You’re not getting any younger, you know.” Although most causes of infertility are physiological—physical problems in the woman, or man, or both—the resulting emotional pain can cause major psychological problems.
Am I Pregnant, or Not?
After months or even years of effort, you’ve started fertility treatments, and now you’ve started an IVF cycle. It can be disappointing to hear that you won’t know the results for 15 days.
The dreaded “two week wait” can be …
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An Important Step on Your Path to Parenthood
So you’ve made an appointment with a fertility specialist, a reproductive endocrinologist. Congratulations! If you’ve been having trouble getting pregnant, you’re taking a positive and proactive step by consulting an expert about fertility treatment.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a very common disorder that many women first learn about while seeking the cause of their infertility. PCOS affects 5-10% of women of reproductive age, making it one of the most common hormonal disorders in this age group.
The exact cause of PCOS is not known. It is likely that a combination of factors …
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It is humbling to put into perspective that even among fertile couples who have no issues getting pregnant, they only have a 20% chance of achieving pregnancy any given month they try. In other words, they are unsuccessful 80% of the time! This is what we see when we look at the success of thousands of couples who start the journey to build their family. Most will achieve pregnancy within the first year of trying but others may take longer or never achieve pregnancy at all.
There are many reasons why a fertility center may suggest that you and your partner should consider using donor eggs to conceive. Once you have decided that you desire to use donor eggs there will be several more important decisions to make. Your first decision after deciding to go with an egg donor is concerning whether you and your partner want a donor that you know or an anonymous one.
The last 30 years have seen a dramatic increase in the incidence of twin and triplet pregnancies in the United States. Fertility doctors have been largely responsible. 1 in every 30 infants born in 2009 was a twin; double that of 30 years ago. The serious risks of triplet pregnancies are generally well understood.
Most …
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More often than not, we look at the woman’s health side when discussing fertility issues. But men need to be part of the conversation too. One major topic of discussion: low vitamin D levels.
Chances are you have heard about the benefits of adequate vitamin D – from heart health to diabetes to decreased belly fat. But do vitamin D levels …
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Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder in women, affecting an estimated five to ten million women in the reproductive age range. For women trying to conceive a child, PCOS is a serious, common cause of infertility – nearly half of all female factor infertility cases can be traced to PCOS.
New …
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The increase in demand for infertility evaluation and treatment in the United States over the past 20 years is probably due to many factors:
- The tendency of women to delay childbearing because of their work or education so that more women are trying to conceive over the age of 35 years when it’s more difficult.
- The significant increase in pregnancy rates with assisted reproductive techniques (ARTs) over the past 20 years.
- An increased awareness of such treatments due to the internet, news programs/publications and TV shows discussing …
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A few months ago, Claire*, a woman in her late thirties, walked into my office. Tall and confident, with a strong handshake and a wry smile, she was the owner of a small textile firm, married for five years, mother to a beautiful three year old child.
She was also sitting in the office of an …
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Couples and individuals who are planning a pregnancy often ask, “What can we do to improve our chances of getting pregnant?” Although some aspects of your personal or medical history cannot be modified, adjustment of certain lifestyle behaviors can improve your fertility. The greatest non-modifiable factor affecting fertility is the age of the female partner.
Is Infertility is on the rise? Seems like it.
According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) in a survey performed in 2010 and recently published:
- The number of women ages 15-44 with an impaired fecundity (impaired ability to get pregnant or carry a baby to term) is 6.7 million
- Percent of women ages …
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Deciding when to have a family is an important personal decision, and more women today are waiting until later in life to begin their families. One consequence of waiting is the normal age-related decline in the number and quality of eggs available in a woman’s ovaries.
This decline in fertility with …
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Many practices that surround Modern Medicine, and more specifically, the means of achieving a pregnancy, have evolved without scientific scrutiny. This is particularly true when the stakes become higher, as they do for individuals and couples undergoing In vitro Fertilization (IVF).
Often times, individuals in the process of IVF …
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Ancient Customs, Modern Fertility Treatments
Why did eggs become fertility symbols? Eggs figure in many traditions, both Christian and many others which are more ancient. Probably the origin was in observing birds building nests and laying eggs in the spring. Eggs became associated with spring, which symbolized new life, fertility and growth.
The birth rate in America has been declining—most recently an average of 2.01 babies are born per woman—while economists and sociologists are trying to figure out why. Publications such as The Economist and The Wall Street Journal have suggested the expense of having children is causing delayed childbearing to become the new norm. However, infertility is not considered part of the equation.
Up Your Odds of Getting Pregnant! By Pinpointing Your Peak Fertility Days
When you’re trying not to get pregnant it may seem like every day is a risky one to have sex. When you’re trying to get pregnant it may seem like nothing works!
When are the best days in your menstrual cycle …
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I’m Ready for IVF: What Will My Health Insurance Pay For?
When you’re ready to start building your family with fertility treatments, covering the cost is one of your major concerns. Your health insurance plays a role in financing fertility treatment, but how much it will cover varies greatly from state to state and policy to policy.
The ABC’s of Paying for Fertility Treatment
If you’ve been struggling with infertility for a while, you may have decided it’s time to consult a fertility specialist and find out what your options are to start a family. That’s a wise decision—going to a reproductive endocrinologist, who is an expert in the field, can save you time and money in the long run. Fertility specialists diagnose the issues and provide fertility treatments with higher rates of success rather than going through lower-tech methods with lower success rates.
We-Can’t-Get-a-Baby Blues
Have you ever seen a pregnant woman on the street or at the mall and felt like bursting into tears? Do you feel alone in your struggle with fertility issues, like even your partner doesn’t understand what you feel? Maybe you’re going through ups and downs with fertility treatments, from hope to worry to disappointment and then hope again. Or you may be trying to decide if you’ve had enough and it’s time to pursue a different path to parenthood.
Finding Healthy Embryos for Healthy Babies
Most people are familiar with in vitro fertilization these days, but there’s a newer procedure which can be done as a part of IVF which is attracting attention. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) involves genetic testing of an embryo before it is transferred to the uterus. This testing can be done for many different genetic diseases in embryos derived from parents who are carriers of specific genetic diseases (eg, cystic fibrosis).
It’s Time to Do Your Homework!
If you’ve been trying to have a baby for six months to a year, depending on your age, you may be ready to consult a fertility specialist. You may have heard stories about the cost of fertility treatment and of IVF in particular. At the same time you may be looking at websites and seeing different kinds of financing.
So you’re under 35 years old and you’ve been trying to conceive for a year, or you’re over 35 and you’ve been trying for six months. You’ve been to a fertility center and consulted a fertility specialist. You and your male partner have had the recommended testing. The fertility doctor said to you, “Your test results are in the normal range. You have what is called unexplained infertility.”
What’s Deductible? The Answer May Surprise You
Tax season is coming around again. As Benjamin Franklin said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Did you know that the cost of your fertility treatments may be deductible on your federal income tax? It’s a fact. You can thank the IRS and our federal government for that.
How Many IVF Cycles Will I Need to Get Pregnant?
When you embark on the infertility journey and decide to start fertility treatments, it’s hard to know what the future holds. Will you get pregnant on your first attempt at IVF? Will you need two cycles, or three, or more? What’s the best way to pay for IVF? Here are some factors to consider.
Do They Work As Well As Conventional IVF?
You may see ads and articles for “minimal stimulation IVF” and “natural cycle IVF” or “natural IVF.” These sound very appealing—who doesn’t like “natural”?
And these treatments use no fertility drugs or a …
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Does Facebook Make You Feel Sad?
Whether you’re trying to conceive and having trouble getting pregnant or you’ve begun fertility treatments and going through the physical and emotional stress of infertility, it may seem like you’re surrounded by pregnant women and cute babies. The pain and strain of seeing these moms-to-be can be intense, even if you have a supportive partner. If you’re trying to become a single mom you may feel less emotional support.
How IVF With Donor Eggs Can Make Dreams Come True
More and more couples are using donor eggs with IVF to conceive a child and become parents. In a recent study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), researchers examined data from the majority of the fertility centers in the U.S. from 2000 to 2010 and tracked outcomes.
Change the Man (or Woman), Now Change the Plan Vasectomy, surgical severing of the tubes that carry sperm from the testicles into the semen, is one of the most common forms of contraception in the U.S. When a couple feels that their family is complete or that they really don’t want children, surgical sterilization of the male partner is a nearly 100 percent sure way to prevent pregnancy. About 500,000 men get vasectomies every year, according to a study done at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center.
Solutions for When He’s Part of the Problem
Traditionally infertility has been considered a female problem. Throughout history women were blamed when a couple could not have children. But modern science has found that as much as 40% of infertility is related to male factor problems such as structural issues or problems with the sperm. This is an emotional subject for many men. Don’t be surprised if your partner is upset at a diagnosis of male factor infertility.
If you’re researching fertility treatments to help you get pregnant you’ve probably heard that fertility medications are often part of the program. In general, fertility drugs are used to temporarily correct problems with ovulation and help a woman get pregnant. They are prescribed as part of fertility treatments such as IUI (intrauterine insemination) and IVF (in vitro fertilization.)
Holiday Baby Blues
Holidays are supposed to be joyous celebrations of tradition, with food, family and fun. But if you’re trying to conceive and having fertility issues the celebrating can become an ordeal. Well-meaning relatives ask when you’re going to start your family, not realizing the problems you’ve had. The long list of parties and get-togethers may seem irritating or depressing instead of fun.
If you’re trying to conceive a baby and haven’t been successful yet, you know how stressful that can be. There are many causes of infertility and a wide range of fertility treatment options, both for women and for men. It’s bewildering and confusing.
How long have you been trying to … Read More
How to Get the Baby You Want Without Breaking the Bank
You really, really, really want a baby. You and your partner have been having fertility issues and you’re consulting a fertility specialist.
Or you may be a same-sex couple who want to have a family, or you’re interested in becoming a single …
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When IVF May Be the Right Choice
Most people know at least something about in vitro fertilization (IVF) these days. Maybe someone in your family or someone you work with has had fertility treatment and through IVF was able to have a baby. Many celebrities have had children with the aid of IVF and other fertility treatments, although not all of them are open about their treatment.
Fertility Options for Gay, Lesbian or Transgender Partners
Families come in many shapes, sizes and varieties. Longing for a biological family is a desire many people feel, whether they are gay or straight. Love for a life partner may make you want to strengthen that bond even more by raising a family together.
More than 7 million Americans who struggle with infertility must now face the complication of understanding the impact of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) and how it affects coverage options for this multifaceted illness. In addition to the medical and emotional hurdles patients must cope with, there is the question of how to pay for quality treatments that offer real promise of achieving family building goals.
When someone is diagnosed with cancer, their first thought probably is about getting treatment to survive. But if they are young enough to bear a child, their second thought may be, will cancer treatment make me infertile? Does this mean I can’t have a child in the future? Parents of a child diagnosed with cancer may have similar fears for their child’s fertility as an adult.
If you’re considering fertility treatment, you’ve probably started investigating fertility clinics. One of the major factors many people consider is the clinics’ fertility success rates (these are an excellent tool in the assessment ‘tool kit’, but not the only aspect to consider when selecting the right clinic).
But these …
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Painful cramps, heavy periods, and even painful intercourse are experienced by many women. All of these may be symptoms of endometriosis, a condition where the tissue that normally lines the uterus (womb) grows outside it, on your uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes and even on other organs like your bladder and intestines. These growths can irritate the organs, causing pain and scar tissue called adhesions.
If you and your partner are finding it difficult to get pregnant, there’s about a 40 percent chance that the male partner is at least part of the problem. This is a touchy subject for most men, but it is more common than you might think. That’s why infertility specialists test for male factor infertility.
A physical exam …
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Can You Afford Fertility Treatment?
So you’ve been trying to conceive without any luck, and you want to start fertility treatment. You’re scared, excited and hopeful, and trying to figure out what you can afford. Are fertility treatment costs equal to a Chevy, a Lexus or a big Mercedes-Benz?
The …
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The First Visit, a Big Step on the Journey to Conception
When you make the decision to start fertility treatments you have a lot to do and a lot to think about. After you’ve chosen the fertility clinic and scheduled your first appointment, the nurse who coordinates patient intake usually gives you a list of medical records to bring to your visit and forms to fill out for both you and your partner. Sometimes the reproductive endocrinologist (fertility specialist) will send one or both of you to get tests done so he or she will have the results for your first …
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Making Lifestyle Changes That Positively Affect Fertility and IVF Success
When you’re trying to conceive it’s a hopeful time in your life. There may also be disappointment, worry and stress. If you’re considering fertility treatments or starting treatment at a fertility clinic, there are lifestyle changes you and your partner can make that will help reduce your stress, improve your health and, in some cases, have been shown to improve your chances of IVF success.
So You Want to Be a Parent, and You’re Single. What Are Your Options
Most of us were born into a family and raised as part of a family. Many, many women want to have a family of their own. We go out into the world and look for a partner to help us make that family unit.
But time …
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Many women struggle to conceive a baby. As many as 6 percent of married women aged 15 to 44 were considered infertile during a study carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC.) In other cases women don’t have problems getting pregnant but are unable to carry a baby to term, miscarrying again and again, a condition known as recurrent pregnancy loss.
Have you noticed how twins are much more common than they used to be? And triplets or quads, while still unusual, are not unheard of. The rate of twin births increased by 76 percent from 1980 to 2009, according to a recent report by the National Center for Health Statistics. Now one in 30 babies born in the United States is a twin.
“High multiples” or …
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What is PCOS and Why Should You Care?
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common reason for infertility in women. It’s a hormonal disorder, named as it is because most women with the condition have numerous small cysts in their ovaries. As many as 5 million women in the U.S. may be affected by it, according to the Office on Women’s Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Donor eggs and IVF can make it possible for an infertile woman to conceive. They are also an alternative for male same-sex couples who want to have a child.
Let’s look at factors that may lead you to consider donor eggs.
Premature Ovarian Failure and Poor Egg Quality
Originally, donor eggs were …
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So you’re under 35 and you’ve been trying to conceive for a year or more with no success, or you’re 35 or older and have been trying for six months. You’ve been to your OB/GYN and had a few tests, and your partner has been checked out by an urologist.
The next step is to consult a fertility specialist and find out if you have a …
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We Keep Trying, But We’re Not Getting Pregnant. Is There a Problem? Moving Toward Treatment: Three Fertility Diagnostic Tests for Women
If you’re having trouble getting pregnant, you’re not alone. It happens to a lot of women. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 11 percent of women experience some level of infertility by age 35, while 33 percent are infertile by age 40. The number soars to 87 percent by age 45.
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