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angelfire2003 asked on 4/16/2009 5:42:52 PM Report this post
CLOMID.....If you’re having trouble getting pregnant, a drug called clomiphene may be your doctor’s first recommendation.Clomiphene is a fertility medication sold under the brands Clomid and Serophene. This drug is usually prescribed for women who ovulate irregularly or not at all. Here’s how clomiphene works for women: Several days into the menstrual cycle, you will take a pill every day for five days. The medication encourages your brain’s hypothalamus to produce lutenizing hormone, which tells your ovaries to release eggs into your fallopian tubes.You’ll generally ovulate between five and 12 days after you finish the last pill. During this time, your doctor will monitor you carefully to see whether your ovaries are preparing to release an egg. Clomiphene is quite effective at stimulating ovulation—in fact, 80 percent of women who take it ovulate within several cycles. (20) But ovulation does not guarantee conception, and only about 40 percent of women taking clomiphene actually get pregnant. Clomiphene can also help men who have a low sperm count or who have poor sperm quality. When a man takes Clomid, it encourages his pituitary gland to make lutenizing hormone, which tells the testicles to produce more testosterone, and possibly more sperm. Men take clomiphene in cycles that last from three to six months. Clomiphene is less expensive and invasive than other fertility treatments, and can be a good first line of defense against infertility.



FERTILITY SHOT......If you’re looking to kick-start your conception, you might want to know about the fertility shot. When you receive “the fertility shot,” you are injected with gonadotropin, a drug which is often sold under brand names like Pergonal and Fertinex. Because the full name for gonadotropin is Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, the fertility shot is sometimes called the “HCG” shot. Gonadotropins may be administered to a patient if the fertility drug clomiphene does not help her to ovulate. They may also be used prior to in vitro fertilization. Men who are experiencing problems with their sperm may also be given gonadotropins. Although each form of gonadotropin is a bit different, here is how it generally works. You will be injected with the medication three days after your menstrual cycle starts every day for seven to ten days. The medication contains follicle stimulating hormone, or FSH, which will encourage you to produce several eggs instead of just one. During the time you receive injections, your doctor will monitor you to see when your eggs are mature. When this happens, you’ll be given another injection of a slightly different medication,after which you will need to have sex or to be artificially inseminated. This treatment is more invasive and more costly than taking clomiphene, so it is a second recourse for conception difficulties. Believe it or not, you can ONLY conceive during your small fertile window, which occurs during each cycle, on the five days before, and the actual day of, ovulation. During ovulation, the ovary sends a mature egg through the fallopian tube and into the uterus, where it can be fertilized by your partner’s sperm. Egg release typically occurs in the middle of your cycle. You can determine your cycle length by noting the number of days from the first day of one period to the first day of the next. Keeping a menstrual calendar will allow you to know at a glance when your ‘fertile window’ opens.


INFORMATION ON PT.....Whether you’re praying for a baby, or petrified that you might have made one, there are plenty of early signs to watch for. It is almost impossible to know for certain if you are pregnant until you take a pregnancy test – but a pregnancy test won’t provide accurate results if you take it too soon. That’s because a pregnancy test measures urine levels of human chorionic gonadatropin, or hCG, a hormone produced by the placenta during pregnancy, and... because levels of hCG are usually too minute to measure immediately after conception, a false negative result is possible at this point. In fact, a home pregnancy test will not provide reliable results until – at the absolute soonest – about four days before your next period is due. The later you take the test, the less likely a false negative becomes. Although you may need to wait a couple of weeks before taking a pregnancy test, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t other signs of pregnancy to look for in the meantime. While not every pregnant woman experiences symptoms during their first month, most do notice some changes – even before their first missed period. For example, as early as two days after you conceive, your breasts may suddenly feel extremely swollen and tender to the touch. Wait another five to ten days and you may notice a light to medium pink discharge on your underwear. This is called implantation bleeding, and occurs when the fertilized egg burrows into your uterine wall. In the following weeks, many women notice other symptoms, including fatigue, bloating, and an ever increasing need to urinate. Morning sickness, which hits 80% of women eventually, can also strike an unlucky few in their first several weeks of pregnancy. If you’re pregnant, the second week after conception may also bring another change to your breasts: A darkening of your nipples’ areolas. And of course, if your period is late, that’s a clear sign that you may be pregnant. No matter what the symptoms might suggest, the only way to know for sure is to take a pregnancy test. If you do get a positive reading, it’s 99-percent likely that you are indeed expecting, and should visit your Ob/Gyn as soon as possible. Your physician can do a blood test, urine analysis, or even an early ultrasound to confirm your pregnancy.



ENDOMETRIOSIS.....Endometriosis occurs when tissue that looks and acts like the lining of the uterus actually grows in other areas of the pelvic region. Because this condition is one of the leading causes of infertility, it helps to be familiar with endometriosis. The tissue that lines the uterus, or womb, is called the endometrium. Every month, female hormones cause the endometrium of a woman’s uterus to build up with tissue and blood in preparation for pregnancy. If pregnancy doesn’t occur, the uterus sheds this built-up lining via the vagina as a menstrual period. Although this process occurs in women with endometriosis as well, it’s a bit more complicated. That’s because women with endometriosis have patches of endometrium that grow OUTSIDE the uterus, in places like the ovaries, the fallopian tubes, the bowels, or the bladder. This misplaced tissue responds to the monthly cycle just as the endometrium does. Each month, the patches, or plaques, grow thicker. As the tissues affected don’t have a natural “exit route,” there is no place for the build-up to leave the body at the cycle’s end. These endometriotic plaques can grow larger over time, and the symptoms can worsen. A symptom suggestive of endometriosis is chronic pelvic pain that tends to be worse during menstruation or ovulation. Other symptoms include very painful or heavy menstrual periods, pain during or after sex, and uncomfortable urination or bowel movements during menstruation. Contrarily, some women have no symptoms at all. Infertility is another sign that can suggest that endometriosis is present. Indeed, some women do not realize they have endometriosis until they attempt to conceive and cannot do so. Endometriosis can lead to infertility because it may cause scarring or blockage of the body’s fallopian tubes, which are necessary to transport eggs from the ovaries to be fertilized. Because infertility-causing endometriosis tends to show up most frequently in women who are of childbearing age, the condition can become a concern. Unfortunately, no one has identified endometriosis’s exact cause, although a genetic link is often theorized. In fact, women with a first degree relative, like a mother or sister with the disease are six times more likely to have endometriosis. Some doctors theorize that endometriosis is caused when normal menstrual debris flows into the pelvis, a fairly common condition called retrograde menstruation. In women with endometriosis, however, the debris takes root and grows into misplaced patches, or plaques, of endometrial tissue. Regardless of the cause, there is currently no cure for endometriosis. However, medication can help to ease the pain and menstrual symptoms that can accompany the condition. In addition, surgery aimed at removing the build-up may assist women with infertility-causing endometriosis, as well as patients with very severe cases. Endometriosis is very common, and the symptoms of the condition ARE treatable. If you have concerns about endometriosis, please make an appointment to discuss them with your doctor



NATURAL FERTILITY BOOSTERS......Ready to expand your family? While your most vigorous efforts will probably come in the bedroom, you may want to invest some energy in the kitchen, too. While you’re trying to get pregnant, both mom and dad can make some easy nutritional and lifestyle changes that will help improve your chances of conceiving. A. Because shark’s fins were said to look like the male organ B. and figs like the female’s, early civilizations encouraged eating them to boost fertility. Unfortunately though, there’s no one magic food that will lure sperm to egg. Practicing all-around good nutrition, however, can help. The more natural your diet, the better off you’ll be! Think bright reds, yellows and greens for fertility-boosting foods. Salad greens, peppers, carrots, mangos and oranges are particularly rich in the folic acid, Vitamin C and other nutrients your baby-making bodies need. Whole grains like oatmeal and brown rice are also full of folic acid. This mineral can help conception and lower the chances that your baby will develop neural birth defects like spina bifida. While trying to conceive, be sure to consume lots of calcium, a mineral vital for mom and her baby to-be. Milk, orange juice, salmon and edamame are all great sources of calcium. To fill dietary gaps, both mom and dad need to take a daily multivitamin. Look for one rich in folic acid, calcium, iron and zinc minerals that give fertility a boost. As with any supplement, never take more than the recommended dose. Doing so can actually make you less fertile. There are also some foods and drinks you should avoid. Alcohol decreases fertility in women and studies have shown that it increases the amount of abnormal sperm produced by men. Also, cut back on the caffeine. More than 300 milligrams, or three cups of coffee, daily can decrease fertility and even trigger a miscarriage. How you eat is as important as what you eat. To ensure healthy weight gain and proper delivery of nutrients for mother and baby-to-be, don’t skip meals or go on a diet. Under pressure? Couples with extremely high stress levels may have more difficulty conceiving than their calmer counterparts. This is because, in women, stress causes extra uterine contractions which can delay ovulation and even prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. Stressed-out men may experience reduction in both sperm count and sperm mobility. While no alternative therapies have been proven to increase fertility, there are certainly many that reduce stress—and that can help lead to conception. Finally, an excuse to get a couples massage. Yoga is another excellent way to de-stress and get your doctor-recommended exercise at the same time. Look for a fitness center offering classes in prenatal yoga. It can help to shop for aromatherapy candles and bath products scented with lavender, sandalwood or sage. These scents stimulate the release of relaxing melatonin. Preparing for pregnancy with diet and stress-relieving exercises can help ensure that it occurs! Remember, always consult your doctor if you’re planning to become pregnant.


I FOUND ALL OF THIS GREAT INFORMATION AT pregnancy.healthguru.com


ashstrom said on 4/16/2009 9:51:38 PM Report this post
interesting...thanks for the info!

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