Articles filed under 'FERTILITY'
In our society, abstaining from alcohol can be difficult, especially during parties and family celebrations. But women who are pregnant or even just trying to get pregnant should stay away from alcohol entirely.
For the woman who is dependent upon or an abuser of this legal drug, it may be impossible to abstain from drinking without first undergoing effective treatment. Pregnant women with alcoholism should join an alcohol abuse rehabilitation program and be checked closely by a health care provider during their entire pregnancy.
Because alcohol use appears to be the most harmful during the first three months of pregnancy, serious harm can occur to the fetus before a woman even knows she is expecting. Few are even aware of the possible consequences of their drinking to the developing child, known as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).
Fetal alcohol exposure is the leading known cause of mental retardation in the Western world. In the U.S., FAS occurs as often as or even more frequently than Downs Syndrome or Spinal Bifida. Symptoms of FAS can include the following:
* Slowed intrauterine growth
* Poor growth in the fetus and newborn
* Possible failure to thrive after birth
* Delayed development and signs of mild-to-moderate mental retardation, with the average IQ in the mid 60s
* Irregularities of the face, including small head and upper jaw; a short, upturned nose; smooth groove in the upper lip; smooth and thin upper lip; narrow, small eyes with large folds above the eye; heart defects; abnormal joints in the hands and feet; tremors in the newborn; agitation and crying
* Abnormalities of the skeleton
Any woman who is pregnant should avoid consuming alcohol throughout her entire pregnancy, as permanent birth defects can occur during each of the trimesters. It is unknown whether the timing or any specific amount of alcohol consumption is safe for the developing baby. Alcohol crosses the placental barrier and can cause physical, mental, and behavioral problems that can persist for a lifetime.
Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can be the first sign of possible fetal alcohol damage. Infant ECG and echocardiogram are able to detect problems such as a heart murmur or other heart structural defects. Ultrasound of the fetus can show delayed intrauterine growth.
The primary effect of FAS is permanent central nervous system damage, especially to the brain. The resulting under-formed or malformed brain structures can create an array of primary cognitive and functional disabilities. Among them are poor memory, attention deficits, impulsive behavior, and poor cause-and-effect reasoning. Since the brain develops during the entire pregnancy, the risk of brain damage exists during each trimester. Mental health problems and drug addiction are secondary disabilities that can manifest themselves later in life and be due to FAS.
Many women are unfamiliar with the potential, permanent consequences of drinking while pregnant. The lifetime medical and social costs of each child born with FAS are estimated as just under a million U.S. dollars. The social costs to the family are inestimable. All women who go off their birth control in order to conceive are advised to drink NO alcohol (and take no harmful drugs). It may be difficult to stop drinking, but it is the best way to give a baby the best possible health and start in life.
Sources: Wikipedia and other Internet health-related articles
May 26th, 2008
While some women embrace the concept of eliminating their periods entirely, others are reluctant to take the new pill Lybrel that would in essence eliminate monthly menstrual bleeding entirely. Newer birth control pills already on the market (such as Seasonale) can enable women to have periods just once every three or every four months. Lybrel is expected to be FDA approved in May 2007.
Doctors generally express no concern about extra risks with the complete elimination of the menses. About two-thirds of women surveyed showed interest in taking Lybrel, as they believe they are “too busy” to bother with monthly bleeding. At this point, however, there have been no long-term studies. It is yet unknown whether adverse unintended consequences might occur after having no periods for 30 or 40 years of a woman’s life.
Some women express concerns that menstrual cycles may involve complex interactions with the brain, bones and skin. Others are emotionally attached to their symbol of fertility when monthly bleeding does occur, or they may feel relief to have evidence that they are not pregnant.
Women on any type of birth control pill are not having real periods, as the hormones they are taking stop the monthly release of an egg and the buildup of the uterine lining. For that reason, the new pill is not offering a drastically different option, just more convenience for women.
Women who have difficult, painful periods that cause them to miss work and keep a low profile for several days may welcome the addition of Lybrel to choices they can make for contraception.
Source: New York Times
May 4th, 2007
An 18-month study of over 2,000 healthy women ages 18 through 49 who were given continuous-use oral contraceptives to prevent menstruation has been shown to be safe and effective.
Among the study participants, 79% percent had progressively decreasing bleeding days, with an absence of bleeding after one year. In 59%, a complete cessation of menstrual cycles occurred soon after the first month.
Lead investigator David Archer, M.D., a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Eastern Virginia Medical School, expressed excitement over this “significant improvement in the quality of life for women.” The study can be found in the December issue of Contraception.
Dr. Archer asserts that for the first time, continuous-use oral contraceptives have been shown to safely eliminate menstrual bleeding and the symptoms associated with it — cramping, headaches, bloating, and irritability.
The study was conducted at 92 sites in North America where researchers dispensed to participating women a birth-control pill produced by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals under the name Lybrel. The new birth control pill contains 20 micrograms of ethinyl estradiol and 90 micrograms of levonorgestrel.
Traditional birth control pills contain 21 days of active hormones and 7 days of placebos (no hormones) to provide contraception while the woman continues to have monthly periods. More recently, birth control pills that reduce menstruation to four times a year have been on the market.
Now, women can be free of the monthly “curse,” until they are ready to conceive. As the name Lybrel implies, women can choose to be “liberated” from the discomfort and inconvenience of unwanted menstrual cycles.
Source: Medical News TODAY
December 18th, 2006
In the U.S. and some other countries, two embryos are generally used for in vitro fertilization (IVF) for women between ages 35 and 39. However, researchers in Finland are finding that infertile women in this age bracket have success with assisted reproduction when a single, high quality embryo is implanted.
When a high quality embryo is available, a single transfer can reduce the chance of having twins, which can be more risky than the birth of one baby. In the recent Finnish study, a third of the women were successful on the first try in conceiving and delivering a baby using only one frozen embryo. With more than one attempt, 40% of older women were successful in delivering a baby.
According to a reproduction specialist in the U.S., the quality of the embryo is more important than a woman’s age when deciding to use a single or double embryo transfer. Because IVF is so expensive (from $10,000 to $15,000), many American women try other infertility treatments first.
In Finland and other Scandinavian countries, the patient does not pay for assisted reproduction. For that reason, IVF is used five times as often in women having difficulty conceiving in Finland than in the U.S. After trying other techniques for a number of years, American women tend to be older when resorting to IVF, and they may have more serious infertility.
The transfer of three or more embryos was common practice in the U.S. several years ago, but today it is rare to implant more than two embryos. Reproduction experts in the U.S. are now beginning to recommend single embryo transfer to their infertile patients, using good-quality embryos. Some couples continue to risk having twins rather than to face the possibility that a single embryo might not produce a baby.
Source: WebMD
June 6th, 2006
Men who undergo a vasectomy cannot assume they are immediately sterile. After a doctor severs the vas deferens, the sperm-carrying tubes, a man and his partner should use another form of birth control until follow-up tests confirm the success of the operation.
Usually, doctors ask the patient to submit sperm samples two months post- vasectomy and another after the third month. When two consecutive samples are negative, the surgery is considered a success.
A study of 436 men who received vasectomies at the Cleveland Clinic showed that a quarter of the men didn’t submit a sperm sample at two months, and only 21% bothered to return for the second follow-up.
Three months after vasectomy, when just half of the total patients returned to give samples, 9% of the tests still contained sperm. The residual sperm were usually in low numbers and nonmotile (unable to move on their own).
Three men with sperm-free samples at two-month intervals showed a trace of them remaining at the three-month check. All three had sperm-free samples by four and five months following their vasectomy.
In patients who followed the instructions of their doctor for return checks, vasectomy was eventually judged successful in all but one. Those who didn’t return for testing could potentially still get their partner pregnant.
According to Dr. Nivedita Dhar, a researcher at the Cleveland Clinic, it is impossible to know if and when the sterilization surgery is successful if patients do not submit semen samples as directed.
It is important to note that vasectomy does not affect a man’s orgasm or ejaculation, and it doesn’t prevent sexually transmitted diseases.
Source: WebMD
April 12th, 2006