If at First You Don't Conceive: A Complete Guide to Infertility From One of the Nation's Leading Clinics - Softcover

Schoolcraft, William, M.D.

 
9781605294728: If at First You Don't Conceive: A Complete Guide to Infertility From One of the Nation's Leading Clinics
Softcover
ISBN 10: 1605294721 ISBN 13: 9781605294728
Verlag: Rodale Pr, 2010

Inhaltsangabe

More than 7.3 million women in the United States are unable to have children because of infertility challenges, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Women and men diagnosed with infertility often feel overwhelmed and panicked; they are eager for accessible information and medically sound guidance. In this breakthrough book, Dr. Schoolcraft, one of the most renowned fertility specialists, offers hope to prospective parents by explaining what they need to know, including:

• choosing the right physician and clinic

• finding proven treatments for each condition

• dealing with the emotional challenges of infertility

• understanding the financial aspects of treatment

If at First You Don't Conceive offers the latest information in the key areas of fertility drugs, insemination, in vitro fertilization, male infertility treatments, fertility options for cancer patients, and much more. It saves millions of hopeful parents from suffering and confusion by allowing them to become their own best advocates in the fight for fertility.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

WILLIAM SCHOOLCRAFT, MD, HCLD, a fertility specialist and researcher, is the director of the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, one of the most successful fertility clinics in the world. He lives in Colorado.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Chapter One

Understanding the Fertility Challenge

My Patient Taylor was dedicated to her corporate career, but she always planned to have children someday. She never considered that there might be a problem. She never thought about if because her focus was always on when.

Yet when Taylor and her husband, Jared, decided that the time was right to start a family, they were unable to conceive. Taylor saw her infertility as a threat to the life she had envisioned. She fell into a depression that lasted more than 2 months.

For the first time in a life of considerable achievement, she felt defeated and out of control. She isolated herself from her friends and family, refusing to do anything but dwell on her thwarted desire to have a child.

Then, slowly, she pulled herself out of her despondency. Her intelligence and competitive nature came to the fore. Taylor resolved to fight for her fertility just as she fought for everything else she'd wanted.

As Taylor and millions of other women and men have discovered, the "fertility challenge" can be a bewildering, frustrating, and financially crippling experience. Too often, infertility patients give themselves over to physicians and treatment programs without understanding the science, the medicine, the odds or the economics. The fact is that at our clinic, we can help nearly 75 percent of the women who come to us become pregnant using quite traditional fertility treatments. And if a patient is willing to consider in vitro fertilization (IVF), egg donors, sperm donors, or surrogate mothers, the rate of conception moves much closer to 100 percent.

So there is hope, but men and women fighting infertility need to arm themselves with the latest medical science as well as commonsense practices to improve their chances. They need to become their own best advocates in their efforts to start a family.

Taylor discovered this when her initial series of treatments failed. After spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for treatments that did not result in pregnancy, she became determined to educate herself about infertility treatments--the science, the economics, and the best practitioners in the nation.

Taylor spent months immersed in research. Then she found her way to my clinic. In our initial discussions, Taylor's frustration and anger were obvious, but so was her determination. Still, she balked when I explained that I wanted to do an extensive series of initial tests, because she'd already gone through similar tests.

We insist on doing our own tests with each patient because too often we've found that we cannot rely on what has been done by other physicians and clinics. This proved true also in Taylor's case. We found that the "shells" around her eggs were much thicker than is normal, so the embryo could not break free and attach to the uterine lining.

Fortunately, we had worked with pioneering embryologist Jacques Cohen, PhD, whom one journalist described as "the IVF lab god." Dr. Cohen pioneered micromanipulation techniques for operating on eggs, sperm, and embryos. His work led to the development of assisted hatching, which promotes pregnancy by initiating the hatching process following fertilization.

Dr. Cohen observed that embryos with a thin shell had a higher rate of implantation during IVF. He deduced that making a tiny hole in the shell might help the embryo "hatch" and give it a better chance to implant in the uterus.

Assisted hatching, which has become a routine procedure, has been a boon for those whom other assisted reproductive procedures have failed, and also for older women. It also worked beautifully for Taylor. We took her through her fifth IVF cycle and she became pregnant--with twins.

More than 7.3 million women and their partners in the United States are unable to have children because of infertility challenges, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. That figure represents nearly 12 percent of the nation's reproductive-age population.

There are many excellent clinics across the United States where you can seek top-notch treatment from fertility specialists. This book is based on the experiences and knowledge of our staff at the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine. Our clinic has consistently achieved annual birth rates that are among the highest in the United States, according to figures published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. It also was named as the nation's number one fertility clinic in a survey and data analysis published by Child magazine in 2005.

As astounding as it may seem, our clinic is responsible for the successful births of nearly 30,000 children over the past 20 years--most of them born to men and women who had been told that they might never experience the joys of parenthood. Because of our consistently high success rates, patients from more than 40 countries, facing every fertility challenge imaginable, come to our facility in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. They come from a diverse mix of cultures, backgrounds, and professions.

Yet all too often they come to us burdened not only by infertility but also by inaccurate diagnoses, inadequate treatment, and a lack of the scientifically sound information they need to make intelligent and important decisions.

Women and men faced with infertility are hungry for up-to-date information and medically sound guidance. Their psychological stress has been shown to equal that of chronic pain victims, or those who are diagnosed with cancer or AIDS. The dropout rate for patients undergoing infertility treatment is well over 50 percent.

Infertility diagnoses and treatments can take months, and even years. That is why it is so important that women and men who are infertile have access to accurate and up to date information before they begin lengthy and costly treatments. Too often, desperate women and men seek treatment with a fertility specialist only after wasting crucial time either denying that they have a physical problem, or relying on the advice of someone who does not specialize in infertility. Many say that they wish they'd had a greater understanding of "how it all works" earlier in their fertility fights.

The medical science addressing infertility has taken tremendous leaps in the past 5 years. This book is designed to be a comprehensive, up-to-date guide for women and men who need to educate themselves so they don't waste precious time and deplete their financial resources fighting infertility. It provides the information and answers they need to make educated, thoughtful decisions--not decisions based on emotion--about the best treatments to pursue. As you begin your fertility fight, this book will provide you with vital information on:

* Choosing the right physician and medical facility

* Deciding which tests are most appropriate

* Dealing with the emotional challenges of infertility

* Understanding the financial aspects of treatment

* Finding the latest proven treatments for each specific condition

* Learning the latest success rates for each treatment

* Working effectively with doctors and nurses

* Fostering greater understanding between spouses and partners

It also provides up-to-date medical science and other helpful information in these key areas:

* Fertility drugs

* Insemination

* In vitro fertilization

* Egg and sperm donation

* Gestational carriers (surrogates)

* Male infertility treatments

* Polycystic ovary syndrome

* Endometriosis

* Tubal and uterine conditions

* Egg preservation through freezing

* Fertility options for cancer patients

* Fertility options for women over 40

* Genetic testing and counseling

* Acupuncture and other alternative...

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Verlag
Rodale Pr
Erscheinungsdatum
2010
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
1605294721
ISBN 13 
9781605294728
Einband
Taschenbuch
Auflage
1
Anzahl der Seiten
298
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Verantwortliche Person
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