In recognition of National Infertility Awareness week which ends Saturday, Resolve asks bloggers to blog on the topic of patient issues and start with the phrase “Don’t ignore….” Here are my thoughts on the topic. Infertility treatments are complicated, expensive and emotionally distracting ….BUT  you will NOT spend your whole life in treatment. There is [...]

The other day I received this question (paraphrased)  from a reader of my blog: “What, if any, training and on-going education is required for embryologists in the US ?  And, what, if any, regulations are placed on a fertility  lab in terms of passing muster or maintaining some standard?” Well, the answer to that simple [...]

Ever wonder what your physician is thinking? Well, in lieu of truth serum or ESP, you might find some answers at Kevin MD.com, a social media medical blog. The physician viewpoints expressed through his blog are especially timely because health care in the US is such a hot political topic. This aggregate medical blog, created [...]

The on-line version of Fertility and Sterility published a review of 56 previous studies; “Birth defects in children Conceived by in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection: a meta-analysis”on April 3, 2012, epub ahead of print. This study found an increased relative risk (RR) of congenital birth defects reported in children conceived with either IVF [...]

Maybe it’s just the 24/7 political news cycle in an election year making me cranky, but the current drive to repeal women’s rights on various issues and reproductive rights specifically makes me want more protective regulation for infertility patients, not less. The US Healthcare system is one of the most contentious areas of debate in [...]

Today I had this  question from a patient,  “How much info should you expect to get in terms of follow-up from your RE and lab after a failed cycle?”  She was expressing her frustration that all the follow-up she had was that they would try ICSI next time because she had zero percent fertilization in [...]

According to the Bionews report Frozen embryo ‘adoption’ scheme to lose US government funding,   the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will not request funding  for continued support of the Embryo Adoption Awareness Campaign and the program will be discontinued in 2013.  This Campaign was created in 2007 by Nightlight Christian Adoptions, a Pro-life [...]

Sometimes wisdom can be found in the oddest places. I came across this quote from Winne the Pooh. “Promise me you will always remember: You are stronger than you seem, braver than you feel, and smarter than you think,” — Christopher Robin to Pooh. This is the message I hope to pass on to all [...]

If we put the progress in IVF methods that have occurred since Louise Brown’s birth in 1978 in a time capsule to be opened 100 years from now in 2112,  what are some of the milestones in it? What would people think of it when they found it? First a preview of the pre-IVF time [...]