Archive for fertility
Boston, MA (PRWEB) March 8, 2006
Pathways to Wellness, a Boston-based provider of holistic health services, recently launched a new Fertility Enhancement Program that combines acupuncture and yoga and is specifically designed to help women and men overcome problems related to infertility.
According to the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, an estimated 3 million couples are unable to conceive after one year of trying.
“The inclusion of acupuncture and yoga along with biomedicine creates a comprehensive fertility treatment plan that addresses all the various and complicated issues that can be present in the patient with infertility,” says Kristen Porter, MAc, LAc, Executive Director of Pathways to Wellness and New England School of Acupuncture faculty. “Holistic care provides an adjunctive treatment that brings support and nurturance to the patient in body, mind and spirit. Addressing infertility on all of these levels cultivates a landscape within that can better create and support a healthy pregnancy.”
Recent studies led by Dr. Paul C. Magarelli, an infertility doctor at the Reproductive Medicine and Fertility Center in Colorado Springs, CO and an earlier study conducted in 2002 by researchers at the University of Ulm in Germany have shown that acupuncture can enhance the success rate of in vitro fertilization (IVF). These studies indicate that using acupuncture in conjunction with IVF therapy increases the chance that the embryo will be implanted successfully and reduces the chance of miscarriage.
A 2003 Fertility and Sterility article, co-authored by a team of researchers at New York Weill Cornell Medical Center, provided a summary of research that supports acupuncture’s potential fertility-boosting benefits including regulating reproductive hormones, increasing blood flow to the uterus, and lowering stress hormones.
For many women, adding acupuncture to their infertility treatments has helped them become pregnant. And unlike many fertility drugs, acupuncture has no harmful side effects nor do women need worry about multiple births or ectopic pregnancies, common concerns when undergoing IVF and other infertility treatments.
Men, too, who are being treated for infertility problems may benefit from acupuncture according to a new study published in the July 2005 issue of the journal, Fertility and Sterility.
Findings from that study indicate that acupuncture treatments improved the quality of sperm and increased the overall number of normal sperm in a group of men with infertility problems. The researchers who conducted the study estimate that ten percent of men are infertile, and that the male partner is a factor in up to 50 percent of infertile couples.
Acupuncture and yoga can also relieve the stress and anxiety associated with infertility problems. According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, women being treated for infertility face stress levels on a par with those of women coping with illnesses such as cancer and heart disease.
Pathways to Wellness Fertility Enhancement Program’s yoga classes are designed to strengthen the body while quieting the mind and provide a supportive environment for women who are trying to conceive.
“The goal of the Fertility Enhancement Program is not simply a pregnancy, but rather identifying and rebalancing the energies of the body that are not flowing smoothly,” says Porter. “When we work at this root level, the patient experiences benefits in multiple aspects of their health and well-being. Acupuncture and yoga during pregnancy can continue to provide support and balance along with drug-free treatment of symptoms that may arise during the course of pregnancy.”
About Pathways to Wellness
Pathways to Wellness is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing equal access to high quality holistic therapies including acupuncture, shiatsu, Chinese herbal medicine, and yoga.
Open to all people needing care, Pathways to Wellness is one of the country’s largest providers of free and low-cost holistic medicine. Pathways practitioners specialize in chronic and life threatening illness, and work collaboratively in a team environment and in conjunction with Western medical professionals to offer an integrated approach to care.
Located at 142 Berkeley Street, 2nd Floor, Boston, MA 02116, Pathways to Wellness can be reached at 617-859-3036. Additional information on Pathways to Wellness’ services can be found on its web site at http://www.pathwaysboston.org
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Related Healthy Pregnancy Press Releases
NORWALK, CT (PRWEB) February 26, 2004 -
Five key facts that can increase your chances of pregnancy: Leading Reproductive Endocrinologist Reveals Simple Self-Assessments.
As one of the human body’s most basic and most powerful processes, pregnancy Â? and the ability to conceive a child Â? is often thought of as a Â?naturalÂ? occurrence. Yet there are numerous factors involved in achieving and maintaining a healthy pregnancy, and even a minor flaw in just one area can wreak havoc on couples attempting to conceive.
Dr. Mark Leondires, one of the NortheastÂ?s leading reproductive endocrinologists, shares his Â?top fiveÂ? list of requirements for pregnancy, and points out simple ways that women can self-assess their level of function in those areas.
Â?Dealing with infertility is draining, from a mental, physical and emotional standpoint,Â? Dr. Leondires notes. He believes that much of the difficulty lies in the powerlessness people feel when a medical situation is Â?out of their hands.Â? Â?By providing five simple ways that men and women can determine Â? and enhance Â? their own fertility levels, I hope to give them back a sense of power over the process,” Dr. Leondires explains. The five factors he discusses are:
1. That Â?tick-tock-tick-tockÂ? youÂ?ve been hearing isnÂ?t just your imagination. Â?The biological clock is real,Â? Dr. Leondires stresses. Women are born with all the eggs theyÂ?ll ever have, and the vast majority of these eggs never mature. WhatÂ?s more is that quality, as well as the quantity of viable eggs, diminish with age. Â?If you are over 35, and you havenÂ?t been able to achieve or sustain a pregnancy over the course of six monthsÂ? unprotected sex, see your OB/Gyn or a reproductive endocrinologist,Â? Dr. Leondires advises.
2. WhatÂ?s your cycle? A normal cycle that produces ovulation lasts between 23 and 36 days. If yours is shorter or longer, it is possible that you are not ovulating. To check, take your temperature every day before you rise from bed, and chart it on a graph for two to three months. Â?The basal body temperature will typically dip a bit mid-cycle, then spike and remain higher until menstruation,Â? Dr. Leondires says. Â?The dip and spike usually indicate ovulation.Â? A more reliable tool to check for ovulation would be an Ovulation Predictor Kit. This kit can be purchased from any local pharmacy. By checking the hormone levels in the womanÂ?s urine, the kit can help most women accurately time intercourse during their ovulatory phase.
3. Check your tubes. The fallopian tubes are the only route between the ovaries and the uterus, and theyÂ?re usually the spot where sperm fertilize the egg. If one or both tubes are blocked, conception will be difficult. Â?A history of a pelvic infection, tubal pregnancy, abdominal surgery, or ruptured appendix can damage your fragile fallopian tubes,Â? Dr. Leondires says. Yet, forty percent of women with damaged fallopian tubes do not report any history of infection. A simple X-ray called a hysterosalpingogram can determine the condition of the fallopian tubes.
4. Timing is (almost) everything. Up to 20% of couples miscalculate the optimal time for conception. Dr. Leondires suggests subtracting 17 days from the average number of days in your cycle, and having unprotected sex on that day, and two days later. Â?ItÂ?s best to have sperm waiting for the egg in the fallopian tubes prior to ovulation,Â? he notes. Â?And since sperm can live for two days or longer, intercourse prior to ovulation is often the key to success.Â?
5. Sometimes, itÂ?s a male thing. Up to 40% of fertility-challenged couples encounter a male factor, Dr. Leondires points out. Perfectly healthy men can have a low sperm count of less than 20 million per ejaculate. But the good news is that the majority of couples with male-factor infertility can conceive with intervention. Wearing loose fitting clothing, avoiding nicotine and excessive caffeine or alcohol, and having a simple sperm test can help diagnose and allow treatment for male-factor infertility, Dr. Leondires says.
Bio:
Dr. Mark P. Leondires, M.D., FACOG, is a leading authority on reproductive medicine. Dr. Leondires is board certified in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. He is a member of the Society of Reproductive Endocrinologists, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Dr. Leondires earned his medical degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine and completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine. Dr. Leondires completed a fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. After completion of his training, he fulfilled his military obligation by serving as the ART Director for the largest and most successful program in the military health care system at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. During this time he was an Assistant Professor at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences and clinical faculty for the Combined Fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology. Dr. Leondires is currently Medical Director and lead physician with The Center for Advanced Reproductive Medicine in Norwalk CT. Along with numerous teaching and research activities, Dr. Leondires has published articles in professional medical journals, national consumer magazine and newspapers as well as abstracts and book chapters.
Find More Healthy Pregnancy Press Releases
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Pregnant Tips | Help To Get Pregnant | Pregnancy Miracle
Posted by: | Commentswww.TheOnlyTrustedGuide.com — Get Pregnant Naturally Without Drugs or Typical Infertility Treatments and Having Healthy Children. Have the best ten fertility foods you should eat all the time. Never eat the worst ten foods when you are struggling to get pregnant. Have natural hormonal balancing supplement that you should always take on a daily basis to make a dramatic impact on your Infertility condition sometimes in a matter of days. Discover the 1st most important element that when eliminated can virtually dissolve over 85% of all Infertility cases (and almost all women do it). Discover EXACTLY When You Are Most Ready to Make a Baby: Knowing the Signs of fertility are crucial for your success. The cardinal sin of infertility treatment almost every woman is guilty of, which instead of reversing your Infertility, weakens and destroys your body’s natural ability to defend itself,… thus putting your health in serious risk and making your reproductive system worse in the long run (and almost everybody’s doing it!). Discover the link between insulin resistance, ovarian cysts and Infertility and how to start fighting this problem right now, reverse it and prevent potential health complications. You have to know What must you NEVER do, even if your doctor tells you. A simple task you can do to determine exactly when you ovulate so you will not miss your fertility “window”. Find 7 most important nutritional foundations to an effective fertility program (ignore these and you …
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Avoid these Foods with Nutrition for Pregnancy and Fertility
Posted by: | CommentsHidden food factors have been shown to decrease fertility and defeat any efforts toward achieving proper nutrition for pregnancy. Eating for two before pregnancy has many benefits. Expectant mothers often replace unhealthy eating habits with excellent diets during pregnancy, making this shift prior to a positive pregnancy test can hasten its arrival.
Heavy Metals and Babies don’t Mix
The process of fertility treatments can be long and fraught with stressful disappointments. Some heartbroken couples are handed a conclusive diagnosis as to the cause of their infertility. Others for reasons unknown to medical teams are unable to conceive even when everything seems to be healthily in order.
No matter the cause of infertility, dietary components could be the underlying cause. Many couples have found higher than normal levels of certain mineral nutrients are undermining their reproductive system’s normal function.
One food source that is often the culprit for an accumulation of too many heavy minerals is seafood. Pregnant women have long been counseled to limit seafood meals to once a week as part of nutrition for pregnancy. Couples endeavoring to conceive should follow suit.
Sugars, Sweeteners and Carbs
Diabetics during pregnancy are on an even more stringent diet. Often diabetic mothers cut out all of their usual “sweet” treats because of the known harmful effects of artificial sweeteners on gestation.
This means no sugar candies and diet drink pregnancy treats are sacrificed for the baby’s wellbeing.
Women wishing to become pregnant need to follow suit. Artificial sweeteners are no more healthy for reproductive efforts then they are for gestating babies.
Hormone Foods
Many foods naturally contain plant hormones. These plant-based hormones have been promoted as a natural option for hormone replacement therapy. Somehow some of these foods, like soy, have made the jump from quasi-medicine to super food.
Soy and other foods high in naturally occurring hormones are not healthy for daily consumption. These hormones disrupt the otherwise normal function of male and female reproductive hormones.
This disruption can diminish fertility and impact normal gestation.
The Right Fats
Fats are no longer the villainous food factor they once were considered to be thanks to the hugely popular fad diets of the late 70s and 80s. It is now a well known fact that the body needs healthy fats included as part of nutrition for pregnancy and any other time.
The trick is to get the right kind of fats. The most recent buzzword in “bad fats” is trans fat. These fats are found abundantly in junk foods like chips, deep fried foods and processed prepackaged foods.
Expectant mothers regularly weed these kinds of food out of their regular meal plans because they don’t offer much nutrition in exchange for their caloric input. Newest research also shows a relationship between diets high in trans fats and infertility.
Isabel De Los Rios, nutritionist, exercise specialist, author and successful business owner has unlocked the secrets to healthy weight maintenance not only for life but during the especially crucial time of pregnancy. Find out about the best nutrition for pregnancy at www.WhatToEatWhilePregnant.com.
Article from articlesbase.com
ART Fertility Program of Alabama Celebrates 20th Anniversary
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Birmingham, AL (PRWEB) May 9, 2006
Collegiate football All-American Jay Barker and Miss America 2005 Deidre Downs will join hundreds of mothers, fathers and children on Saturday, May 13th to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the ART Fertility Program of Alabama, the largest infertility program in the state. Headquartered in Birmingham, ART has one of the highest success rates in the country for couples battling infertility and is a leader in utilizing cutting edge technologies to offer patients the most convenient and successful methods of assisted reproduction.
Infertility affects approximately one in six couples in the United States. With one of the highest success rates in the country and their low-cost shared risk program for IVF and egg recipients, the ART Fertility Program of Alabama assists couples with infertility to achieve their dream to have a child. In 1984, Dr. Kathryn Honea, founder of the ART Fertility Program, established and directed the first In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) program in Alabama, through which the first baby conceived by IVF was born in the state. Dr. Honea worked with General Electric to develop one of the first transvaginal non-surgical ultrasound egg retrieval systems which has become one of the standards in modern IVF programs, replacing the surgical egg retrieval process.
Currently, over 1,500 babies have been born to ART patients through IVF services and over 4,000 babies have been born through other assisted reproductive methods including ovulation induction and intrauterine insemination. All three ART physicians, Board Certified in infertility, have personally experienced reproductive health problems.
“Our goal is to help couples build their families through advanced fertility services,” shares Dr. Kathryn Honea, founder of the ART Fertility Program of Alabama. “We offer the most advanced infertility treatments in the state of Alabama and look forward to another 20 years of innovative technologies and healthy pregnancies.”
Because the ART Fertility Program of Alabama can provide all comprehensive therapies to couples, the most successful and cost-effective approach can be chosen including:
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)
Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) of embryos for genetic abnormalities
Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) for severe male factor infertility
Testicular Epididymal Sperm Aspiration (TESA) for men with zero sperm count but sperm in the testicle.
Advanced surgical procedures – tubal repair, resection of endometriosis, myomectomy.
Ovulation induction with intrauterine insemination
Egg donation – for couples where the woman does not produce healthy eggs
Sperm donation – for couples where the man does not produce sperm
The ART Fertility Program Shared Risk Program (SRP) — a unique plan that limits the financial risk if a live birth is not achieved.
The ART Fertility Program of Alabama
The ART Fertility Program of Alabama, led by Dr. Kathryn L. Honea, Dr. Virginia L. Houserman and Dr. Cecil A. Long, is the largest infertility program in Alabama and has one of the highest success rates in the country for couples battling infertility. Over the last 20 years, the ART Fertility Program has provided care to couples from more than 10 states for a wide variety of infertility problems. Over 1,500 babies have been born as a result of the Program’s IVF procedures, over 100 born from egg donation and over 50 babies born through TESA. In addition, thousands more babies have been born through traditional infertility treatments. With offices in Birmingham, Huntsville and Montgomery, the Program includes some of Alabama’s leaders in infertility treatment and reproductive health and is a pioneer in the development and implementation of new procedures and cutting edge technology in the infertility field. For more information about the ART Fertility Program of Alabama, visit www.artprogramAL.com or call 1-800-476-9784.
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Plainview, NY (Vocus) June 9, 2010
Dr. David Kreiner, medical director of East Coast Fertility and fertility blogger on TheFertilitydoc.com, can now add “published author” to his list of achievements. He just published his new book titled: Journey to the Crib: A Contemporary Approach to Infertility. In addition to talking about infertility causes and treatments, Dr. Kreiner’s book offers ways patients can deal with the stress associated with infertility. He also addresses the many difficult issues facing the fertility world today such as egg donation, multiple pregnancies, cloning and the Wyden Bill.
Dr. Kreiner graduated Cum Laude and AOA from Downstate Medical School in 1981. He began his mentorship by IVF pioneer Zev Rosenwaks in 1980 and later completed his fellowship training in Reproductive Endocrinology in 1987 at the world famous Jones Institute. In 2002, Dr. David Kreiner established East Coast Fertility, vowing to make the highest standard of fertility care accessible with an emphasis on safe and healthy pregnancy. His distinguished line of training and experience give him a command on many topics that is unparalleled by others in the field. This, combined with his personal philosophy allows him to touch the subject of infertility with honesty and a unique perspective.
“I wrote this book to assist patients with their personal fertility journeys,” says Dr. Kreiner. “There is so much noise around the industry right now given all of the media attention devoted to sensational stories like octomom and egg mixups. It’s easy for patients to be overwhelmed and confused. Hopefully this book will help them sort fact from fiction.”
ECF is giving away free copies of Dr. Kreiner’s book while supplies last to incoming patients who book a free consultation. Visit www.eastcoastfertility.com to sign up for a consultation and to get started on your journey.
“I’ve read a lot of books on infertility, but none are as courageous as Journey to the Crib,” says Pamela Madsen, fertility blogger (www.thefertilityadvocate.com) and founder of The American Fertility Association. “Dr. Kreiner writes with an informal tone that readers will like, and he touches on current issues that many others are not willing to talk about. It’s a must read for anyone dealing with infertility.”
About East Coast Fertility:
East Coast Fertility is the premier center for infertility care on Long Island. Established in 2002 by Dr. David Kreiner, the program is designed to utilize the most recent developments in reproductive technology while minimizing risks to the patient. ECF’s use of MicroIVF and their encouragement of Single Embryo Transfers are evidence of their desire to limit multiple births. In addition to achieving the first successful IVF, cryopreserved, and donor egg pregnancies on Long Island, Dr. Kreiner and the East Coast Fertility team are known for delivering high quality care with a personal touch. Dr. Kreiner’s distinguished line of training, experience, and awards culminate in some of the most competitive pregnancy success rates in the country. His personal philosophy is demonstrated daily through practice policies that make fertility treatment both affordable and successful.
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