Support at this difficult time
Fertility Matters | Information, advice and support
by fertilitymatters
3y ago
Many fertility patients are struggling at present with treatment and tests postponed and limited telephone appointments available with specialists. It is frustrating, especially if you have already been waiting a long time, but understandably doctors and nurses are needed for essential tasks in other areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Angela Pericleous-Smith is the Chair of the British Fertility Counselling Association and has produced this video for patients with some really helpful coping suggestions. Your Fertility Treatment and Covid-19 ..read more
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News from the British Fertility Society
Fertility Matters | Information, advice and support
by fertilitymatters
3y ago
The British Fertility Society represents the professional groups working in the field of fertility, and they’ve been joining forces to try to ensure everyone experiencing fertility problems is as well-informed as possible about the current situation regarding fertility clinics and treatment. It is going to be a difficult time for everyone, but the Chair of the British Fertility Society, Dr Jane Stewart, has made a short video explaining how the fertility sector is responding to the current Coronavirus Pandemic and what this might mean for you if you are a fertility patient. What fertility pat ..read more
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Coronavirus and IVF
Fertility Matters | Information, advice and support
by fertilitymatters
3y ago
I haven’t posted here for a while but I think at the moment it might be useful to have information about the current situation for fertility patients. Most fertility clinics will not be taking on new patients in the current situation – many will have staff who are needed in other areas and this is to ensure everyone’s safety. It is inevitably a very difficult time for fertility patients, particularly if you were hoping to start a cycle shortly. You may be interested in this latest guidance about the care of fertility patients from the British Fertility Society and the Association of Reproduct ..read more
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Single women and IVF
Fertility Matters | Information, advice and support
by fertilitymatters
3y ago
It’s one thing for commissioners to decide they don’t have enough money for IVF and that they will ration who can access it, but it is quite another when they use dubious evidence to justify their decisions. In South East London, single women have been unable to access IVF for years thanks to a policy which claims they can’t have the treatment due to “the known disadvantage that providing assisted conception to a single woman would cause both the child and the mother”. This “known disadvantage” was outlined in a document produced in 2011 which stated that single women were “unable to bring out ..read more
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Do you really need ICSI?
Fertility Matters | Information, advice and support
by fertilitymatters
3y ago
ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) is a successful treatment when there are male fertility problems, but it is often used more widely in fertility clinics – and some offer ICSI to many patients where there is no male factor problem at all. Now, new research presented at ESHRE (the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology) shows that there is no benefit to offering ICSI unless there is a male fertility issue. ICSI was developed in the 1990s as a breakthrough treatment for men who would otherwise have had to use donor sperm to become a parent, but now it is used so often that ..read more
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Men have a biological clock too
Fertility Matters | Information, advice and support
by fertilitymatters
3y ago
We’re all very aware of the female biological clock, but what we don’t hear so so much about is the fact that male sperm counts decline and DNA damage in sperm cells may increase as men get over. The fact that some high-profile men have become fathers when they are pensioners perpetuates the myth that male fertility lasts forever. In fact, evidence shows men do have a biological clock with a decline in natural male fertility and an increase in the miscarriage rate as men get older. New evidence at ESHRE from one London fertility clinic shows that IVF/ICSI is less likely to succeed if a male ..read more
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Fertility information research
Fertility Matters | Information, advice and support
by fertilitymatters
3y ago
Researchers are looking at patient information currently available about fertility treatment and are keen to talk to anyone who either has had treatment in the past or is thinking about it as an option. The study is called the Empowering Patient Informed Choices (EPIC) study and it is about developing better patient-centred information. The research team wants to know what helps when it comes to making decisions, particularly related to additional treatments.  You can take part here – it takes about ten minutes to complete the survey https://lse.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bdAnfkKd ..read more
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Experiences of miscarriage
Fertility Matters | Information, advice and support
by fertilitymatters
3y ago
Earlier this week, I was honoured to chair a moving session at the arts festival Fertility Fest looking at miscarriage. The evening began with four artists with personal experience of miscarriage presenting their work. Julia Bueno, a psychotherapist, read a passage from her new book about miscarriage, The Brink of Being, which is published today. Visual artist Foz Foster talked about the wonderful 76 foot scroll he produced to celebrate the three children he lost through miscarriage. Finally, theatre company Open Sky, writer Lisle Turner and director Claire Coaché, showed a section of th ..read more
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When IVF doesn’t work…
Fertility Matters | Information, advice and support
by fertilitymatters
3y ago
You may have heard in the news recently about the latest statistics on IVF success for women in their forties, and seen that Sally Cheshire, Chair of the fertility regulator the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), has spoken out about the need for fertility clinics to be more honest and open with patients about their chances of IVF success. The latest figures show that the number of women in their forties having IVF has doubled since 2004, but only 75 women aged 42 and 43 will get pregnant using their own eggs, and once you reach the age of 44, just two women a year are succe ..read more
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Fake posts
Fertility Matters | Information, advice and support
by fertilitymatters
3y ago
I’ve written before about the people who sometimes post on fertility chat rooms claiming to be patients who have wonderful success stories from particular clinics. Of course, many people do this genuinely but some are clearly not real patients. It is hugely disappointing that anyone working in this field and seeing the misery that fertility problems can cause would think it might be acceptable to promote their clinics by pretending to be patients, but apparently some do. This morning I got up to find dozens of comments posted on Fertility Matters from people with a variety of names and with d ..read more
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