I run the Sperm Comet Clinic from the Natural Fertility Centre in Albany Street, Edinburgh and am the nutritionist in their team. It came to my attention through patients recently that there is doubt amongst some IVF medical professionals, that testing for the quality of sperm using the Sperm Comet Test, is invalid. I thought I would try and find out what the rationale was for making that statement. It turns out that the reasons for dismissing the Sperm Comet Test is the belief that the results of the DNA fragmentation are not reliable and vary from month to month. There are several implicati ..read more

This is from a patient trying to conceive her second child. Remarkably, she conceived whilst on the down-regulating drugs for IVF so things were fraught for a long period of time. So glad everything turned out well for the whole family. “I struggled to conceive my second child, and when I eventually did the pregnancy was complicated and uncertain. Throughout it all Rachael was kind, knowledgable and pragmatic, and I hugely appreciated her support during some very difficult times. My daughter has now safely arrived and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Rachael to anyone ..read more

I’m sure everyone has had enough of that word and it become meaningless over time. Although, I can’t really think of a good alternative. It’s just that none of us have experienced anything like this before. And we, as a clinic, are very aware that, on top of the CV19 business, there are still all the other things that people have got going on: looking after kids or parents; jobs; keeping ourselves healthy and, not least, trying to conceive or waiting for IVF. Many of my patients, in the last week we were open, were waiting for their IVF to start and I know how devastating it has been for the ..read more

After 14 years of working with the Natural Fertility Centre, Dee is now a fully fledged psychodynamic counsellor with a special interest in infertility, having trained in counselling and psychotherapy at Edinburgh University. Her work with women and couples at the NFC sparked her interest in counselling, as she realised that so many people struggling with fertility issues needed emotional support. She will be focusing on her counselling work going forward and will see clients at The Next Chapter in Edinburgh’s West End. Dee is a member of both the British Association for Counsellors and Psych ..read more

It’s been a busy new year and I haven’t managed to post anything for a while but here’s our latest testimonial from a patient. So lovely to receive these emails. We’re always happy to hear from you. “It’s very early so just hoping everything goes well but I wanted to let everyone at the clinic know and thank you all so much for the treatment and support, you are all amazing and made it so much easier to keep going through the hard times ..read more

Here’s a lovely card that popped through the door lately - it’s so appreciated when we hear from patients and would like to thank you all for the cards and flowers we receive as a team. They’re all really welcome and it makes us feel proud that we’ve managed to help couples along the way to becoming a family ..read more

image: 101freedownloads Well, I thought it had this morning, the 1st of April, but it seems to be threatening rain at the moment now we’re mid-way through the day. I guess that’s Spring for you. Very unreliable. The clocks have gone forwards and everything feels wrong - hungry at the wrong time, sleepy at the wrong time and awake at the wrong time. Still, I’m sure we’ll adjust given a few days and will be on an even keel until we have to undo it all again in October.Time does seem to be flying and, we know from experience, that for f ..read more