Fertility Journeys 2014
FERTILITY JOURNEYS 2014 FERTILITY ROAD’S FERTILITY JOURNEYS 2014 IS A GROUNDBREAKING, NEVER BEFORE ATTEMPTED EXPERIMENT, TRACKING AND FOLLOWING THE UNIQUE EXPERIENCES OF FIVE INDIVIDUALS/COUPLES. WE ARE TRULY GRATEFUL TO OUR PARTNERS FOR THEIR GENEROSITY AND SUPPORT. Three of our fertility partner journeys are now underway, with a further two about to begin as we went to press, and in each issue going forward we’ll be updating you on the fortunes of our chosen individuals or couples. Emma and Craig, who are attempting egg donation through IVF Spain, are three months into a potentially life-changing process, and we hear how things have gone in the early days. We also now meet Russell Davis and Andrew Loosely’s chosen partners. EGG DONATION: IVF Spain • NUTRITION: Dr Marilyn Glenville CHINESE MEDICINE: Andrew Loosely • HYPNOTHERAPY: Russell Davis • DETOX: Simply Healing WWW.FERTILITYROAD.COM
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Fertility Journeys 2014
ANDREW LOOSELY – CHINESE MEDICINE World leading Chinese medicine expert Andrew Loosely has selected his partner for Fertility Journeys 2014. So in this interview, we hear more about how Andrew’s treatment programme over the coming months, and make a light introduction to Louise, whose journey we’ll be following.
Q. Why did you choose to be a part of Fertility Journeys 2014? “My passion is in sharing the positive effects of Chinese Fertility Medicine with those people around the world trying to create their families. Through this exciting project, Louise will have treatment and support whilst she prepares for her next IVF cycle. She will share her experience and newfound knowledge with Fertility Road readers in each edition, so that you can see how Chinese medicine may help you on your own journey.”
Q. What made Louise the ideal person for you to support, from the many applicants we had? “I was truly grateful to everyone who applied, and there were some brilliant people I would love to have worked with, but Louise’s story really stood out to me. She has been trying to conceive for seven years and has experienced failed IVF cycles along the way. Her medical diagnosis is one of Unexplained Infertility, and this is an area that Chinese medicine is particularly good at addressing. Louise’s goal is to prepare for six to nine months before embarking on her final funded NHS IVF cycle, and she wants to do everything she can to make it a success. She has realised that preparing for IVF is key, and as this is the core of my work with clients around the world, so it seemed like a perfect match.”
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INTRODUCING LOUISE… I am 34 years old and grew up in Essex with my parents and sister. I was lucky enough to travel around south-east Asia and Australia at the age of 21 and then landed myself a halfdecent job in the IT industry. I’ve been with my fiancé Dean for around eight years and we live in south-west London. Our fertility path started around five years ago - I knew that I always wanted to have babies but had a feeling it would be difficult for me to conceive as my periods had been irregular and I had been (mis)diagnosed with PCOS at the age of 21. We’ve been undertaking IVF for over two years, and after 18 months of being on the rollercoaster, with repeated disappointments, we booked a last-minute holiday to Kerala - it was exactly what we both needed after having such an emotional ride come to nothing. When we returned, I noticed the Fertility Journeys 2014 feature and thought we’d give it a go. I couldn’t believe my luck when told I was being given this fantastic opportunity to work with Andrew. I first heard of him through the Fertility Summit and always liked his approach to fertility. I’m happy to explain more in terms of how I’ve reached this point and very much look forward to working with Andrew and, of course, I hope my fertility journey can reach out to readers and offer hope and knowledge.
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Louise and Dean
Q. What is the overall plan for working with Louise? “We’re going to spend the next six to nine months preparing Louise for her final IVF cycle in order to give her the best possible chance of success. Louise will primarily use herbal medicine, which will be personally prescribed for her needs – she’ll take this daily. Nutritional and emotional support as well as Fertility Massage Therapy will be used as supporting treatments, as and when required, to ensure that Louise feels physically and emotionally supported throughout the journey. This will be achieved by using my natural treatment programme, The Baby Creating Plan, which is made up of the following three steps: Step one: A clear diagnosis Using all of Louise’s recent test results and a Chinese medicine diagnostic approach, I will be working with her to assess her current fertility health. Once we know what’s working well and what’s perhaps not so efficient within Louise’s body, we will know what we need to do to start transforming her fertility health and building up her nutritional reserves for her IVF cycle. A Chinese medicine diagnosis will be reached, which will form the foundation of her journey throughout the programme. She will then move on to the next step.
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Step two: Create a plan of action A plan of action will be created with a timeframe of treatments and progress that we want to see over the six to nine months. This will give continued direction, whilst also insuring that we achieve all of our treatment goals along the way. Once the plan is created Louise can move on to applying the best treatments for her personal needs. Step three: Treatment Louise’s herbal medicine will be prescribed and she will receive a variety of personalised prescriptions throughout her menstrual cycle, to enhance each stage of her cycle. As we work through each month, the herbal medicine will be altered as her cycle balances and her health improves. She will also receive some nutritional support, emotional support and Fertility Massage Therapy as required, to offer her a complete experience of the treatments that we use as part of The Baby Creating Plan.
Q. Is there anything that Louise needs to prepare before starting treatment? “The only preparation that she needs to do is to collect all of her test and past IVF cycle results together, and then complete a detailed questionnaire before starting Step one. This will then start the programme off and she will work with me through the three steps of The Baby Creating Plan.”
“We’re going to spend the next six to nine months preparing Louise for her final IVF cycle in order to give her the best possible chance of success. “
Fortnightly follow-up sessions with myself will be booked to monitor her progress, assess her menstrual cycle and BBT charts, and adjust herbal prescriptions as her situation improves. One month prior to the IVF we will plan the support that she will have throughout the IVF cycle, using the above treatments.”
To Claim a free copy of Andrew’s Book, The Ultimate Fertility Guide, go to: NaturalFertilityExpert.com.
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Your Fertility Journey
RUSSELL DAVIS – HYPNOTHERAPY Russell Davis is our hypnotherapy partner for Fertility Journeys 2014 and has chosen to work with Leah, who is 39. Having had an initial consultation, Russell and Leah will now embark on a course treatment, and we’ll update with progress in the next issue.
Treating the mind and the body Leah’s experience is a very common one in that she has had every medical test under the sun whilst never having had the opportunity to properly explore and address the emotions that surround infertility and her journey. She had some counselling sessions previously yet didn’t feel the process was long enough to make a real difference. This can be a common experience as traditional counselling is a long-term therapy approach, and a couple of sessions often does not do the process or patient justice.
For more about Russell Davis please visit russell-davis.co.uk.
Leah has conceived before, 17 years ago, and I wanted to check there wasn’t any trauma associated with the birth of her daughter, as a high percentage of secondary infertility cases involve trauma with a previous birth or miscarriage. If this is not dealt with the unconscious mind can kick in and wants to prevent the patient experiencing a similar experience which it associates with getting pregnant. This emotional and mental block can be enough to prevent conception (naturally or assisted).
It’s a partnership A number of my clients can keep emotions bottled up, not feeling able to share them with a partner. Indeed, I can relate to this - I didn’t want to add to my wife’s burden, thinking that if I was to share the sadness, grief and frustration that resulted out of our own fertility experiences, it would make things harder for her. I wanted to be the ‘strong one’, a common approach for men on the fertility journey, yet not sharing and not truly understanding how each other are can prevent a couple from feeling united on the journey.
Knowing where to tap One of the things I do in a first session with a client is explore how they are feeling
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INTRODUCING LEAH… I am 39 and live with my partner in a lovely part of Lincolnshire. I have a daughter of 17 years that I conceived naturally and came off the contraceptive pill in January 2010 in order to begin the process of having another child. I have experienced miscarriages in that time and was referred to a fertility nurse in June 2012, where basic tests were done, all of which came back normal, as did my partner’s (glowing) semen analysis results! Following a number of additional tests and diagnoses, it was revealed that IVF would be our only option, and as I already have a child from a previous relationship we would not be granted cycles on the NHS. We did look into sperm donation because we were told that some IVF clinics offer free cycles in exchange for sperm donations, but soon realised there were still high costs and lots of red tape involved, with very little chance of success for me, so we decided against IVF. Since then I have completed a six-month course of Chinese herbal medicine treatment and acupuncture, as well as making dietary and lifestyle changes. While I am still not pregnant, my many years of sleeping issues have greatly improved and I feel better than I have in years! When we were sent away by the fertility nurse to think about IVF I felt that the doors had been closed on us, and I have been left feeling quite disappointed with the lack of support, both practical and emotional. However, in talking to Russell, I have already felt relaxed and at ease, hopeful and excited for the first time in a long time that maybe this might just hold the key to unlocking my fertility.
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about their journey. Leah has recognised a number of feelings that have come up that are somewhat alien to her usual approach to life. She is generally a positive person but has noticed feelings of anger, resentment and powerlessness - all of which are tiring and can lead to a person becoming ground down over time. Patients don’t feel prepared for this emotional rollercoaster – how could they… they’re not expecting to be on it! I explain to clients that we only ever feel our thinking, and this could be in the area of perhaps believing… …we are too old …there is something wrong with us …we don’t deserve another child …or perhaps that it’s not fair when others seemingly get things so easily These kinds of stories tend to be experienced in other areas of life as well as fertility. Leah could quickly see how this was true for her, and this was an insight for her. We pick up beliefs about ourselves and life along the way - particularly when we are younger - that get applied to all areas of our life including our fertility. And these beliefs can affect our ability to fall pregnant, something that is explored in Epigenetics. Leah is also an over-thinker. She spends a lot of time thinking and worrying about things which, like a lot of thinkers, affects her sleep.
Where we go from here: Leah’s experience is not uncommon, and we shall be focussing on two key areas: Utilising the mind-body link The mind and body are one system. There are plenty of studies showing how our minds affect
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our body, and how we can actively harness this to create changes in our biology. I will be providing Leah with some powerful hypnosis tracks to help her guide her body to do what she wants it to do. Finding peace of mind I will be helping Leah let go of her thinking and the stories she is telling herself out of habit. These are not just related to her fertility but will be affecting both her experience of it (the emotional rollercoaster) and possibly her ability to conceive. Your unconscious mind doesn’t want to make a liar of you so if you
think something, it will do all it can for it to be true. We shall do this through conversation and hypnosis, with access to a wide range of therapeutic approaches as appropriate. The purpose is for Leah to understand the nature of thought, which means she sees it for what it is - just a thought/story, and not truth. This brings true freedom, a sense of fulfilment and a feeling of being complete, in the here and now. It is from this place your body can relax and respond in the most positive way, whether trying to conceive naturally or having fertility treatment.
“We pick up beliefs about ourselves and life along the way - particularly when we are younger - that get applied to all areas of our life including our fertility. “ Over the page you’ll see how our egg donation recipients, Emma and Craig, have got on in their early work with IVF Spain. Meanwhile, our remaining two partners on Fertility Journeys 2014, Dr Marilyn Glenville and Simply Healing, were confirming their partners as this issue of Fertility Road went to press. We’re very excited to be showcasing the work behind these two fantastic fertility experts and will be presenting, in full, the early stages of their work in the next issue. Dr Marilyn Glenville is the UK’s leading nutritionist, specialising in women’s and men’s fertility. She is former President of the Food and Health Forum at the Royal Society of Medicine, a registered nutritionist, psychology and author, and a popular broadcaster. Find out more about Marilyn by visiting marilynglenville.com. Simply Healing is the brainchild of owner and manager Vivien Kay, and is an exclusive retreat that boasts a long history of successfully helping couples in their quest for a child by offering a Fertility Enhancement Plan alongside fantastic detox packages. Find out more by visiting simplyhealingcentre.com. We’ll be catching up on all of our Fertility Journeys in the July/August issue of Fertility Road.
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Your Fertility Journey
IVF SPAIN – EGG DONATION We catch up with Emma and Craig, who are now three months into their egg donation process with leading European clinic IVF Spain. We were on holiday when we got the good news that we’d been selected for Fertility Journeys writes Craig, but it didn’t take long to sink in as Fertility Road had a print deadline to meet, so our first article was in print within weeks - surreal! By coincidence, we had already met Dr Szlarb from IVF Spain at the Fertility Show and really liked her manner, optimism, and direct approach. Then, the Fertility Road ‘Fertility Journeys’ project fell into my mailbox one morning. We wrote our application, had a Skype consultation with those in Spain, and the rest is history. We are delighted to have been selected and feel there is an element of fate in what’s happened to us, along with a lot of luck. I hope we can convey some of the practicalities of treatment abroad. We decided to tell our family and close friends and they were all supportive. Emma’s parents were initially concerned we were being used in some sort of dodgy clinical trial until we showed them some literature and the draft of our article. A friend, upon finding out that we were selected and would be featured in a magazine was pretty astounded and so politely put it that she “wouldn’t do it in a million years” - which panicked us! - but admired us for wearing our hearts on our sleeves so publicly. Of course, if we had a pot of gold we wouldn’t need to do this, but we have been selected for this great opportunity and we hope we can help others by conveying our story.
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FIRST STEPS writes Emma. We were quickly in touch with Spain. Most of our communication during the first few weeks was by email as it was tricky to speak during working hours. All emails are easy to understand - it seems most people speak English at the clinic as well as a host of other languages. But whether over on email or over the phone, IVF Spain were always polite and courteous, and even before meeting them, I felt like an individual rather than just another patient. Things moved fast and we worked out some dates for my first ‘mock cycle’ where I had to take a combination of the pill and then oestrogen tablets to prepare my lining as though in the real cycle. This is so IVF Spain could judge whether the lining would be suitable for donation at the right time or whether there would be any tweaks needed to medication to maximise the lining quality. During a mock cycle it would be usual to need to have an ultrasound scan in the UK and feed back to Spain. However we were able to tie in the scan with our first trip to Spain.
Then came the paperwork... lots of it! Mostly it was simple to complete, though I had to wrack my brain to remember the details of previous cycles - good job I kept a file of all our treatment. The rules in Spain require certain blood tests to be within 12 months old and ours were just out of date so bear in mind these additional costs when embarking on treatment. Some friendly GPs at home may do the tests on the NHS, some won’t. In the past we’ve paid for our tests via our GP and they were not too pricey. The most interesting form was about our personal characteristics - BMI, eye and hair colour, education and fertility. This would be used by the clinic to pick our donor - so few questions for such a big decision! We had to pick three we most wanted to match. The end goal was to get a donor egg most like me so that our potential child didn’t stand out like a sore thumb as not genetically linked to me! However the clinic explained that legally they have to match a donor who closely resembles us!
..................................................... RED TAPE The clinic sent me a prescription by email for the pill and oestrogen but the pharmacies in the high street wouldn’t accept a scanned version. I couldn’t get a doctor’s appointment either, so while I wouldn’t recommend it, I had a few spare pills from previous treatment so waiting document for the original in the post didn’t hold us up.
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We Googled what colour our blue and green eyes could make. This form and a few photos would help the clinic decide on our donor. The clinical team then pick their favourite four donors from a computer-driven selection of 20 (down from an initial 500) who are contacted to check they wish to proceed and are available at the right time for egg collection. The fact I’m tall is slightly limiting as Spanish women are typically not, so I realise our donor is unlikely to be of Spanish origin. Donors are rigorously screened for over 200 genetic and infectious diseases. So, it seems our selected donor is on board and we are scheduled in for May. It seems strange that somewhere a woman is putting her body through the medication and retrieval procedure to help us. At the moment I’m truly grateful but not thinking too much about it. I’m not picturing anyone other than a tall blond faceless outline of a person injecting herself with the meds. I’m trying to distance myself emotionally from any connection at this stage.
I probably wouldn’t recommend doing a day trip if you can avoid it - take time to relax a bit - but subject to flight delays it is manageable and the clinic worked within our timescale so we didn’t miss our flight.
..................................................... ARRIVAL writes Emma. The clinic is a modern building with a sleek reception area, and we were greeted by a very welcoming receptionist, then given a timetable of what to expect during our four-hour stay. We met the biologist and were allocated a lovely lady called Sarah who kept checking on us throughout.
TRAVEL writes Craig.
Craig had his important job to do during this visit so his sample could be tested and then frozen. Whilst trying not to divulge too much information, we were surprised when asked if I wanted to accompany Craig during the process. This is the first time we’ve ever been offered this - but realistically I don’t understand why it’s not routinely offered as it gives the couple the chance to be mutually involved in the process... which is otherwise so far removed from natural conception!
From a practical perspective we decided we would fly to Spain for a day for our first appointment to minimise time off and save holiday entitlement a bold move putting our faith in EasyJet! We live only 20 minutes’ drive from Gatwick and aside from a 3am start to get the 5.50am flight, the journey worked like clockwork. The clinic arranged a transfer from the airport for us - only about 20 minutes. We momentarily felt like we were on holiday as we drove along the coast!
A few more forms, blood tests and a consultation with Dr Szlarb, and we were done. She explained that there is an 80% chance of a positive pregnancy test (60% live birth rate). 16-20 eggs are retrieved ideally then fertilised and worked to ‘day five blastocyst’. Dr Szlarb warranties five or six embryos. Two are put back, so if we are not pregnant on our first attempt we have more frozen transfer opportunities available.
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In addition to blood tests, I had a Pap smear, even though I last had one seven months ago so they are thorough. She was pleased with the lining thickness and so was able to finalise the treatment plan for the lead-up to egg transfer - a combination of the pill, prognovia, decaptyl injection and prednisilone for my high Nk cells. I was told I needed to try to get intralipids by the end of April, and will have another after transfer, then three weeks later if the pregnancy test is positive. I also had an endometrial scratch during the examination - recent studies have found it increases implantation rates and the clinic does it routinely in cases of three or more failed cycles. We were able to take the medication home with us - the clinic gave us a letter for passport control confirming the drugs were required for treatment and needed to be on hand and temperature maintained. So we headed home, exhausted but pleased with how the day went.
..................................................... HOME Craig’s results were positive so he doesn’t need to be there to provide another fresh sample. I may need to fly out alone initially with Craig joining me later, as he is self-employed, and we’d typically only have three days’ notice. We’re excited, nervous and extremely hopeful. Things have gone very well so far, but the real work is, of course, still to come.
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Your Fertility Journey
FERTILITY JOURNEYS 2014 IVF Spain’s journey so far with Emma and Craig has been very successful, as Dr Natalia Szlarb, International Team Leader, explains. Emma and Craig are one of hundreds of patients who place their trust in IVF Spain each year. Egg donation treatments across the world are divided into anonymous and non-anonymous donations. By Spanish Law all donations are anonymous. For Emma a personalised approach was extremely important as well as high-quality medical care. At IVF Spain we are very interested in patients’ medical backgrounds and thorough medical histories are taken. Emma was happy to finally learn in more detail why previous implantations had failed, and from there we could draw a line under the past and move onto selecting a potential egg donor. Emma also understood that 10% of her success was related to immunology - I have a PhD in Immunology and a sub-specialty in immunological fertility issues, so this was detail we could really bring to the fore. At IVF Spain an immunological check-up is performed - we use flow cytometry and receive immunology results within five to seven days. We also perform immune therapy if we see any issues, as well as examining the number of natural killer cells that may hinder implantation. This is performed not only through blood work but also by performing a biopsy of the lining of the uterus. Emma received immunology treatment right away to help with her implantation issues. The other threat to implantation success is due to blood clotting. At IVF Spain we test clotting using the modern test Recombine. This way we can exclude common blood disorders, for example Factor V mutations or protein CNS
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resistance. Treatments are then undertaken in the event of these clotting issues. Emma was very happy to see that the entire preparation process for egg donation could take place in the UK and she discussed with us the timings - when she should be in Alicante for the egg pick-up, and then five days later the date of embryo transfer. At IVF Spain we always perform a test or mock cycle where we can adjust the medication dose in order to ensure that the lining of the uterus is in optimal condition for implantation. This means that at the time of the real cycle, Emma will have the ideal and properly adjusted dose of medication for her body while the donor undergoes, in parallel, an IVF cycle to grow the donor eggs for her treatment. In this way, Emma is preparing her uterus in the UK while the donor is developing the donor eggs in Spain. At IVF Spain this process ensures the best results. Through social media campaigns, articles in Fertility Road and meeting patients at events such as The Fertility Show, IVF Spain is welcoming more and more patients from overseas. After many years of trying to have a baby with her own eggs, Emma realised that due to her age, both egg quantity and quality were no longer optimal. Her best chance to be a happy mum was through an egg donation cycle. She believes that through the proper medical evaluation, donor matching and immune therapy offered to patients at IVF Spain she will finally experience the miracle of being a healthy and happy mum. We wish her and Craig all the best in their fertility journey here at IVF Spain in Alicante.
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