Avoid these pain killers when trying to conceive

I came across this article in the Clean Air Council website:
by Ulysses Torassa, Chronicle Health Writer
San Fransisco Gate

Women who take ibuprofen, aspirin and other similar painkillers around the time of conception may have an increased risk of miscarriage, according to a new study.

Researchers at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco and South San Francisco interviewed 1,055 women who had recently gotten a positive pregnancy test, 75 of whom reported taking aspirin, ibuprofen (such as Advil or Motrin) or naproxen (such as Naprosyn) since their last menstrual cycle. Of those, 24 percent miscarried by their 20th week, versus a miscarriage rate of 15 percent in the women who didn't take the drugs. The study was published in Friday's edition of the British Medical Journal.

The Kaiser study adds support to an earlier Danish study that also found a link between the drugs and pregnancy loss. The March of Dimes already advises against aspirin and related drugs during pregnancy except when suggested by a doctor.

The theory is that the drugs cut down on the production of prostaglandins, hormone-like substances involved in pain signaling that are also needed for an embryo to successfully take hold in the uterus, according to Dr. De-Kun Li, a Kaiser epidemiologist in Oakland and the study's lead author.

While raising a caution flag over painkillers with ibuprofen and aspirin, Li said there appears to be no association between the use of Tylenol and other acetaminophen-based painkillers and subsequent miscarriages. Acetaminophen-based painkillers only block prostaglandins in the central nervous system, not in the uterus, Li said.

In 2001, Danish researchers also reported finding an association between prescriptions for aspirin, naproxen and ibuprofen and a greater risk of pregnancy loss in a group of women who had been hospitalized for miscarriage.

Dr. Alan Decherney, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UCLA, said he was surprised by the latest findings, because many doctors now prescribe aspirin to protect against miscarriage in women who have a specific clotting abnormality that interferes with embryo development.

Decherney said the results suggest patients who don't have that condition may want to be cautious about using aspirin or ibuprofen in the early part of their first trimester. But he also said that more research is needed before a firm recommendation could be made.

Dr. Victor Fujimoto, director of the in vitro fertilization program at UCSF, prescribes low-dose aspirin for women who have miscarried in the past or who are taking part in IVF because studies have shown it actually increases the rate of successful conception. He said the small number of women in the study who took aspirin makes it hard to draw firm conclusions, but that the 81- milligram tablets he recommends aren't likely to trigger problems.

Age and Infertility

Fertility in women peak in their early twenties, when conception during any cycle is at it's highest. When they hit their thirties, the probability of conceiving decreases, taking longer to conceive. The risk of miscarriage, genetic abnormalities and other health problems also increases.

Mass media has lead us to believe that. That is NOT TRUE. Over the course of the last 30-40 years, the patterns of childbearing have changed dramatically. More than 20 percent of women now wait until they are 35 before having their first child.

This dramatic change in childbearing pattern is due to many women going for higher education, professional careers and aspirations of being independent and financially stable.

Outstanding advances in medicine has played a huge role. We are now living much longer and having children in our thirties and forties. For the majority of women who delay starting a family until the mid thirties, everything turns out fine and they are blessed with the children they hope for.

Men have always had the ability to remain fertile. They are fertile from puberty onwards and for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately women do not have such a luxury. Women are born with all their eggs and as cells age, so do the eggs, becoming less viable and fewer in number.

A women's ovaries and eggs respond negatively to inferior nutrition, stress and toxins. But they respond positively to a healthy, pure lifestyle.

For both men and women, stress and poor lifestyle choices can impact fertility. Keeping yourselves healthy and active will increase your chance of conceiving when you both decide the time is right.

Chapter 6 in "The Fertility Plan" explains and talks about treating age related fertility, including diet and lifestyle choices.

You can get your copy here at www.increasefertilitytoday.com

Ovulation and Fertility

Understanding ovulation, the release of the egg from one of the two ovaries, is absolutely crucial to maximizing your chances of conceiving.

Successfully predicting the time of ovulation allows you to time sexual intercourse appropriately, which will greatly increase your likelihood for conceiving during any given cycle.

During the first half of the monthly cycle, a woman’s body produces increasingly greater amounts of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and estrogen. The egg to be released that month is stimulated to grow by FSH. Estrogen, on the other hand, is responsible for the development of the uterine lining, which grows during each cycle to prepare for potential pregnancy.

The selection of the egg and the ovary it’s released from is completely random. The release of the egg occurs approximately halfway through each cycle. For most women, this means ovulation occurs 14 days before her period begins.

A woman with a standard cycle length of 28 days will probably ovulate on day 14 of her cycle. “Normal” menstrual cycle lengths can range from as short as 24 days, to as long as 35 days. So the “14-day-trick” is not precise enough to allow for perfect timing of sexual intercourse.

Predicting ovulation based on your last cycle is also ineffective, due to the changing nature of your body – not every cycle will be identical in length.

Successfully predicting ovulation is one of the most important steps in maximising your chances of conception. It’s also one of the most difficult steps to get right. There is a chapter in "The Fertility Plan" on www.increasefertilitytoday.com devoted solely to this subject will cover in detail the most reliable methods for successfully predicting ovulation.

Infertility Definition

Infertility From Wikipedia

Infertility primarily refers to the biological inability of a man or a woman to contribute to conception. Infertility may also refer to the state of a woman who is unable to carry a pregnancy to full term. There are many causes of infertility.

Reproductive endocrinologists, the doctors specializing in infertility, consider a couple to be infertile if:

• the couple has not conceived after 12 months of contraceptive-free intercourse if the female is under the age of 34
• the couple has not conceived after 6 months of contraceptive-free intercourse if the female is over the age of 35 (declining egg quality of females over the age of 35 account for the age-based discrepancy as when to seek medical intervention)
• the female is incapable of carrying a pregnancy to term.

Subfertility

A couple that has tried unsuccessfully to have a child for a year or more is said to be subfertile. The couple's fecundability rate is approximately 3-5%. Many of its causes are the same as those of infertility. Such causes could be endometriosis, or polycystic ovarian syndrome.

Primary vs. secondary infertility

Couples with primary infertility have never been able to conceive, while, on the other hand, secondary infertility is difficulty conceiving after already having conceived and carried a normal pregnancy. Technically, secondary infertility is not present if there has been a change of partners.

Download a free report on 3 mistakes that you may be making to ruin your chances of getting pregnant at www.increasefertilitytoday.com

Alcohol and Pregnancy

Alcohol and pregnancy don’t mix.

Important Facts

THERE IS NO SAFE AMOUNT OR SAFE TIME TO DRINK ALCOHOL DURING PREGNANCY

If you drink alcohol while you are pregnant, you are at risk of giving birth to a baby with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). FASD is a term that describes a range of disabilities (physical, social, mental/emotional) that may affect people whose birth mothers drank alcohol while they were pregnant.

FASD may include problems with learning and /or behaviour, doing math, thinking things through, learning from experience, understanding the consequences of his or her actions, and remembering things. Your child could also have trouble in social situations and getting along with others. People with FASD may be small, they may have behaviour and/or learning problems, and their faces may look different. Research shows that children born to mothers who drank as little as one drink per day during pregnancy may have behaviour and learning problems.

No one knows how much alcohol it takes to harm a developing baby. When you drink alcohol during pregnancy, it rapidly reaches your baby through your bloodstream. The effect of alcohol on the developing baby can vary depending on the health of the pregnant woman and also the amount, pattern and timing of drinking alcohol during pregnancy. Binge drinking (drinking a large amount of alcohol in a short amount of time) is especially bad for the developing baby.

Next Steps

Whether you are trying to get pregnant or are pregnant already, stop drinking alcohol. No alcohol is the best (and the safest!) choice for having a healthy baby.

If you need help to stop drinking, you should ask your doctor, community health nurse, midwife or other health care professionals for advice. Tell your partner, family, friends, and community members who can all support you with this decision.

Smoking and Infertility

Adapted from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, Patient Fact Sheet

Research indicates that cigarette smoking is harmful to a women's ovaries and the degree of harm is dependent upon the amount and the period of time a woman smokes. Smoking pears to accelerate the loss of eggs and reproductive function and may advance the time of menopause by several years. Components in cigarette smoke have been shown to interfere with the ability of cells in the ovary to make estrogen and cause a woman's eggs to be more prone to genetic abnormalities. Smoking is strongly associated with an increased risk of spontaneous miscarriage and possibly ectopic pregnancy as well. Pregnant smokers are more likely to have low birth weight babies and premature birth. The incident of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) also increases in households where someone smokes.

Common Questions About Physical Activity and Pregnancy

Adapted from the Government of Canada Health Website.

I've never really been active. Should I start now that I'm pregnant?

Physical activity can make you feel better and be beneficial for both you and your developing baby. The decision to be active during pregnancy may be the first step toward a long-lasting healthy way of life for you and your family. Remember to speak with your doctor before you begin and start slowly.

I'm already active, but now I’m pregnant. Can I continue to exercise?

If you exercised regularly before becoming pregnant, continue your program and make changes as you need them. Talk to your doctor about your current routine to see if and when you may need to make any adjustments. Most importantly, listen to your body as it changes from one month to the next and only do what feels comfortable for you.

Can I lift weights?

Weight training is generally safe as long as the resistance is light to moderate. Using heavier weights could put too much stress on muscles and ligaments. Proper controlled breathing is also very important. After your fourth month of pregnancy, experts suggest modifying exercises that require lying on your back so they are performed on your side, or while you are standing or sitting.

How can I tell if I’ve overdone it?

If you’re really tired and you feel like stopping, then it’s time to stop. If you still feel tired, give yourself a break for at least a day. Call your doctor if you have any of the following symptoms:

* persistent contractions
* bleeding from the vagina
* increasing back pain, pubic pain, or pain in the abdomen
* sudden swelling of the ankles, hands or face
* dizziness or shortness of breath
* excessive fatigue
* difficulty walking
* changes in usual fetal movement
* swelling, pain, and redness in the calf of one leg

Vitamin C to Increase Fertility

Can It Enhance Male Fertility?

Yes! Research has shown that it can.

A man with a vitamin C deficiency has shown to contribute to low sperm count, low sperm mobility and sperm agglutination. Sperm agglutination is the process by which sperm clumps together. When sperm cells are clumped together, they cannot swim properly and have a hard time making it to the egg.

For sperm to fertilize an egg, it has to reach the egg. This journey relies on the female's cervical fluid and partly on the man's semen. Vitamin C can help the healthy sperm swim to the eggs through the semen and cervical fluid to the waiting egg.

Vitamin C has also been shown to reduce the occurrence of abnormal or defective sperm. This has been proven especially true in smokers. Of course quitting smoking is the best thing for a couple trying to conceive.

Foods rich in Vitamin C

Vitamin C is also known as ascorbic acid, which is a water-soluble vitamin that is essential for normal functioning of the body. Unlike most mammals, humans don't have the ability to make their own vitamin C. We must therefore obtain vitamin C through our diet.

A minimum intake of 1000 mg/day was required to completely saturate the blood plasma with vitamin C. They also found that vitamin C should be taken in divided doses throughout the day as urinary excretion increases rapidly when individual doses exceed 500 mg.

Most of us think of citrus fruits as being the best source of vitamin C. You'd get 60 mg/day from about 3/4 cup of orange juice
Here are some of the food that contain Vitamin C, says Robyn Webb in an article to the Diabetes Forecast:

- Drinking 3/4 cup of orange juice provides 60mg of vitamin C
- Eat more broccoli. A 1/2-cup serving provides 45 mg of vitamin C.
- Add a slice of tomato to your sandwiches. A small tomato provides 25 mg of vitamin C.
- Slice up a papaya or mango for dessert. Half a medium papaya or mango provides 95 mg of vitamin C.
- Think peppers! Red, yellow, and orange peppers have about twice the vitamin C of green peppers.
- More obscure vegetables, like kohlrabi and jicama, provide about 45 mg of vitamin C per half cup. Just grate each into a green salad.
- Believe it or not, potatoes contain vitamin C, too! A small baked potato has 25 mg.
- Kiwi fruit, the fuzzy little brown fruit with the deep green interior, has about 55 mg of vitamin C.

Eat up and load up on some more vitamin C to enhance fertility!

8 Steps to Increase Fertility

Found a few general tips on msnbc.com to share with you from Joy Bauer.

1. Maintain a healthy weight (and lose weight, if you’re overweight).

2. Avoid trans fat. Trans fat is typically found in stick margarine, fried foods and hydrogenated oil.

3. Stop eating excessive sugar and refined carbohydrates.

4. Consume more protein from vegetables rather than from animals. Good sources of vegetable protein include beans and lentils.

5. Eat fiber-rich foods. Best sources of fiber include vegetables, fruit and whole grains.

6. Consider taking a standard multivitamin.

7. Exercise every day for at least 30 minutes.

8. Consume one daily serving of full-fat dairy (i.e., 1 cup whole milk, full-fat yogurt, or 1-2 ounces cheese). That’s because a recent report showed full-fat dairy may help increase fertility in women more so than low-fat/nonfat dairy. That said, full-fat dairy is loaded with calories and saturated fat, thus I recommend you make only ONE of your daily servings full fat.

Bottom line: Lose weight if you’re overweight, make smart food choices and exercise regularly — these lifestyle factors may help you become more fertile if you’re experiencing problems with ovulation.

Tips to Increase Fertility Naturally

Many of us want to conceive and share in the joys of parenthood. Unfortunately many of us try again and again without any success. Some cannot afford the high cost of fertility pills or IVF In-vitro Fertilization. So they just give up.

Here is a little tip that some of us are unaware of that decrease fertility.
- Using store bought lubricants during sex can kill sperm thus reducing the chances of conception.

You can get a copy of my free report on 3 mistakes that you may be doing to ruin your chances of getting pregnant here.

Regards,
Amelia
www.increasefertilitytoday.com