Herbal Health » Women’s Health http://webpharmablog.net Herbal Remedies Blog Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:30:10 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 HOW A TEST-TUBE BABY IS BORN http://webpharmablog.net/2011/03/how-a-test-tube-baby-is-born/ http://webpharmablog.net/2011/03/how-a-test-tube-baby-is-born/#comments Sun, 13 Mar 2011 11:28:29 +0000 admin http://webpharmablog.net/?p=169 After a woman and her doctor have concluded that her infertility is due to defective Fallopian tubes and that her other reproductive organs are healthy, she may be a candidate for in-vitro fertilization. (Age might be a consideration at some clinics. The Norfolk clinic does not accept applicants over thirty-five.) A woman and her husband would be extensively counseled about the difficulties that might arise during the procedure, and if they feel psychologically able to accept what might be a frustrating process, then her ovulation patterns are studied.
If a woman does not have a regular ovulation, fertility drugs may be used to “ripen” her eggs, although some scientists believe that the chance of successful implantation is better with naturally-ovulated eggs. Once a regular ovulation pattern is established, a woman’s hormones are monitored through blood tests. As soon as a doctor notices an estrogen rise, he knows ovulation is approaching and he looks for a jump in LH. Since ovulation takes place twenty-two hours after an LH increase, a physician goes on his egg hunt twenty hours after he discovers the hormone change. An egg must be harvested when it is mature, but not after it has ripened enough to leave the ovary and enter into the tube, where it is lost to the surgeon. Whenever the Graafian follicle is just right for picking, whether it be in the middle of the night or during lunchtime, a doctor will operate. Timing is everything.
A laparoscopy, the exploratory surgery used to diagnose endometriosis and infertility, is also the operation that helps doctors retrieve the egg-of-the-month. While a woman is under general anesthesia, a doctor makes a small incision in her navel and inserts the laparoscope, a slim, flexible, medical periscope that enables the physician to see all the pelvic organs. The Graafian follicle, if it’s ready to release the egg-of-the-month, appears as a bubble on an ovary. Working with a specially-designed syringe inserted through the laparoscope, the surgeon punctures the follicle and sucks the egg from the ovary.
The gathered egg is placed in a Petri dish with a nourishing culture. The husband’s sperm is added, and the dish is incubated at body temperature, and watched. If the egg begins to divide, it has been fertilized by a sperm. Two to two and a half days later, the multicelled embryo is slowly inserted into a woman’s womb. A doctor carefully guides the embryo inside a tube that goes through her vagina and cervix into the womb—no surgery is involved. The mother-to-be often has been given added hormones to enrich her uterine wall for the incoming embryo.
There is a high risk that the uterus will contract and cramp and expel the fertilized egg as it would any foreign body. The hormones are therefore given to increase the chance that the uterus will welcome its new boarder. Still, the implantation of the embryo may be the most difficult part of in-vitro fertilization. Often, researchers have achieved conception in a Petri dish but failed to implant the embryo into the womb.
It’s a miracle when a couple succeeds in having a son or a daughter through in-vitro fertilization because so many things can go wrong. The time for collecting the egg may be off, or the egg might be damaged when it is removed. Sperm could be immature or abnormal in spite of a good sperm count. After a successful fertilization, the developing embryo might be rejected by the mother’s uterus. And even after all the scientific steps are triumphantly taken, will that early exposure to the environment affect fetal development and lead to miscarriage? Louise Brown appears to be a perfect child, but will in-vitro fertilization prove to cause a higher incidence of mental or physical abnormalities than would have occurred through natural conception?
Each in-vitro pregnancy has included genetic counseling and amniocentesis. To date there have been no birth defects found, but the number of test-tube babies still remains very small. As science deciphers the secret of life, many unknown questions will be answered.
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]]> http://webpharmablog.net/2011/03/how-a-test-tube-baby-is-born/feed/ 0 OTHER QUESTIONS ABOUT ENDOMETRIOSIS http://webpharmablog.net/2009/04/other-questions-about-endometriosis/ http://webpharmablog.net/2009/04/other-questions-about-endometriosis/#comments Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:09:46 +0000 admin http://webpharmablog.net/2009/04/other-questions-about-endometriosis/ Can other symptoms occur as a consequence of endometriosis?

Because some of the symptoms of endometriosis such as pain and infertility can make the sufferer feel tired, miserable and out of control, women may also experience lethargy, malaise, depression, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), or insomnia.

Is endometriosis a progressive condition?

No one really knows what happens to endometriosis if it is left untreated because there have been no comprehensive studies conducted to investigate this problem.

Most gynaecologists presume that endometriosis is usually a progressive condition. In other words, it is a condition which – if left untreated – progressively worsens in extent and severity for as long the woman menstruates.

The rate of progression is thought to vary. It is believed that in most women the rate of progression is fairly slow and that the disease gradually worsens over a period of years. In some women the rate of progression is thought to be so slow that their endometriosis does not progress significantly and so they have mild disease for many years. In contrast, it appears that in a few women the rate of progression is rapid and in some cases it may be so rapid that their endometriosis progresses from mild to severe in a matter of months. Some women seem to have spontaneous periods of remission.

It is impossible to predict the likely rate of progression in any particular woman.

Endometriosis recurs frequently following treatment and approximately 50% of women will have a recurrence of their symptoms, regardless of the type of treatment they undertake.

Unfortunately, some women will have a recurrence within months of their treatment as the rate of recurrence is highest in the first twelve months after treatment. Others will have several years of remission.

Women with severe disease or large endometriomas are more likely to have a recurrence of their endometriosis and their length of remission will usually be shorter.

It is not known if recurrences are due to the presence of residual implants and cysts that were not eradicated by the treatment or whether they are due to the deposition of new implants — or a combination of both these factors. According to one researcher, the higher recurrence rates that are seen in the first year following treatment and in women with severe disease would indicate that recurrences are more likely to be due to the growth of residual implants and cysts.

Occasionally, a recurrence of endometriosis may be experienced following menopause if hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is being used, but usually this recurrence can be controlled by altering the dosages used in the HRT.

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