Monday, January 9. 2012
Infertility is heartbreaking and it seems that nearly everyone, myself included, has a family member or close friend or colleague that has tried IVF to have a child. Many people are reluctant to even discuss IVF simply because they do not want to be considered insensitive or judgmental.But it is important to not turn away from the dark side of IVF. IVF is terribly wasteful of human life. According to figures release last year in the United Kingdom, 130,822 live IVF babies have been born in the period between 1991 and 2009. But over 3 million embryos have been created in about the same time. That means for every IVF success, nearly 24 lives are frozen, discarded, or sacrificed in research.There is another way to treat infertility. One that actually finds the cause of unknown infertility and treats it instead of just wastefully creating disposable human lives. Not enough can be said about NaPro Technology that is successful even for couples for whom IVF has failed. And even though awareness of NaPro Technology is growing, it is still relatively unknown compared to the rest of the fertility industry. We all need to do our part to inform our friends, neighbors and loved ones about this ethical treatment for infertility.In September, The Irish Times did a great article on a NaPro Technology provider, Dr. Phil Boyle:Many couples turn to assisted reproductive technology (ART), such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF), for help, but Galway GP and fertility specialist Dr Phil Boyle believes that these interventions do not do enough to address the underlying causes of infertility.
“Infertility is not an acute condition,” he says. “It is a chronic health condition that often has several underlying causes which, if diagnosed and treated correctly, will result in restoration of normal reproductive function. Physicians ought to consider broader diagnostic possibilities in their evaluation of infertile couples."
“The key to the success of NaPro is the use of the FertilityCare charting system, which allows us to identify abnormal menstrual bleeding patterns, poor cervical mucous flow and subtle hormonal deficiencies that are often not detected by routine gynaecological evaluation. The goal of treatment is to restore a normal appearance to the fertility chart and restore optimum fertility potential for the couple,” says Boyle.
“Our success rates have been improving over the years since we started in Galway,” says Boyle. “In the general population we have a 40 to 50 per cent success rate, while in older couples with a history of failed IVF we have an average 30 per cent success rate. We have about 300 conceptions a year and more than 1,200 babies born at this stage.
The article also has a great success story from a couple that failed with IVF because the cause of their infertility, her cycle, was not diagnosed:Louise McMullan and her husband, Eamonn, a GP in Omagh, have three daughters – Alice (11), Lucy (eight) and Rose (five) – all born through NaPro technology.
“Nobody seemed willing to find out what was wrong with me. They seemed happy to accept a diagnosis of unexplained infertility and to have people pay thousands of pounds for IVF. After another year on Clomid without getting pregnant, IVF was recommended, and I had that done a couple of times. I produced lots of eggs, but it didn’t work. It was a terrible time....
“The following day I contacted Phil and made an appointment to see him in Galway. We also saw a tutor in Navan, who taught us how to chart. We went to Phil in June with a couple of charts and he could see I was not ovulating, so he gave me Clomid and a drug to enhance mucous. He was able to tell from my charts that my period was coming too quickly after ovulation and that the egg could never implant. I had to inject the hormone hCG on days three, five, seven and nine after ovulation to give the eggs a chance to implant.
“I starting doing this at the end of August and was pregnant at the start of September. Had Phil not been on The Late Late Show, I don’t think I would have ever have had any babies because I would never have found out that my eggs could not implant.
In addition, here is a video from an Australian practitioner of NaPro Technology where he compares IVF to their approach. It is very informative. His discussion of IVF begins about minute 12 and the discussion of NaPro Technology treatment begins about minute 25.
Napro Reproduction Technology (2008) from Captain Courageous on Vimeo. Please share this information with anyone you know that maybe struggling with infertility. Infertile couples need to be given hope that their infertility can be diagnosed and treated without disregard for the little lives they so desperately want to hold. To find a NaPro Technology provider near you visit www.FertilityCare.org.
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