Your heart can embrace your baby many years before your body can successfully carry it. This is the story of a mother who would not stop loving her baby although the doctors told her she would never get pregnant.

Nothing strikes fear in the heart of a woman with infertility more than the thought of hearing those words “I am sorry, but there is nothing we can do.” Julia Indichova refused to let those words stop her from her quest to have a baby. She followed her heart–and had not one, but two successful pregnancies after the doctors said it was impossible. Although she had been told that there was no chance of having a baby due as her ovaries were no longer working, her quest for motherhood continued.

Indichova’s path to parenthood will sound familiar for any woman who has experienced the pain of infertility due to high FSH levels–especially those over 40. Indichova tells of her struggles to get past the medical diagnosis of infertility both emotionally and physically. Her eventual success was through a variety of means including herbs (Traditional Chinese Medicine) and acupuncture. No matter what path you choose, her words are inspirational.

This is not a “How-To” manual. She provides few specifics about how she achieved her successful and healthy pregnancies. It is not her intention to tell you how much of this and what of that to take or do. This is instead a personal tale of pain and hope and finally, triumph over the odds. It is an inspiring and hope-filled book for any woman suffering from infertility. If you are facing an apparently hopeless fertility journey, Indichova’s story can help restore your hope and give you a window into how one woman changed her medical destiny and made motherhood a reality.

An HSG is an xray of your uterus and fallopian tubes done with a “contrast” dye so that the shape of these organs will show on the xray (normally soft tissues such as muscle and skin don’t show on an xray). The HSG must be done on days 7-10 of your cycle to rule out any chance that you might be pregnant.

About half the women I talk to say it is no big deal, the other half said it was very painful. I took two ibuprofen and two acetaminophen two hours before the test to be on the safe side.

When I went in for an HSG, I was very upset to learn that at this hospital they don’t allow spouses to accompany women through the procedure. I could have rescheduled for a different hospital since many do allow spouses to come along for moral support, but I decided I just wanted this done. The technicians were super nice and explained everything they were going to do.

As with most gynecological procedures, I was on my back with my feet in stirrups. The radiologist used a larger than usual speculum so he could get a good view of what he was doing. He then threaded a small catheter with a tiny flat balloon on the end into my cervix. This wasn’t as bad as I expected but there was some cramping. He then inflated the balloon slightly and began injecting the dye.

The catheter slid right out. This time my cervix had moved and he had a lot of trouble getting it back in. Worse, now I was cramping as bad as my worst periods and the muscle contractions didn’t help him in getting the catheter back in place. He started apologizing for the intense pain he was causing, but the catheter just wouldn’t go in. He turned the speculum a few times to get a better view. THAT was even better. He did eventually get the catheter in and said “This is one of the worst I have ever done! I do twelve of these a day and this was really difficult.” Trust me to be the one with the extra long cervix!

He explained that my cervix was more than twice as long as normal, likely from all those years of not having periods (I have polycystic ovarian syndrome). Once he had it in place and began inserting dye, it got even more painful as my cramps got worse when the dye pushed in. The good news is that most women don’t go through this much. The even better news is that my tubes both showed clear and my uterus is normal. This was a huge relief after so many years of worrying about it.

Having an HSG can often clear any debris or mucus blocking the tubes, so many women actually do get pregnant after an HSG. For most women it is not a terribly painful procedure, I just got lucky again. Both the radiologist and the technician complimented me on my pain tolerance and apologized for how unusually difficult my procedure was. I asked them if this was supposed to change my mind about wanting to go through labor. The laughed and said, “No, this is supposed to make labor look easy!”

If the HSG shows that you tubes are blocked, it is important to understand that this can be a false reading if your tubes are spasming they may appear blocked but not actually be blocked. It is also possible for mucus to block the openings. If your tubes appear blocked your doctor can often open themby inserting a small catheter into the opening of the tube.

While celiac disease affects approximately 1 in 133 people, hidden gluten sensitivity may affect as many as 1 person out of every 2. Celiac disease has dramatic symptoms including rapid weight loss and severe anemia. Hidden celiac disease or gluten sensitivity can remain hidden precisely because the symptoms are not apparent. Gluten sensitivity can be determined with a blood test, but if it is still in the early stages it may not show on a blood test.

Melissa Diane Smith is a nutritionist and health educator. She is also the author of Going Against the Grain, an explanation of how a sensitivty to gluten can ruin your health and what you can do about it. Smith spoke at the After the Diet PCOS conference in April 2006 where she talked about the infertility and gluten sensitivity. She stated that gluten sensitivity is a leading cause of recurrent miscarriage.

Symptoms of gluten sensitivity can include anemia, abdominal pain, bloating and gas, depression, fatigue, diahrrea and constipation. Gluten sensitivity is associated with a variety of other disease including infertility, autism, autoimmune diseases, frequent headaches, psoriasis and skin conditions as well as other problems. Women with celiac disease who do not follow a gluten-free diet have been found to enter menopause 4-5 years earlier than other women.

In addition, up to 39% of women with celiac disease have been shown to have periods of amenorhea (no periods). Clearly, if you are sensitive to gluten it can negatively impact your reproduction. Men with celiac disease have also been shown to have reduced fertility. While gluten sensitivity is not different than celiac disease, it only makes sense to investigate gluten sensitivity while battling unexplained infertility.

Smith said that 85% of her PCOS clients test positive for a sensitivity to gluten. When these women remove gluten from their diets they often see a marked improvement in their PCOS symptoms. She has also seen dramatic improvement in cholesterol levels, thyroid function and weight loss in women who have changed their diets to avoid gluten.

Smith recommends that women who suffer from gluten sensitivity avoid gluten containing foods including hidden gluten such foods as soy sauce, teas and foods containging barley malt, vegetable protein made from wheat gluten, and beer. Don’t just replace the high glutne grains with more starchy or sugary foods though or you run the risk of developing insulin resistance. Instead, focus on fresh vegetables.

For more information about gluten sensitivity read Going Against the Grain: How Reducing and Avoiding Grains Can Revitalize Your Health

In the earlier group, breast development began at an average of 10.9 years of age. The more recent group began developing breasts at an average of 9.9 years. While other markers of development such as onset of menses and pubic hair was also found to be earlier, the difference was less drastic with an average difference of 0.2-0.3 years earlier development. Researchers found that breast development was early even when they took looked at weight as a factor.

Early puberty can lead to more risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, polycystic ovarian syndrome and risky social behavior. PCOS is a leading cause of infertility. Girls who develop physically younger may not be ready to handle the increased social pressure to experiment sexually and therefore may engage in more risky behavior at a younger age. This is an example of one more reason we need to work to protect young girls from the social pressures of body image and too-early sexual pressure.

Environmental toxins from Bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles and other plastics to pesticides have all been tied to hormone disorders and early onset of puberty. Many different chemicals can act like hormones in the body or may disrupt normal hormone processes.

You can read more about this study here:

Puberty Study Article

An excellent book on helping young girls to help with the pressures our society puts on them is Reviving Ophelia. I highly recommend reading the book if you are a parent or loved one of a young girl.

A study at Tufts University shows that even if an ultrasound reveals that you have polycystic ovaries, you may be as fertile as other women. Even if you have PCOS this study suggests that if you can reduce your symptoms of polycystic ovarian syndrome, you may become more fertile in spite of having polycystic ovaries. (Hassan, M et al, Fertility and Sterility, 2003, 80(4):966-975).

Researchers used ultrasound to identify 210 women as having polycystic ovaries. One-third of these women had none of the typical symptoms of PCOS. The non-symptomatic women took no longer to get pregnant than women with normal ovaries. In other words, the asymptomatic polycystic women were just as fertile as women with normal ovaries.

Some women seem to have cysts on their ovaries with no other symptoms. Those who have other symptoms may find that if they can improve their overall health they can improve their fertility, whether or not their ovarian cysts disappear. Women with PCOS often find that if their health improves and their hormones become balanced their ovarian cysts go away on their own.

The typical cysts found in polycystic ovaries are small and while they may cause some minor pain or tenderness, they are not usually a serious health problem. Most cysts are actually fluid filled and often disappear on their own. Some ovarian cysts are filled with tissue and are called dermoid cysts.

Large cysts can be removed, if necessary, through surgery or in some cases by having the fluid removed with a syringe in laporoscopic surgery. Talk to your doctor about the risks of surgery and whether it is possible to wait a few months to see if the cysts resolve on their own. In rare cases ovarian cysts can be cancerous. In that case it is vital to have treatment as soon as possible to prevent it from spreading.

If you have larger cysts, constant or sharp pain, or your doctor recommends further treatment it is wise to have the cysts treated. Large ovarian cysts can rupture causing internal bleeding or may cause they ovary to twist and lead to severe pain or even loss of the ovary.

“After I started keeping a journal, I noticed that my symptoms were worse when I was sleep-deprived,” Andrea said. “I guess I just didn’t make the connection until I saw how often I wrote that I was overtired and that my blood sugar levels were much more out of whack than usual.”

James Pennebaker, Ph.D., a research psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin, has conducted numerous studies on the physical benefits of journal writing. His 1997 book Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotion, details numerous studies showing that people who write about traumatic experiences feel better emotionally and physically. He found that after writing about difficult emotions study participants had stronger immune function and fewer doctor visits than those who only wrote about their everyday lives.

A groundbreaking 1999 study detailed the effect of writing about stressful events for the chronically ill. Researchers at the State University of New York at Stony Brook asked 112 patients with asthma or rheumatoid arthritis to write 20 minutes a day for three days. Some were told to write about the most stressful event of their lives; others were asked to write about their plans for the day.

After four months, asthma patients who wrote about stressful events showed a 19 percent improvement in lung function, and rheumatoid arthritis sufferers had a 28 percent improvement in overall symptoms. There was no change in those who had only written about daily plans. (Journ. Amer. Med. Assoc., April 1999, 281:14)

Emptying your brain on paper can also help with stress relief and improve sleep problems. Kathleen Adams, founder/director of the Center for Journal Therapy and author of Journal to the Self and The Way of the Journal, refers to this as containment. “Use your journal book literally as a container,” she advises. “…When you write, you are moving thoughts, feelings and energy out of your mind and body and into a neutral, receptive place where they will be stored safely for you.” Even this seemingly simple act can do wonders for your stress and anxiety levels.

Most women with PCOS do have children if they want them. Yes, it is often more difficult to conceive with PCOS, but most women suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome are able to have children even if some of them need medical help to do it.

Polycystic ovary syndrome raises your risk of diabetes, certain cancers and heart disease. What the doctors leave out is that there are ways to significantly reduce your risk. PCOS is a wake-up call to take care of your body. It is a reminder that you can’t take your health for granted. It is no where near the doom and gloom prognosis that many women are given.

Treating PCOS is not easy. I don’t like having to pay attention to my diet and exercise. I would prefer to keep flying by the seat of my pants through life. Slowiing down and taking care of myself are worth it and the same things I have to do to care for my PCOS symptoms are the same things experts are now receommending we all do to take care of ourselves. Eat right, sleep right, exercise, relax….

I have been struggling with PCOS since puberty. More than 20 years later I am still going strong. I do have to be careful to take care of myself a little more than average. I am still working on having a baby. But my life is full and I am able to control the worst PCOS symptoms by taking good care of myself.

Living with PCOS is not always easy. It is far easier than living with many, many other conditions. In many ways I feel lucky to have PCOS instead of some of the illnesses I see other people struggling with.

When you learn you have PCOS it can throw you for a loop. Pick yourself up, learn more about it, learn how to take care of your body.

Most PCOS symptoms can be reduced or eliminated with good self care. Take the time to listen to your body and take care of yourself and you will reap the rewards. PCOS is a wake-up call – not a tragedy.

The study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, looked at the reproductive history of 91 women diagnosed with PCOS and 87 non-PCOS controls, all study participants were 35 or older. Participants in the study were asked about the number and timing of babies and results from women with PCOS and without PCOS were compared. Among women who had attempted to have children, 86.7% of PCOS patients and 91.6% of controls had given birth to at least one child. Among women with PCOS who had given birth, 73.6% had gotten pregnant on their own, without medical intervention.

As I have noted in other articles, women who have babies without help are rarely diagnosed with PCOS, even if they have all of the other symptoms. PCOS makes it harder to have a baby, but it does not rule it out.

While this study is pretty small, it fits with the answers I have gotten in surveys and anecdotal evidence from the many women who have shared their stories with me. Most women w

For many years now I have suspected a trend towards women with PCOS getting pregnant on their own a bit later in life. Over and over, women tell me that they tried for years, then were able to have babies without help.

You can read about the study in New Scientist magazine and I have also included a link directly to the study.

New Scientist Article

Link to Study

Now, we know that for women who ovulate normally, fertility decreases over time. Apparently, for women with PCOS there is an increase in fertility before it decreases again.

My advice (after waiting until my late 30’s for that first baby to finally maker her appearance)? If you are ready to have a baby, try for one. If it doesn’t happen right away and you are in your early to mid 20’s, find something wonderful to do with your time while you wait. You’ll cherish the things you accomplished during that time long after the babies do finally make their appearance.

I will never forget my first IUI. My doctor assured me that it would be much, much easier than the HSG (hysterosalpongogram) they had used to check for blockages in my tubes. I told him the HSG tech said my cervix was difficult. He said they’d use ultrasound to guide the way and that it would not hurt as much. Mostly he lied.

For one thing, my doctor didn’t perform the procedure. It was performed by two super nice nurses. They asked me to identify the donor sample we were to use. I said I’d never seen it before, but hey, looks like sperm to me. They asked me to check the numbers on the syringe and the numbers on the form I had to sign. Yup, looks like sperm to me.

They didn’t use ultrasound either. Don’t know if that would have helped, but for me the worst of it seems to happen when they are trying to find the opening to my cervix. Seems mine is never in the right spot. It took a long time for them to get the right size speculum in the right spot to see where they were going. I don’t want to scare anyone, because from what I hear mine was far, far worse than average (as usual). But this was not fun.

Once they figured out where to go, the insemination itself was a breeze. Then the cramping started. I had to stay on my back for 20 minutes while “gravity” did its thing. They tilted the edge of the table up in the air and left the room. I shifted, squirmed, cried, and tapped my feet for 20 minutes while I begged these anonymous sperm to swim the right direction despite my cramping uterus. My husband said, “Don’t worry, labor will be a lot worse.” He is a very, very lucky man. If I had not been afraid of losing $300 worth of donor sperm I might have broken my vow of non-violence.

Since that first time, I have had three more IUI. None of them have worked for me, but at least the next three were much more comfortable. I had a different doctor and she actually did the procedure instead of passing it off to nurses.

Studies have shown that IUI in conjunction with other treatements can improve your odds of conceiving.

If you have been trying to get pregnant for more than a year if you are under 30, or more than 6 months if you are over 30, it is time for both of you to be talking to your doctor. Even if you already know that you have a fertility issue, it is important to have your partner tested as well.

Many women have told me that they have undergone painful and expensive infertility treatments, only to find that their male partner also had fertility problems. A simple sperm analysis is only about $90-125 even without insurance, and it can save a whole lot of heartache and expense.

My husband and I were shocked to find out that he had morphology issues (sperm shape and function). We had assumed that since he had one child from a previous marriage, and we had gotten pregnant with our first child easily, that any fertility problems must be mine.

If you can get your partner to open up about why he is refusing to be tested, it can help clear things up. If not, you can still work towards getting him tested by gently explaining that the test for him is non-invasive and that it will bring you a lot of peace of mind to know the results. You can also explain that in many cases, any problems can be treated easily.

Let him know that by being tested, he can make it easier on you and save money on treatments by narrowing down the cause. Assure him that your feelings for him will not change, no matter what the test results. Men play tough, but they often really fear losing a woman’s love if they are not perfect.

Finally, find some simple but good information online that can help him to understand how important this test is in helping you achieve your goal of a healthy baby.