Testosterone for the testes

Hello again!

So about a week and a half ago hubby started having a little pain in his testicular area, so I had him go in to the doctor to get checked. Turned out he was just fine, and nothing was wrong. But, the doctor decided to do some more blood tests and found out his testosterone was still low. They decided to have him get testosterone injections every two weeks for a few months at home, (lucky for him I'm a medical assistant so I'm able to give them to him!) this will continue while we are in Colorado on our internships until we come back in April to see if it worked.

In the mean time, the side affects can be acne and developing man boobs, so hubby has decided to work out more to prevent that ;)

If this doesn't work, it will be on to a urologist for us! :p
Wish us luck

-Sister M

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Hello Ladies, I'm back from my recent infertility funk and I'm excited to welcome our new adopted author, Sister M. We are excited to have someone with a new point of view here on the blog!

As I thought about my uterus's recent decision to continue to work against me and allow the progesterone to shed the precious lining, the only thing that's going right in my lady parts. I couldn't help but curse the little buggers all over my ovaries that are the main cause to my infertility. Hence my topic title, I thought maybe I should go into a little more detail about one of my fertility whoas. 

              "Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common hormonal disorder among women of reproductive age. The name of the condition comes from the appearance of the ovaries in most, but not all, women with the disorder — enlarged and containing numerous small cysts located along the outer edge of each ovary (polycystic appearance)."

 http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/polycystic-ovary-syndrome/DS00423

 So in a women's terms: PCOS is a disease in women when cyst on the ovaries can prevent the women from ovulating. The cyst can be caused, as in my case, by insulin resistances or hormonal imbalance. The cyst are basically follicles that can't mature completely because of a lack of hormone so instead they become the spons of the devil. This is usually where Clomid comes in to aid in your hormonal production to help you mature those oh-so-precious follicles that could potentially change your life...As pictured above, cyst pretty much look exactly like that! Fun,I know! You may be wondering what these cyst do after awhile of taking a vaca on your tab....well they can eventually decrease in size or burst and cause pain you'd never wish on your worst enemy.

  Well ladies, I'm sorry to have been gone for so long and I promise to never do it again! Also and update on home remedies...I have started a new herb recommended by a herbalist that is designed to aid PCOS. The company is called Nature's Sunshine and is highly recommended because if its quality and the herbs are Wild Yam and Chaste Tree and False Unicorn Root. I'll let you know if I have any success in ovulating with these herbs. Oh and an update on my recent sister-in-law, APPARENTLY shes been complaining about how hard its been for her to get prego...they've been married for 3 months and my brother-in-law travels for work so has been home for maybe 3 weeks since the nuptials.....this chick has no idea whats hard is! Aw the life of an infertilist! As always ladies, remember you're not the only one who cries until she laughs about her highly dysfunctional uterus =] 

Sincerely,
Sister H

Newbie!

Hey Everyone!

I am new to this blog and so excited to join! My name is Sister M, and I am a classmate of Sister H.

So here's our story:

My husband and I have been trying for about a year now with no luck. We went into the doctor to see if anything was wrong in September of this year, I thought for sure I had endometreosis because of my heavy periods and cramping every month. They run tests and check my uterus and turns out I am totally fine. I also ovulate every month which is good! Next, they have my husband do a seminalysis. Come to find out, his sperm count is low. They put him on an antibiotic for 10 days since it might be due to an infection in the testicles. He goes back in for another seminalysis, and the meds didn't work. This time they put him on a higher dose of the drugs twice a day for 30 days. Sperm count is still low. They now want to just send him to a Urologist and be done with him. In the mean time, I do some research and hear that low sperm count can be due to a varicocele, which is where one side of the veins in the testicle is twisted/knotted, blocking normal sperm flow, and the only cure is surgery. I decide to check his "area", and I think I find a small area of this. Hubby goes to the doctor to get it checked for sure, and they say he does have it a little but not enough to affect his sperm count. The doctor then decides to test his testosterone levels and they come back a little low. He now wants to do more tests to see if it is due to a neurological defect or something else. Either way, it is apparently treatable, but we have not gotten any definite answers yet.

In the mean time, we found a natural fertility supplement that is supposed to help boost sperm count. All reviewers said they either got pregnant or it at least boosted their count even if they weren't pregnant yet, and even though we are not getting our hopes up we decided to try it. He has been taking it for a couple weeks now, so we continue to track my ovulation and try every month.

As Sister H has mentioned before, it has been so hard living in this small town where everyone and their mom in pregnant or has a baby, many without even trying. I hate the "pep" talks, and the snotty remarks people say when they find out you are trying with no success yet. Even just people saying to me "Oh you've been trying THAT LONG!?" that drives me nuts. I hate when people at church just expect you to get pregnant right away, and when you're one of the only couples that aren't, they don't know what to say to you, so they always say the wrong thing. Especially since they all get together as moms only.

So that's my little schpiel, enduring through it! I will keep you all updated :)

Slow and Steady May Just Win the Race

I have been putting off writing for the last two weeks because I didn't think the clomid would work this month. Just to recap:

We are on 150mg of clomid.
We are monitoring my ovaries every few days to track the growth of the follicles.
Once a follicle is big enough (and I don't ovulate) we will induce ovulation wtih a HCG trigger shot.
Once I actually do ovulate (a day after the trigger shot) we are doing an IUI.

So my first few appointments weren't very promising - none of my follicles were getting big enough to ovulate. I figured we would have to just wait to try again in January. But on day twenty I went in for one last check and wouldn't you know it, we had a late bloomer follicle!! I was so excited I cried, and the ultrasound tech looked at me like, "Geeze Lady, hormonal much?"

I had another first this month. I got to do the "trigger" shot, yay!! It really isn't that bad. The medication is already in the shot and the needle is super tiny. I didn't feel a thing. Also, I had my husband give me the shot, and he distracted me while he did it. Then I got a lolly pop. So we did that Monday night, and then we came back Wednesday morning for the IUI.

If you don't know what an IUI is, here is a really great website the will explain in more detail than I am willing to go. But basically my hubby gives a, uh, "sample" to the doctor, who measures, counts, and washes them, and adds them to a serum that will make them swim better. Then the sample is injected into my uterus (which is accessed via a medieval torture device). The look on my husband's face when the nurse asked him if he wanted to push the syringe to inject the semen was hilarious! I think he was still in shock over the torture device, and felt more comforable sitting in the corner of the room with his jaw dropped.

I feel like the stars are aligning this month. His sample was perfect and the follicle was perfect. I'm just hoping they swim straight to that egg. And now we are in that awkward 2-week waiting period where you over-analyze every little cramp or nauseous feeling just hoping and praying that this month it will work out. This month you will be one of the lucky 5-15%. And if not, here's hoping for next month!!

Yours Truly,
Sister K

Ghetto Walmart - Clomid Monitored IUI take 2

As you can guess from the title, our last round of clomid/ IUI was a fail. You could stay it never really got off the ground because I never even ovulated, which means an egg never popped out, which means the spermies didn't have a finish line to cross, which means no baby was made. And on top of knowing that I had no chance of getting prego that month, and consequently not making my goal of getting prego before Christmas so I can tell everyone on Christmas day, I started my period the SAME DAY MY SIL GAVE BIRTH!!!!!! I really felt like the universe was giving me the middle finger . . .

I just don't understand what went wrong. The previous month I was on the same dose and my ovaries worked. This month, however, they were on strike. Our doctor suggested upping the dose of clomid and if that doesn't work, the next step is to try the shots. I was really excited to try the shots because they are supposed to be a sure-fire way of making those ovaries produce the goods. But the nurse warned us that if I produce too many mature follicles they would stop treatment (something about not repeating octomom or something) and we could either pay another $9,000 MORE to harvest the eggs for IVF, or abandon the cycle (meaning that we pinkie promise to the doctors that we won't have sex and get pregnant with 8 babies). Since we have yet to win the cash lottery, we chose to try upping the dose of clomid and doing the IUI again. If this doesn't work, I'm headed to Vegas to rob a casino. And maybe take a reproductive endocrinologist hostage.

Statisitcally, clomid gives us a 10-15% chance of sucessful birth, and the shots increase the odds to 20-25% chance. However, we are currently paying $1,000 per cycle for monitored clomid IUI, and doing the shots would change the price to $4,000.  With a limited budget, and a husband who's good at math, we decided that we'll get more statistical bang for our buck with four clomid cycles than with one shots cycle.

You know what else doesn't help? The pharmacy that fills my clomid Rx is in the Walmart across the street from us. This isn't your middle-class suburbia Walmart. This is a low-class inner-city ghetto-mart (my husband actually calls it "Ghetto Walmart," but I digress.) So every time I go to fill my prescription, I have to wade through hundreds of uneducated unemployed scantily-clad women about my age who have 3-5 dirty kids trailing behind them, probably with 3-5 different baby-daddys. Not only do none of these women deserve to have babies, but I'm freaking paying for all of their medicaid babies with my tax dollars. And on top of paying for their sexual indiscretions and accidents, I have to pay thousands extra for myself to still not be able to have kids. Karma? Are you listening???

So here we are again, on day 5 with a higher dose of clomid (150 mgs) hoping and praying that this will be the month, and I will finally be able to say, "Why yes, as a matter of fact I am pregnant." Until then, here's hoping for next cycle!

Yours Truly,
Sister K

Ghetto Walmart

The Day I Disappeared (A.K.A. Nutritional Facts)

Hello Ladies,

My title may be a little misguiding but I thought it utterly appropriate for the subject of my newest post. To explain, I have recently been on this "kick" of taking lots and lots of vitamins and trying to find foods that will decrease the amount of little buggers on my oh-so-famous ovaries. Through research I have found a few "very" important foods to stay away from and vitamins to ingest regularly....or so Google says =] And let me tell you, after what feels like very thorough research I have nothing left to eat!

Disclaimer: I have not seen a doctor about these "natural" ways but I didnt talk to a pharmacist and she recommended a few of these things as well.

First off, we'll start with vitamins/herbs:

Vitamin B: " important for regulating the role of enzymes, proteins that regulate chemical reactions in the body and convert food to energy."

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/394777-vitamins-to-take-for-pcos/#ixzz29adBzEct

Vitamin D and Calcium together: "calcium is an important part of egg maturation and normal ovarian follicular development. For calcium to be absorbed properly in the body, you must take vitamin D. In addition, women with PCOS who have vitamin D deficiency have been shown to regain regular menstruation when taking vitamin D and calcium together."

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/394777-vitamins-to-take-for-pcos/#ixzz29addkTkE

Vitex (Chasteberry): " It is used for menstrual cycle irregularities, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), a more severe form of PMS called premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), and symptoms of menopause. It is also used for treating “lumpy” (fibrocystic) breasts, female infertility, preventing miscarriage in women with low levels of a hormone called progesterone, controlling bleeding and helping the body force out the placenta after childbirth, and increasing breast milk."

Read more:  http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-968-CHASTEBERRY.aspx?activeIngredientId=968&activeIngredientName=CHASTEBERRY

Red Raspberry Leaf: " most popular of all fertility herbs. It is a well-known uterine tonic and is also quite high in calcium."

Read more:http://voices.yahoo.com/treating-pcos-vitamins-herbs-82598.html

 

Red Clovers: "very valuable to the uterus and its high protein content benefits the whole body. It's also quite high in calcium & magnesium, which relax the nervous system and help promote fertility. This herb also contains nearly every trace mineral needed by the glands. Daily use can help balance hormonal functioning."

Read more:  http://voices.yahoo.com/treating-pcos-vitamins-herbs-82598.html

This is where I get to the part of disappearing....

NO SUGAR

No High Fructose Corn Syrup

No White Flour

No Baked Goods

No Ceareal

No Processed Foods

No Fruit Drinks

Read more: http://www.ehow.com/list_5851584_list-high-fructose-corn-syrup.html

All of these delicious delights contain either way too much sugar or high fructose corn syrup which can essentially cause more little buggers because they elevate your blood sugar levels that your insulin doesn't know what to do with. This brings me back to my post title, I LIVE OFF OF FOODS WITH ALL THIS CRAP IN IT.....therefore I will disappear because of a lack of food. I don't know how I'm ever going to be able to pop one of those eggs out if I continue to eat the way I do (which I don't believe is too bad but if you look up a lot of your food, high fructose corn syrup is in freaking everything)! So ladies, I must say that my recent research has left me with a bad craving for mint cookies and cream ice cream and dagger eyes for my ovaries =] Oh and a little update, I started the herb Vitex (chasteberry) and I will let you know how that goes! As always ladies, remember that you're not the only one who cries until she laughs about her highly dysfunctional uterus =]

Sincerely,

Sister H

Anatomical Atari

Once again I found myself in the doctor's office checking the Swiss cheese they call my ovaries this month for more cysts. I dropped my pants like I do every other visit, did the naked-hop to the exam table and took a seat to wait for the nurse to come in. Every time it's the same cute little woman who is kind enough to make small talk while she probes my insides. This visit, however, was different. Very different . . . So there I sat waiting when two ladies I'd never seen before came and greeted me. I was slightly disappointed that I didn't have my regular nurse. Anywho, the younger of the two ladies (whom I presume were nurses) took a seat next to me and began the exam. Everything was going fine until she inserted the wand up my va-jay-jay and began using it as a joy stick. Now I know these things can be slightly uncomfortable, but after so many exams I kinda got used to it. Not this one! I'm not sure what she was doing but it felt like she was having a boxing match with my ovaries. Jab left! Now Right! Oh holy heck! Just when I thought the torture might be over, she starts to use the wand as a pry bar! I was defiantly a little sore after that exam . . . I guess if I get pregnant this month then it would all be worth it.

Did I mention that we decided to do IUI (intra-uterine-insemination) this month? Basically that means that instead of doing the baby dance at home, on ovulation day the doctor injects my hubby's little swimmers straight into my uterus. So romantic, I know! It worked for a friend of mine and we are praying that it will work for us, too. And if not, then here's to hoping for next month!

Yours Truly,
Sister K