http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/ WERLSFertilityWorld.com - This blog is for those with an interest in fertility issues, treatment options, or infertility research papers. Dr. Werlin hopes to explain, teach and give insight into the world he has made his life’s work for over 20 years. en Copyright 2008 Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:05:11 -0800 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss This is one of my favorite times of the year - the opportunity to see the proud faces of Coastal's patients and their little ones. Only, this time some of those faces are painted and our Coastal family and friends are wearing the latest pirate, princess or superhero gear. Can't wait to see you there this Saturday! Saturday October 25, 2008 1:00 pm - 4:30 pm LOCATION: Coastal Fertility Medical Center 4900 Barranca Pkwy Irvine, CA 92604 Coastal Fertility Medical Center's 17th Annual Miracle Babies Halloween Reunion - Food & refreshments will be served. - Bring your camera: - Picnic style: Bring your beach chairs - Highlights include: Face Painting, Costume Contest & Karaoke http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/10/its_a_boo-tiful_event_our_17th.html http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/10/its_a_boo-tiful_event_our_17th.html Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:05:11 -0800 Location: The Pointe (Yellow Handrails) California State University, Long Beach 1250 Bellflower Blvd. Long Beach, CA 90840 For more information on the Symposium, please visit www.resolve.org Or http://www.resolve.org/site/Calendar/237296945?view=Detail&id=21921&whence=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.resolve.org%2Fsite%2FPageServer%3Fpagename%3DCalendar ]]> http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/10/its_national_infertility_aware.html http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/10/its_national_infertility_aware.html Fri, 17 Oct 2008 08:51:06 -0800 http://www.fertilehope.org/ ]]> http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/08/joining_fertile_hope_to_offer.html http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/08/joining_fertile_hope_to_offer.html Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:16:36 -0800 http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/britainhealthfertility ]]> http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/07/30th_anniversary_of_ivf_marks.html http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/07/30th_anniversary_of_ivf_marks.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:27:16 -0800 http://telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2267497/Frozen-embryos-better-than-fresh%2C-study-shows.html]]> http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/07/study_shows_frozen_embryos_are.html http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/07/study_shows_frozen_embryos_are.html Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:17:18 -0800 This Sunday is a special day as it marks the 100th Anniversary of Father’s Day. To all the fathers and soon-to-be dads, we honor you. We hope you enjoy your day! http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/06/happy_fathers_day.html http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/06/happy_fathers_day.html Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:22:31 -0800 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/11/sunday/main4086169.shtml?source=search_story ]]> http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/06/moms_of_multiples.html http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/06/moms_of_multiples.html Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:09:28 -0800 Did you know the first Mother’s Day was celebrated in 1907 and was established by Anna Marie Jarvis? Jarvis devoted her life to establishing Mother's Day as a national after her mother’s death in 1905. · Did you know that Mother’s Day holidays are also observed in several other countries? "Mothering Sunday" is celebrated in the UK and Ireland on the fourth Sunday of Lent. · Did you know in China most names begin with a character signifying mother which honors the maternal heritage? Every day is a day to celebrate your mother! I would like to also extend my gratitude to mothers nationwide – especially those whom I have had the pleasure of working with. You all encompass a loving and caring nature. This holiday reminds my team and me of why we are in the business we love – to help others achieve the gift of motherhood. ]]> http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/05/happy_mothers_day.html http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/05/happy_mothers_day.html Thu, 08 May 2008 11:26:40 -0800 After a year of trying on my own I had a tube removed and was told to seek fertility treatments. I went to Dr. Werlin for help. I have been a patient of Dr. Werlin's twice. The first time was in 2002 and I became pregnant on our first round and gave birth to a beautiful healthy little girl, the second time was in 2005 and again gave birth to a beautiful healthy little girl in 2006. Since then we have had a tubal pregnancy in September of 2007 which Dr. Werlin was there for me. Low and behold, with only one tub and not a very good one at that I came up pregnant again in March (this year). My husband and I were nervous to get excited at first knowing my history, but I am now 11 weeks pregnant with baby #3 and everything looks good. Dr. Werlin is the best and I miss his special care that I received during my first two pregnancies. I definitely have two miracle babies, and now one on the way. Never give up hope! Thanks Werl!!! ]]> http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/05/former_patient_shares_personal_story.html http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/05/former_patient_shares_personal_story.html Tue, 06 May 2008 16:19:02 -0800 I recently attended the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society's (PCRS) annual conference in Palm Springs, Calif. There were two discussions that peaked my interest, both of which I would like to share with my readers. First, it appears that acupuncture does play a role in improving In Vitro success. Over the years there have been studies exploring the connection between acupuncture and fertility, of which I have found very insightful. Stronger data now suggests that acupuncture has been beneficial in improving fertility. In my practice, when called for, we currently utilize acupuncturists in association with fertility treatments. Secondly, on the PGD front, it appears that the technology is advancing to a point where we may be able to, in the near future, look at all 23(24) chromosomes in a single cell. As you know, the present technology for PGD allows us to safely look 12 chromosomes. However, these 12 chromosomes, either individually or in some combination, do make up 85% of all the chromosomal abnormalities that occur. If the technology allows us to evaluate 23(24) chromosomes, this technique will be even more beneficial. All in all, it was a very successful meeting. http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/04/pacific_coast_reproductive_soc.html http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/04/pacific_coast_reproductive_soc.html Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:25:33 -0800 The Today Show recently aired a segment about the first set of twins born via IVF in the United States. Heather and Todd Tilton turned 25 this year and the show reflected on how IVF has evolved since their birth. I too wanted to reflect on the changes of IVF both socially and medically. When the Tilton’s were conceived fertility treatments were still relatively new. The embryologist who performed the first procedure was condemned by the Vatican, calling the procedure “unnatural.” Today, the process is a one that many couples turn to when conception is not possible. Medically, in 1982, the success rate was in single digits. Today, the procedure has a success rate of at least 30 percent per cycle. I am so glad to have been a part of the progress and to see first hand how IVF can help families. Here is to another 25 successful years! America's first ‘test tube’ twins turn 25 Siblings conceived in laboratory dish thankful to parents for never giving up By Mike Celizic TODAYShow.com contributor updated 7:33 a.m. PT, Tues., April. 1, 2008 Heather Tilton and her brother, Todd Tilton II, are ordinary siblings with an extraordinary message. The first twins born in America through in vitro fertilization, they want people to know that their parents’ refusal to take “no” for an answer is as relevant today as it was when they were conceived in a laboratory 25 years ago this month. “We’re here to extend the message that there is hope,” said Todd Tilton, who appeared with his sister on TODAY on Tuesday. “Throughout our lives, the message of ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way’ has resonated,” added Heather Tilton, who works for a New York financial firm. With them was their mother, Nan Tilton, 56, who had been told that she and her husband, Todd Tilton, Sr., would never have children and should quit trying. She was 30 years old in 1982 and the couple had been married for eight years and been trying to conceive for six. But her fallopian tubes were blocked and his sperm count was low, and even after five surgeries between the two of them, their chances of conceiving were still virtually zero. “We tried every technique and were told we would never have a child,” she told TODAY’s Ann Curry. That news was, she said, “absolute heartbreak.” A Quaker, Nan Tilton prayed for guidance and felt strongly that she should not surrender to medical opinion. “I felt very strongly that if we tried and never gave up, it would work,” she said. There was one chance, and it was a slim one at the time. It was a new and controversial technology called in vitro fertilization that generated massive media coverage in 1978 when the first child, Louise Joy Brown, was born in England. The embryologist who performed the procedure, Robert Edwards, was condemned by the Vatican, which called the procedure “unnatural,” a view shared by many commentators at the time. But Nan Tilton thought it might be a way for her to have a child. Drs. Howard Jones and Georgeanna Seegar Jones, founders of the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine in Norfolk, Va., successfully performed the procedure for the first time in the United States in 1981, resulting in the birth of Elizabeth Jordan Carr. Procedure common now The Tiltons went to the clinic the following year, and on July 12, 1982, their twins were conceived in the Jones Institute. They would be the first twins born of the procedure in the United States and the third in the world after sets born in Australia and Canada. Today, a week after the Tilton twins celebrated their 25th birthday, the procedure has a success rate of at least 30 percent per cycle, but, Nan Tilton told Curry, when she went to the clinic in 1982, the success rate was in single digits. Of all the women in the cycle she was in at the clinic, only she conceived. There never was a test tube involved in the procedure; fertilization instead took place with medical assistance in a laboratory vessel called a Petri dish. But the offspring so conceived were dubbed “test tube babies” by the media and for years the name stuck. Today, in vitro fertilization is just one of a number of procedures known collectively as assisted reproductive technology, or ART. California leads the nation in such births, followed by New York. In 1982, medical insurance did not cover in vitro fertilization and the Tiltons paid the $2,500 cost of the procedure from their own pockets. Today, one cycle of the procedure averages about $12,500, and a number of states require insurance carriers to cover the cost. Today, in vitro births are so common they go without notice. But Todd and Heather were the focus of intense media coverage after their births and their parents even wrote a book about their experience. Both twins said that their parents insulated them from the attention and the then-extraordinary means of their conception did not affect them while they were growing up. Todd, a gifted, self-taught musician who is due to graduate from Fordham University in May with degrees in business and communications, said he and his sister aren’t special at all, but their parents are. “I’m just thankful that my mother and my father both had the determination to go through everything they went through, being told no at every turn and still not relenting,” he said. http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/04/americas_first_test_tube_babies_turn_25_-_time_to_reflect.html http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/04/americas_first_test_tube_babies_turn_25_-_time_to_reflect.html Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:55:33 -0800 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23057790/from/ET/ ]]> http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/02/impact_of_acupuncture_on_in-vitro_fertilization.html http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/02/impact_of_acupuncture_on_in-vitro_fertilization.html Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:14:28 -0800 Washington Post Caffeine Increases Risk of Miscarriage, Study Finds By Rob Stein Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, January 21, 2008; A02 Caffeine consumption by pregnant women can significantly increase the risk of miscarriage, according to new research. The study, involving more than 1,000 pregnant California women, provides the most convincing evidence to date of such a link, the researchers said. Research previously indicated an increased risk, but scientists were unsure whether those findings were affected by the fact that women having morning sickness might be less likely to drink caffeinated drinks, such as coffee, and less likely to have miscarriages. "The relationship between caffeine intake and miscarriage was controversial," said De-Kun Li, a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif., who led the study. "The question has been whether this association is really due to caffeine itself or something else." To answer that, Li and his colleagues studied 1,063 women in the San Francisco area early in their pregnancies. They questioned the women in detail about their beverage consumption and whether they were experiencing morning sickness. Those women who consumed 200 milligrams of caffeine or more a day were about twice as likely to miscarry, the researchers report today on the Web site of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. That's about the amount of caffeine in two five-ounce cups of coffee, five 12-ounce cans of soda or six five-ounce cups of tea, Li said. The findings are consistent with those of earlier studies, which have found an increased risk of miscarriage from daily consumption of about 150 to 300 milligrams of caffeine, Li said. "But we went one step further in determining whether it was the caffeine itself or it was women changing their drinking pattern," he said. "My hope is our study will remove that uncertainty. I think this should put the argument to rest." Based on the findings, Li recommended that women who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant minimize caffeine intake. "If they have to drink caffeine-containing beverages, they should reduce the amount to one cup a day at the most," he said. Tracy Flanagan, director of women's health at Kaiser Permanente, agreed. "Avoiding [caffeine] may be even better. Consider switching to decaffeinated coffee and other decaffeinated beverages during your pregnancy," she said. "Learn to perk up instead with natural energy boosts, like a brisk walk, yoga stretches, snacking on dried fruits and nuts." ]]> http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/01/caffeine_increases_risk_of_miscarriage_study_finds_.html http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/01/caffeine_increases_risk_of_miscarriage_study_finds_.html Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:22:38 -0800 http://www.resolve.org/site/PageServer ]]> http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/01/resolve_advisory_committee_new_addition.html http://www.werlsfertilityworld.com/2008/01/resolve_advisory_committee_new_addition.html Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:57:57 -0800