Is Thyroid giving you infertility?

By Dr. Shweta Goswami 

Infertility as we all know is the inability to conceive after one year of regular intercourse without contraception. It is one of the medial, social and psychological burdens in the world. The thyroid hormone regulates cellular function; abnormal thyroid function can affect your fertility. 

According to Indian Thyroid society about 70% of women with PMS have low thyroid levels, which make the ovaries less able to produce progesterone leading to PMS symptoms. 

Having trouble getting pregnant? Your thyroid could be the problem - and your doctor may not even know it. Standard blood tests miss up to 80 percent of cases in which low tissue thyroid levels are causing or contributing to infertility. 

What are the factors affecting your Thyroid health? 

Your thyroid levels can be affected by a variety of reasons such as: 

• High stress levels 
• Nutritional deficiencies, if you are not taking proper balanced diet 
• Immunity disorders 
• Excessive levels of estrogen and prolactin in the body 

Under active thyroid (hypothyroidism) is a condition in which the thyroid gland doesn't produce enough of certain important hormones. For women, there is a link between hypothyroidism and infertility. Low levels of thyroid hormone can interfere with ovulation, which impairs fertility. In addition, some of the underlying causes of hypothyroidism — such as certain autoimmune or pituitary disorders — impair fertility. 

Since standard thyroid blood tests are not sensitive enough to detect low ovarian tissue levels the majority of the time, Women must find a knowledgeable physician who understands that standard tests will often not be useful in detecting low ovarian thyroid levels. 

Let’s look at the symptoms of developing thyroid: 

The symptoms of hypothyroidism can be of many types. Some patients show no symptoms, while others show some marked symptoms. The symptoms usually depend on the severity of the hormone deficiency and the rate at which it develops in the patient. The symptoms are usually milder at the beginning but develop gradually as the condition deteriorates.

• weight gain 
• fatigue 
• constipation 
• muscle

How old is too old to have a baby.?

By Dr. Shweta Goswami 

We all witnessed the recent news of an Indian couple where the woman of 72 years of age and her husband 79 years of age gave birth to a baby boy but at the same time we know that age factor is directly associated with decreasing fertility in women; their eggs grow old. But age does affect the fertility level in men too. 

Yes, you heard it right. Age is not a difficulty in women but after the age of 30, there is a drop in testosterone of 1% per year in men too. Testosterone is the energy, the hormone that you need to make good-quality sperm. It’s not just women who have to worry about their ticking reproductive clock. Men's sperm quality seems to decline after the age of 35. The older a man is the more his sperm cells are dived, and the more divisions present, the more there is a chance for an abnormality to occur. 

In males, sperm motility changed with age. Sperm motility is how well the sperm swim. Sperm motility is usually the best before age 25 and lowest after age 55. In fact, when comparing the number of “good swimming” sperm in men between the ages 30 to 35 with men over age 55, sperm motility decreased by 54 percent. 

In fact many studies have claimed that pregnancy rates decrease between 23% to 38% in comparisons between men under 30 and men over 50. Increased paternal age

Some Do’s and Don’ts during IVF treatment

By Dr. Shweta Goswami 

In Vitreo fertilization (IVF) is a blessing for infertile couples and indeed IVF trend has picked up in India from quite a while now.  When a couple chooses IVF for conception, it affects both the partners physically and emotionally.  There are a few things that you need to keep in mind to improve your chances of conception. 

1. First of all de-stress yourself; be calm and composed think positive.  Also avoid making major life changes such as moving to a new house or starting a new job the same time you’re going through the IVF process. As High stress levels are known to reduce fertility in both men and women and compromise the outcome of an IVF cycle. 

2. Take good care of yourself; It’s very hard to combine your job with an IVF treatment. Don’t stop living. Don’t put everything on hold for your big dream. The impact will be massive. 

3. Eat good amount of nutrients; before your IVF begin start eating fertility diet. Getting nutritious foods is vital for producing healthy eggs and promoting implantation of the embryo. Your diet should consist of 4-6 small meals each day and each should consist of some complex carbohydrate (such as brown rice or quinoa) interspread with fresh fruits and vegetables. For a fertility diet read here. 

4. Drink lots of fluids; Some women during IVF process suffer from OHSS (Ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome) so drink lots of fluids during this time. Drinking 3-5 liters of water per day can prevent OHSS in some cases. 

5. Stop consuming alcohol; Alcohol consumption, even in small amounts, can reduce a woman's chance of conceiving by more than 50%, so why take a chance. 

6. Communication

Trying to conceive then quit smoking

By Dr. Shweta Goswami

If you are a chain smoker and trying to get pregnant then please stop smoking as cigarette smoking is harmful to the ovaries, and the degree of damage is dependent upon the amount and length of the time a woman smokes or is exposed to a smoked environment. Nicotine and other harmful chemicals in cigarettes interfere with the body’s ability to create estrogen, a hormone that regulates folliculogenesis and ovulation. Female smokers also have decreased rates of fertility and decreased fallopian tube function. It not only can lead to all kinds of serious problems with the baby but also reduces the chances of IVF producing a live birth by 34% and increases the risk of an IVF pregnancy miscarrying by 30%. A pregnant woman who smokes also adds a risk to pregnancy. 

If you smoke for many years or smoke many cigarettes per day, your risk for fertility problems is increased. When you smoke, more than 7000 chemicals spread throughout your entire body and all of your organs. This can lead to serious fertility problems like blocked fallopian tubes, damage to your reproductive organs, premature menopause, genetic issues etc.  Ovarian aging is thought to be a major contributor to unexplained infertility. 

Not only that but due to the toxins that released from cigarettes; smokers are more likely to suffer from miscarriage than nonsmokers. In addition, smoking increases

With IVF it’s possible

By Dr. Shweta Goswami 

Motherhood completes a woman; in fact it makes you a better person. Every married woman dreams of having own her baby but due to fast paced life and sedentary lifestyles these dreams seem to have taken a back seat and people are busy in building their careers. 

Many times we don’t know that small lifestyle issues severely affect our fertility and there by reduces the chances of conceiving naturally. Fast paced life, junk food, late working hours affect the fertility levels in both men and women thereby making you infertile. 

According to ICMR (Indian council of medical research) bulletin it is estimated that globally between 60-80 million couples suffer from infertility every year, of which probably between 15- 20 million are in India alone. 

The reason behind infertility are many few of them could be PCOS, sedentary lifestyle, eating junk food, depression, problematic womb, consumption of alcohol, smoking, stressful life, uterine problems, fallopian tube blockage, low sperm count, etc. The causes of infertility are present in both the genders. A woman cannot be blamed alone for this. 

But thanks to modern technology In Vitreo Fertilization or IVF technique, a woman can now enjoy motherhood with their own biological child even after crossing their puberty age. However, many do not know about the advanced treatment presented by the medical science 

The fertility of a woman starts declining after she crosses 27 and men fertility too starts dropping after 35. The chances of miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or

Eat right to enhance fertility

By Dr. Shweta Goswami 

What you eat is directly affects your overall well being. It is very important for a woman to eat a healthy holistic diet to enhance the fertility. If you are planning for baby then your diet plays a very special role if you eat specialized fertility diet then it would enhance the egg and sperm quality and supports a healthy pregnancy.  

There are particular foods that may increase your fertility thereby enhancing the pregnancy success rates.  For example: Bananas are a great source of potassium, vitamin C, Vitamin B-6, Manganese, fiber and a range of other nutrients, which men need in order to maintain a strong sexual vitality. Also many studies have proved that bananas provide nutrients that can influence male fertility. Bananas are rich in Protein, Vitamins, Iron, Magnesium and Manganese which are essential for healthy sperm count in men. 

Apart from that starting your day with a bowl of oatmeal might be a course to successful conception because it has great cholesterol-lowering powers & regulates your blood pressure as well. It is well known that both high cholesterol & hypertension could affect fertility. Oats are a great source of many vital minerals and essential nutrients which are very good for a healthy fertility. They are rich in soluble fiber, protein, manganese, magnesium, zinc etc. which play a vital role in fertility enhancement. 

Diet is important for men too. Various studies have shown adverse effect of dairy products, especially those with high fat content and high carbohydrates

Time to seriously think of PCOS

By Dr. Shweta Goswami    

PCOS which is called Poly cystic ovarian syndrome is a hormonal imbalance disorder in which woman’s levels of sex hormones estrogen and progesterone gets out of balance. This leads to growth of ovarian cysts. To elaborate what actually cysts is that in girls with PCOS, the ovaries produce higher levels of androgen than normal, and this interferes with egg development and release. Some of the eggs develop into cysts which are little sacs filled with liquid and instead of being released during ovulation, these cysts build up in the ovaries and even get enlarged , hence the name poly cystic ovaries or Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome. Thus a girl or woman with PCOS does not actually have cysts in her ovaries, she has lots of egg follicles in various stages of maturation which on an ultrasound give the appearance of numerous fluid filled cysts in both ovaries  

Mostly more than half of women with poly cystic ovary syndrome don't even realize they have PCOS; mainly hormonal imbalances and genetics play a pivotal role in developing PCOS.   

Women with infrequent menstrual periods or irregular bleeding are likely to have PCOS. Moreover if you notice these symptoms in your body then please do consult a good IVF specialist as PCOS could give you infertility as well which means that you are unable to get pregnant on your own.  

One should consider getting evaluated for PCOS if:   

• you  have irregular menstrual cycle or prolonged cycles (beyond 35 days or so)
• increased growth of hair on the face, chest, stomach, back, thumbs, or toes 
• your skin is breaking out or you get acne, oily skin, or you are getting dandruff  
• you have gained extra weight around your tummy   
• darkening of skin around your neck    

If PCOS is not diagnosed early and treated properly it can lead to problems as well like type 2 diabetes , high cholesterol, high blood pressure, abnormal bleeding from the uterus, and very occasionally cancer too. The most important step is screening the condition and PCOS can be easily diagnosed through Blood tests and Ultrasound and therefore the chances of having serious side effects are reduced. The important thing is to diagnose