How to deal with news items about infertility, one at a time

I was in my tshirt and track suit this morning, just putting on an apron so I could get stuck into making my daughter's birthday cake, when the phone rang. It was Jayson Mansaray, presenter for Lunch at 91.8 HayesFM radio asking if I would be willing to speak on the radio about an article that appeared online this morning: Blood Type Could Bar Women From Conceiving.  Having just a moment to think about it, I agreed and scrambled to pull together some information for HayesFM's listeners. I have to say that it was nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time, but I hope to repeat the experience in the future. I must have done well enough, as Jayson asked me if I would be willing to do more interviews in the future!

The article in question reports that a study in New York, by Yale University and Albert Einstein School of Medicine, has concluded that women with Type O blood are more than twice likely to have elevated FSH levels than women with Type A blood. Since FSH levels of 10 or higher have been linked to lower egg count and poor quality eggs, the headline implied that Type O blood could mean the inability to conceive. Jayson Mansaray wanted to know what a woman should think and do if she is trying to conceive and knows she has Type O blood.

Do not panic. Remember that headlines are there to grab attention and sell papers. Read on:

1. Check the credibility of the news source;
2. Check the credibility of the institutions doing the study;
3. Check the size of the study; and
4. Carefully read the body of the news story, that tells the real story. There should be less inflammatory language than in the headline. Look for words like "may" and "could" to determine whether this applies to you.

This article states that there 560 women participated in the study; however, it does not say how many of these women had Type O blood, or how many of them failed to conceive. It just says that the chances of those with Type O blood having elevated FSH levels is twice that of the women with Type A blood. That could still mean a miniscule number of women were actually rendered infertile by this link between blood type and hormone levels.

Look for good news. The article states that:

1. More research needs to be done, meaning that this study isn't conclusive;
2. A larger group of women need to be involved in a future study;
3. This is not as serious a factor in infertility as age, so if you are a younger woman with Type O blood, you may not have any problems conceiving at all;
4. If you have Type O blood and have been trying to conceive naturally for more than 6 months, bring a copy of the article to your GP.  They may not be aware of the link between blood type and FSH levels, so it could help get you referred to a consultant earlier; and
5. If you are referred for medical investigations, you can inquire about egg freezing and storage in order to accumulate enough eggs for an IVF cycle. If you are 39 years old or under and have not had children yet, you may be eligible to have the egg retrieval, freezing and storage paid for by the NHS.

Keeping your stress levels to a minimum is important while you are trying to conceive. That can be managed by being proactive and maintaining a sense of control over your fertility health. Here are a few tips for achieving that feeling of control and balance:

1. Research news items through credible sources, including the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, Infertility Network UK and the American Fertility Association.
2. Begin and maintain a dialogue with your GP about your concerns, bringing copies of articles of which they may not be aware, but don't run to her in a panic to query every news item about infertility.
3. From the time you begin trying to conceive, chart your menstrual cycle, your temperature, your ovulation (if you know how to accurately predict it), and how often you are having unprotected sexual intercourse.  There are devices you can purchase which will do this for you, or you can manually chart it on a template supplied by your doctor or online.
4. Build a support network from friends and family, face-to-face support groups, a fertility coach, online forums, blog visitors, Twitter followers and/or Facebook friends.

Finally, concentrate on the positives.  Because fertility medicine is an area in which we are seeing rapid progress, we should expect to see frequent news reports of this kind.  While a woman may  may see today's report as another obstacle in their battle against infertility, it's important to remember that every new finding gives the medical community more information, on which they can make quicker diagnoses and adjustments in treatment. 

Comments

[Krissi]

This is quite interesting! Thanks for the tips! And congrats on the radio interview! That is so exciting!

[Kathleen]

i was so irritated to see this study. i'm A+ and do have low fsh (5-6) but can't seem to make good eggs or get pregnant after 3 IVF cycles. i'm almost 36, so i'm assuming that's the issue. it just angers me how our media throws out little tidbits but doesn't really give the whole picture. Fsh is predictive yes, but not the only thing that is important. thanks for writing about it here.