Tuesday, October 7, 2008

DHEA - A hormone that can rejuvenate egg production!



About a year ago, my aunt (who went through several In Vitro sessions and spent about $75,000 in the process) gave me a great tip for older women who are trying to get pregnant.

This invaluable bit of advice came from a woman who works at my aunt's elementary school. She and my aunt struck up a friendship, and this woman told my aunt that she was going through IVF treatment. Early in the treatment, she wasn't producing "good quality" eggs, which you really need in order to have a successful treatment / pregnancy (makes sense). But then she started taking DHEA and she was producing a lot more eggs. She even got to look into the microscope and could see that she had a lot more "follicles" (which release the egg) after taking the DHEA. I thought this was so interesting!

Anyway, I've done some research on it and there's a lot of info about it, but one of the best things I've seen on the net was this video on CBS's early show. You can read all you want on the net, but a picture (or should I say video) of a healthy baby is worth a thousand words! (Note - sorry you do have to watch a commercial they put at the beginning but it's worth it).


Watch CBS Videos Online

This is a discussion about it, from women who've tried it: http://hongkong.asiaxpat.com/forums/pregnancy-fertility/threads/121525/lower-fsh-increase-egg-with-dhea/

You can also download the reports (related to the video above) by clicking these links:

http://www.centerforhumanreprod.com/pdf/dheafs.pdf

http://www.centerforhumanreprod.com/pdf/breakthrough_1004.pdf

Welcome to Knock Knock Baby!

I created this blog to share with other women some of the interesting things I'm learning about fertility. I just turned 40 a few months ago and am currently trying to get pregnant (I've been trying "casually" on and off for years but since I've turned 40... IT'S ON!!!!!).

There are so many things to keep track of when you're trying to get knocked up. It seems pretty humorous at times to see how much "fertility stuff" is accumulating by my bedside and in my home. It started in 2004 with a "fertility scope" called Ovulook. I was fascinated to look at my own ferning patterns under a microscope! I've bought many things from Trying-To-Conceive (TTC) websites over the years, including sperm-friendly lubricant and a basal thermometer to keep track of my basal body temperature (aka BBT... good lord i've accumulated a big mental dictionary of acronyms!).

Anyway, I have heard of many "pregnancy tips" over the years, that I think some women may not have heard of (yet) so I like the idea of getting it out there. This blog is just a way to put all these ideas into one place (I originally wanted to do my own website but it's so much easier and faster to do a blog!).

More to come soon!

Ellebelle