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Article by Dr. Randine Lewis re: high FSH (PART I)
High FSH? By Dr. Randine Lewis
"High FSH"..."Poor Responder"..."Old Eggs"..."Advanced Maternal Age"..."Donor Egg Candidate" ...
These are the most devastating reproductive diagnoses a woman can receive. The majorities of my patients who have high FSH, are over 35 years of age, and have been labeled this way. Yet, nobody starts out with these diagnoses. Most women end up with these labels after years of failed reproductive treatments.
Laura had been given each of these diagnoses from her reproductive endocrinologist, and has just given birth to her son, whom she conceived naturally. 44 year old Kathleen was told she would never become a mother unless she used a younger woman's donated eggs. Her doctor was wrong. When her reproductive system was nurtured and cared for naturally, she conceived her healthy daughter on her own.
Last week a reporter queried me on a quote a reproductive endocrinologist gave her: "2/3 of women over the age of 35 require medical intervention in order to conceive." These attitudes are not only wrong, they are downright harmful. Keep in mind there is a large financial incentive for you to believe these demoralizing prognoses - reproductive medicine is an ever growing multi billion dollar per year cash industry, whose financial rewards grow exponentially when you submit to the belief that your only chance of becoming a parent is through medical intervention. They make no money when you conceive on your own. They make maximum profit when multiple women are involved in helping you achieve a pregnancy at all costs.
Certainly, some women do require medical intervention. Yet, it should not be offered as a blanket solution to all infertility problems. It is accepted medical tradition that the simplest, least aggressive, and most cost effective treatments should always be exhausted first. Yet most women who ask their doctors "Is there anything I can do to improve my reproductive status?" are told definitively "No, you are simply too old." Since most insurance companies don't cover infertility treatment, and since there is an automatic medicolegal defense against litigation ("You came to me infertile, what's the damage?"), Western reproductive specialists feel safer in offering a more aggressive approach, and we capitulate to their treatments because we are in a state of panic.
Medical charts abound with these types of unsettling comments: "Mrs. Nesbitt is a three time clomid failure." "Ms. Callahan is a poor responder to maximum stimulation, and an IVF failure. Recommend donor." Then they come to me as a last resort, hopeless, and depleted - financially and spiritually. They don't feel good about themselves, their bodies, or their lives.
My intention is not to bash reproductive medicine, but to put it in its proper perspective. Yes, we hear of reproductive successes when 'infertile' celebrities end up with a couple of offspring in toe, most often the result of someone else's eggs. Yet, month after month, and year after year, I pick up the pieces of broken lives, broken promises, and broken dreams. And the stories don't ever change. The histories begin with unexplained infertility after one year of unprotected intercourse, and end up with "IVF failure, recommend donor." Every time. I propose that reproductive medicine more often than not fails us! Yet we are the ones who are conditioned to feel that it's our fault when their drugs don't work on us.
Reproductive medicine has one thing to offer women to help them conceive - that single drug is the all powerful, commanding hormone, FSH. And if you have any of those dreaded reproductive diagnoses listed above, FSH will cease to be effective in your body. And you know the old adage, "If all you have is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail." When you are no longer the perfect nail, they try to bend and straighten and flatten you with the only tool they have.
"High FSH"..."Poor Responder"..."Old Eggs"..."Advanced Maternal Age"..."Donor Egg Candidate" ...
These are the most devastating reproductive diagnoses a woman can receive. The majorities of my patients who have high FSH, are over 35 years of age, and have been labeled this way. Yet, nobody starts out with these diagnoses. Most women end up with these labels after years of failed reproductive treatments.
Laura had been given each of these diagnoses from her reproductive endocrinologist, and has just given birth to her son, whom she conceived naturally. 44 year old Kathleen was told she would never become a mother unless she used a younger woman's donated eggs. Her doctor was wrong. When her reproductive system was nurtured and cared for naturally, she conceived her healthy daughter on her own.
Last week a reporter queried me on a quote a reproductive endocrinologist gave her: "2/3 of women over the age of 35 require medical intervention in order to conceive." These attitudes are not only wrong, they are downright harmful. Keep in mind there is a large financial incentive for you to believe these demoralizing prognoses - reproductive medicine is an ever growing multi billion dollar per year cash industry, whose financial rewards grow exponentially when you submit to the belief that your only chance of becoming a parent is through medical intervention. They make no money when you conceive on your own. They make maximum profit when multiple women are involved in helping you achieve a pregnancy at all costs.
Certainly, some women do require medical intervention. Yet, it should not be offered as a blanket solution to all infertility problems. It is accepted medical tradition that the simplest, least aggressive, and most cost effective treatments should always be exhausted first. Yet most women who ask their doctors "Is there anything I can do to improve my reproductive status?" are told definitively "No, you are simply too old." Since most insurance companies don't cover infertility treatment, and since there is an automatic medicolegal defense against litigation ("You came to me infertile, what's the damage?"), Western reproductive specialists feel safer in offering a more aggressive approach, and we capitulate to their treatments because we are in a state of panic.
Medical charts abound with these types of unsettling comments: "Mrs. Nesbitt is a three time clomid failure." "Ms. Callahan is a poor responder to maximum stimulation, and an IVF failure. Recommend donor." Then they come to me as a last resort, hopeless, and depleted - financially and spiritually. They don't feel good about themselves, their bodies, or their lives.
My intention is not to bash reproductive medicine, but to put it in its proper perspective. Yes, we hear of reproductive successes when 'infertile' celebrities end up with a couple of offspring in toe, most often the result of someone else's eggs. Yet, month after month, and year after year, I pick up the pieces of broken lives, broken promises, and broken dreams. And the stories don't ever change. The histories begin with unexplained infertility after one year of unprotected intercourse, and end up with "IVF failure, recommend donor." Every time. I propose that reproductive medicine more often than not fails us! Yet we are the ones who are conditioned to feel that it's our fault when their drugs don't work on us.
Reproductive medicine has one thing to offer women to help them conceive - that single drug is the all powerful, commanding hormone, FSH. And if you have any of those dreaded reproductive diagnoses listed above, FSH will cease to be effective in your body. And you know the old adage, "If all you have is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail." When you are no longer the perfect nail, they try to bend and straighten and flatten you with the only tool they have.
I'm on her mailing list actually. But you can buy her book "The Infertility Cure" on Amazon. (You can probably find it used for pretty cheap) She's great! (But I could never afford the retreats myself!) You can get on her mailing list, too. I think the website is thefertilesoul *******.
Hi Sherri,
where do you find all these wonderful articles, would sooo love to do the retreats, but distance is a small problem :)
Thanks for sharing
where do you find all these wonderful articles, would sooo love to do the retreats, but distance is a small problem :)
Thanks for sharing
I would love to know about the retreats e-mail me ritarn2@yahoo
I hope I have properly credited Dr. Randine Lewis for this wonderful article. It actually came in an e-mail to me. I'm on her mailing list. She offers wonderful retreats where they teach you to work on everything you need to to improve your fertility naturally. (TCM approach) I can forward this e-mail to anyone who is interested in the retreats or just getting on her mailing list. Her book "The Infertility Cure" is great and a must-read, as is Julia Indichova's "Inconceivable".
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