“How Can I Help My Fertility Journey?”

Charles Kingsland is a Consultant Gynaecologist and Specialist in Reproductive Medicine.

Charles has over thirty years experience in IVF alongside lecturing in the subject. With an international reputation, Charles has been instrumental in negotiating funding within IVF across England and Wales. Having performed many thousands of IVF cycles in his career, Charles is an expert in all areas of infertility treatments.

In this article, we are looking at what you can do and what you need to know to help your IVF journey. 

“What Tests Are Needed To Give Me My Bespoke IVF Treatment?”

The investigations are very simple. We do a test of ovarian reserve, have you got eggs in your ovaries?

We perform an ultrasound scan, and then a test of fallopian tube function or less commonly a laparoscopy to look at making sure that the uterus is normal, and the fallopian tubes are normal.

“How Can I Help My Fertility Journey?”

Fertility issues can be stress related. There are certain things you can help yourself with when you come to the IVF clinic.

First of all, try and get down to your boxing weight. There is no doubt that if you are overweight this has a negative impact on your fertility. We all know Mrs. Smith who’s 19 stone who lives down the road, who’s got nine children, but that’s her, that’s not you. There is no doubt that if you can lose weight that will help with your fertility. If you can’t lose weight, just grow a few inches and become taller, the choice is yours.

Secondly, stop smoking. I can’t believe that patients will come to see me and say, I’ve been trying for three years and by the way, I smoke 20 a day. Stop smoking, it’s absolutely vital, not only for your health, for the health of your eggs and your baby.

Another thing, there is a relationship between stress and fertility. Actually that comes into a lot of dispute because in times of conflict, during wars, when people are stressed the fertility rate actually goes up, but you don’t want to be distressed.

When stress becomes distress that can affect your everyday life. That can have a negative impact on your fertility. If you’re going to have a fertility journey and you’re going through fertility treatment, don’t move house or change your partner. I see women who say oh, I’m going to have my IVF treatment, then I’m going on a safari to Morocco. Why would you want to do that when you’ve just had IVF treatment? Stay at home, have a holiday in Britain, but just reduce stress.

The next thing you do is when you’re choosing a clinic, go to somewhere where you feel comfortable. Find somebody to look after you who you trust, who will give you the information that you are confident is the right one, and particularly if you’re paying for treatment, be sure that you know exactly what you’re paying for and what the final invoice is going to be. If you need help, ask questions, go on the internet, find out where there are credible institutions that may be able to support you financially throughout that journey. At the end of the day, what you need to know is exactly, exactly what I need and how much it is going to cost.

You can see the whole video series here on the Assured Fertility YouTube Channel.

If you have any questions or would like to arrange to see a fertility specialist, call us on 0333 234 0895 now or complete the form for someone to call you back. 

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