INFERTILITY BECOMES COMPETITIVE SPORT
The OPRAH show focused on infertility Tuesday 10/09, covering surrogacy through Indian women, as well as a live interview with Alexis Stewart (Martha Stewart's daughter), who is 42 and currently spending $28,000 per month on fertility drugs.
The surrogacy segment was very moving, but heartbreaking: a couple that had been through failed infertility treatment in the U.S. and now all they could afford were surrogate services outside the U.S. They went to a clinic in India that is known around the world for surrogate services and a "high" success rate, just over 40%.
The segment with Alexis was also heartbreaking. Money can't guarantee a baby - she's already been through three failed egg implantations. Alexis assumed she could get pregnant when she wanted - because "she's healthy."
I can say this is a place where people make a big mistake: they assume that if they don't have any diseases and they are fit ---- that equals health.
But as a holistic doctor, I look at function as the key marker in health, and reproductive function is part of that equation. So if a woman is infertile, no, she is not healthy.
This recent feature on OPRAH shows how the infertility industry is growing out of the reach of most women, it is becoming a competitive sport:
----How many women can fly to India several times in a year to hire a surrogate, visit during the pregnancy, and stay for two weeks after the birth?
----How many women can spend $28,000 per month on fertility drugs? For multiple cycles?
For me, there are too many questions that are not being asked:
1) Why are so many women (and men) infertile? What is behind this growing epidemic?
In the animal world, one of the first signs that a species is in danger is when the ability to reproduce disappears, so where's the attention on why human infertility is compromised?
Besides the notion that women are at fault for waiting.
There are too many young women with infertility issues to blame it all on peri-menopausal women.
2) What is going to happen to the women pouring large quanities of hormones into their bodies, month after month?
No one talks about the safety issues, all the focus is on getting pregnant.
What is happening to these women long-term?
3) More holistic care please!
I encourage infertile women to be evaluated by a holistic provider (chiropractor is my choice) - for correction, for stress relief, for proper nerve flow. It can make a big difference.
The series I directed on chiropractic and infertility received a tremendous response from women around the country, it was clear that women are very interested in learning about ALL their options. (www.jvsr.com/abstracts/abstracts_volume.asp?vol=infertility)
Note: OPRAH's link: http://www.oprah.com/
Be Spine Tingling,
Dr. Madeline Behrendt
iwomenfilm@gmail.com
For Information and Education only.
The surrogacy segment was very moving, but heartbreaking: a couple that had been through failed infertility treatment in the U.S. and now all they could afford were surrogate services outside the U.S. They went to a clinic in India that is known around the world for surrogate services and a "high" success rate, just over 40%.
The segment with Alexis was also heartbreaking. Money can't guarantee a baby - she's already been through three failed egg implantations. Alexis assumed she could get pregnant when she wanted - because "she's healthy."
I can say this is a place where people make a big mistake: they assume that if they don't have any diseases and they are fit ---- that equals health.
But as a holistic doctor, I look at function as the key marker in health, and reproductive function is part of that equation. So if a woman is infertile, no, she is not healthy.
This recent feature on OPRAH shows how the infertility industry is growing out of the reach of most women, it is becoming a competitive sport:
----How many women can fly to India several times in a year to hire a surrogate, visit during the pregnancy, and stay for two weeks after the birth?
----How many women can spend $28,000 per month on fertility drugs? For multiple cycles?
For me, there are too many questions that are not being asked:
1) Why are so many women (and men) infertile? What is behind this growing epidemic?
In the animal world, one of the first signs that a species is in danger is when the ability to reproduce disappears, so where's the attention on why human infertility is compromised?
Besides the notion that women are at fault for waiting.
There are too many young women with infertility issues to blame it all on peri-menopausal women.
2) What is going to happen to the women pouring large quanities of hormones into their bodies, month after month?
No one talks about the safety issues, all the focus is on getting pregnant.
What is happening to these women long-term?
3) More holistic care please!
I encourage infertile women to be evaluated by a holistic provider (chiropractor is my choice) - for correction, for stress relief, for proper nerve flow. It can make a big difference.
The series I directed on chiropractic and infertility received a tremendous response from women around the country, it was clear that women are very interested in learning about ALL their options. (www.jvsr.com/abstracts/abstracts_volume.asp?vol=infertility)
Note: OPRAH's link: http://www.oprah.com/
Be Spine Tingling,
Dr. Madeline Behrendt
iwomenfilm@gmail.com
For Information and Education only.
posted by Dr. Madeline at
11:47 AM
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