Daniel Potter - What to Do When You Cant Get Pregnant: The Complete Guide to All the Options for Couples Facing Fertility Issues

PRAISE FOR

What to Do When You Cant Get Pregnant

From natural family planning to high-tech methods like in vitro fertilization (IVF) and zygote and gamete intrafallopian transfers, this easy-to-read, empathic guide covers every option for infertile couples wishing to conceive, and much more. Reproductive endocrinologist Potter (director, Huntington Reproductive Ctr. Medical Group, CA) and Hanin, a freelance journalist who has conceived two children through IVF, begin by outlining the reproductive system and showing how to recognize infertility. Guidance on choosing a doctor and discussion of what to expect of an infertility workup, what such a workup might find, and how to assess treatment options follow. Other topics include sperm and egg donation; embryo donation and surrogacy; technologies that allow prescreening for genetic diseases, sex selection, and preselection of desirable traits; keeping a relationship healthy; deciding when to move on; and the role that legal and mental health professionals play in all these processes. A glossary and resource list of various organizations round out the text. This solid, up-to-date resource supplants Debra Fulghum Bruce and Samuel Thatchers Making a Baby: Everything You Need to Know to Get Pregnant. Recommended for most consumer health collections.

Library Journal Review, June 15, 2005

Having a child is truly a miracle. In What to Do When You Cant Get Pregnant, Dr. Daniel Potter and Jennifer Hanin provide a road map to achieving this miracle of nature. The combination of medical and personal experience included in this book makes it the ultimate read for prospective parents dealing with fertility issues. I highly recommend it!

David R. Marks, MD, MPA, is former medical reporter for WCBS-TV, New York and CBS Newspath and author of Raising Stable Kids in an Unstable World

Dr. Potter and Jennifer Hanin have done an outstanding job of discussing state-of-the-art medical information in an accurate and easily graspable framework for couples going through infertility. The authors offer valuable insight into the diagnosis and treatment of infertility with a supportive and inspiring energy that encourages the reader to take positive steps. What to Do When You Cant Get Pregnant should be required reading for all patients and their partners as they enter the world of infertility, where everything from low tech diagnostic tests (HSG and FSH) to high tech procedures (IVF, ICSI, PGD) can otherwise appear to be little more than alphabet soup. In all, it is a most readable, comprehensive discussion that delicately weaves personal touches and evidence-based medicine to provide up-to-the-minute information in a manner that is clear and helpful to all who read it.

Alan B. Copperman, MD, FACOG, is a reproductive endocrinologist in New York where he is director of Reproductive Endocrinology and vice chairman of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Mount Sinai Medical Center, and co-director of Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York

Dr. Potter and Jennifer Hanin have succeeded in providing patients with an excellent guide to steer them through the fertility journey and the spectrum of therapeutic options available. They have accomplished this in a manner that is technically comprehensive, but with a personal touch.

Included are the ever-present pros and cons of different therapies, which helps explain why there is no absolute single approach to a couples treatment. This is also why there is such varied and confusing information on Internet sites.

Importantly, they arm patients with the right questions to ask themselves and their health provider in order to maximize their personal chance to conceive. Detailed is an excellent review of the latest high-tech therapies to inform patients about options they may not have even known were possible today.

I commend Dr. Potter and Ms. Hanin for their efforts and will enthusiastically recommend this book to my patients.

Robert M. Colver, MD, FACOG, is a reproductive endocrinologist at Midwest Fertility Specialists in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he is professor of Endocrinology and Infertility at Indiana University School of Medicine.

Each year, millions of couples in the United States search for the answers found in What to Do When You Cant Get Pregnant. In their book, Dr. Dan Potter and Jennifer Hanin provide an insightful, easy-to-read road map designed to lead these couples through the maze of infertility diagnosis and treatment. By combining consumer advocacy, common sense, and a direct approach to the most sensitive of topics, they demystify the science and provide the encouragement that current and prospective patients need to proceed toward their goal. I commend them for their work and recommend this book wholeheartedly.

Kaylen Silverberg, MD, FACOG, is a reproductive endocrinologist at Texas Fertility Center in Austin, Texas, where he is clinical associate professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology with the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, and clinical assistant professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology with the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas.

W HAT TO D O

W HEN Y OU C AN T

G ET P REGNANT

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO ALL THE OPTIONS

FOR COUPLES FACING FERTILITY ISSUES

By

Daniel A. Potter, MD,

and

Jennifer S. Hanin, MA

FOREWORD BY PAMELA MADSEN

DA CAPO PRESS

A Member of the Perseus Books Group

Copyright 2013 by Daniel A. Potter, MD, and Jennifer S. Hanin, MA

Foreword copyright 2013 by Pamela Madsen

Photos by Adam Hanin

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information, address Da Capo Press, 44 Farnsworth Street, 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02210

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Cataloging-in-Publication data for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

First Da Capo Press edition 2013

ISBN: 978-0-7382-1692-8 (e-book)

Published by Da Capo Press

A Member of the Perseus Books Group

www.dacapopress.com

Note: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. This book is intended only as an informative guide for those wishing to know more about health issues. In no way is this book intended to replace, countermand, or conflict with the advice given to you by your own physician. The ultimate decision concerning care should be made between you and your doctor. We strongly recommend you follow his or her advice. Information in this book is general and is offered with no guarantees on the part of the authors or Da Capo Press. The authors and publisher disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book. The names and identifying details of people associated with events described in this book have been changed. Any similarity to actual persons is coincidental.

Da Capo Press books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the U.S. by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, or call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail .

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Sophia and Camillamy fertility miracles.

DANIEL A. POTTER, MD, FACOG

To Adam, who surprises me daily.