Joanna Karpasea-Jones's Blog
Posted by Joanna Karpasea-Jones
I understand the dilemma that infertility clinics are in and the need for sperm and egg donors to cope with the increasing demands placed upon them, but I do think that the British Fertility Society is short sighted to be lobbying for an increase in the number of children allowed to be created from one man's sperm.
Why?
Ten is already a high number of children per man and although donors are no longer anonymous, sperm donation is not recorded on birth certificates or medical records of children born from it and donor records would only be released to the child if his parents decided to tell him about his origins, which is understandably totally voluntary. Parents who decide not to inform their child that they resulted from sperm donation would not allow them access to information about any other siblings they may have.
This means that if they were to meet the love of their life he or she might turn out to be their brother or sister.
A case occured in the UK in 2008 where twin brother and sister unwittingly married each other without realizing their true relationship. They had been adopted out at birth and separated to live with different families and when they met up again, had a strong connection to each other. The marriage was immediately annulled after they discovered their true identity, highlighting the need for accurate records and honesty in adoption procedings. Likewise, a child born after sperm donation should be told at the age of 18 or earlier.
Any move to use more sperm from one man and increase the chances of an incestious marriage is not a good idea.
Posted by Joanna Karpasea-Jones
When I was an egg donor my fertility specialist talked me through all the options I had with regard to any frozen embryos that might be created with my eggs. Although I was not the recipient parent I still had to sign consent for my eggs to be used after they were retrieved.
One thing I found both abhorant and morally confusing was the testing of any embryo for medical research. To me an embryo even in the initial stages has its whole a DNA structure and genetic blueprint. Whether it will be a boy or a girl, what colour eyes it has and how tall it will be. Even some personality traits come from the genes so to take something with so much potiential and test on it in medical experiments seems wrong. However - research could possibly prevent miscarriages in the future and might save babies so it is hard to know what's right or wrong.
It's one argument that I don't know the answer to.
When it came to my body though I refused to allow any egg or embryo to be tested on or discarded in less than 10 years and my doctor told me this was my right.
When I attended the egg donation counselling session prior to my surgery my counsellor contradicted the doctor and told me I could not withhold consent for my eggs to be used in testing. In fact there were many areas in which she told me something different to the doctor. I found the counselling both poor quality and confusing. After the retrival they ticked the consent box for medical research without asking me. I felt angry and at odds with my morals. Luckily for me all the eggs were used in IVF cycles for two women so there were none spare.
I would very much welcome standard guidelines to be put in place for the counselling process and the practice of freezing embryos or testing upon them. They are very much needed in this ethical minefield.
Posted by Joanna Karpasea-Jones
A few years ago I had a terrible time with my periods. I would get abdominal cramp lasting up to two weeks before my period even arrived. It was so bad it stopped me doing my normal daily activities. A day before the period I would get a migraine so severe I was bed ridden in a darkened room all day.
Then for another five days I got the actual period pain. This meant that for three weeks out of every four I would be in pain!
Some months I would get two in one month or skip one altogether and I couldn't seem to get pregnant even after several months of unprotected sex. My cycle and the pain associated with it started to dominate my whole life. Then I changed my diet and all my problems resolved!
- Painful periods can be caused by a lack of niacin (vitamin B3). This is found in wheatgerm and leafy green vegetables. If your periods are also heavy then these foods also provide iron.
- Eat plenty of dried fruit and cereals and nuts for their magnesium content to ease pain.
- Cut down on tea and coffee and chocolate. All this may regulate your cycle if you are missing periods. if it doesn't then check with your doctor. If you have been on the pill then this can disrupt your cycle for several months after you cease taking it.
- If you have cycle related migraines then peppermint tea might help. I drank two to three cups at the onset of a headache. It stopped the full blown migraine from developing. This only works if the root cause of your migraines is nutritional.
Posted by Joanna Karpasea-Jones
Just over 20 women out of every 1000, aged between 15 and 44 has had an abortion at some time in their lives. (See http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/08/03/ab_incidence.pdf) for abortion statistics.
In the USA, 1,287,000 abortions were carried out in 2003.
Leaving the pro-life argument aside, many women, even those who are happy with their decision, can develop post abortion stress syndrome after a termination of pregnancy. This syndrome, which doctor's won't tell you about, includes a variety of symptoms:
- Anxiety and panic
- Frequent crying
- Difficulty sleeping and nightmares about the abortion, or flashbacks
- Depression
- Distress at seeing pregnant women and other women's babies
- Inability to be around babies and children, or to see them on TV
- Problems caring for any existing children
- Anger
- Inability to work or concentrate
- Turning off sex, or becoming sexually indiscriminate
- Atonement pregnancy: getting pregnant or trying to become pregnant, usually within a year of the termination
- Distress in subsequent pregnancies
- Having many subsequent pregnancies, usually carried to term
- Extreme feelings of guilt
- Suicide or attempted suicide. The rate for suicide after termination is 34.7% out of every 1000 women (M. Gissler, Abortion/Suicide Link,Br. Med. J., Dec. 6, 1996).
If you have had an abortion and you feel like this, please talk to the PASS Foundation who are neutral in their opinion of abortions.
P.O.Box 2275
Glen Burnie, Md 21060
email: help@passhugs.com
fax: (801)457-9081
Posted by Joanna Karpasea-Jones
There are many professionals, pro-life groups and religious organisations who are opposed to embryo selection. Some say it is 'abortion' to leave the wrong sex embryos to perish, other's are worried that if it is done for non-medical purposes, there may be an imbalance in the numbers of males and females. This is seen in India, where female fetuses are frequently aborted, and in China. China's one child policy means that some Chinese couples will abort female fetuses in favor of a son.
But I've got to admit, I see the attraction. As the mother of four daughters, born one after the other, I regularly joked with my friends that poor old hubby was incapable of producing a boy. I told them he only had XX sperm, and part of me believed that. I considered natural remedies before my 5th child was born, but luckily for me, he was a boy anyway - the son I thought I'd never have!
It may surprise you to learn that according to the New Scientist, baby's gender isn't just down to the man as previously believed. The health and diet of the mother can have a direct impact on the sex of the child.
For a girl, you should be vegetarian and eat lots of sweet things and chocolate. For a boy, eating meats and spicy food and ensuring you are in very good health prior to conception can move the odds in your favor. Why? The study showed that animals with lower blood sugar gave birth to more female offspring. As meat raises blood sugar for a longer period of time than other foods, this explains why more boys are born to people with a higher meat intake.
Illness and stress is also thought to affect the gender, with more girls being born during times of illness. This is because boy's immune systems are weaker and they can die in greater numbers, whereas girls, even if weak, can still carry and give birth to more babies. It is nature's survival mechanism. Research has suggested that single mothers have more daughters and this may be because they have more stresses, which affect blood sugar. So think about your diet before you think about IVF!
