#FertilityEd

When I teach school children, I concentrate on the menstrual cycle (periods and the fertile window), PCOS, endometriosis, female and male fertility decline, infertility, and menopause. I make it clear that some of these topics are relevant whether they want children or not, and that these issues may affect boys,…

Where to start? For me, the obvious starting point is the end. And what is more powerful than the words we used to sign-off for the very last time from our fertility blog: “So this is where our story both starts and ends: What an incredible ending it is, and…

As I type, I am waiting for my bleed after another failed round of IVF. This time, we’d gone from high as kites, to a thud back to gloomy reality in a matter of days. Finally, we’d had a (faint but) positive pregnancy test, though sadly, our joy was short…

“Before I even started my periods, I suffered from crippling pelvic pain every month. When my periods started a year later, the pain got even worse; usually twice a month, I was rushed to A&E and had to be given morphine. By the time I was 14, my quality of…

We felt completely unsupported. You don’t even get an initial consultation to talk about your case so that you have some hope, you just need to go away and come back when you’re a certain number on the scales. For some people, they may not need extensive treatment, they may…

I was diagnosed at the age of 19 after my mum gently showed me an article entitled ‘Spotty, overweight, and miserable – is this secret syndrome ruining your life?’ It finally hit the nail on the head on how I had been feeling. I took it to my GP, pushed…

Infertility is a disease of the reproductive system that affects around 1 in 6 of us. The causes are many, the impact is far-reaching and it can have a devastating effect on a person’s life. Even with treatment, success is not guaranteed, so raising awareness of infertility and its impact…