Fertility Success Stories
Real Patients, Real Results

Patient A, aged 35, came to me after being told she had PCOS by a local Cleveland hospital Reproductive Endocrinologist.

Her body type might have led one to believe this diagnosis, but NO labwork had been done to verify it?

She had already been through a couple of cycles of Letrozole/Femara, with no response, and was headed to IUI next.

She thought she might take a chance to see what I might offer?

On my detailed intake form, I learned she suffered from chronic headaches of unknown origin? No fertility specific labs had been done by her doctor but a CBC panel, which was basically useless? Certainly nothing there indicated PCOS was a working diagnosis?

So why was she prescribed Letrozole, with no fertility tests to base that as a solution?

I referred her to Dr Mulligan, CCF Endocrinology, for the purpose of gathering the necessary fertility labs.

What showed up on her testing was normal ovarian reserve (which is always elevated for PCOS patients) with hypothyroid and elevated prolactin.

Either of these alone could make fertility and full term pregnancy impossible, and there was NOTHING to indicate PCOS.

The elevated prolactin hormone led to a follow up MRI, as is common with elevated prolactin. The MRI revealed this patient had a pituitary tumor that was causing her chronic headaches and contributing to her infertility.

Six months later, after treatment with Dr Mulligan, the tumor had shrunk sufficiently and the thyroid was in normal range, so she came back to continue with fertility acupuncture.

I monitored her basal body temperatures and noticed her chart indicated she would likely be positive for endometriosis.

I suggested a Receptiva biopsy, and this test confirmed my suspicions of the presence of endo.

The patient was presented with two options: IVF with hormonal suppression before transfer, or Endometriosis surgery.

She chose the surgical option.

At surgery, it was discovered she had adenomyosis (endometriosis that infiltrates the uterine lining), which is commonly treated by hysterectomy.

Since hysterectomy would have rendered her unable to carry a baby, the doctor simply closed it all up :( and told her to just "try on her own"!?

I was adamant that IVF would be the only option, and the patient was not happy to hear this, so we discontinued care.

Approximately two years later, she reappeared in my office after successful IVF produced a couple good quality embryos for transfer. Owing to complications due to the adenomyosis, she was unable to take estrogen to build a lining for transfer. She had been on a two month special regimen of anti-estrogenic drugs to suppress her adenomyosis in order to have a successful transfer.

This was a complex case, which took a matter of years to sort out and get to the good part, with a babe in arms. The takeway here, is that without diagnostics, time (and typically money are wasted).

While the news you may hear after disgnostics may not be what you wanted to hear, the decisions are always left to you, but I am pretty skilled at predicting outcomes. Patient A is now is the mother of a beautiful baby boy.

In my practice, I utilize many fertility tracking methods, but the one I prefer the most is simple BBT thermometer graphing.

Over the years I have developed a skill of graph interpretation that gives me an actual visual blueprint of diagnostics. SO many things can be deciphered utilizing simple BBT charting.

BBT charting is MUCH better and cheaper than any fertility monitor on the market, though I do utilize Inito and and Mira for patients unable to comply with BBT guidleines.

Patient A presented with BBT charts that led me to believe she had endometriosis, so even though cramps at period were reported as mild, I encouraged a Receptiva biopsy endo test.

At this point the patient felt overwhelmed with the idea that there could be even more obstacles than a tumor in her head, but she agreed to do the Receptiva testing. I had strongly recommended the Receptiva biopsy over a laporocopy, because I have witnessed very high profile doctors at our local RE clinics completely miss the diagnosis while doing laporoscopy. Its left me with little faith, I must say. Receptiva accuracy at diagnosis is 96% but doctors don't make as much money doing it.

Receptiva biopsy testing is, the in my opinion, the BEST way to rule out endometriosis.

At this point, there were two possible paths for the patient, endometrisis surgery, or IVF with hormonal suppression inbetween retriaval and transfer.

Patient A chose surgery.

The doctor who had performed the Receptiva test performed the surgery. What she found is called adenomyosis, the lining of the uterus had been infiltrated with endometriosis.

This is very dire for fertility potential, and most patients get a historectomy.