There have been a number of recent articles in the news about cellphones and the radiation they release.  If you have time, please read this article.  http://www.emfnews.org/fertility-and-cell-phone-radiation.html

Basically, cellphones receive and send their signals via an electro-magnetic field (EMF.)  This EMF is a form of radiation.  During the past year, scientific data has started to come out linking cellphone use to a variety of problems ranging from brain cancer to hip fractures.  One of the areas that has come up is fertility.

Men and women that carry cell phones in their pockets can have Decreased Fertility

Many people carry their cellphone in their pocket and it has been seen that men who do this have lower sperm counts and women have lower egg quality.  I will post more on this subject as time goes by, but it may be a good idea to keep your phone in your purse and if you are at home or the office, keep it a few feet away from you.  I am sure we will learn more about the effects of cellphone EMF as time goes by, but fertility is fragile and I can easily see how radiation can make things more difficult for a person who is already dealing with infertility.

For More Information on Fertility Please Visit www.redrockfertility.com

The Red Rock Fertility Center would like to invite you to a FREE Fertility Seminar

Come enjoy some good organic caffeine free tea, listen to an informational talk on infertility by either  Dr. Eva Littman (Saturday mornings) or Noushi Mortazavi, APN (Tuesday Evenings,) and cap it off with a tour of our state of the art IVF facilities!!!
Attending the seminar is a great way to learn about the process and get to know the experts behind it. Also, if you decide to become a new patient, you will receive a $300 discount on Ultra IVF packages not covered by insurance…

Where: Red Rock Fertility Center
Located at 6420 Medical Center St. Suite 100
Las Vegas, NV 89148
Across from Southern Hills Hospital, Major cross streets Fort Apache and Sunset or Durango-Sunset/215 W exit

We offer two separate seminars:

Tuesday evenings with Noushi Mortazavi, APN focusing on natural family planning techniques 

Saturday mornings with Dr. Eva Littman discussing advanced assisted reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization.

Start your journey towards a NEW LIFE today!!!! Call 702-948-7778 to RSVP for a certain date. Space is reserved on a first come first serve basis.

(Attendees: please do not wear any cologne, perfume, or aftershave to the event. Even though we have an advanced HEPA Air filtration system in the center, we try to keep the levels of VOC’s (noxious airborne compounds) to a minimum to ensure the best possible conditions for our embryos. Thank you.)

After a two year layoff, the Red Rock Fertility Blog is back in action. We will be posting fresh content every week. Here you will find professional advice, patient stories, informative articles about recent studies and advancements in fertility health, parenting tips, pregnancy tips, and much much more. So check back with us regularly for updates.

For now, here is a link to an article entitled, “What In Vitro Fertilization Is And How It Is Done“.

A new study has been released, further increasing the mounting data that toxins in our environment are harming our fertility.  It appears that these chemicals, called perfluorinated chemicals are contained in many common household and other products.  These products accumulate in the body, have a long half-life, and there is a connection between high levels of these in women and those women having difficulty getting pregnant.

It is going to be a long-haul to get a definitive, well-done scientific study done on this subject, as there as so many variables to control when it comes to fertility.  But, the connection does seem to be there and it makes sense.   These chemicals are found in food packaging, dental floss, shampoos, and non-stick substances (cookware and ScotchGard.)   An example of this would be the grease-proof wrappers for hamburgers at fast-food restaurants.   When these get hot (fresh hamburger), these chemicals are released into the food and then ingested.  The big problem is that these chemicals have a long half-life, as long as eight years.

Some common sources of these chemicals ( are:

PFCs are used to make textiles and leather resistant to water, dirt, and oil.

Grease-resistant food packaging and paper products, such as microwave popcorn bags and pizza boxes, contain PFCs.

Carpet – PFOS was used until 2002 in the manufacture of 3M’s Scotchgard treatment, used on carpet, furniture, and clothing.

PFOA is used to make DuPont’s Teflon product, famous for its use in non-stick cookware.  If Teflon-coated pans are overheated, PFOA is released.

PFCs are in cleaning and personal-care products like shampoo, dental floss, and denture cleaners.

You can see that these compounds are contained in many, many products.  I will try to include more on this important subject as I learn more.

Irresponsible!!!

In one word this sums it up!!!  I am delighted at the news that the octuplets were brought into this world safely even though they have a long road ahead of them, I sincerely wish them the best.  However, as for the parent and the doctor responsible for their conception, I have other not so delightful thoughts.  I have read a number of reports and it seems to date that the story is still not entirely clarified. From what I have gathered so far, the mother of the octuplets was 33 years old, she already had 6 children at home and she had no male partner.  I have heard different versions……everything from she treated herself, to she had a frozen embryo transplant of 4 embryos and they all split, to she had a fresh IVF cycle and 8 embryos were implanted.  Either way, any of these versions are frankly IRRESPONSIBLE.  At the age of 33, ASRM or the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, recommends that no more than 2-3  embryos be implanted.  So even if four were implanted and they all split, which is highly unlikely, then that is still too many.  A multiple gestation pregnancy has a lot of risks.  I counsel my patients at length on the risk of multiples when undergoing any form of fertility therapy.  The wonderful thing about IVF is that the number of embryos that land in the uterus can be controlled, as opposed to injectable medicine with intrauterine insemination.  In the United States, we are very fortunate to have the freedom to transfer multiple embryos.  There are several scenarios where I could possibly see a reason to transfer more than 3.  IF the person is over the age of 38, or if the person had failed multiple IVF cycles, or in some cases of recurrent miscarriage where PGD was not performed.  Otherwise it is totally IRRESPONSIBLE !!!  Unfortunately, now that the system has been so blatantly abused, regulations may come about which prevent the freedom of performing multiple embryo transfers, which we are able to perform in the United States.  This will directly impact the people who fall into any of the above mentioned categories who may benefit from multiple embryo transfer.

In my clinic, almost every patient that I have seen over the past week has inquired about this.  I would like to inform anyone who is concerned that we are very responsible here at Red Rock Fertility Center and we practice according to the ASRM guidelines as to the recommended number of embryos that should be transferred.  In addition, we have also structured our financial packages in a way that you are not penalized financially if you choose to transfer less embryos and are not successful.  This allows the patients and myself to make the decision together on what we both are comfortable with.  I went into medicine to help people, not to harm them.  I think whoever was responsible for the creation of the octuplet pregnancy needs to reread the Hippocratic Oath!!!  That’s my opinion on this, hopefully in the upcoming weeks we will learn more details on this subject matter.

Many patients who come to my clinic are amazed at how busy I am.  They comment about how many of their friends in other cities are also coping with infertility.  While the US does have a high incidence of infertility, it seems to be even higher in other countries.  Here is a link to an article in the Economist that gives more information about fertility treatment in other developed countries.  They have a very interesting chart about 2/3rds down the page.

In the US, about 1 out of every 100 births is from IVF.  In Belgium and Denmark, it is almost 4 per hundred.  This may be because of the higher overall number of births in America, but they are some pretty eye-opening numbers.  The most recent statistics state there are 6 million people in the US suffering from infertility, so the total number worldwide probably approaches 60 or 80 million.  I can only imagine what the incidence of infertility in China is going to be, because of the significant amount of pollution happening there.

Nonetheless, we are facing a world-wide epidemic of infertility.  FSH levels are rising in younger and younger women.   Sperm counts continue to decrease.  Thankfully, people are starting to realize that environmental factors can affect fertility.  I think we are going to see a drop in bottled water usage and couples that are TTC eating less soy products, as well as more organic food.  Overall health is key for maintaining reproductive health.

Thank you for taking the time to visit our website and blog.  I hope to be able to keep the local fertility community updated on news and events related to Red Rock Fertility Center.  I am also going to bring up news items of interest to potential patients that may help them to make more informed decisions about their fertility journey.

The incidence of infertility is growing every year.  Thankfully, the resources available to patients is growing very fast.  If you haven’t discovered them yet, there are a number of infertility discussion groups available on the web.  I participate as a moderator on FertilityTies, though there are numerous other discussion boards, such as ivfconnections.com, fertilethoughts.com, and fertilitycommunity.com.  Many of my patients have found them to be quite useful, as they are able to learn about different treatments and what has worked, and hasn’t worked for people similar to themselves.