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Welcome Baby Talk Radio listeners
this is Iris Waichler, author of Riding the Infertility Roller Coaster: A
Guide to Educate and Inspire. I wanted to spend some time on this
broadcast talking about doctors, picking doctors and issues related to
doctors and infertility.
One of the most important tasks
from beginning infertility treatment is finding the right doctor. I know it
sounds strange but you can actually interview your doctors and it’s really
important to do that. If infertility is an issue you may be referred to a
reproductive endocrinologist who is a doctor that specializes in infertility
treatment.
Use your resources, ask friends,
family, and you can contact your local resolve chapter for referrals. Here
are some questions to ask your doctor if you interview them:
-
Ask if they are board
certified.
-
What’s their training and
specialty?
-
What reproductive procedures
does this doctor utilize?
-
What’s the success rate?
-
How often have they tried
these procedures?
It’s really key to
ask about them in terms of how many live births have they had and how many
successful pregnancies have they had in relation to a particular procedure.
You want to know specifically your procedure and people that the doctor has
done the procedure on that are your age. It’s very critical to ask those
two things.
Also be aware of
the support staff associated with the doctor, the nurses, the embryologist,
the people that draw your blood, and the lab people. They are people you
see every day and they become like a really close friend and you want to see
how they interact with you.
Also you want to
make sure that your doctor is accessible. Is he a good communicator and is
it important to you – what’s important to you in a doctor? Is it bedside
manner, their clinical skills, their ability to achieve success or both and
also do they respect your needs and wishes in your treatment?
Bring all your
medical records to your appointment and make sure that you have this
information because it really does save time and it may stop you from
undergoing unnecessary tests or treatments. Also recognize that if you are
lucky enough to get pregnant transitioning from your reproductive
endocrinologist to your OB Gyn is a really tough transition.
You see your
reproductive endocrinologist or staff almost every day when you are getting
treatment and your OB Gyn you may only see once a month and you really,
strangely enough, feel abandoned when the doctor says I’ll see you in a
month. What are the ways to cope with this? Talk with your OB Gyn doctor
about your infertility treatment and explain your treatment and also bring
your records.
Discuss any
anxiety you have about the time interval in-between appointments.
Brainstorm with your doctor about what ways you can use to increase the
frequency of your contacts and let them know you may have concerns about
this and anxiety in-between appointments. Maybe it means scheduling extra
ultra sounds, maybe you can negotiate an agreement with your doctor where
you can increase your phone contacts between appointments or maybe you can
identify a nurse who you can contact if you have any concerns or questions.
Make sure you have
a doctor you and your partner, if you have a partner, feel comfortable with
as you move through your infertility journey. And remember you can have
some control and be a part of the treatment decisions in terms of your
infertility treatments. Good luck on your journey. Thanks very much.
