The long-awaited Women’s Health Strategy was published last week by the Government. Whilst this is promising in terms of formally recognising the huge gender health gap that exists, it is key that what is promised comes to fruition, and does not end up as a series of empty reassurances. Although the creation of a pre-payment… Continue reading Keep an eye on the Women’s Health Strategy
For those of you who missed it, towards the end of last year, NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) finally issued updated guidance on the use of progesterone in pregnancy that could lead to 8,450 more successful births a year. Based on a systematic review of research studies including the PRISM trial, it… Continue reading Progesterone progress
Going through miscarriage has been made even more traumatic due to the restrictions put on attending antenatal appointments and scans during the pandemic. A new book of poems, Healing After Miscarriage by Vicki Renz, aims to help process the feelings of grief and loss after such a difficult event, when it can be hard to… Continue reading Poetry for healing after miscarriage
Breaking news from Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research at the University of Warwick is that a drug designed to tackle diabetes could also be re-purposed as the first treatment to prevent miscarriage by targeting the lining of the womb. Previous research found that women who experience recurrent miscarriages do not have enough stem cells… Continue reading Diabetes drug could be key to helping recurrent miscarriage
Better late than never is the second part of my round-up of IVF news: New TAC-seq method A new molecular engineering method called TAC-seq (Targeted Allele Counting by sequencing) has been developed by researchers in Finland, Estonia and Sweden. It is hoped it will be introduced into the healthcare system this year in the form… Continue reading Blog series post #4: the next steps for IVF Part 2
As well as breakthroughs in miscarriage research, which I talked about in last week’s post, there has been constant progress in the field of in vitro fertilisation (IVF). It has been over 40 years since the first ‘test-tube’ baby, born in the same year as me and, since then, over 1.1 million IVF treatment cycles… Continue reading Blog series post #3: the next steps for IVF Part 1
Following on from last week’s post on pregnancy loss support, many research projects are helping to make leaps forward in understanding the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of pregnancy loss, and finding new treatments for prevention. The cell-free fetal DNA study is investigating whether analysis of cell-free fetal DNA could help ascertain genetic reasons for early miscarriages. Women… Continue reading Blog series post #2: Breakthroughs in miscarriage research
I went to see the writer David Sedaris this weekend on his latest book tour. Amongst the memories he recalled were of people who had stood out at after-show signings. Two days ago, he remembered, he met a lovely Japanese woman. As his latest book is a collection of diary entries, he asked whether she… Continue reading Together for change
The Miscarriage Association has highlighted the publication of the guideline Recurrent Pregnancy Loss, produced by ESHRE (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology). It provides up-to-date information about investigations into and treatment for recurrent miscarriage, reviews the research evidence and makes recommendations for clinical practice, with patients’ needs paramount when considering the best way to… Continue reading Europe reviews definition of recurrent miscarriage
Today is a good time to mention the PRISM trial as the Miscarriage Association reports that 45 hospitals are now taking part. The trial looks at the effectiveness of progesterone in preventing miscarriage when early bleeding in pregnancy occurs – hugely important research. Here’s hoping some really conclusive evidence results. You can read more about the… Continue reading The PRISM trial
My Beautiful Diary of the Amazingly Mundane 