Is Your Body Baby-Friendly?: Unexplained Infertility, Miscarriage & IVF Failure - Explained

by Alan E. Beer MD, Julia Kantecki, Jane Reed

Overview

This book explains how the immune system can behave in a way that prevents a pregnancy from continuing. High levels of Natural Killer cells, genetic compatibility between partners and blood clotting problems are all significant causes of reproductive failure.

Autoimmunity (both inherited or environmentally triggered) are a major reason for the increase in infertility and miscarriage today. This book also explains why such disorders are not just devastating to a pregnancy and can also be markers of potentially serious health problems in the mother.

This text includes contributions from Professor David Clark, Dr Carolyn Coulam, Dr William Matzner and Dr Geoffrey Sher.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780978507800
Publisher:	AJR Publishing
Publication date:	10/28/2006
Edition description:	1ST
Pages:	500
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.25(d)

About the Author

Alan E. Beer M.D.
Dr. Alan Beer is a world-renowned physician and scientist who has spent much of his academic life analyzing the relationship between the immune system and reproductive health. In recent years, he has dedicated himself to helping couples with infertility, IVF or implantation failure and recurrent miscarriage.

He joined the Chicago Medical School in 1987 as Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology. Here he established the School's Reproductive Immunology Clinic and specialized in treating couples that had repeatedly failed with conventional approaches. In the majority of cases, he made it possible for them to have babies. In 1988, he extended his care to those undergoing assisted reproduction and treated a couple who had failed to carry to term after 20 IVF attempts. Within a year, the woman had delivered healthy twins. From then on he saw every IVF couple no matter how difficult their case, "as long as there was hope."

In 2003, Dr. Beer established The Alan E. Beer Center for Reproductive Immunology and Genetics for the evaluation and treatment of couples with immune-related problems, and in 2005, he opened his own specialist testing laboratory facility in Los Gatos, California.

Julia Kantecki
Julia Kantecki lives in Orlando, FL. She has a son who was born as a result of immune therapy. Julia was Marketing Director of a company jointly owned with her husband for 12 years. Prior to this, she spent eight years working as a copywriter and then as a freelance writer. She has firsthand experience of virtually all of the procedures and treatments that are involved in the field of reproductive immunology.

Jane Reed
Having endured five miscarriages caused by a worsening immune condition, Jane Reed experienced four successful pregnancies after receiving appropriate immune treatment. Jane is the founder and moderator of the Yahoo Reproductive Immunology website, and chief patient advocate for Dr. Alan Beer, helping to run his Internet discussion boards and gather data for his program in addition to administering the Enbrel Support Group and the Yahoo Immunology Support Group. Jane received a BA (Hons) in Biology from the University of Oregon.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Christo Zouvres, MD
Preface
Alan E. Beer, MD
Introduction

Helping to Explain the "Unexplained"
Defining Reproductive Failure
Recurring Nightmares
The Immune System
Category 1 Immune Problems: Tissue Type Compatibility
Category 2 Immune Problems: Blood-clotting Defects
Category 3 Immune Problems: Immunity to Pregnancy
Category 4 Immune Problems: Antibodies to Sperm
Category 5 Immune Problems: Part One—Natural Killer Cells
Category 5 Immune Problems: Part Two—Antibodies to Hormones and Neurotransmitters
Hope for Older Mothers-To-Be
Immune Problems and Pregnancy
Comprehensive Immune Testing
Dr Beer's Treatments
Immune Therapy: Rejected by a Body of Medical Opinion
Trials on Trial
Hope . . . and Inspiration

Addendum:
Fertility Under-Fire
The Legacy of a Toxic Pregnancy
The Toxins Eating at Our Health
Baby-Friendly Alternatives by Zita West

Acknowledgements
Epilogue
Notes
Appendix
Glossary
Index

What People are Saying About This

Koji Koyama

This is a wonderful, rich in contents book for practitioners working in reproductive medicine. The news of Dr Beer's death was very sad but we are proud of him who leaves us such a fortune [as] this book. (Koji Koyama, MD, president, International Society of Reproductive Immunology)

Editorial Reviews

"A wonderful addition for all those struggling with recurrent failure and loss." —Christo Zouves, MD, founder and director, Zouves Fertility Center, and author, Expecting Miracles



"This book certainly makes a complex subject reader-friendly from a personal perspective." —Zita West, author, Fertility & Conception



"An intriguing and compelling insight into this critical area of science." —Noah Chalfin, Center for Ethics and Toxics

"This is a wonderful, rich . . . book for practitioners working in reproductive medicine." —Koji Koyama, MD, president, International Society of Reproductive Immunology

From the Publisher