The team at The Zita West Clinic.

What a few weeks it’s been! We started our new IVF service on September 1^st after months of planning and preparation. We were delighted when Mr. George Ndukwe, internationally known for his work in reproductive immunology agreed to be our new Medical Director. He was followed closely by Terri Morgan Collins, our fertility nurse who has spent 25 years in fertility and midwifery. Both share our vision for a holistic integrated assisted fertility service.

Our aim from the beginning has been to offer a boutique style service of IVF in a relaxed non medical environment with a small team offering one to one care and an individualized service. We decided to only take on 15-20 cycles a month so that we can offer clients the best care and easy access to the medical team. We feel it’s important for our clients to see the same team members from the start of treatment, through egg collection and transfer.

We have just completed our first 7 IVF cycles. All were complex cases with multiple (up to 8)  IVF failures at other clinics. Against all of the odds, 5 out of our 7 cycles got pregnant, which is a pregnancy rate of 71.4 percent!

We were all so happy with this result. It has made all the hard work by the team worthwhile and we will strive to maintain this level of outcome!

Thanks

Zita

 At the Zita West Clinic we know how important the Mind-Body connection is to fertility.  Getting pregnant or going through IVF is not just about having sex at the ‘right’ time or going through the motions of IVF; the mind can have a very powerful influence on the whole process of conception. Negative thoughts, emotions and behaviors can lead to increased anxiety and depression, and sabotage your goals of conception.

 Emotional and psychological blocks can get in the way of conception. Your relationship with your partner really holds the key.  If you are feeling anger and resentment towards your partner, not enjoying sex and not really ‘connecting’ with your partner, but simply existing alongside in a vacuum, this passion-starved existence is hardly conducive to making a baby together.

 Negative messages from figures of authority can really feed every cell in your body.  If as a young woman a doctor tells you: ‘You are likely to have problems conceiving when you get older,’ this can have a devastating affect, subconsciously crushing your hopes for motherhood; or if a man has had a very authoritarian father, it may affect his sexuality and his belief about his ability to father a child. Negative feelings can lead to anxiety about sex and the belief that it’s not really worth having sex.

Similarly, any traumatic events from the past, such as an abortion (often from years back), repeated failed attempts at IVF or recurrent miscarriage can create feelings of negativity and despair.

Can you identify with any of these statements?

I need help to stay positive.

I feel out of control.

I am getting over-anxious.

I have never failed at anything until now.

I need help to manage my stress.

I know I am a perfectionist by nature.

Maybe I don’t deserve to have a child.

I don’t want to have any regrets.

We need help to make the right decision.

The clock is ticking.

 The Manage Your Mind Programme will help you to change your mind-set and learn to let go.  The programme incorporates a variety of techniques and treatments depending on the individual and couple needs.  This may include CBT (cognitive behavior therapy), hypnotherapy, positive visualization, art therapy, or guided relaxation.  The emphasis on the programme is to use techniques to challenge your negative beliefs and to come up with strategies to help you cope positively with the rigors of fertility investigations and treatment and to maximize your fertility potential.  A single session may be invaluable.  Other times a series of 3-6 sessions may be more appropriate.  More specific fertility/relationship counseling is available at the clinic as needed.

 The more we do in this area, the more we believe that so much to do with getting pregnant is down to a woman’s mind-set. Emotional and psychological blocks really can get in the way of conception.  In addition, the relationship between the couple holds the key and attitudes to sex are also an important factor.  Sex can often be used as a subconscious currency and if both partners are not enjoying sex it can affect their fertility.

 So many of the couples we see find it easy to mange the challenges of every other aspect of their home, work and financial life but are often unable to mange their minds when they are full of negative feelings. With this programme, we want couples to learn how to change their mind-set and just let go.

For more information please get in contact with the Zita West clinic for a consultation book with Jane knight or Maureen Kylie.