You’ve heard it before: “There’s an app for that!”

Well, now it seems there is an app for infertility too!

The LifeForce fertility app launched from the UK earlier this year in the UK. The first-of-its-kind application provides users with 24 hour access to fertility-related information directly on their iPhones, such as which fertility treatments to try and, if need be, the cheapest drugs to inquire with their doctors about to help conceive, by offering individually targeted fertility consultations with a UK clinician Dr Laurence Shaw, a leading consultant with over 30 years of reproductive medicine and surgery experience.

Through the application, Dr Shaw helps patients identify any fertility issues they may have and offers treatment options at the touch of the iPhone screen.

Such issues that Dr Shaw and the LifeForce fertility application address are tubal, ovulatory and sperm issues. Dr Shaw and the LifeForce fertility application discusses these issues prior to recommending IUI, IVF, as well as egg and sperm surrogacy. These discussions are delivered via video consultations for free through the iPhone and when you take into consideration how expensive a consultation appointment is at a local fertility doctor’s office, such as the Reproductive Care Center in Sandy, this app will more than pay for itself over time.

In addition to possible biological reasons, the LifeForce app also considers psychological factors that could be hampering a patient’s infertility. Renown UK counselor, Jules Williams, also has video’s on the iPhone in an effort to offer help to would-be parents who want to overcome any underlying mental blocks that they may have.

Read more on: www.examiner.com.

Article from The Sunday Times

“We know it can be difficult to find that special someone…” reads the blurb on the American website Heart to Heart. They have hundreds of profiles on there — gorgeous, talented individuals who list their vital statistics, educational background, everything down to their favourite food and their favourite song. But these women aren’t looking for love. Despite the obvious similarities with online dating, they are part of another booming internet industry — matchmaking for would-be parents and egg donors.

With some clinics advertising success rates of 50% compared with only 21% for IVF (a figure that declines further for women over 35), more and more women are opting for egg donation, yet because the waiting lists for donors in the UK are between two and five years, many are seeking eggs abroad. A new study from the Economic & Social Research Council found that the most popular destination for these “fertility tourists” is Spain, where donor anonymity is allowed, and donors receive generous compensation (in the UK they cannot be paid and the limit on their expenses is £250).

“Waiting for a donor is the most awful thing. Your whole life is in limbo, you can’t plan anything,” says Charlotte Manning, 39. “After I was diagnosed with early menopause, my husband and I decided to go down the donor route. But the waiting list was so long at home that we decided to take our chances and go to Spain, as we’d heard it had good facilities and a lot of donors.”

However, the couple had concerns about finding a reliable clinic on their own. “It’s difficult to check out the facts when you’re dealing with a foreign business. Fortunately, we were referred by Midland Fertility Services to a clinic in Barcelona that they could recommend.” At the last minute, however, the Birmingham clinic found a donor for Charlotte and so she was able to have treatment in the UK. “I did everything the clinic told me to — I took two and a half weeks off work after the egg transfer, I ate only organic food, I even stopped wearing perfume.” She and her husband were lucky, Charlotte got pregnant after one cycle and is now mother to 20-month-old Adam.

The majority of egg recipients undergo embryo transfer in a similar procedure to IVF, except it will be the donor’s eggs that are fertilised with the male partner’s sperm (or with donor sperm). Because it’s the age of a woman’s eggs that is critical in achieving a healthy pregnancy, it allows women to give birth until an age determined by individual countries. In Italy, for example, women can be seen into their sixties, but in other countries the cut-off age can be 45 or 50.

“The demand for egg donors is increasing in the UK,” observes Mohammed Menabawey, medical director of the Bridge Centre in London.

“There used to be a stigma attached to not giving birth to a child who is genetically 100% your own, but that is changing as infertility rises.”

Bridge, which offers three programmes abroad, has also seen a rise in the number of divorced women starting second families, and women with much younger husbands starting first families.

In the UK, it is illegal for a woman to charge for selling her eggs. Add to that a change in the law in 2005 that ended the right to donor anonymity, and it’s easy to see why “fertility tourism” is booming.

Other countries allow donors to profit from selling their eggs — in the United States the minimum rate is about £6,000 — and the laws on anonymity vary from country to country. Now there are even IVF travel agents offering package deals to no-waiting-list destinations such as Greece and Spain.

Costs for treatment in Europe can range from £7,000 to £12,000. But for couples who’ve decided to go down the donor egg route, going abroad can pose a number of problems. “The further you go from the UK, particularly outside Europe, the more problems you’re likely to encounter,” says Susan Seenan of the support group Infertility Network. “Most people do have positive experiences, but there are things to bear in mind. In non-English speaking countries, you need to make sure they have interpreters to help you out.

“You should also consider the logistics carefully. A last-minute long-haul flight could be very expensive, not to mention the return flight — a daunting prospect after an embryo transfer. Even with clinics in Europe you should check out the many internet chat forums, including our own at Infertility Network, where you can get advice and information from many women who have direct experience.”

Reading the message boards is a good idea. On one site, a woman documents the agonising two-week wait to find out if she is pregnant after the transfer at a Spanish clinic. “And if I am pregnant, what will my baby look like? What if it doesn’t look like me at all? I’m terrified my mother will find out, I haven’t had the nerve to tell her.” Another prospective mother from the same clinic hopes “that my baby will look like Penelope Cruz or Antonio Banderas”.

Indeed, this might be easier to achieve than getting a blonde, blue-eyed baby from a Spanish donor. Although clinics do recruit eastern European students for this purpose, the waiting list is much longer.

Seenan points out that another issue when choosing which country to go to is the policy on multiple-embryo transfer. “In the UK we prefer single-embryo transfer as it cuts the risk of multiple births. In other countries they will happily put back three or four, particularly at clinics pressurised to produce high success rates.” While twins might sound like the answer to an infertile couple’s fertility prayers, the risks of premature birth and miscarriage are high. “Remember, the ideal outcome is to have a healthy baby,” Seenan says.

There are so many ethical and practical considerations surrounding becoming an egg recipient that many clinics now offer what’s known as “implications counselling”.

Jane Knight, who offers the service at Zita West, says: “It’s important that you decide how and when you’re going to tell your children, if you choose to tell them at all, about the donor. Fortunately, most kids are not really interested in hearing the details of conception, they’re a lot more likely to ask their mother about being pregnant or giving birth.” There can also be emotional issues connected to the donor, particularly for anyone entering an “egg-sharing” programme (where a woman donates some of her eggs in exchange for IVF treatment). “In that case, you can have the difficult situation of the recipient getting pregnant and not the donor. I’ve seen women get terribly guilty over this.”

Knight says there are also things to consider about the male partner’s role. “For some men, it can feel like infidelity, mixing their sperm with another woman’s eggs. For other couples, it can be a strain having a child who shares genetic traits with the father but not the mother.”

Quote: “EVERY savvy girl on the go has joined the app revolution. The range of girl-friendly gizmos available has given us yet another reason to love our mobiles.

From money off your favourite make-up to recipes, wedding planners and sex tips, you can download the latest clever tools at the touch of a button.

Here BELLA BATTLE picks the ten most exciting on the market…….

LifeForce, Cost: £3.99

This fertility app helps diagnose problems and gives 24-hour support to women struggling to start a family.”

The LifeForce app (£3.99; itunes.com) has touch-screen options to help diagnose your symptoms. Then you can watch videos explaining what may be the problem and the options available to you from two top pros: Harley Street fertility doctor Laurence Shaw and emotional expert Jules Williams. The aim is to provide quick and easy access to impartial information for all couples.

TOP TIP! You’re at your most fertile 10-16 days before your next period is due – have sex every other day to boost your chances. ”

Demand for IVF treatments in Birmingham has increased by more than 28 per cent in a year, latest statistics show. Numbers of patients receiving fertility treatments in the city has increased by 807 from 2,934 to 3,741 in a year.
The research compiled by fertility company LifeForce also discovered most services were carried out privately at a cost of nearly £15 million for couples….

Quote:”What is it?

The Fertility Coach on you phone.

Not every couple struggling to conceive can afford specialist help, so a new app has just been produced to bring fertility advice to you phone.

The LifeForce Fertility app (£3.99; Itunes.com) has touch-screen options to help disgnose your symptoms. Then you can watch videos explaining what may be the problem and the options available to you from two top pros: Harley Street Fertility doctor Laurence Shaw and emotional expert Jules Williams. The aim is to provide quick and easy access to impartial information for all couples.”

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Quote: “LifeForce, a private fertility company, has released an iPhone app to help couples struggling to get pregnant. The app offers pre-recorded consultations with fertility expert Dr Laurence Shaw and emotional support from counsellor Jules Williams”.

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