Understanding infertility. The importance of Progesterone.

Amy Beckley, PhD, is the founder of a fertility testing company. She herself had a personal battle with infertility and suffered seven miscarriages before having two rounds of IVF, the second of which resulted in her son. Although Amy was able to access IVF, she realises how difficult this can be – it's a very expensive procedure, you have to be located near a clinic and be able to take leave from work for the treatments.

When Amy decided she wanted another child (without another round of IVF) she asked her doctor ‘Why can’t we figure out why I can’t have a successful pregnancy?  Lets have a conversation MD to scientist to try and figure it out’. As well as a PhD in Pharmacology, Amy had been studying hormone signalling for about ten years and with her background she realised that they were not tracking her cycle fully. It turned out she didn’t really need IVF because she had a hormone imbalance that meant her body was not making enough of the hormone needed to support pregnancy.

Amy thinks the problem is that doctors are very reliant on blood tests which is fine but when you have a hormone that is increasing and decreasing as the cycle goes on you miss certain things. Blood tests showed she was ovulating and making progesterone but not that the progesterone was falling too fast so by the time the embryo came to be implanted the uterine lining was starting drop off. It was a timing issue. Once Amy knew what the problem was she started taking an inexpensive progesterone supplement, with the result being her daughter.

Instead of letting her fertility issues consume her, Amy decided to empower other people with what she learned in the process by creating better diagnostic tests for people who want to build a family – to take science and hormone monitoring and changed it into something that can be done at home non-invasively.

Proov, is the first and only FDA-cleared test to confirm ovulation at home. It’s a suite of at home testing products that allows a woman to understand and track her menstrual cycle. It answers questions like how many eggs to I have left? Am I timing intercourse correctly? Am I ovulating successfully meaning do I have a high progesterone marker in urine though the entire implantation window and have a healthy cycle? Proov also provides other answers. Women are waiting longer to start families, they are having one child instead of two or three. By providing information such as how many eggs they have left and whether they should freeze the eggs if they want to put off starting a family woman means they have more information about their cycles and their bodies.

It’s not just about conceiving. If women have really heavy or painful periods, PMS or going through peri-menopause these are all cycles and hormone changes so the same balances that cause infertility can also cause these. Amy has been creating a platform where woman can understand their hormones try to optimise and balance their hormones. Once you have results you can take them to a GP or holistic health provider for further help.

It’s really about having the information and power. There was some recent research on teenagers where one set tracked their cycle and the other didn't. By just knowing and tracking their cycle the first group were less depressed and had less suicidal tendencies. They knew that based on their previous cycles they were going to start their period, that when they did that they felt depressed but that three days later they were back to normal. They knew that it was coming so could prepare themselves.

It can also help women in peri-menopause who may leave the workforce because they cant function at work, they cant take on the same mental capacity or remember things, are having hot flushes to know that your body is going though hormonal withdrawal.

You can find out more about Amy at Proovtest.com

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