When seeking fertility tests and treatments, a lot of thought goes into choosing the right fertility clinic for you. That said, patient testimonials offer you our patient’s perspectives and can help to inform your choice. To view our patient testimonials, visit http://repromed.ie/about-us/patient-stories/.

***Fertility Counselling*** At ReproMed, we aim to ensure all fertility tests and treatments carried out are stress-free and our patients are as comfortable as possible. That said, we understand fertility treatments can take an emotional toll on people and so we offer specialist fertility counselling, courtesy of our expert fertility counsellor, Róisín Venables. Visit http://bit.ly/RMFertilityCounselling for more information.

***Should I have Fertility Tests?*** Our medical team recommend that if you have been having regular, unprotected intercourse for 6 months and are 35 years of age or older and have not achieved a pregnancy, you should consult your GP. For those under the age of 35, we recommend consulting your GP if you have not conceived after 12 months of intercourse. For more information, read our expert’s blog here: http://bit.ly/WhenToSeekAdvice.

IVF tends to be a blanket term used by people when speaking about fertility treatment. Although IVF is certainly the best-known fertility treatment, there are many options available. These include Intrauterine Insemination (IUI), Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), Physiological Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (PICSI), Egg/Sperm Donation and more. Learn more about the treatments we offer on http://repromed.ie/tests-treatments/.

In the words of Eleanor Roosevelt - "A woman is like a tea bag—you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water". We at ReproMed would like to wish women all around the world a safe and happy International Women's Day.

Smoking/vaping prior to and during pregnancy is harmful. There are many myths surrounding quitting smoking, such as ‘quitting cold turkey will cause stress on the baby’ and ‘smoking light/e cigarettes is better than full strength cigarettes’. Our experts can assure you that these are not true and that smoking in any form (second-hand included) is harmful to your chances of conceiving.

Many of us enjoy having a drink with friends or to unwind after a long week, but did you know that alcohol can affect your fertility? We know that excessive alcohol consumption decreases the chances of conceiving but it is particularly evident for men, whose testosterone levels, sperm quality and count can be adversely affected. If you are trying to conceive, we recommend men consume no more than 6 units per week and women avoid alcohol completely, as if they were already pregnant.

As a result of today's weather, and the forecasted weather between today and Friday, we have decided to cancel all non-urgent appointments for the safety of both our patients and our staff. All patients with appointments over the next 3 days will be contacted to confirm their appointment has been cancelled. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and wish you all remain safe and warm during this weather.

What is a DNA Fragmentation Test? A DNA Fragmentation Analysis is a test we have available at ReproMed for our male patients. DNA holds each individual’s genetic code and every cell in our body contains DNA. Sperm DNA is tightly packed during the final stages of sperm maturation and unlike other cells in our body, sperm DNA possesses very poor repair mechanisms. If a sperm cell with damaged DNA fertilises an egg, important genetic information may be missing resulting in poor fertilisation rates, poor embryo development and higher rates of miscarriage. The test we carry out assesses the percentage of DNA Fragmentation and indicates what measures – even small dietary and lifestyle changes - should be taken to improve the sperm and help to conceive a healthy pregnancy.

Conor Harrity, Consultant Fertility Specialist, graduated in 2003 from Queen's University Belfast with distinction in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. He went on to complete a clinical research fellowship in Endoscopic surgery and took up a lecturing position in RCSI, before carrying out a further fellowship in Reproductive Medicine at the Rotunda Hospital to gain expertise in Assisted Reproductive Technologies and Reproductive Endocrinology. We were delighted to have him join our team in early 2017 bringing with him a wealth of experience, complemented by his truly patient-focused attitude. When he is not at ReproMed, Conor is a very busy dad to three children!

When am I most likely to get pregnant during my cycle? Timing is the key to conception! If you have a normal 28 day cycle your fertile window is likely to occur between days 12-14 of your cycle, which is when ovulation is likely to occur. After intercourse, sperm can survive inside the female for approximately 48 hours and so we recommend having intercourse within 48 hours of when the woman believes she is ovulating. To calculate when you are likely ovulating, try using our ovulation calculator: http://bit.ly/OvulationCalcRM.