A Funny Thing Happened While Researching Infertility... No, I didn't change my mind. DUH.

I am a screenwriter and am preparing to write an upcoming feature about the Childfree struggle when seen in conjunction with the struggle with infertility. So, that means I have to research infertility and treatment methods.

This presents two problems:
1) I'm not comfortable with anything remotely medical, so I'm doing my best not to get squeamish and pass out...
2) ... and I'm afraid my Internet Search Engine will think I've had a change of heart on the whole kids thing. Hopefully it doesn't start sending me pamphlets... ie advertisements and spam. UGH. NO, Interwebs, I'm NOT trying to have a baby... EVER. Just trying to be an informed writer.


So here are some interesting tidbits I am learning:

• Human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) is a very powerful treatment for infertility. It consists of a combination of LH and FSH. From menopause onwards, the body starts secreting LH and FSH in large quantities due to the slowing down of the ovarian function. This excess of hormones is not used by the body and is expelled in the urine. HMG is therefore collected from the urine of menopausal women. The urine then undergoes purification and a chemical treatment. The resulting hMG induces the stimulation of several ovarian follicles. This increases the risk of producing several oocytes during the same cycle, and thus the risk of multiple pregnancies. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anovulation )
• Mittelschmerz (German: "middle pain") is a medical term for "ovulation pain" or "midcycle pain". About 20% of women experience mittelschmerz, some every cycle, some intermittently. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittelschmerz )
• Tobacco smokers are 60% more likely to be infertile than non-smokers.^[15]   (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infertility )
• Chocolate cyst of ovary has nothing to do with yummy chocolate, should have been given a different name, and the image is really disturbing. Click here to be frightened: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_cyst_of_ovary Similarly: Larger lesions may be seen within the ovaries as ovarian endometriomas or "chocolate cysts", "chocolate" because they contain a thick brownish fluid, mostly old blood. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endometriosis )
• Monkeys were fed dioxins as research. Poor monkeys! Several studies have investigated the potential link between exposure to dioxins and endometriosis, but the evidence is equivocal and potential mechanisms are poorly understood.^[20] In the early 1990s, Sherry Rier and colleagues found that 79% of a group of monkeys developed endometriosis ten years after exposure to dioxin. The severity of endometriosis found in the monkeys was directly related to the amount of TCDD (2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin – the most toxic dioxin) to which they had been exposed . Monkeys that were fed dioxin in amounts as small as five parts per trillion developed endometriosis. In addition, the dioxin-exposed monkeys showed immune abnormalities similar to those observed in women with endometriosis.^[21] A similar follow up study in 2000 observed similar findings.^[22]
• Lesions for endometriosis are colorful and creepy: Although doctors can often feel the endometrial growths during a pelvic exam, and these symptoms may be signs of endometriosis, diagnosis cannot be confirmed by exam only. To the eye, lesions can appear dark blue, powder-burn black, red, white, yellow, brown or non-pigmented. Lesions vary in size. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endometriosis )
  
  
  Now onto Surrogacy tidbits:
• A surrogate marriage describes the arrangement where a woman is infertile or dies young and her family substitutes another woman to bear children for the husband. Surrogate marriages exist in some African cultures, such as the Zulu culture.^[1] The root of the arrangement is the belief that marriage is an arrangement for the continuity of life. Where the life of the family or clan cannot be continued due to infertility or death, the family of the wife can substitute a female relative to bear children for the husband on behalf of the wife. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrogate_marriage )
• Although the idea of vanity surrogacy is a common trope in popular culture and anti-surrogacy arguments,^[1] there is little or no data showing that women choose surrogacy for reasons of aesthetics or convenience.^{[2] (source:} http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrogacy  )
•  1870s: It became common practice in China for couples to pay for an adopted son. All ties to the natal family would be severed, and the child would become an heir and full member of the adopted family.
• 1971: The first commercial sperm bank opened in New York, which spurred the growth of this type of business into a highly profitable venture.
• 1985: A woman carried the first successful gestational surrogate pregnancy.
•  1990: In California, gestational carrier Anna Johnson refused to give up the baby to intended parents Mark and Crispina Calvert. The couple sued her for custody (Calvert v. Johnson), and the court upheld their parental rights. In doing so, it legally defined the true mother as the woman who intends to create and raise a child.
• 2009: The Chinese government cracked down on enforcement of the gestational surrogacy ban, and Chinese women began coming forth with complaints of forced abortions.

• There have been cases of clashes between surrogate mothers and genetic parents. For instance, genetic parents of the fetus may ask for an abortion when unexpected complications arise, and the surrogate mother may oppose the abortion.^[7][8]
• If the jurisdiction specifically prohibits surrogacy, however, and finds out about the arrangement, there may be financial and legal consequences for the parties involved. One jurisdiction (Quebec) prevented the genetic mother's adoption of the child even though that left 
  the child with no legal mother.^[9]
  
  
  Okay, that is about all the research I'm doing tonight. Here is my personal report:
  1) When I read about Endometriosis, my mid-section got all queasy and in pain... Sounds like a very unfortunate affliction.
  2) When I got to the section on surrogacy, I took a break with some Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin. Headbanging is fun. Not related to my research, but fun. And I probably needed it to shake the medical thoughts and images from my mind!
  
  Peace!