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Sunday, January 30, 2005

COMING TO TERM by Jon Cohen

If you have had recurrent miscarriages you may want to get the book COMING TO TERM by Jon Cohen... I got it last night and it is fascinating... It is a reporter's look at WHY women miscarry. Thank you Erin D. for bringing it to my attention and thinking of me when you saw Jon Cohen on the news talking about recurrent miscarriage. See how GREAT our online Blogland community can be???

You may get a little frustrated as you read... It gives you hope because it kind of de-bunks a lot of doctor-talk... and basically kind of comes up with... THEY JUST DON'T KNOW...

It gives a LOT of research history of common theories such as luteal phase deficiency and clotting disorders and the research is very surprising... Basically... there is no REAL data that says this stuff like progesterone and heparin injections REALLY help... but there is also no research that can prove that it doesn't... He calls these methods "Black Swans" because of the rare birds that does actually exist... but sounds fictional. COMING TO TERM helps to explain why there is such a wide range of view points by our doctors about using these medications and why one doctor may present these methods as "cures" and another may be resistant to using any medication at all.

It also talks about how recurrent miscarriers often end up at fertility clinics searching for answers... (because there is no where else for us to seek treatment...) and that many are pushed towards IUI and IVF when "conceiving " is not actually their problem... this is why I related so much to this book....

This is not the "happy" read that will give you all the answers and promise that "next time" everything will be ok that we all want, but is does give you quiet hope. It makes you feel that you are not alone in your struggle and it may help you begin to understand what the hell your doctor is talking about....

This statistic is fueling my hope:
"Recurrent spontaneous aborters (3 or more m/c in a row) who become pregnant again, will with no medical treatment, carry to term 70%of the time." (page 14)

This is by no means the "relax and do nothing" type of advice... but is does want you to know that miscarriage IS still very much a medical mystery... So, when you start to fell like your (very expensive) doctors are "just guessing"... they really sort of are.

I would love to sort of start a "book club" with anyone else reading this book... Let me know if you are interested...

7 Comments:

Blogger Sara said...

Count me in! I looked a few stores for it yesterday with no luck, so I will try again today.

8:43 AM  
Blogger ErinMary said...

I'm so glad you're finding it useful. I found the 70% statistic hopeful too...you hear so many times after your miscarriage, "don't worry, my friend's mom's aunt so-and-so had 4 miscarriages before having a healthy baby." Not exactly what you want to hear or look forward to at the time, but maybe there's some truth to it. And if all those positive pregnancy tests that I took, only to get my period within days were actually miscarriages (a thought I really haven't been able to afford, emotionally) maybe there was some truth in it for me too. I'm looking forward to hearing more about the book.

12:17 PM  
Blogger Kath said...

Good luck with this book. I already know its not for me..have enough uncertainty on my plate already.

But for the black swan comment, these birds are native, and common where I live. Maybe I will get myself one.

7:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey, we too have Black Swans here but we are not allowed to feed them because they get a bit excited and try and steal your lunch off the table or right out of your hand. The are as real as you are and beautiful creatures too. I am having a bit of a rough day, I think it might turn into a rough week sadly, not really positive at the Doctors today. Looks like Blood Tests and such tomorrow afternoon. If you get a chance could you read my blog. Thanks. I hope you are having a better day today.
Lesley

10:49 PM  
Blogger lilmisstypo said...

I am on bookcrossing.com for that simple reason .......to get books to trade ..... you are able to read books you might not have ever known about ........ being a reaccurant mc'r I have found many that share this ......and books

8:07 AM  
Blogger Jenna said...

Jamie,
Thanks for posting about the book. I am going to start looking for it tomorrow. It sounds really interesting. I really hope that I can find it. I hope that everything else is going good for you.
Jenna

5:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jamie,

Many thanks for posting your short review of my book, and if it does trigger a discussion, I'd love to follow it. Terrific blog.

People are welcome to contact me if they want information about scientific studies that address specific miscarriage questions. I have a website, too, www.comingtoterm.com, that gives my contact info and other details about me...

Jon

Jon Cohen
jcohen@comingtoterm.com

3:30 PM  

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