141- What is IVF and Who Should Use This Fertility Option with Dr. Shahin Ghadir

Bryan Carroll: [00:00:00] Welcome to the summit for wellness podcast, where we help you climb to the peak of your health. And now here is your host, Bryan Carroll. 

Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Bryan Carroll, and I'm here to help people move more, eat well and be adventurous. And as I've mentioned in my last one, Podcast the beginning of every year, I take about two months off from podcasting to focus on our clients and programs that begin around the new year.

But now I am back and ready to get this show on the road. Today. I have Dr. Shahin Ghadir on the show to talk about fertility treatments, utilizing IVF as more and more of the population experiences, fertility issues. We need to be aware of other options to increase the chance of a successful pregnancy.

We've had a few episodes in the past that have talked about lifestyle factors that can influence your fertility chances, but we haven't done an episode strictly on what options you have. Once you try all the other methods. Before we dive into this episode, I wanted to share a quick review that was left for the show.

It was left by pig out clean, and they said great podcast. That covers it all. Always a great takeaway fact or tip even on subjects. I think I've heard it all on. Thank you. Pick out clean, love the name by the way for that review. The ratings and reviews help to get the show in front of more people. And if I read your review on the show, then reach out to [email protected] and I will send you a free shirt or product from our store.

And if you want to leave a review, then head over to summitforwellness.com/rate R a T E to learn how to leave reviews within your podcast app of choice. All right. Let's dive into my conversation with Dr. Shahin ghaGhadir as a founding partner of Southern California reproductive center. Dr. Goodyear is a board certified in both obstetrics and gynecology and reproductive endocrinology and infertility.

He is currently an assistant clinical professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the David Geffen school of medicine at UCLA and at the Keck school of medicine at UVM S C. Thank you, Dr. Goodyear for coming onto the show. 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:02:17] Thank you, Bryan, for having me. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:02:19] Of course, I'm really excited to chat with you about fertility because there's.

Obviously a huge need around fertility right now. And a lot of people are struggling with being able to conceive. But before we get into the conversation, tell us a little bit more about your background, who you are and what got you so interested in fertility in the first place. 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:02:40] So, thank you so much, Bryan.

You know, my background was originally training in obstetrics and gynecology and there was an opportunity that I had working during my residency program with a couple infertility specialists that really opened my eyes to a world of medicine that was growing at the speed of light advancing technologically every single day.

And being able to really change people's lives and have a major impact in medicine. And that was one of the main. Reasons that I changed my mind from delivering babies to try to make the babies. And I also looked at myself and realized that God's given me a gift of communication and also being an empathetic person and caring and wanting the best for people that it really, I felt like made me a great fit for trying to be a fertility specialist and bring hope and a lot of beautiful, happy moments to people.

Bryan Carroll: [00:03:34] And you had mentioned that you saw this field growing at the speed of light is what you said, which, you know, when a field is growing that much, that obviously means there's a need for it. So what, why do you think so many people are having such issues conceiving naturally? 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:03:50] So it's very evident from my practice that all of the women that are coming to me are, that are having difficulties are usually not always, but usually older.

And when I say older in the fertility world, that's probably someone over the age of 35. Now we do have people in their twenties that have challenges and then their early thirties, but generally speaking. Our parents, our mothers were having us when they were in their twenties or early thirties. Now it is very, very normal for women just like meant to be working on their careers and growing their professional lives and putting child wearing.

On the back burner until they're more established, which means in their mid to later thirties. And for that reason, it's the number one. Cause of the reasons we see that people are struggling to conceive. But also I believe that an environmental changes over the years have also affected women's capabilities of conceiving with all of that being said, I don't want to, for one second, ignore men because studies have shown that after 40 sperm quality goes down, the risk of abnormal pregnancies goes up.

And also chromosomal abnormalities goes up as well. And there's some very loose links, not really connected perfectly, but there are some loose links that even autism is related to older sperm. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:05:08] Oh, interesting. So, and typically in most cases women usually are with a partner that's older. So you're talking, you know, if a woman is 35 and older than the partner she is with, it's probably already over 40 or pretty close to that age.

So is there specific ways that people can naturally work on their environment and other health factors to improve their chances of conception? No. I think that overall 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:05:36] trying to be as healthy as possible and living a healthy, clean life is going to give you the best opportunity of not hurting yourself when it comes to environment.

And what I mean by that is just being healthy. And doing all of the right things that you can antioxidant rich diets, diets that have healthy fats, like the Mediterranean diet, like olive oil and things like that. Eating healthy, eating well balanced, not abusing your body with drugs and alcohol and smoking.

Those things all have permanent damage. And we don't really want that. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:06:10] Yup. That all makes sense. Are there other environmental factors that you've noticed play Jane play a huge role in fertility as well? 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:06:19] I do think that from men, excessive heat, steam rooms, saunas, jacuzzis, anything that takes to stickler temperatures up the use of marijuana from men and women, all of these things are in their environment and around us, everywhere that are negatively affecting fertility.

Bryan Carroll: [00:06:36] Interesting. Yeah. So the temperature, that's a, that's a really interesting one because the testicle is there. Their job is to regulate temperature, right? So the way that they're hanging away from the body, or as a contract block, back towards the body, that's all regulation, the temperature 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:06:54] it's basically the anatomy is made to keep the testicular temperature about a temperature, a degree or two lower than the body.

So when you're doing things like sitting in a hot tub for a really long time, it takes that temperature up, defeating the purpose and effects the sperm quality. Now, men are lucky because they're going to continue to make new sperm. That's going to come in about 72 to 90 days later, but for women, this damage that occurs in any way to the eggs is irreversible because women don't make many UX.

Hmm. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:07:24] Our men's sperm quality going down, or the, there have 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:07:28] been some studies that have shown that men sperm, quality and sperm numbers over the years have also gone down. And 

Bryan Carroll: [00:07:37] how much, like, what percentage has it gone down? 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:07:40] I'm not sure if I know the exact number. Okay. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:07:43] And so one of the ways that you help with fertility is you use IVF.

So can you talk about what is IVF and how has it typically performed? 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:07:53] Absolutely. So for people that aren't very familiar with, the word IVF IVF stands for in vitro fertilization. The word in vitro means outside of the body fertilization. So we take the egg from the woman. We usually give them medications that help them promote and grow a bunch of eggs.

So we can take five, 10, 20, 30 eggs out of the woman. And then in the laboratory, which is called the embryology lab, we go ahead and take the sperm. Look under the microscope, find the best sperm. We even have the capability of injecting the sperm into the egg, which is called intracytoplasmic sperm, injection, or exceed to get the best.

Opportunity for fertilization. And then for a week we watched these embryos grow and all the embryos that grow beautifully for a week to the stage called the blastocyst, which is a full-grown embryo. At that point is eligible to get a tiny biopsy being frozen. And then we can get the genetic testing results telling us if that embryo is healthy about a week to two weeks later.

Bryan Carroll: [00:08:55] Are people able to determine ahead of time if they have, or they may be more susceptible to fertility issues and they may need IVF. So for instance, if someone is in their twenties and is there any type of markers, I can let them know that maybe they shouldn't freeze eggs or something at that point that they can use in the future.

So 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:09:15] there are not any clear markers that says people have poor fertility, but if they have irregular cycles, significantly painful cycles, these are all hints to us that other things may be going on. And if other things may be going on, it potentially can affect the quality. And also those ag overall wellbeing and something to think about earlier.

Okay. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:09:38] And If you do plan on having kids later in life, and that's already, pre-planned in your you know, your schedule of how you want to do things. Is it better for people to try to freeze eggs or even freeze sperm years in advance to prepare for that 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:09:53] the sooner, if you ever, ever even have the slightest inkling that you may be making, getting pregnant later or not wanting to do it now, or, you know, you're not going to meet someone now, then I would highly recommend freezing eggs.

Sperm or even the joining of the egg and the sperm as an MBO for couples that aren't ready, but they may want to have a child later. So we freeze eggs, sperm and embryos for lots of people. Wow. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:10:18] I didn't know that you could combine that to unfreeze that as well. That's pretty interesting. 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:10:22] That is actually the path that does the best.

Bryan Carroll: [00:10:25] Wow. Interesting. So at what temperatures do you have to freeze that? Like how do you make it stable for that long. 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:10:32] You know what it's a process called vitrification where you make the egg and the sperm or the embryo into what's called a glass light state. And it goes like this into that glass link stage, which is like freezing.

I don't know exactly what the temperature is because it's different in different laboratories and different techniques. But that's something that my IVF lab does really 

Bryan Carroll: [00:10:54] well. Super interesting. So when you are doing IVF and you're starting the embryo outside of the human body, is the embryo missing any developmental stages before it's put back into the woman?

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:11:08] No, because it has to be put, it can't grow from more than five to six days outside the embryo. So when we put the embryo back, the lining of the uterus has prepared five or six days along and it has to find the uterus very quickly and get implantation going very quickly, too. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:11:22] And what's that process like trying to put it back in does a body reject it?

Is there ways to make it take it? 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:11:29] Our success rates in the office range between 76 and 84% going to pregnancy with every embryo that's transferred. So it's rather high and people do rather well. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:11:41] Okay. Awesome. What's the oldest candidate that you've had. 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:11:45] Well, the American society of reproductive medicine says that generally speaking women over the age of 55 should not be carrying pregnancies.

So we did have a 54 year old as much as we discouraged her because I don't believe it's a great idea. She was an excellent health. Her general doctor, her OB GYN, her cardiologist, everyone said she's an excellent health. And she got pregnant and went all the way home to her due date. So that's the maximum, but in most situations of our patients that are over the age of 40, for many, many people use surrogates.

Bryan Carroll: [00:12:20] Yeah. That makes sense. So what are some other factors that can help. With the chances of pregnancy at later stages. So you mentioned having good health IVF. Are there anything else I can help for someone to be able to be successful with IVF? 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:12:36] Unfortunately, no. So if you don't freeze your eggs or your sperm, or make embryos early on and have them they're sitting for the future, and if you don't treat your body well and keep it as healthy as possible, no matter what you do, your egg reserve is going to go down.

And the opportunities of being pregnant later are going to be gone. Hmm. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:12:55] And have you noticed any issues with hormones from birth control or anything like that that can have a longer lasting, 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:13:02] Are some studies that have shown that if you've been on birth control for a very, very long time, it may suppress your ovary and the ovary doesn't come back to life as quickly as if you were off of it.

So we recommend sometimes to people to get off of their long-term birth control for a month to three months before starting the procedure, and then they should be back to normal. Okay, 

Bryan Carroll: [00:13:22] so it's pretty quick afterwards. Yes. Perfect. And what other things would you want us to know about IVF and fertility and how to have successful pregnancies?

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:13:33] I think it's really, really important for us to know that when someone is getting ready or having difficulties conceiving, discussing with a fertility specialist or a doctor earlier than later, when there's more options, I think you're opening doors for yourself rather than closing. Closing them by waiting long periods of time, that opening of doors gives you the opportunity to see how fertile you are to open the doors of freezing them and preserving things for your future.

I think the waiting game is the worst thing that you can do. And I have people that call me and come to me and they've been trying for 10 years. And I just, the first thing I want to ask is like, why didn't you come sooner? We have so many financing options. If it's financial reasons and learning more and not have you don't even sometimes even have to do the treatment, but just learning more about your body is also incredibly important.

Bryan Carroll: [00:14:23] Hmm. And do you recommend for like men to go and get their sperm quality checked at younger ages? 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:14:31] Men are as equally involved in this process and it is a million times easier for Amanda to give a sperm sample and make sure that it looks good. And even consider freezing it for the future. Then for women doing all of that.

And with all of that being said, we've had sperm that was 31 and a half years frozen in the office. That's probably the world's record for the longest frozen sperm that led to a healthy baby. So I think freezing your sperm and keeping it healthy or at a younger age is also very smart for men. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:15:03] Hmm.

And when you are doing a sample of sperm, Is that just a snapshot of their health in that moment in time? Or does it give you a pretty good indication from just one sample? It 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:15:14] is actually a snapshot of what it is right then and there, but generally speaking, people's phone quality does not go to really good and really bad every other day.

It's an overall situation that you could be in. So doing that as that one snapshot kind of gives us a recommendation on what it looks like overall for people over time, but it can be improved. So that's a good thing for men. Right. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:15:37] Perfect. Well, my final question for you is what is your vision of what healthy looks like and what are three things that you do daily to reach that vision?

So I 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:15:46] think healthy means a lot of different things for people. One thing that I, I love to do at the end of the day is to try to clear my mind because I find my mind, which I can't see. And I can't touch, but is really controlling my every single step of the day. If I don't relax that and take control over it, it leads to the ending of the day, not in a positive way and into the night as well.

So that's one thing. The second thing is I really believe that doing some kind of exercise. Really is beneficial. I wish that I could do exercise more often because I realized the days that I do exercise, I just feel so much better about myself, about what I want to put into my body and about how I feel.

So I think that's really important. And then I also think that being a good person and a nice person, and in this world where so many horrible things have happened in this last year, just going out of your way to do things the right way and to be just a slightly better person in this world. Goes a long way.

So those are the three things that I really believe in. 

Bryan Carroll: [00:16:47] Perfect. Well, thank you, Dr. Goodyear so much. Where can people find more about you and learn more about what you do? 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:16:55] Thank you so much for having me, Bryan. I wanted to let everyone know that my Instagram page is called Dr. Shahin ghaGhadir. It's D R S H a H I N.

G H a D I R. It's a verified page on Instagram and Facebook. So you can follow me there. And also our YouTube channel that has a lot of programming on it, similar to what we're doing now. And talking about lots of different topics is called fertility talk by Dr. Shahin Agadir and that's on YouTube.

Bryan Carroll: [00:17:24] Perfect. Well, thank you so much for coming on. I know a lot of people that are trying to conceive and are having struggles with it will definitely benefit from this information. Thank 

Dr. Shahin Ghadir: [00:17:34] you so much for having me. Bryan take care 

Bryan Carroll: [00:17:36] process of IVF is really fascinating to me. And I personally know some people that have had great success with IVF to learn more about Dr.

Goodyear, go to the show [email protected] slash one four one next week, I have Dr. Yale Joffey on the show. Let's go learn who she is and what we will be talking about. I am here with Dr. Yale Joffey. Hey, Dr. Yale, what is one unique thing about you that most people don't know? 

Dr. Yael Joffe: [00:18:05] Cold water, ocean swimming, my absolutes and totally addiction.

Bryan Carroll: [00:18:09] What is the coldest place that you've swam in Seattle?

Dr. Yael Joffe: [00:18:17] It was really my wetsuit, right? 

Bryan Carroll: [00:18:19] No wetsuit. Oh, wow. You're going hardcore. I'm hardcore. Yeah. And then what will we be learning about in our interview together? 

Dr. Yael Joffe: [00:18:29] We want to understand how genes our genes give us self knowledge and teach us about how we respond to the world around us, and also how we can use our daily choices around food nutrition, new ceuticals to get our genes to behave in the best way possible.

Bryan Carroll: [00:18:46] And what are your favorite foods or nutrients that you think everyone should get more of in their diet? So I'm guessing 

Dr. Yael Joffe: [00:18:52] macaroni cheese is not the right answer. Right? Okay. Broccoli and cauliflower, broccoli, cauliflower cabbage, the cruciferous vegetables are just extraordinary. They switch on so many wonderful genes that protect our bodies.

So we'll talk a whole lot more about why I really, really love 

Bryan Carroll: [00:19:12] those vegetables in a, what are your top three health tips for anyone who wants to improve their overall wellness? 

Dr. Yael Joffe: [00:19:20] Find an exercise or a movement that you truly love that brings you more than just calorie expenditure. That gets you into a place where you feel really happy, find foods that you love and want to eat.

Otherwise you will never sustain your choices. And do not fall prey to social media on what the data's trends are and what you think you should be eating, what the latest diet plan is or what the latest exercise crazy is. You've got to find your own. North 

Bryan Carroll: [00:19:49] star genes are a fascinating thing, and we are learning more and more about how our genes play a role in how well we utilize nutrients.

So until next week, keep climbing to the peak of your health.

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