The 120% Illusion: When Doing More Tests Doesn’t Mean Better Results

Send us a textCan you really boost your IVF success rate by doing everything before an embryo transfer? In this episode of Taco Bout Fertility Tuesday, Dr. Mark Amols breaks down one of the most common misconceptions in fertility treatment — the belief that more testing automatically means better results. From ERA and Receptiva testing to add-ons like PRP or HCG washes, Dr. Amols explains why these extra steps can’t push your chances beyond what the embryo already has — because you can’t beat the math.Using simple numbers, national success rate data, and a memorable coin-flip analogy, he helps you understand how cumulative odds really work, when testing does make sense, and why giving “120%” isn’t possible in IVF. Whether you’re preparing for your first transfer or recovering from a failed one, this episode will help you focus on what truly improves your chances — patience, persistence, and perspective.Thanks for tuning in to another episode of 'Taco Bout Fertility Tuesday' with Dr. Mark Amols. If you found this episode insightful, please share it with friends and family who might benefit from our discussion. Remember, your feedback is invaluable to us – leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred listening platform. Stay connected with us for updates and fertility tips – follow us on Facebook. For more resources and information, visit our website at www.NewDirectionFertility.com. Have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? We'd love to hear from you! Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join us next Tuesday for more discussions on fertility, where we blend medical expertise with a touch of humor to make complex topics accessible and engaging. Until then, keep the conversation going and remember: understanding your fertility is a journey we're on together.

Send us a textAre fertility clinics telling you the whole truth about their success rates? In this episode, Dr. Mark Amols breaks down the hidden math behind IVF statistics — and exposes how “creative marketing” can make average results look amazing.Learn why pregnancy rates don’t always mean babies, how clinics use “per transfer” versus “per cycle” numbers to their advantage, and what to look for in real CDC data before choosing a fertility center.From the “we take the toughest patients” myth to the truth about PGT and donor egg statistics, you’ll walk away knowing how to read through the hype and make sense of the numbers that actually matter — the ones that lead to a baby in your arms.🎧 Listen now to become a fertility stat detective and discover the truth behind the numbers.Thanks for tuning in to another episode of 'Taco Bout Fertility Tuesday' with Dr. Mark Amols. If you found this episode insightful, please share it with friends and family who might benefit from our discussion. Remember, your feedback is invaluable to us – leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred listening platform. Stay connected with us for updates and fertility tips – follow us on Facebook. For more resources and information, visit our website at www.NewDirectionFertility.com. Have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? We'd love to hear from you! Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join us next Tuesday for more discussions on fertility, where we blend medical expertise with a touch of humor to make complex topics accessible and engaging. Until then, keep the conversation going and remember: understanding your fertility is a journey we're on together.

Send us a textNot all fertility pills are created equal. In this episode of Taco Bout Fertility Tuesday, Dr. Mark Amols breaks down the real differences between Clomid (clomiphene citrate) and Femara (letrozole)—two medications that may look the same but work in totally different ways.Learn how each medication triggers ovulation, why increasing your dose doesn’t always improve your chances, and when doctors decide to switch from oral pills to injectable gonadotropins. Dr. Amols also shares the surprising origins of both drugs (spoiler: one started as birth control and the other as a cancer treatment!) and explains why “doing more” isn’t always the right move in fertility treatment.Whether you’re trying to understand your options, navigating PCOS, or wondering why your doctor didn’t bump your dose, this episode will help you make sense of your fertility journey—one taco at a time. 🌮Thanks for tuning in to another episode of 'Taco Bout Fertility Tuesday' with Dr. Mark Amols. If you found this episode insightful, please share it with friends and family who might benefit from our discussion. Remember, your feedback is invaluable to us – leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred listening platform. Stay connected with us for updates and fertility tips – follow us on Facebook. For more resources and information, visit our website at www.NewDirectionFertility.com. Have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? We'd love to hear from you! Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join us next Tuesday for more discussions on fertility, where we blend medical expertise with a touch of humor to make complex topics accessible and engaging. Until then, keep the conversation going and remember: understanding your fertility is a journey we're on together.

Send us a textFreezing is one of the most powerful tools in modern fertility—but it’s also one of the most misunderstood. In this episode of Taco Bout Fertility Tuesday, Dr. Mark Amols unpacks the science behind freezing sperm, eggs, and embryos. Why do eggs and embryos need vitrification while sperm are slow-frozen? Does freezing harm fertility? Why can’t multiple sperm samples just be frozen and combined for IUI? And does the length of time embryos are frozen affect success?From the history of freezing to survival rates and real-life applications, this episode answers your biggest questions and clears up the myths.Thanks for tuning in to another episode of 'Taco Bout Fertility Tuesday' with Dr. Mark Amols. If you found this episode insightful, please share it with friends and family who might benefit from our discussion. Remember, your feedback is invaluable to us – leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred listening platform. Stay connected with us for updates and fertility tips – follow us on Facebook. For more resources and information, visit our website at www.NewDirectionFertility.com. Have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? We'd love to hear from you! Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join us next Tuesday for more discussions on fertility, where we blend medical expertise with a touch of humor to make complex topics accessible and engaging. Until then, keep the conversation going and remember: understanding your fertility is a journey we're on together.

Send us a textICSI—also known as intracytoplasmic sperm injection—sounds complicated, but it’s one of the most powerful tools in modern IVF. In this episode of Taco Bout Fertility Tuesday, Dr. Mark Amols breaks down what ICSI really is (hint: it’s the ‘needle in the egg’), when it’s a game-changer, and when it might just be an unnecessary add-on. From male factor infertility to frozen eggs, genetic testing, and even rescue ICSI, you’ll learn exactly when this treatment makes sense and when it doesn’t—so you can make the right choice for your journey.Thanks for tuning in to another episode of 'Taco Bout Fertility Tuesday' with Dr. Mark Amols. If you found this episode insightful, please share it with friends and family who might benefit from our discussion. Remember, your feedback is invaluable to us – leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred listening platform. Stay connected with us for updates and fertility tips – follow us on Facebook. For more resources and information, visit our website at www.NewDirectionFertility.com. Have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? We'd love to hear from you! Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join us next Tuesday for more discussions on fertility, where we blend medical expertise with a touch of humor to make complex topics accessible and engaging. Until then, keep the conversation going and remember: understanding your fertility is a journey we're on together.

Send us a textAre Day-7 embryos doomed to fail — or are they just late bloomers? In this episode of Taco Bout Fertility Tuesday, Dr. Mark Amols explains why embryos that don’t reach blastocyst until Day 7 have lower implantation and live birth rates compared to Day 5 or 6. Using a marathon analogy, he breaks down how timing reflects embryo quality, metabolism, and chromosomal health. You’ll also hear the surprising history of Day-7 embryos — from being discarded in the early 2000s to becoming a viable option thanks to advances in culture systems and vitrification. Most importantly, Dr. Amols puts these odds into perspective: while Day-7 embryos aren’t front runners, many healthy babies have still been born from them.Thanks for tuning in to another episode of 'Taco Bout Fertility Tuesday' with Dr. Mark Amols. If you found this episode insightful, please share it with friends and family who might benefit from our discussion. Remember, your feedback is invaluable to us – leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred listening platform. Stay connected with us for updates and fertility tips – follow us on Facebook. For more resources and information, visit our website at www.NewDirectionFertility.com. Have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? We'd love to hear from you! Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join us next Tuesday for more discussions on fertility, where we blend medical expertise with a touch of humor to make complex topics accessible and engaging. Until then, keep the conversation going and remember: understanding your fertility is a journey we're on together.

Send us a textIn this episode of Taco Bout Fertility Tuesday, Dr. Mark Amols takes a deep dive into the ZyMōt microfluidic sperm chip — a device designed to mimic nature’s way of selecting the healthiest sperm.We explore:Why sperm DNA fragmentation matters for fertilization, embryo quality, and miscarriage risk.How the ZyMōt chip works compared to traditional methods like swim-up and density gradient centrifugation.What the science really shows — from lab data to clinical trials — including studies where the chip nearly doubled live birth rates in male-factor infertility, and others where it made little difference in unselected IVF populations.Which patients benefit the most: men with high DNA fragmentation, couples with male-factor infertility, and those with failed fertilization or poor embryos in past cycles.Practical considerations — cost, limitations, and why some clinics use it for everyone while others use it selectively.Is it a true game changer, or just another lab gadget? Tune in to find out.Thanks for tuning in to another episode of 'Taco Bout Fertility Tuesday' with Dr. Mark Amols. If you found this episode insightful, please share it with friends and family who might benefit from our discussion. Remember, your feedback is invaluable to us – leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred listening platform. Stay connected with us for updates and fertility tips – follow us on Facebook. For more resources and information, visit our website at www.NewDirectionFertility.com. Have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? We'd love to hear from you! Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join us next Tuesday for more discussions on fertility, where we blend medical expertise with a touch of humor to make complex topics accessible and engaging. Until then, keep the conversation going and remember: understanding your fertility is a journey we're on together.

Send us a textToday’s episode comes straight from a listener question: What’s the deal with MitoSure? Is this mitochondria-based score the secret weapon in embryo selection — or just another lab test with a fancy name and fuzzy usefulness?Join Dr. Mark Amols as he takes you on a wild science ride from embryo scoring to evolutionary biology, bacterial roommates, and the ancient origin of mitochondria. You'll learn what MitoSure actually measures, why the same embryo could score a “2” in one lab and an “18” in another, and why most fertility specialists still treat it as a tiebreaker — not a dealbreaker.Whether you're mid-IVF or mitochondria-curious, this episode is packed with helpful info, analogies, and (of course) tacos.Thanks for tuning in to another episode of 'Taco Bout Fertility Tuesday' with Dr. Mark Amols. If you found this episode insightful, please share it with friends and family who might benefit from our discussion. Remember, your feedback is invaluable to us – leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred listening platform. Stay connected with us for updates and fertility tips – follow us on Facebook. For more resources and information, visit our website at www.NewDirectionFertility.com. Have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? We'd love to hear from you! Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join us next Tuesday for more discussions on fertility, where we blend medical expertise with a touch of humor to make complex topics accessible and engaging. Until then, keep the conversation going and remember: understanding your fertility is a journey we're on together.

Send us a textIn this week’s episode of Taco Bout Fertility Tuesday, Dr. Mark Amols takes you on a guided tour of your baby’s very first pictures—the first trimester ultrasound. From the tiny gestational sac to the yolk sac (your baby’s first lunchbox), to the fetal pole and that reassuring flicker of a heartbeat, Dr. Amols explains what each step really means and when you should expect to see it. You’ll also learn:Why we stop checking hCG once we see the sacWhat it means if a yolk sac is missing or measures unusually small or largeHow to understand the fetal pole and when to expect a heartbeatGrowth benchmarks from “grain of rice” to “strawberry”Why being 3–7 days behind may (or may not) be concerningHow and why the placenta forms, and when we can actually see itWhat nuchal translucency is, what causes it, and what it does—and doesn’t—meanOne ultrasound is just a snapshot, but together they create the story of the first trimester. If you’ve just found out you’re pregnant—or you’re supporting someone who has—this episode will help you decode what’s on the screen and know what to expect in those exciting early weeks.Thanks for tuning in to another episode of 'Taco Bout Fertility Tuesday' with Dr. Mark Amols. If you found this episode insightful, please share it with friends and family who might benefit from our discussion. Remember, your feedback is invaluable to us – leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred listening platform. Stay connected with us for updates and fertility tips – follow us on Facebook. For more resources and information, visit our website at www.NewDirectionFertility.com. Have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? We'd love to hear from you! Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join us next Tuesday for more discussions on fertility, where we blend medical expertise with a touch of humor to make complex topics accessible and engaging. Until then, keep the conversation going and remember: understanding your fertility is a journey we're on together.

Send us a textYou finally got the positive test after IVF or IUI — now what? In this episode of Taco Bout Fertility Tuesday, Dr. Mark Amols walks you through the first steps after a positive pregnancy test, from confirming with beta hCG bloodwork to your first ultrasound. Learn why rising numbers matter more than the absolute hCG value, why it’s crucial not to stop progesterone or estrogen too early, and what milestones to expect in the first 6–10 weeks.Dr. Amols also shares common myths, tips for healthy habits, and insight into the emotional rollercoaster of “graduating” from your fertility clinic to your OB. Whether you’ve just seen those two pink lines or are preparing for this moment, this episode offers practical guidance, reassurance, and hope for your next chapter.Thanks for tuning in to another episode of 'Taco Bout Fertility Tuesday' with Dr. Mark Amols. If you found this episode insightful, please share it with friends and family who might benefit from our discussion. Remember, your feedback is invaluable to us – leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred listening platform. Stay connected with us for updates and fertility tips – follow us on Facebook. For more resources and information, visit our website at www.NewDirectionFertility.com. Have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? We'd love to hear from you! Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join us next Tuesday for more discussions on fertility, where we blend medical expertise with a touch of humor to make complex topics accessible and engaging. Until then, keep the conversation going and remember: understanding your fertility is a journey we're on together.