Hey, infertiles! Did you know that your problems are maybe caused by running too much? Or by being obese? Somewhat conflicting, that? Then you’ll enjoy this charming little interview of Dr. Sami David by someone named Julie Menin.

She interviewed David, who apparently did the first IVF in New York State and has been in the fertility field for 30 yars, for her Internet TV show Give And Take.

And that sound you are going to hear in about five minutes, after y’all click and watch, is infertile women in New York and across the country tearing their hair out in unison.

David is one of those people who, when you hear him speak, sounds reasonable and then goes right off the rails. For example, one of his main points is that it’s important to be a “medical detective” to ferret out the causes of infertility and that he doesn’t believe in unexplained infertility. OK, great, sounds good to me.

But then wham, off he goes. He posits that a significant cause of infertility might be that the man takes too many tub baths or uses a hot tub (most research I have seen discounts that whole theory), and, and I quote: “environmental issues such as hormones in red meat, pesticides, chemicals in makeup; any of these might have an effect, and often more profoundly on men’s sperm.” I certainly believe environmental factors probably have something to do with the fact that I am one person and not especially outgoing and personally know a bajillion people who have suffered infertility or recurrent pregnancy loss. But. Yeah. Um. If your husband is wearing so much makeup that it affects his sperm count, the chemicals might be the least of your problems.

And interestingly, he no longer does IVF (although his clinic still offered it as late as 2007, based on the CDC statistics; his success rates are actually a little better than that national average). He claims it’s not necessary. Well, I’d like to introduce him to the more-babies-than-I-can-count-on-one-hand who wouldn’t actually be here if it weren’t for IVF, and these are just the ones I am personally acquainted with. Do I think clinics are too quick to rush people into IVF? Yes. But most people don’t go see a fertility specialist until they’ve tried on their own for a long time to no avail and then, often, worked with their regular doctor or OB-GYN for awhile to try to pin down a cause. No one wants to do IVF if there’s anything else that might work. If you need it, you need it.

I think the fact is, and no doctor ever seems willing to admit this, fertility is poorly understood. In the majority of people for whom it’s a simple matter of unprotected sex timed right, followed by a healthy nine months and out pops a baby, the whole process really pretty simple. For those of us in the pool of suckitude that includes infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss, though, there just seem to be no real, good answers. And I wish fertility doctors would spend more time researching real causes that giving softball interviews about tub baths and running.

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