Other Factors

I have a friend who is in her late thirties and is just now engaged. She is extremely happy that after many years of looking she has found her "other half". She was excited about everything she was going to finally be able to do, including starting a family. She went in to her doctor for her yearly exam and came out of the clinic on the verge of depressed. Doctor Killjoy (Not his real name, but it seems to fit.) decided that while he was examining my friend's sensitive area that he would inform her of the struggle she will face while trying to conceive. Then to add insult to injury, he told her that if she does become pregnant she… [more]

There are many families who experience infertility and they don't know why. The most common answer given to them by friends and family is that they are over stressed and just need to relax and be patient. The frustrated couple then goes to the doctor just to receive more upsetting news- the doctor isn't sure why the couple isn't conceiving. After being on Clomid for several months I had a doctor say (these EXACT words), "Well Marie, I'm not sure why you aren't pregnant." Was he serious? He's the doctor! It's his job to know these things! At this point we discovered my husband's infertility and started working with him. Again several months passed and the doctor told us he was "stumped"… [more]

A good rule of thumb for women struggling with infertility is to behave pre-conception as you would in the early stages of pregnancy. That means a lot of people abstain from alcohol, caffeine, and certain foods when undergoing fertility treatments. When it comes to your hair, though, opting to let your grays or roots show is to some akin to leaving the house in your underwear. I had the worst of both problems - gray roots - and was appalled when I heard that coloring my hair was something else that I needed to give up when trying to conceive. Along with my questions of whether a glass of wine was ok when we were taking… [more]

Whenever weight is mentioned as a factor in infertility, I automatically think of being overweight. This is definitely not surprising to me since in the last ten years being underweight was not a personal danger. I gained after college, gained even more with fertility treatments, and had trouble losing for a myriad of reasons - though I choose to mostly blame my extra 15 (or 20 or more) on infertility. Anyway, I realize that not talking about the hazard of being underweight is short-sighted since there are many women who may unwittingly be struggling because they weigh too little. Whereas women who have excess body weight can be faced with an overproduction of hormones that disrupt… [more]

Men get off relatively easy when it comes to infertility. The woman is advised to do all sorts of things to improve her chances of conception, but the man is often let off the hook when it comes to making lifestyle changes. Often the female partner is told to watch what she eats and drinks while the male partner (even if male factor plays a role) is rarely similarly inundated with advice revolving around not eating certain foods, drinking caffeine or alcohol, smoking, exercising or not, etc. Most couples undergoing fertility treatments do know the "rule" that the male should not ejaculate 2-3 days prior to providing a sample, but many don't know that the sperm that… [more]

It is never a bad idea to eat well. It can definitely be difficult, though, to concentrate on being healthy and eating good for you foods in the midst of the turmoil and disappointment that infertility brings. Researchers and doctors suggest that noshing on comfort foods or pick-me-up sweets can actually be detrimental to not only your waist line, but also fertility. I am a stress eater and I know that there are many others who also turn to carbs or chocolate when they are feeling low. In order to boost fertility, it is suggested that people trying to conceive seek out certain kinds of foods that will have a fertility benefit. It's really all… [more]

I recently went in for a thorough physical and got into a discussion with the Doctor about Vitamin D deficencies and new research that shows that supplements can really make a difference for women in regards to bone strength, fatigue, rates of certain types of cancer, and in a number of different areas. I was definitely intrigued, but agreed with the doctor that my results would probably come back fine considering that I got well more than the recommended amount of sunlight each week and tuna fish and salmon are two of my favorite meals. So, I was pretty surprised when my level came back really low and not only were supplements recommended, but a prescription was… [more]

When my husband and I decided to start trying for a baby we followed all of the recommended steps. We went to a pre-conception check-up, started trying to adopt a healthier lifestyle, had heartfelt discussions about our parenting philosophies, and I started taking pre-natal vitamins and folic acid thinking it could never be too soon. I religiously took my vitamins and folic acid for months and months until I began to feel silly. I began to slack off a bit on taking the vitamins every day since even the simple act of ingesting a prenatal vitamin made me feel like a fraud. I began to ask myself why I was even pretending that I would actually get pregnant and… [more]

I was blissfully ignorant about the whole reproductive process before I had trouble conceiving. I honestly did not know that the actual window of conception was so short and that on most days of the month you aren't fertile. Now that I know more about how it all works I am truly flabbergasted at the number of "accidental" pregnancies. Not only are there fewer days than I thought that can actually lead to conception, but there are also a lot of things that have to work perfectly to create a baby. You have to ovulate, the egg has to travel through the fallopian tube into the uterus, you have to introduce sperm in some way to the whole environment at… [more]

"I didn't know age mattered so much!" That statement, or a variation of it, is one that I have heard too many times when talking to others struggling with infertility. We all know of a young person who "accidentally" got pregnant, oftentimes saying it was their first time or while using birth control. However, we have probably all also heard stories of older women with teenage children suddenly pregnant with an "oops" baby. So, it isn't surprising that when a couple is struggling to conceive, many don't automatically make the correlation between age and infertility. The sad truth is that age does play a significant role in a woman's chances of getting pregnant. The American Society… [more]