Myths & Misconceptions When TTC

This is from an RE's Site:

Myths/Misconceptions

Fertility Myth: Smoking Marijuana does not affect fertility.

Reality: False. Smoking marijuana, even infrequently, can dramatically affect sperm and egg quality.

Fertility Myth: Drinking wine is better than hard alcohol and does not affect fertility.

Reality: False. In women, drinking may lead to irregular menstrual cycles and anovulatory menstruation (menstruation that occurs without ovulation). Alcohol can also increase the risk of birth defects once a woman becomes pregnant and can cause a severe collection of birth defects known as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).

Fertility Myth: Eating habits and weight have no barring on fertility.

Reality: False. Poor nutrition can have an impact on fertility. Women with a Body Mass Index (BMI) over 30 or those that are severely underweight, may have difficulties with fertility.

Fertility Myth: If we have intercourse a few times a month, we will get pregnant.

Reality: False. In conception, timing is everything. Women are the most fertile 14 - 21 days following their menstrual cycle (ovulating). Experts recommend intercourse every other day to increase the likelihood of natural conception.

Fertility Myth: If a couple opts for In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), they will have multiples.

Reality: False. In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) has been used for over 25 years. The goal of any skilled IVF program is healthy, single births. The rate of multiples is approximately 20% and there is a direct correlation with the mother's age as approximately 1/3 of embryos transferred result in a healthy child.

Fertility Myth: Age is not a factor in reproduction.

Reality: False. Age is a direct correlation to one's egg quality and quantity. By the age of 35, the risk of infertility rises significantly. The optimal conception range for women is 18 - 29 years of age.

Last updated: July 22, 2008
Author: Dr. M

Message edited 9/24/2008 11:02:39 AM.

Re: Myths & Misconceptions When TTC

great thread jess!!
very informative!

Re: Myths & Misconceptions When TTC

These are from the Justmommies.com website:

Myth Number One: You should have sex on day 14 of your cycle if you want to get pregnant.

You have probably heard that most women ovulate on day 14 of their cycle. This is simply not true. It is based on the calendar method of predicting ovulation. If you have a perfect 28 day cycle, where your luteal phase (the second half of your cycle) is exactly 14 days long, you would likely ovulate around day 14. Most women, however, do not have perfect cycles and even the women who do have regular cycles, usually do not ovulate at exactly the same time each month.

Myth Number Two: You should have sex 24-72 hours after you ovulate.

There is some confusion over when to have sex if you are trying to get pregnant. Yes, it is true that you want to time intercourse very close to ovulation. Where many couples go wrong, is they only have sex when they think they are ovulating or they have sex after they ovulate. There are two problems with this strategy, the first is that once you ovulate your egg will only survive for about 12-24 hours (not 72). If you do not start having intercourse until the day you ovulate you may be only giving yourself a 12 hour opportunity to get pregnant. Sperm can live for up to five days so having sex before (not after) ovulation is very important. Ideally you want to have intercourse one or two days before you ovulate.

The other problem with this strategy is that many women can not tell when they are ovulating. If you are not sure when you are ovulating or if you miscalculate your ovulation day, you could be having sex on all the wrong days. Having sex regularly three times a week is one of the best ways to be sure you are having sex at the right time.

Myth Number Three: You are most fertile the day your temperature rises on your bbt chart

BBT Charting is a great way to learn about your cycle and to determine if you are ovulating; however, it is not the best way to predict ovulation. By the time you see your temperature rise on your bbt chart you have already ovulated. Even though temperature charting isn’t very helpful for predicting ovulation, it is useful for confirming ovulation. It can also be useful for detecting fertility problems such as anovulatory cycles or luteal phase defects.

Myth Number Four: Infertility is not treatable or too expensive to treat.

A lot of couples mistakenly believe that they are infertile. Before consulting a doctor, they make assumptions that there isn’t anything that can be done about it or if they were to see a doctor it would be incredibly expensive to threat. This misconception can keep many couples from seeking medical advice for problems that could easily be treated. If you have not gotten pregnant after a year of trying to get pregnant you should seek medical advice. If you have irregular menstrual cycles or are having anovulatory bbt charts you should consult a doctor. Although some infertility treatments are costly, many are not and many can be covered by health insurance.

Myth Number Five: A doctor won’t see you for treatment until you have been trying for one year.

Not true. Some doctors may not offer infertility treatments such as fertility medications until you have been trying for one year, but it is a good idea to see a doctor if you are trying to conceive. Plan to have a gynecological check up as soon as or before you plan to start trying. He or she can make sure that you are in good health, screen for any obvious issues, and give you some guidelines for trying to get pregnant. You may want to start taking prenatal vitamins before you start trying.

Myth Number Six: You should have sex as many times as you can on the day you think you are ovulating.

Well this won’t really hurt anything but even if you have sex all day long on the day you think you are ovulating you may not get pregnant. Each cycle you have about a 20-30% chance of getting pregnant. One of the biggest mistakes couples make is trying to cram all their love making into the one day they think is best to try to conceive. Well what if this is not the right day? Some women have a difficult time predicting ovulation so one of the best things you can do is to have sex regularly three to four times a week.

Myth Number Seven: Generally women are the ones that have fertility problems. Men rarely have problems.

For some reason women tend to think that only men that abuse drugs or are impotent have fertility problems. This is not true. Infertility is a problem that affects both men and women equally, with about 40% of infertility being linked to male factors, 40% to female, and 20% to a combination of male and female factors.

Re: Myths & Misconceptions When TTC

Great info Jess..

Re: Myths & Misconceptions When TTC

Thanks for sharing!

Re: Myths & Misconceptions When TTC

Great info!

Re: Myths & Misconceptions When TTC

The OP is great advice overall - not sure about the #1 though. I know plenty of smokers of the stuff (men though, not sure about if it's different if a woman partakes) who have plenty of kids. I'm not talking occassional partakers, I'm talking daily partakers. I wonder if tobacco affects it at all... hmm? Also the age thing I think is not very accurate. I was 34 and I know plenty of women who got pregnant over 35 (and their husbands smoke mari-J - and the kids are fine). Yet I knew 2 people under 30 who had trouble. Just doing the devil's advocate thing. I read on here all the time about people stressing over their age b/c they're over 30. That alone shouldn't be enough to send anyone into stress over it unless there is a known problem. JMO.

Message edited 9/24/2008 10:50:34 PM.

Re: Myths & Misconceptions When TTC

Re: Myths & Misconceptions When TTC

Re: Myths & Misconceptions When TTC

You're right, age isn't always an issue.. but it does play a huge role in fertility. A common misconception also is that men don't have a "bio-logical clock" They most certainly do on the physical level (maybe not as emotional as we are). Once they are over 40 they can have issues with their sperm development along with motility, volume and morphology. Remember, in a woman your eggs are as old as you are, men regenerate sperm constantly so their sperm is always new. As your eggs get older, the quality of them decreases as does how many eggs you produce which is why it can be more difficult the older you get. I know many women who are older get pregnant quickly and have healthy children, but there are also many more women that have a difficult time getting and staying pregnant when they are older. My aunt had her first at 40 followed by twins at 42 (both natural pregnancies).

I'm currently 20.5 weeks pregnant with my first, I will be 38 shortly after she is born. This is my third pregnancy, I've had 3 losses.. a chemical last year, a m/c after my first IVF cycle, and this pregnancy whih started out with twins after my 2nd IVF cycle where I lost one at 7 weeks after seeing the heartbeat. Due to my age, my RE feels that the cause of my losses were chromosomal due to the quality of my eggs.

Sorry to be long winded, but yes... age does play a HUGE role in fertility.

I also just wanted to add that my age was definately a factor in how many embryos were trasnferred back. We put 3 embryos back both IVF cycles. My RE also said that if was not pregnant by the time I was 38 we'd get more aggressive with how many embryos were transferred back. Even with 3 embryos being put back, my chances of becoming pregnant were still slightly below 40%

Message edited 9/25/2008 10:10:06 AM.

Re: Myths & Misconceptions When TTC

Re: Myths & Misconceptions When TTC

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Message edited 9/26/2008 8:33:59 AM.

Re: Myths & Misconceptions When TTC

clwp - I may be misunderstanding you - but it is a fact that age affects fertility, definitely not an opinion. Yes there are people over 35 who get pregnant with no issues, and people under 30 who have issues (I was one of them), but if you look at the broader picture - not the exceptions - fertility definitely decreases after age 30 and starts to dramatically decrease after age 35. Biologically speaking, a woman's body is at her peak fertility in her teenage years and early 20's. In the past, this is when women had babies. Life spans were shorter, women didn't have careers, things were very different. Now society has changed, but evolution hasn't caught up yet. Our bodies are still working on that old time schedule, while our minds are working on the new one.

Re: Myths & Misconceptions When TTC

oh yes, totally misunderstood... forget it though