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- Being overweight, obese or underweight can affect a womans fertility.
- Obesity can lower fertility in men.
- You have a greater chance of getting pregnant and having a healthy baby if you are close to a healthy weight.
- A small weight loss can improve fertility and pregnancy health.
- Eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly improves your chances of getting pregnant and having a healthy baby.
Can Anxiety Stop You Getting Pregnant The Truth According To The Experts
Can anxiety stop you getting pregnant? It won’t help, but don’t worry. Here’s why anxiety can affect your abililty to conceive and what you can do about it.
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Can anxiety stop you getting pregnant? Here’s why anxiety can affect your ability to conceive and what you can do about it.
Trying for a baby should be a joyous time in your life, and there are numerous ways to increase your fertility so you can reach the best possible outcome.
However, if you’re struggling to conceive you may feel increasingly anxious. Or, what if you are already anxious when you start trying for a family? We asked experts in fertility ‘Can anxiety stop you getting pregnant?’ and here’s what they told us:
How Often Is Assisted Reproductive Technology Successful
Success rates vary and depend on many factors. Some things that affect the success rate of ART include:
- Age of the partners
- If the egg is fresh or frozen
- If the embryo is fresh or frozen
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collects success rates on ART for some fertility clinics. According to a 2014 CDC report on ART, the average percentage of ART cycles that led to a live birth were:
- 39 percent in women under the age of 35
- 30 percent in women aged 35-37
- 21 percent in women aged 37-40
- 11 percent in women aged 41-42
ART can be expensive and time-consuming. But it has allowed many couples to have children that otherwise would not have been conceived. The most common complication of ART is multiple fetuses. But this is a problem that can be prevented or minimized in several different ways.
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What Healthy Habits Can Do
Dont assume that your age is the only reason youre not conceiving quickly. When youre over 35, your lifestyle can also work against you as you try to get pregnant, too.
To improve your chances of conceiving, your medical provider might suggest you try making some lifestyle changes, such as avoiding sugar and overall choosing a healthier diet, cutting back on alcoholic drinks, ensuring you are at a healthy weight , reducing your caffeine consumption, alleviating excess stress, and quitting smoking.
Diet and lifestyle can affect fertility. Eating healthier, embracing healthy lifestyle habits, and maintaining a healthy weight can help you conceive faster and may even boost your odds for fertility treatment success if you do need treatment.
Dont forget about mind-body therapies as well. While research hasnt yet found a strong link between mind-body therapies like mindfulness, mediation, and yoga with fertility, most everyone can benefit from adding stress-reducing activities to their life.
It’s important to understand that while quitting unhealthy habits can improve your fertility, changing your lifestyle won’t stop age-related fertility decline. Your age, like many other factors that influence your chances of conceiving, is out of your control. So, even if you eat a balanced diet, get regular exercise, and don’t smoke, you will still get older and experience age-related fertility decline just like anyone else.
Having An Undiagnosed Pid
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease is caused by untreated sexually transmitted diseases and affects the fertility of 1 in 8 women who have it. PID is an infection that occurs in the reproductive organs. Some common STDs that cause it are chlamydia and gonorrhea.
It is a good idea to be tested for STDs after every new partner or twice a year to ensure you dont unknowingly have one. Many STDs do not have symptoms and left untreated can cause PID. If you have pain near your uterus, fever, vaginal discharge with an odor, pain or bleeding during sex, burning during urination, or bleeding in between periods, these may be symptoms of PID.
See a doctor as soon as possible if you have these symptoms. PID forms scar tissue in and around the fallopian tubes which blocks them from transporting an egg. If you do get pregnant, it could also cause an ectopic pregnancy, which is when the egg attaches in a place other than the uterus.
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Make A Plan And Take Action
Whether or not youve written them down, youve probably thought about your goals for having or not having children, and how to achieve those goals. For example, when you didnt want to have a baby, you used effective birth control methods to achieve your goals. Now that youre thinking about getting pregnant, its really important to take steps to achieve your goal getting pregnant and having a healthy baby!
How Your Cycle Changes After Pregnancy
During pregnancy, the menstrual cycle completely stops as your little one grows and develops. After pregnancy, the reemergence of your menstrual cycle will be largely determined by breastfeeding.
Why is this? The hormone necessary for breast milk production suppresses ovulation .
Take Note
For all other mothers who breastfeed but supplement with formula or who have older babies trying out new foods in addition to breast milk, the timing of the first menstrual cycle will vary.
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When Am I Most Likely To Get Pregnant
During the menstrual cycle, an egg is released from one of your ovaries and travels down the fallopian tube.
The egg only lives for 24 hours after ovulation, and a sperm must meet the egg within that period for pregnancy to happen.
This doesn’t mean that a woman has to have sex on the day of ovulation, as sperm can survive in your body for several days after sex.
If you want to get pregnant, having sex every couple of days will mean there are always sperm waiting to meet the egg when it’s released.
If you think you might be pregnant, read about the signs and symptoms of pregnancy and doing a pregnancy test.
Taking Certain Medications Can Cause Problems
When you make the decision to try for a baby, you definitely need to check your medicine cabinet! Several medications can decrease your chances of getting pregnant significantly by sickening your uterus.
NSAIDS, which stands for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as Motrin or Advil are commonly used over the counter medicine that have a small effect on fertility. Some antidepressants and antipsychotics adjust important hormone levels required to conceive.
Steroids used to treat asthma and lupus are made with testosterone which modify the hormones that kickoff your menstrual cycle and ovulation.
Antiepileptic drugs to treat epilepsy, a disorder that causes seizures, are known to cause infertility. Thyroid medicine can affect prolactin, another important sex hormone. Skin products that are made with hormones and chemotherapy are also some major inhibitors of pregnancy.
Take the time to talk to your doctor about these medications before attempting to conceive. It is possible to find alternate medications to use so your chances of creating a mini me are greatly increased.
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Improving Your Chances Of Becoming Pregnant
Youll have a better chance of getting pregnant if you understand your menstrual cycle. The average cycle is 28 days, but it can vary from anywhere between 20 to 40 days for some women.
If your cycle is regular, then you can know that you probably ovulate 2 weeks before the start of your next cycle. So you can work from that and work out the best time to have sex.
Also, both you and your partner should be as healthy as you can be. Apart from anything else, this really will help your chances of getting pregnant. You can both:
- quit if you smoke, and avoid passive smoking
- be a healthy weight
- check for and treat any sexually transmitted infections
Keep Your Uterus Avoid A Hysterectomy And Get Pregnant
A safer and less aggressive alternative is a uterine fibroid embolization . Not only is the procedure minimally invasive, but it is also just as effective in treating uterine fibroids as a hysterectomy.
During the procedure, a small puncture is made in the femoral artery. A catheter is then inserted and guided under x-ray to the arteries that supply blood to the fibroids.
Once these arteries are located, a solution which blocks and seals these arteries is then injected through the catheter. This results in the fibroids being starved of blood, causing them to shrink.
Because Dr. Groppers team performs this minimally invasive procedure in the teams outpatient state of the art cath lab, the patient can recover from the comfort of their own home shortly after the procedure. The patient can usually return back to normal daily activities in a couple of days.
Side effects of Uterine Fibroid Embolization are generally mild and can include:
- Nausea, vomiting
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Born With Blocked Tubes
Some issues with fertility are hereditary and cannot be prevented. Some women are born with blocked fallopian tubes. This is also called congenital tubal obstruction. There are many different types of blockages that range from blocking the tube at its opening to blockage right in the middle of the tube.
Depending on the location of the blockage, the medical term may be different. Many women do not have any symptoms associated with this uterine sickness. Fallopian tubes are directly connected with your uterus. In some cases a doctor can inject dye into the tubes to see where the blockage is and cut away the scar tissue blocking them.
Blocked tubes are usually not hereditary, but they can be in rare cases. Usually a secondary problem, such as endometriosis, causes the tubes to become blocked. Either way, the treatment and lowered chances of pregnancy are the same. Without a clear passage in your fallopian tube, your eggs cannot be fertilized and dropped into the uterus correctly.
Overweight And Pregnancy Health
Getting closer to a healthy weight before conception increases the chance of the baby being healthy at birth and into adulthood.
Obesity and excess weight gain during pregnancy is also linked with a number of pregnancy complications. These include increased risk of:
Babies born to very overweight mothers have an increased risk of childhood and adult obesity and other long-term health problems.
While the facts about obesity and reproductive outcomes can seem daunting, there is some good news. In women who are obese, even a small weight loss improves fertility and pregnancy health. Also, some diet and lifestyle changes that limit excessive weight gain during pregnancy can improve health outcomes for both mother and baby.
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Find The Words And Thoughts That Will Bring You Peace
Whether its inspirational quotes, scripture, a poem, or a line from a movie or song, find physical words that bring peace to your mind. Print them out or write them down. Mediate, read and internalize them, no less than 3 times a day. Memorize them as best you can. Carry them with you. There is something incredibly powerful about consistently focusing your mind on words and thoughts that help you to feel good.
Can You Get Pregnant At Any Time Of The Month
It is not possible to get pregnant at anytime of the month. You must be ovulating in order to conceive. This means that you should have sex in the days leading to and around ovulation. The two to three days before ovulation and the day you ovulate are most fertile days .
You must, however, understand that fertile days do not necessarily mean that everything is functioning well.
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Things To Do If You Want To Conceive But Are Having Trouble
Rachel Gurevich is a fertility advocate, author, and recipient of The Hope Award for Achievement, from Resolve: The National Infertility Association. She is a professional member of the Association of Health Care Journalists and has been writing about womens health since 2001. Rachel uses her own experiences with infertility to write compassionate, practical, and supportive articles.
Leyla Bilali, RN is a registered nurse, fertility nurse, and fertility consultant in the New York City area. She works in house at a reputable private clinic in New York City while also seeing her own clients through her concierge fertility consulting and nursing services business.
If you’ve been trying for awhile and can’t get pregnant, you may feel at a loss for what to do. But there are steps you can, and should, take. Sometimes the cause of infertility is easy to diagnose and even to treat. Not everyone needs in vitro fertilization or other invasive, costly procedures.
If you’re under 35 and have been trying to conceive for a year, or if you’re over 35 and have been trying for six months, it’s time to get help. Or, if you’ve had two or more miscarriages back-to-back, you should see a professional. The same goes if you’re having any worrisome symptoms or have risk factors for infertility, even if you haven’t been trying for six months to a year.
Does The Hormonal Iud Affect Future Fertility
The short answer: The hormonal IUD doesn’t affect future fertility.
The long answer: The Intrauterine Device is a small contraceptive device that is inserted into the uterus. This hormonal IUD works more like other hormonal contraceptives . Hormonal IUDs use the synthetic hormone progestin to thicken the cervical mucus, stopping sperm from travelling to the egg and often preventing ovulation.
Like other hormonal methods, most women show a quick return to fertility after using Mirena, and don’t experience any long term fertility problems associated with uncomplicated use of the IUD.
Many women voice concerns about infection and Pelvic Inflammatory Disease . In the case of new IUDs, the risk of PID and infection is very low infection can occur in the weeks following insertion but is usually mild and can be treated with oral antibiotics.
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Your Gp Will Ask You About Your Lifestyle General Health And Medical History They May Ask You Questions About:
- any previous pregnancies or children you may have
- how long you have been trying to conceive
- how often you have sex
- how long it has been since you stopped using contraception
- if you take any medication
- your lifestyle and habits.
They may also advise you about the things you can do to improve your chances of getting pregnant and how your partner can improve their fertility.
Know When To Seek Help
Both the woman and the man should consider having an infertility evaluation if the woman is 35 or older and has not become pregnant after six months of having sex regularly without using birth control, Pavone said.
Pavone also recommended that a woman who is under 35 and her partner should consult a fertility specialist if she hasn’t become pregnant after one year of having unprotected intercourse on a regular basis.
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When To Call A Doctor
See a healthcare provider about your fertility if
- You’re 35 years or older and have been trying for at least six months
- You’re younger than 35 and have been trying for at least one year
If either of these situations matches your experience, seek medical advice, even if you have no symptoms of a fertility problem.
Things To Avoid When Trying To Conceive
Trying to conceive is one big waiting gameyou never can predict whether this is the month that pregnancy test will turn positive. Thankfully, there are a few things you can do to boost your odds of getting pregnant each month. For instance, you can track your cycle, take prenatal vitamins, eat healthy and even, just for good measure, take a cue or two from a few old wives tales. But sometimes what you dont do is just as important. Heres what to avoid when youre trying to get pregnant.
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Too Much Or Too Little Sex
Sex is probably the most basic human need for pleasure and reproduction. And, people can be in the extremes when it comes to this .
Having too much sex: Some people believe that having more sex could lead to conception. But this may not always be true. Though frequent sex will not decrease the vigor of a mans sperm, it can cause potential health problems such as fatigue, dizziness, weak knees, and frequent urination. If you indulge in a lot of sex only to have babies, it could lead to BURNOUT . In this case, when the actual fertile window is open, either partner may not be interested in sex. And, as a couple you lose an opportunity to conceive.
Having too little sex: You may be cutting down on intercourse to save the sperm or you only have sex during ovulation. But staying without sex for many days may affect your conception. You could miss your fertile phase when sex is limited as you may not always be correct about your ovulation.
What next?
Try to have sex frequently and keep a close watch on your ovulation dates. If you have irregular periods or problems tracking your fertile window, use an ovulation kit. If the result shows that ovulation is due in one or two days, have sex during that time. Keep in mind not to have sex just for having a baby, because then you cant enjoy the process.
