Confused Why You’re Not Getting Pregnant?

Correct answer: False
Healthy eating and living are very important to help you conceive. BUT age of the woman is the most important factor, as per studies. Women are born with all the eggs they will ever have. As you age, just one egg is released from the ovary in each period while hundreds of others deteriorate and disappear. Men too become less fertile with age, but at a rate slower than women.

Correct answer: About 32
Fertility starts to decline as early as in a woman’s early 30s. After 35, this process is rapid. Since women are as focussed on their careers as men are today, more women are routinely experiencing age-related infertility. Secondary infertility, where having 2nd child poses huge challenges, is also far more prevalent today.

Correct answer: False
Research shows men too have decreased fertility with age. Nature has similar rules for men and women, and the quality of sperm does deteriorate when the man is over 45. It can take longer for a woman to get pregnant if her husband / sperm donor is older than 45. Note that frequency of sex also decreases as men get older.

Correct Answer: 30-35%
IVF success rates in India are between 30-35 per cent, according to the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. While IVF clinics often claim success rates in excess of 70%, the 30-35% estimate is more in line with the worldwide statistics for IVF success. Remember: even this success rate is with MULTIPLE IVF cycles, not single ones. Sadly, this hard fact means that nearly 2/3rd of IVF cycles fail. In our experience, this is often because the foundational health of patient has not been optimized before the IVF cycle.

Correct Answer: True
Hypothyroidism is one of the most commonly overlooked causes of infertility. Most doctors look only at the TSH value in your lab report. If that is “normal”, they don’t look further. Conception is a very energy intensive process. It takes more than just “normal or average” thyroid function to make it happen. Experts who truly understand fertility always run lab tests for actual thyroid hormones used in cells, FreeT3 and its precursor Free T4, to check for thyroid where it matters. Studies show that conception rates are far higher in women with optimal thyroid function.

Correct answer: False
According to one study, women who are passive smokers are 14 per cent more likely to take longer than a year to conceive, than those in non-smoking homes.

Correct answer: False
Being underweight (BMI <20) or overweight (BMI >25) is associated with lower sperm quality in men. All parameters – number of sperm, motility, as well as morphology may be affected. Male infertility is clearly associated with obesity.

Correct answer: True
Studies show that women with a BMI of 25 or more have less chance of getting pregnant and are more likely to take longer than a year to get pregnant. Insulin resistance, which often comes with this level of BMI, is associated with PCOD-like symptoms, which worsen chances of ovulation and overall fertility.

Correct answer: Days 21-23
It can be hard to predict exactly when ovulation takes place. Every woman's cycle is different. Even for the same woman, it can vary from month to month. A general thumb rule is that ovulation takes place about two weeks before onset of your period. This means that, if a woman has a regular 35-day cycle, ovulation will most likely happen around Day 21. If your cycle is a regular 28 days, ovulation may happen around day 14, and if it is 24 days, it may happen around day 10.

Correct answer: False
Many women with regular cycles are surprised when they are unable to get pregnant. If there is a history of PCOD, you can have periods that are regular by the calendar, but ‘Anovulatory’. This means even though you get periods every month, no egg is released around two weeks before the period onset. In anovulatory periods, fertilization and conception are not possible.

Correct answer: False
OCPs contain synthetic estrogens and/or progestins. Studies now show that these chemicals have long-lasting effects on a woman’s fertility, especially past the age of 30-35. If you have been taking these pills to control PCOD symptoms or for other reasons, you can take a lot longer to get pregnant even after you stop them.