"I had a couple where the man was older, he had children from another marriage, and he wasn't sure he wanted to be a father at this point in his life," says Dr. Levine. "After a couple of sessions of really talking it out, he got really excited about becoming a father again. And that's when they conceived."
"It's eerie," adds Marilyn Milkman, M.D., a San Francisco obstetrician/ gynecologist and clinic faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco. "I've had four patients come in for fertility evaluations, walk out the door, and become pregnant within the month."
Let the passion take you. Forget about ovulatory charts, mucus charts, and scheduled sex until you absolutely have to worry about them. If you've got time, "let the passion take you," says Dr. Milkman. "Often that does better."
Ease up on your work schedule. Workaholism and constant pressure can put the squeeze on fertility, says Dr. Levine. "I see a lot of career people and I say to them 'take a look at what message you're giving to your body.' " For Dr. Levine, it makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint. Your body knows that a period of extreme stress is not an ideal time to get pregnant.
Use the standard missionary position on days when you suspect the woman is fertile. The man-on-top style of intercourse is best for conception, says Dr. Bellina. The woman should remain lying down for 20 minutes after her partner ejaculates.
"I advise couples to have intercourse on those nights and then fall asleep," he says.
Stop smoking. Cigarettes can impair fertility in men and women. Studies of men have shown that smokers are more likely than nonsmokers to have sperm counts below the normal range, and to have less sperm motility. An English study of 17,032 women showed that the more cigarettes a woman smoked per day, the less fertile she was likely to be. Researchers suspect that smoking may alter hormone levels in a woman's body.
FOR WOMEN ONLY
Here are some helpful measures that women can take to help increase the chances of pregnancy.
Make sure you're ovulating. Are you having regular periods? If not, you may not ovulate.
"One key to ovulation is noticeable changes in cervical mucus midway through the cycle," says Dr. Milkman. "The mucus will be thin, watery, and clear." Other signs include premenstrual breast tenderness, cramps, and what the Germans call mittelschmerz—ovulation pain, she says.
Another way to test ovulation is with a kit you buy at the drugstore. The kit, which reads levels of the ovulation release hormone in your urine, is only about 50 percent effective when you use it morning and night, says Dr. Bellina. Kits available only through your doctor's office tend to be more accurate. The best time to test is between 10:00 a.m. and noon.
If you get a positive result the first month you use it, great. If three cycles pass without giving you a positive result, it could mean that either the kit isn't sensitive enough for you or you're not ovulating. Either way, consult your doctor.
If you want to be a fertility goddess, try to look like one. Some women can induce ovulation by putting on a few pounds or taking off a few. In general, the closer your actual weight is to the ideal weight listed in the Metropolitan Life statistical tables, the better. You want to be within 95 percent of that ideal but below 120 percent.
Researchers have found that body fat can actually produce and store estrogen, a hormone that primes the body for pregnancy. When total body estrogen is too high or too low, the system can be thrown off balance. The more fat, the more estrogen produced.
In one study by reproductive endocrinologist G. William Bates, M.D., a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and dean of the Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine, 29 slim and nonovulatory women attained ovulation when they gained enough weight to put them within 95 percent of the ideal. Within three years of entering the program, 24 of the 29 became pregnant. In another study by Bates, 11 of 13 overweight and nonovulatory women regained ovulation after they lost weight: 10 conceived.
Go easy on the exercise. There are two reasons for this. If exercise causes you to lose too much body fat, you can stop ovulating. But even if you maintain normal body weight, you may still put yourself at risk if you spend more than an hour a day working hard at activities like running, cross-country skiing, or swimming.
In a study of 346 women with ovulatory dysfunction, Beverly Green, M.D., a maternal and infant health specialist in Silverdale, Washington, found some evidence that women who had never been pregnant and who exercised vigorously for more than an hour a day increased their risk of infertility. The study found that exercise exerted its effect on fertility through a means independent of its ability to promote weight loss.
What's going on here? Dr. Green is not sure. Dr. Bellina suspects the endorphins, brain chemicals released during vigorous exercise, may, like morphine, affect a woman's prolactin levels. Elevated prolactin levels may interfere with ovulation.
At any rate, Dr. Green, a marathon runner who had no difficulty bearing children, cautions against overinterpreting her study. Her advice to dedicated athletes? "Try to cut back and see if it makes a difference."
Time it just right. If ovulation is occurring normally, maybe you're just not making love when you're fertile. It could be that simple, says Dr. Levine.
"Sometimes you've got two career people, they're having intercourse maybe once or twice a week, and they're just not hitting it," he says.
How do you remedy this? Try to predict ovulation. If you don't want to fuss much, you can predict the date of your next period and count back 14 days. Then make love every night from day 11 through day 16. Or you can buy an over-the-counter ovulation test kit, which will give you about 24 to 36 hours advance warning of ovulation. When the test indicates ovulation, make love that night and the night after, advises Dr. Bellina.
Thou shalt not douche. Anything that interferes with the pH level of the vagina can make life unfriendly for sperm. That includes douches, lubrication agents, and jellies.
"I tell people never to douche," says Dr. Milkman. "If you leave the vagina alone, it will do just fine at cleaning itself."
Go easy on caffeine. More than a cup of coffee a day can hurt your chances of becoming pregnant. The same holds true if you ingest the equivalent amount of caffeine from chocolate, soft drinks, or other caffeinated beverages.
In a study of 104 women who were attempting to become pregnant, researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences found that those who drank more than the caffeine equivalent of a cup of coffee a day were half as likely to conceive as those who consumed less.
FOR MEN ONLY
And on the male side of the equation, there is more advice.
Give your sperm time to bounce back. Any viral illness associated with fever can depress sperm count for up to three months, says Neil Baum, M.D., director of the Male Infertility Clinic in New Orleans, Louisiana, and a clinical assistant professor of urology at Tulane University School of Medicine. Bad colds can have the same effect.
Why is the effect so long-lasting? According to Dr. Baum, the normal cycle to produce a sperm is 78 days. It takes another 12 days for the sperm to mature. Healthy semen, by the way, contains in excess of 20 million sperm per teaspoon. If you looked at the sample under a microscope, more than 60 percent would appear to be swimming forward.
If your sperm count is healthy, a cold or flu probably won't knock it out of the fertility range. But if it's borderline, an illness may.
Say no to steroids. Anabolic steroids can shut off the pituitary gland and alter the body's natural hormone balance, says Dr. Baum. "It's not uncommon for athletes to have infertility problems," he adds. "Long-time use of steroids can permanently damage the testicles."
Be wary of drugs and alcohol. Various over-the-counter and prescription drugs can depress sperm count. If you're not sure about the medications you use, consult your pharmacists or doctor. Tagamet, an ulcer medication, is one to watch out for. Others include chemotherapeutic agents and certain antibiotics. And various studies over the years show that chronic drinking and habitual marijuana use can be at fault, too.
Keep 'em cool. Nature's way of keeping your testicles a half-degree cooler than your core body temperature is to house them outside the body. But if you heat the core temperature too much, or heat the testes themselves, you can affect sperm production.
Dr. Baum advises you to be careful about excessive physical activity, temperature extremes, hot tubs, and close-fitting underwear if you want to father a child.
Remember that abstinence makes the sperm grow stronger. If a baby is what you're after, daily intercourse can be too much of a good thing because it can decrease your sperm count.
"For the average couple, this doesn't matter," says Dr. Levine. "But in a borderline case, this may do it." Most experts recommend you abstain for two days prior to the woman's fertile period to let the sperm build up, then make love every other day.
Warning: The reader of this article should exercise all precautionary measures while following instructions on the home remedies from this article. Avoid using any of these products if you are allergic to it. The responsibility lies with the reader and not with the site or the writer.
The service is provided as general information only, and should not be treated as a substitute for the medical advice of your own doctor.
No comments:
Post a Comment