Friday Fast Facts

Five Fertility Fast Facts

Friday, February 27, 2015

I thought it would be fun and informative to have the Friday blog be a “Fast Facts” day, and keeping with the “F” party we have going on, I will do five of them every Friday. If this is something you would like to see every Friday let me know. If you are just not into it let me know. Feedback is always welcome in the comment section down below or catch me on Facebook or tweet me! So here we go…..

1.      You (and by you I mean you and your significant other) are not technically infertile until you have been trying for at least a year with no success.

Many reproductive endocrinologists will not even officially see you until you and your significant other have been trying to conceive for over a year. This is because pregnancy is actually kind of rare. Completely normal healthy couples only have a 20%-25% chance of becoming pregnant. So in order to weed out the “just not pregnant yet” couples from the “we have an issue” couples they require couples to try to conceive for at least a year or 6 months for those over the age of 35.

2.       Contortionist need not apply. *Warning TMI Ahead*

Sexual positions are not a factor when trying to conceive. Sure, if a certain position helps you and your significant other achieve maximum penetration and pleasure that is obviously helpful. However every woman’s anatomy is different and every couple will be different. There are no specific positions that promote conception more than others. So tying yourself into a pretzel is not necessary, unless you are into that.

3.       Infertility affects men and women equally.

Surprised? I sure was, but it is true. A couple is equally likely to be infertile because of male factor infertility as woman factor infertility. So why is there this stigma about infertility being a woman’s issue? Not sure, but in our society it is true, we look at infertility as a woman’s issue on the most basic level. She is the one who is either getting pregnant or not getting pregnant. We all need to keep in mind that whichever factor is affecting your own personal journey, support should be your number one priority! When you are a couple it doesn’t, and shouldn’t, matter who is technically at fault. With that said….

4.       A quarter of all couples who are infertile have more than one causing factor.

This was news to me. This just goes to show that seeing a specialist is so important. In my experience most MDs find a cause and stop looking, so who knows, this percentage could be much higher. I think it is important to keep asking questions, and get more than one MDs opinion on your particular situation. Ask questions about other factors and if they could also be included in your diagnosis.

5.       Some states are passing laws requiring insurance companies to cover infertility treatments.

According to Resolve.com: “Fifteen states have passed laws requiring that insurance policies cover some level of infertility treatment: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and West Virginia.” I am super proud of my state, Texas, for being part of the list. In every state the level of coverage will be different so please take the time and research your state if it is on the list. Also if your state is not included, take a few moments of your time to write your state representatives about this important issue. In future post I will be going further into detail about this subject, as well as other insurance concerns, so stay tuned!

Well there are your first set of Friday Fast Facts. I hope you found this post informative, helpful, or entertaining, etc. Please let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions. You can contact me using one of the links in the Connect with me section to the right or commenting down below!