Fertility Fallacies Pt. 2

The following is Pt. 2 in a series of blogs examining common myths in the world of infertility. Please look at last weeks blogs to see Pt. 1.

4) It’s all her.


While a woman’s reproductive system is much more complex than a man’s, infertility is just as likely to be caused by problems with the man. In fact, about one third of infertility cases are caused by complications with the woman. One third of fertility struggles are caused by complications with the man. The remaining third are caused by factors that are unknown or are caused by a combination of issues between the man and the woman. (Five Things You Didn’t Know about Infertility).

5) I’m just too stressed. 


Stress is detrimental to health and frequently associated with infertility and therefore should be kept to a minimum, but some studies suggest that stress does not have as much impact on fertility as once was believed (Stress does not hurt chances of success with IVF).

6) Fertility treatments will mean I’ll end up like Kate Gosselin or Octomom. 


Fertility specialists have been working to reduce the occurrence of multiple births associated with fertility treatments since the early 1990s. Guidelines on the number of embryos to transfer have reduced the number of “triplet-or-more” pregnancies by more than 70%, with only 2% of Invitro Fertilization (IVF) pregnancies falling in that category in 2008. A current study’s findings encourages single embryo transfers (New study advocates for single embryo transfers).

7) I can’t afford to pursue assisted reproductive technologies. 

IVF is expensive. One IVF cycle typically costs between $10,000 and $15,000 and it may take multiple cycles to result in a successful pregnancy. The end result can be a process that costs upward of $30,000 or even $40,000! Some insurance companies will cover some of the expenses, but many view IFV as medically unnecessary.

Embryo Adoption is an alternative that offers infertile couples (even those who have previously tried IVF and were unsuccessful) a chance at achieving a pregnancy. Embryo adoption expenses range from $10,000-$15,000 from a reputable agency, including medical expenses (For more information, see Cost of IVF vs. Cost of Embryo Adoption).

To read more about these fertility myths, please visit the health section of The Huffington Post. To learn more about embryo adoption, visit the Embryo Adoption Awareness Center.

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