VERIFIED CONTENTConsultation: dr Tadeusz Oleszczuk, gynecologist-obstetrician
The World He alth Organization has defined infertility as a civilization disease. Assisted reproductive techniques are expensive and currently difficult to access, so many people cannot afford them. We asked the gynecologist Dr. Tadeusz Oleszczuk about the scale of this problem. Can we avoid infertility?
Infertility and infertility are interchangeable words, right?
Infertility is, by definition, diagnosed when, after one year of intercourse for procreation, it is not possible to get pregnant. In our country, it is about 1.5 million pairs, which is a big social problem. Infertility can be treated and 40 percent. couples manage to help at the primary care level, and 60 percent. needs the help of specialized centers dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of infertility.
In contrast, infertility is a well-established condition that permanently deprives you of reproductive potential. It occurs, for example, after ligation of the vas deferens, fallopian tubes, or removal of the uterus, ovaries, and testes.
The problem of infertility keeps getting worse …
WHO defines he alth as mental, physical and social well-being. So this includes the possibility of having children. If someone is unable to have children, the state should help him, not restrict his access to internationally recognized treatment procedures. The cause of infertility can be on both sides, but nowadays men often have a very poor semen result.
In over thirty years of medical practice, I have seen the norms of male sperm decline. At the moment, to consider that the morphological appearance of the sperm is okay, it is enough if there are 4% of them and the remaining 96%. may have anatomical defects. Once the norm was 40 million sperm per milliliter, today it is only 10 million.
Why is this happening?
Environmental poisoning permeates what we eat. The amount of chemicals that is used in crops and breeding, and added to food, reduces the quality of sperm, which is a very common cause of problems with getting pregnant. Additionally, some couples unknowingly eat and eatlives in a way that can make it much more difficult to try for a baby.
The woman has a hormonal imbalance and her partner has poor semen. Then we have a compilation in which it will be very difficult to try for children in a natural way. However, there are proven and effective methods of diagnosis and treatment of infertility in specialist centers.
How does female fertility change over the years?
After the age of 30, a woman's number of ovulation cycles drops by up to 80 percent. Today's model of life is based first on education, then on a professional career, and only after the age of 30, couples begin to think about starting a family. Biology has figured it out a bit differently. The optimal time to get pregnant is between 20 and 30 years of age to give birth to at least one child.
So it can be much harder to get pregnant after you turn thirty?
Postponing the decision to have children is associated with the fact that a woman aged 30+ may not ovulate on a monthly basis, like a twenty-year-old woman. Additionally, when a woman would like to get pregnant immediately and not at the first attempt, stress may appear. In girls prone to excess stress hormones, it may additionally block ovulation.
One of such hormones is prolactin. Sometimes this excessive increase in prolactin blocks ovulation. The more a woman wants to be a mother, the more her cycles can become anovulatory. Most often, in such a situation, I try to lower the excessive levels of hormones and the woman manages to get pregnant, despite the fact that other methods have failed. The most important thing is that you can help effectively using methods with a scientifically proven spectrum of activity.
Stress also matters?
Stress affects several levels of our he alth. We get stressed and eat anything we want, often with an excess of sweets or fruit. Gentlemen, on the other hand, now have a rather sedentary lifestyle, little exercise in the fresh air, and stressful work. This worsens the blood supply to the testicles and the sperm cells do not have optimal development conditions. It is worth knowing about it.
A man, even if he is young, but knows that one day he would like to be a father, let him do some research so that he knows what he is standing on. When there is something wrong, maybe some changes can be made and there will be an opportunity to improve the situation, and for sure the chances of becoming a parent will be greater. Although gentlemen very rarely try to do things like semen analysis.
How is infertility diagnosed?
If we are not pregnant after a year of regular sexual intercourse, then you cantalk about infertility. When a couple comes to me who say they are trying for two years and nothing, I start by saying that I recommend a semen test right away. The rest of the woman also has to get tested, assess the function of the ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, hormones and metabolic he alth parameters.
You should not leave it alone, because you can easily find yourself in these 20 percent. societies of childbearing age that have a problem. A problem that gets worse over time. We are wasting valuable time.
When do patients find out that they and their partner may be one of those couples with fertility problems?
Sometimes patients come from the age of 25. A woman comes to me and says that she is trying to get pregnant with her partner, and she is not going out. Remember that the scale of the effort is on both sides. But the problem is often with the partner. The stereotypical approach says it's the fault of the woman, but that's not quite the case. Anyway, there is no guilt here, but rather the cause of infertility.
Often, after conducting research, it turns out that the woman is fine, and the man is the problem. And in fact 60 percent. indicates a problem with the fertility of the partner, not the woman. It often subtly begins after the age of 27 in men and when a man looks back, he does not even have this morphological standard of 4%. only 1-2 percent.
Time does its job, living conditions, especially a sedentary lifestyle and an incorrect diet. Unfortunately, there is little that can be done with poor sperm results. There are also methods of assisted reproduction. On the other hand, in the case of women and their ailments, a lot can be done, and even cured, and then rather it is possible to get pregnant. Therefore, it is worth for a man to do a semen analysis. This will explain a lot.
How does hormonal contraception affect fertility?
If a young woman has menstruation every few months, she has some hormonal disorders and her cycles are rather infertile as a result of these disorders. Even though she doesn't even think about getting pregnant, she might have a problem with it. Then she starts taking birth control, and thanks to it she has regular periods. The problem is that she cannot take many years of continuous hormonal contraception without checking that her fertility has returned.
I sometimes meet women who, before starting the pill, did not have ovulatory cycles, but were taking birth control to correct the disorder. Indeed, the pills fixed the regularity problems, but her cycle may still be non-ovulatory after you stop taking the pills. This can be compared to a child that a mother would only bear at birthon his arms, so he would never have the opportunity to stand on his own. Then, after a few years, he will not be placed in a standing position, so that he can walk on his own without prior learning.
The same with the ovary, if he does not learn to "walk" regularly at an early age, then after replacing his work with pills and then taking them off, he will still have problems with ovulation. And then the pills are blamed for everything. The role of thyroid diseases and insulin resistance are also important.
Is there any limit - the final age until which a woman can become a mother?
This is how nature invented it that there is a possibility of getting pregnant by the time of the menopause. On average, once every six months, I find that a woman aged 45-47 is pregnant. And then a he althy child is born, although sometimes the mother already has grandchildren.
What can a young woman do to avoid future infertility problems? Are there any pro-he alth measures in this area?
First of all, exclude family diseases, such as thyroid diseases, as well as hormonal and metabolic disorders. Watch yourself - do I have regular cycles, do my breasts hurt, do I have intimate infections and how often? Sometimes such small issues may indicate more serious ailments - cysts, obstruction of the fallopian tubes.
Some infections can pass asymptomatically, but the result may be, for example, obstruction of the fallopian tubes or ectopic pregnancy. Body weight, glucose tolerance disorders and the associated risk of insulin resistance or diabetes should also be assessed, as much as 80 percent. miscarriages up to 9 weeks of age of the fetus, may result from its anatomical defects, which are the result of poor nutrition, i.e. eating junk food that does not contain vitamins, and may also have pesticide residues.
It is very important that these vegetables are organic, because it can also affect the embryo in the early stage of growth, which lacks folic acid.
In Poland, the problem of infertility is neglected. What needs to change to make this situation any better?
Education at least in high school. There is a great deal of misinformation. Even teachers sometimes do not know the basics of how the reproductive organs work. As if embarrassed to talk about it, what is the clitoris for and why the testicles are outside the body. I do not know what it comes from. If you ask where fertilization takes place, how long does the fertilized egg travel through the fallopian tube into the uterine cavity, we will not get an answer.
It is such basic knowledge that can actually help in life. Will savestress and time. And now, unfortunately, it is getting harder and harder to get pregnant. Lack of awareness of the factors influencing he alth and functioning of physiology is a huge problem.
How can you prepare if you plan to enlarge your family?
Of course. It is even advisable that these physiological conditions for getting pregnant are as good as possible. That there would be no anemia, which is often the result of inflammation and improper nutrition, which causes difficulties in the absorption of important vitamins and minerals, especially needed in the first weeks of pregnancy. Limit sugar in your diet, because eating sweets and lots of sweet fruit is associated with higher sugar levels, which often result in serious blood vessel and fetal development disorders.
All this at an early stage can really get in the way of getting pregnant and keeping it. Perform appropriate blood tests to prepare for this condition, and if it turns out that something is missing, make sure to supplement these deficiencies with appropriate supplementation prepared especially for women trying to become pregnant and then pregnant.
gynecologist-obstetrician Tadeusz OleszczukGynecologist-obstetrician with over 30 years of experience. Author of the books "What the gynecologist will not tell you" and "Calm your hormones".
www.tadeuszoleszczuk.pl
fb.com / drtadeusz
Read other articles from the StrefaKobiety series:
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- Ignorance or maybe ignorance? Why do women die of cancer?
- Last menstruation and menopause. How to prepare for it?
- A woman must be he althy before starting contraception
- How to take care of intimate hygiene to avoid infections?
- Allergies - where do they come from? Allergy to semen and condoms
- A couple in the gynecologist's office? Situations in which it is worth coming with a partner
- Gynecologist banning abortion: Let's not condemn women to suffering at risk of losing he alth and life
- Pain in the intimate areas. Is it normal to feel pain?
- Sexually transmitted diseases. How to take care of your safety?
- Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), or when the body and mind suffer
- Gynecological visit during a pandemic. What has changed?
- Breasts. What about their appearance should worry us?
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- Why is it so long to be diagnosed with endometriosis?
- Endometrial cancer, i.e. a cancer in which lifestyle is important
- Why are uterine fibroids mostly only monitored?
- Gynecologist: People are afraid to name the basic elements of the reproductive system, let alone know what the physiology of the cycle looks like