The bad news is that the older we get, the less fertile we become – and that goes for men as well as women. A woman’s eggs have been in her body since before she was born, so that means that at the age of 35 those eggs are older than they were when she was 25. This is one reason why fertility declines after the age of 35. It can take longer to get pregnant and the risk of miscarriage is higher. Biologically, it is more efficient for women to have their families when they are young. But, in recent years, the average age of women having their first baby has been going up because many of us now want to establish ourselves in a career before starting families.
Women going through fertility investigations are often told that they are not conceiving because they have ‘old eggs’. The use of this term has a devastating psychological effect on any woman. And it causes a lot of unnecessary heartache because, although you cannot increase the number of eggs you have left, it is very possible to improve their quality by improving your general health.
So, if you are over the age of 35, rest assured that there is a great deal you can do to increase your fertility. You can also take heart from the story of Sarah, a 42-year-old, who came to me for advice.
Sarah, a solicitor, was absolutely distraught after her third attempt at IVF treatment. She had been told that the quality of her eggs was no good and that she was now menopausal. She had not responded well to her last course of IVF drugs. But when she asked whether the drugs could perhaps be altered she was told that there was nothing wrong with the technology; she was the problem. You can imagine how devastated she felt. She had emerged from the clinic with the words ‘old eggs’ ringing in her ears.
I told her there was no guarantee but I would aim to get her and her partner in optimum health, which would be of benefit anyway. They followed the plan outlined in Section 6 of this book (taking supplements, and making changes to their diet and lifestyle).
Six months later Sarah was pregnant, and she has since had a healthy baby boy.
*8/73/5*
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