Infertility Facts

For the sexually mature youths, infertility sounds like a nightmare. Can you even imagine having to live up being called an infertile? Well, infertility is much more common than you might have thought as this affects almost 10% of the reproductive citizens of America. This is one sexual disease that hits both men and women equally. But there are also some rampant views on infertility floating around that may cause needless tension. So the better way out is to stay informed as tension. So the better way out is to stay informed as this disease may get into you at any moment of your lifetime. Here we present some myths and facts.

MYTH: Sperm can only live up to two days.
FACTS: Sperm can survive for up to as long as five days in a woman’s reproductive tract. This is the reason why even though a woman’s egg can only live for 12-24 hours, she is potentially fertile for about one week per cycle – five days for sperm viability, plus two days for the possibility of two eggs being released in any given cycle.

MYTH: Infertility isn’t very common.
FACT: infertility is defined as the inability to conceive a child within one year of well-timed and unprotected intercourse (or six months of the woman is older than 35) or an inability to carry a child to term. It is much more prevalent than commonly thought – one in six couples has problem conceiving a child.

MYTH: Friends, family, newspapers, TV and the internet are always the accurate sources of information.
FACT: Accurate diagnosis and treatment is the way to go. Myths and misinformation are what we need to grow beyond.

MYTH: Ovulation usually occurs on Day 14 of the cycle.
FACT: Probably the most widely held fertility myth is the notion that women always ovulate on Day 14 of their cycle. If this were indeed true, there would be virtually no need for birth control, since couples could simply avoid that one day.

MYTH: Normal menstruation cycle is 28 days.
FACT: Actually, a normal menstruation cycle can vary from 24-36 days. And not only do cycles vary substantially from women to women, they often vary within each individual. One of the most unfortunate results of this myth is the needless anxiety that it causes to women desiring to avoid pregnancy, who are led to believe over and over again that they may not get pregnant because their periods are ‘late’.

MYTH: A woman can get pregnant only one day per cycle.
FACT: While it is true that a human egg is only viable for 12 to 24 hours, a woman can actually get pregnant from an act of intercourse occurring anytime from about five days prior to ovulation to even occasionally two days after, for a total of about seven days. The reason for this is that the sperm can survive up to five days inside the woman’s reproductive tract, and a woman can release two or more eggs within 24 hour period. So, women can get pregnant for about one week per cycle.

MYTH: Infrequent periods cause infertility.
FACT: As long as periods are regular, it usually means that ovulation is normal and occurring. Some normal women have menstruation cycle lengths of as long as 40 days. Of course, since they have fewer cycles every year, the number of times they are ‘fertile’ in a year is decreased. Also, they need to monitor their fertile period more closely since that’s delayed (as compared to the women with a 30-day cycle). However, a condition known as PCOD (Polycystic Ovarian Disease) may be associated with delayed periods causing an ovulation and that needs to be evaluated.

MYTH: A women ovulates from the left ovary one month and the right ovary the next month.
FACT: Only one ovary actually ovulates each month. However, the pattern may not be regular every month. There is no truth in this.

MYTH: I have a perfectly normal sex life. Since I am virile, my sperm count must be normal.
FACT: there is no correlation between male fertility and virility. Men with totally normal sex drives may have no sperms at all and vice-versa.