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Fertility Truths and Myths

Dispelling Fertility Myths
and Half Truths

By Teri Brown

So many fertility myths and half truths exist that it's difficult to tell what is true and what isn't. Read on, and highly qualified reproductive specialists will help you sort the facts from the fiction.

Dr. Randy Morris, a Chicago-based board certified reproductive endocrinologist, says there is no evidence that the use of birth control pills affects future fertility. "In fact, birth control pills are very short acting," Dr. Morris says. "Therefore, birth control pills never make much of an impact on the body's ability to reproduce. If anything, using the pill or one of its hormonal counterparts such as the patch or the ring may actually help fertility in some women. Birth control pills have been used to treat and reduce symptoms of disorders such as endometriosis and ovarian cysts."

For this one our doctors actually disagreed. According to Dr. Morris, it is much more likely that the infertility is causing the stress instead of the other way around! "The role stress plays in a person's fertility is complicated," Dr. Morris says. "Evidence indicating stress as a cause of infertility is minimal. There are rare occasions when extreme stress can interfere with normal ovulation in women and may reduce sperm production in men. Stress can also affect a relationship by keeping a couple from the intimacy of intercourse." Dr. Morris feels that while stress can affect fertility, it is fairly uncommon and not a major player.

Dr. Paul Miller, an OB/GYN specializing in reproductive endocrinology in the Greenville Hospital System's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, believes that stress can be a major factor, though not the sole cause of infertility. "Both human and animal studies have demonstrated a negative effect of both acute and chronic stress on hormone production and fertility," he says. "Animal studies are much more convincing, given our ability to perform experiments in a very controlled environment. The difficulty with interpreting such studies is that stress is difficult to measure and what may be stressful to some is just a mere annoyance to others."

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