Why It ’ s So Hard to Have Your Fertility Tested

Patients often say the same thing in appointments with Dr. Abey Eapen, an infertility specialist at UT Southwestern Medical Center: “I never learned about this in my high school.” For many couples, having a baby is far more difficult than it was made out to be in sex ed. While many women in heterosexual couples get pregnant within a few months of trying, studies suggest up to 15% of couples are unable to conceive after a year of having unprotected sex. That means they meet the clinical definition of infertility: not conceiving within a year if the woman is younger than 35, or within six months if she’s 35 or older. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Many people don’t realize how common infertility is until they’re experiencing it themselves. That, Eapen says, is why he’s argued for years that fertility testing should be woven into routine medical care every few years for women of reproductive age, “just like having a Pap smear.” If people began learning about their fertility before actively trying to have kids, he says, they might go into the process feeling informed and better prepared to make decisions about when and how to try for a baby. Not every expert agrees. Some say fertility testing sparks anxiety while giving patients little actionable information, and studies have raised doubts about whether common tests are accurate at all. It’s also an invasive and expensive proposition. Nonetheless, the fertility t...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate medicine Wellbeing Source Type: news