After being in clinical practice for a number of years, I have heard a multitude of myths concerning fertility. Some of these may appear to be plausible, whilst others border on the ridiculous. Dr Minna Geisler from The Waterstone Clinic in Ireland has put together a list of the top most frequent fertility myths. In the coming blogs, I have decided to individually address each of these myths and add in a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective where it is applicable.
Dr Geisler’s list is as follows:
- Getting pregnant will be easy
- Infertility is always due to a problem with the female
- After stopping using the pill, it will take a while to conceive
- 4. It is best to have sex at the same time as ovulation
- Lifting the legs in the air after sex will increase the chances of conception
- 6. It is best to wait for your temperature to raise before having sex
- IVF is the only treatment option
- Given I already have a child, it is safe to assume it will be easy to conceive again
- Relax and take your time, IVF will allow you to conceive at any age
- Body weight has no influence on someone’s fertility
- Levels of exercise have no effect on fertility
- Stress does not play a role in infertility
- Only women need to take folic acid.
