The average reproductive life span for a woman is approximately 30 years. Depending on when you first began menstruating, you have about 30 years of cycles in which your ovaries produce eggs that have a reasonable chance of fertilizing. We can’t necessarily change this fact but we can enhance the quality or essence of the eggs that do remain.
Chinese Medical Model: Improving the Quality of Female Eggs and Male Sperm
In the Chinese Medical Model, improving the quality of your eggs and sperm can be supported and enhanced by specific techniques: acupuncture, nutritional and/or herbal support, dietary practices, attitudinal focus, and certain exercise routines.
These are some of the beginning factors to begin raising your reproductive health. Advanced maternal age isn’t a death sentence when it comes to pregnancy and birth, but there is no time to waste in creating optimal possibility for your success.
The biggest secret of all, when trying to create the optimal possibility for your success, is the one you are least likely to hear from your health care provider.
Western Medical Model: Egg Quality is Unchangeable
The stance of the Western Medical Model is that your egg quality at any given moment is unchangeable; therefore, your egg quality after 40 is generally presumed to be both poor and unchangeable.
Both medical models have aspects of being correct.
When women are over the age of 40 and trying to conceive, they are in a natural decline in terms of egg quantity and quality. Yet, optimizing your egg quality is possible.
I have seen egg quality improve from one IVF to another as a result of direct treatment to support this. We are not overriding nature here, but rather optimizing what is left. This is where the My Fertility Success program can help you immeasurably when you are trying to conceive.
How to Optimize Your Egg Quality?
One way to think about it is that our ovaries are organs that respond to favorable internal surroundings, just like any other organ system does within our body. There isn’t a big, heavy gate that comes crashing down around our ovaries when we turn 40 that bars egg release! To the degree that any environment responds negatively to poor diet, toxins, drugs, stress, hormonal imbalance, that same environment responds quite favorably to healthy diet, purer lifestyle choices and hormonal re-balancing. This is true at any age. But, there is much less wiggle room after the age of forty, especially when it comes to conception.
Here are some basic tips for optimizing your egg quality:
- Eat whole foods
- Avoid processed foods
- Avoid sugar
- Exercise at least three times per week (walk, jog, bicycle, swim with regular stretching and weight resistance)
- Eliminate toxins (environmental, stress, excess alcohol, smoking etc.)
- Sleep 7–8 hours every night uninterrupted
- Avoid eating meat and dairy products treated with hormones
- Imagery to enhance egg quality
When to See Fertility Doctors and Visit Obstetrics/Gynecology Office
One of the most important decisions you will make for you and your partner in trying to conceive is that of your choice of doctor(s). You may begin your basic fertility evaluation with an Obstetrics and Gynecology doctor/office, an Endocrinologist, or a General Practitioner with whom you already have a relationship.
If you choose to move beyond basic support to Assisted Reproductive Technology, then you will be deciding which fertility specialist or fertility clinic will partake in your success.
Below are some considerations in making your choice of whom to work with:
- The statistics or success rates of the Fertility Clinic
- The Doctor(s) that you will be working with and whether they align with your needs on a medical, emotional (and even spiritual, if that is important to you) level
- The array of programs offered (IVF, IUI, ICSI, Egg Donor, embryo freezing, genetic diagnosis, Clomid, laparoscopy etc.)
- The embryologist(s) that the clinic employs
- The staff
- How the office “feels” to you on the whole
- The financial options available
- Flexibility and convenience of programs and office location
Needless to say this list isn’t exhaustive, but it’s a start. It is important to investigate and gather information until you feel a decision can be made with it feeling “right” in your gut.
A good resource is the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). They have an online publication for “Selecting and ART Program.”
Remember to allow yourself a sense of balance as you go through the process of gathering data and making the decision of what Doctor or Clinic to choose. Best of Luck!!
Whether you are trying to conceive naturally or with reproductive assistance your attention to the choices you make that affect your internal environment is crucial. Waste not any more time. You can increase your chances of pregnancy!
References
What Are the Chances of Getting Pregnant After 40? https://www.verywellfamily.com/what-are-the-chances-of-getting-pregnant-after-40-1960287
Getting pregnant after 40 https://www.todaysparent.com/getting-pregnant/trying-to-conceive/getting-pregnant-after-40/
Lora M. is the director of Fertility Health Services in San Diego, California and is the author of the different books and audio CD series. Lora’s work is marked by a ready warmth and deep empathy for all those she serves. People from all walks of life have benefited from her keen ability to help them connect with their deepest selves — and experience their fullest potential for health, happiness and wholeness.