|
|
Myth: If a woman takes fertility drugs, she'll have a multiple birth.
Fact: Although fertility drugs do increase the chance of having a multiple pregnancy (because they stimulate the ovaries to produce several eggs) the majority of women taking them have singleton births.
Myth: A man's sperm count will be the same each time it is examined.
Fact: A man's sperm count will vary. Sperm number and motility can be affected by time between ejaculations, illness, and medications.
Myth: I have no problems having sex. 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.
Myth: All physicians are equally interested in the treatment of infertility.
Fact: Not all physicians or even all infertility centers have similar interests. It is important for you to ask your physician about the available treatment he/she can offer you and what are the pregnancies results following such treatment in his/her practice.
Myth: Infertility treatment should not be offered in India, because there are too many babies in this country already. Why exacerbate the population problem by producing more?
Fact: The right to have children is a fundamental right of every human being and a very basic biological urge. Just because a neighbor has too many children should not deprive the infertile couple of their right to have their own.
Myth: Azoospermia (no sperms) is a result of excessive masturbation in childhood.
Fact: Masturbation is a normal activity that most boys and men indulge in. It does not affect the sperm count. You cannot "run" out of sperms, because these are constantly being produced in the testes.
Myth: It must be the couple's fault if they are infertile.
Fact: Infertility carries a major social stigma and this "victim-blaming" is very common, partly because most people know so little about their own fertility.
Myth: Infertility is not a medical illness and treatment should not be covered by insurance.
Fact: Infertility is a medical problem, which is often amenable to medical treatment. Insurance should cover the treatment costs.
Myth: IVF is too expensive for India to be able to afford.
Fact: IVF and related technologies are undoubtedly expensive, but, then, so is heart surgery. Yet, no one objects when over Rs 1 lakh are spent to try to salvage the heart of a 70-year-old man (whose life expectancy in any case is only about 5 years and is not extended by the surgery). Why then should medical technology not be used to help couples in there thirties (with their whole lives ahead of them) have their own baby? In fact, IVF is a much more cost-effective use of medical resources than a number of other accepted surgical procedures (such as joint replacement surgery or kidney transplants).
© Dr. Aniruddha Malpani and Dr. Anjali Malpani www.drmalpani.com
Credits: How to Have a Baby: Overcoming Infertility
_2.jpg)
