Future Fertility - Play Now, Pay Later?

Dear Tracy,
My friend and I are curious to know if there is a way of finding out whether a person is infertile or not without having sex. We know that you can tell you are infertile if you have been trying to conceive but can not. But we are just curious to know if there is another way of finding out, besides going through the risk of pregnancy. It's like, can a virgin girl know that she is not capable of bearing a child someday? And what are some situational cases that makes a girl infertile? Thanks and I'll be waiting for ur response.

Is there a simple test for future fertility?

No. However, there are some health indicators which might act as red flags, signalling possible problems. Most importantly, it is possible to make efforts to protect your plans to have children.

Okay. You're 15 or 18 or 22 years old, and the thought of having kids hasn't really crossed your mind yet, save for maybe a few moments of panic when your period was late.

Or you're a guy, and you think that most cases of infertility are due to women's conditions. Fact is, male infertility accounts for approximately half of all diagnosed cases.

You figure, you or your partner are on The Pill or using Depo Provera or an IUD, so everything's cool. Better yet, you're not sexually active at all. You're being smarter than a lot of young women and men who are gambling it all by risking early parenthood.

But did you know that you still might be jeopardizing your own fertility's future?

I talk to hundreds of people each month who are desperately seeking ways to have babies. While some will be easily assisted with little or minimum treatment by a fertility specialist, others will be told that expensive high-tech procedures and drugs are their only hope -- and there are no guarantees. Still others will hear their situation described as "unexplained", and for some, the only path toward adding children to their families is via surrogacy or adoption.

Sadly for many of these people, it is possible that their present fertility problems were caused by behavior or situations in their past which could have been either avoided or remedied with a little knowledge.

Sexually active young people have a lot on their minds, like pregnancy, HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, and oh, yeah, love. Unfortunately, even the most earnest of them might not know how important their current actions are in regards to any reproductive goals they might have. While some required health classes may touch on the subject, others do not -- and who really pays attention in those classes anyway?

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