Myth: You are in your 20′s, so you have nothing to worry about. Infertility does not affect those under the age of 30.
Myth Busted!
For a lot of women out there trying to conceive their first child (or their second or third), it seems that once you get past a certain age, your chances of having a baby dwindle. I know that this is not the case for everyone, but 30 seems to be that magic number of when a woman’s (and man’s!) fertility begins to decrease. But with this information is the misconception that as long as you are in your 20′s, having a baby should be no problem. Easy, right?
Wrong. As we have mentioned on this site many times, infertility impacts as many as 1 in 7 couples. Of all ages. While the age factor is a problem all of it’s own, as many women are waiting longer in life to have children, there are many other factors that contribute to not being able to have a child. Endometriosis. PCOS. Male-factor infertility. And the always frustrating, unexplained infertility. While the data is difficult to find (because let’s face it — if you’re young, it’s assumed that you should have no problem getting pregnant, right?) many of the women that I know personally who are currently dealing with infertility are in their early to mid-twenties. And have been trying to conceive for years. Women who have had failed rounds of clomid. Failed rounds of IUI’s. Failed rounds of IVF.
It can happen to anyone, of any age!
This week is National Infertility Awareness Week and Attain Fertility has teamed up with our friends at RESOLVE to bust some infertility myths. Find out more about infertility and how to bust your own infertility myth on RESOLVE’s website.
6 Comments
My wife and I are now 28 and have been struggling with infertility for5 years(so since we were 23). I know it is not easy for anyone, but it is very difficult to be in our age group with all of our friends getting married and starting families like we had intended to, and we are the ones still without children. I feel as though we are shunned by certain friends because we don’t have kids(almost like we will no longer fit in or understand because we don’t have kids).
Infertility is a very long and stressful journey to conception. There are days it feels like we will never get there. With every procedure and test we learn something new that has been preventing us from having children. When we feel like we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, something new comes up and sets us back a month or two.
I am thankful that we know and chose to start a family at a young age. Had we waited to try and have children until we were 28, 29, 30+ it could have made it even more of a struggle. We have been through several treatments. Just did our first cycle of IVF. It was cancelled due to my wife’s estrogen levels being way too high and her uterine lining being too thin. They were able to retrieve her eggs, fertilize them, and freeze them as zygotes and will transfer later, but it doesn’t make it any easier knowing you have to wait 6 – 8 more weeks until transfer.
The nice thing about being in our 20′s is that the odds of treatments working is far greater. No matter what your age group, infertility is difficult. We continue to remain optimistic knowing that we are not fighting with the fertility clock yet and hopeful that our doctor will help us to achieve our goal of conception.
Aaron – Thank you so much for sharing your story. I’m thankful that people like you and Brittany are speaking out about the unique problems younger couples face with infertility.
Best of luck to you and your wife!
My husband and I started struggling with infertility when we were 23 also. Saw various doctors and finally was diagnosed 4 years later! Our story was actually shared in an episode of Strange Sex on the Discovery Health Channel two summers ago. I understand how difficult infertility is and it doesn’t make it any easier even when you choose adoption. I still struggle with friends who become pregnant even though I now have a beautiful one year old daughter.
Congratulations on your daughter, Julie! And thank you so much for sharing your story.
Aaron & Julie, thank you for sharing your stories. We started trying when i was 26, and even though I’m 30 now, there was still the misconception that just because I was in my 20′s it should have been easy. It’s a rough road and my best wishes go out to you guys!
I am 27 and we first started TTC over five years ago. Being 22 one does not think they would have any issues. It has definitely been hard watching (almost) all of our friends growing their families while we wait for our turn. We’ve been able to discover that I have sage 4 endometriosis, possible low progesterone levels and we just found out my uterine lining lacks protein needed to help the embryo stick. I’m now on a 3-month Lupron Depot shot with the hope that my I will start producing the protein.
So far we’ve done a year off/on of clomid and 4 IUIs. We plan to try more IUIs when he gets home from deployment (another obstacle!) and eventually onto IVF if we are still unsuccessful!
Had we waited until now, or even longer down the road, who knows how many more added obstacles we would (might) have.