January 25, 2017 • 22 mins
Do oral contraceptives make it harder to get pregnant down the road? Do IUDs increase pregnancy risks? Does abortion endanger long-term fertility? Tune in for the answers to these questions (and more) in this episode.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff mom Never told you?
From house Stop works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to
the podcast. I'm Kristen and I'm Caroline, and today we
(00:20):
are tackling a question that we've gotten a number of
times from female listeners, and that is whether or not
birth control makes it harder to get pregnant wait for
it down the road after you've gotten off birth control. Right,
I can see how a lot of people might think
it would. I mean, you know, you you're you're knocking
out your fertility for the time being. Yeah, while you're
(00:42):
on it. I can see how you would think that,
oh gosh, it might take for however, to get pregnant
after I get off birth control pills or stop you know,
using the ring or whatever. Um. But actually, we have
some good news for you. And the good news is
that birth control does not affect future fertility. And that's
the other podcast. Thanks, you can email us. Uh well, no,
(01:06):
that is uh yeah, that's the good news. I mean,
that's that's really it. In a nutshell. I um I
tweeted about this and Dr Jen gunter Um who is
sexual health expert and a doctor tweeted back, No, she
said the birth control pill does not affect long term
fertility at all. UM, And we will continue to reiterate
(01:28):
that message over and over again. But let's let's get
into the details. UM. And just as a side note, UM,
typically it takes a couple about eight months to get pregnant.
And yes this is we're speaking you know not um
uh sort of setting aside issues with with fertility, but yeah,
(01:49):
generally eight months, right. And the European Active Surveillance Study
on Oral contraceptive that is a very long name, UM
followed more than two thousand women who went off birth
can hole with the plan to become pregnant. They basically
wanted to just find out how long it would take them,
what their issues were, what they experienced, and they found
that within just one cycle of stopping the pill, more
(02:11):
than of women had become pregnant. And what's interesting about
that is it's almost identical. It falls right in line
with the natural pregnancy rate of people who are not
on birth control, which is between twenty success rate that
is fast one month I know, boom boom um. And
(02:32):
then a year after the women stopped using the pills,
seventy nine point four percent were pregnant, and the median
time until conception was three months, which which is shorter
than the eight months. Wait, I don't know, I don't
know what the deals with it with the eight month thing,
but the long story short, it was pretty swift, right, yeah,
(02:53):
so watch out for that. And as far as long
term use, if you're on the pill for uh two years, um,
it says that women who had used the pill for
more than twenty four months experienced no effects on their fertility.
So that's good. So it's not like if you're on
it for a long time, you're gonna you know, not
ever be able to have children. Your fertility is not
(03:15):
currently withering away correct and direct proportion to the amount
of time you have been on the pill or the
patch or the ring or the your over reason, aren't
sitting and there going like whoa wait with the patch?
Am I thinking about quitting smoking? Now there's a patch.
There's the first control patch for sure. Um, yes, yes,
I've seen it advertised. Um. And also along with the
(03:38):
you know, the good news that it does not put
a dent in your fertility, birth control has also been
found to potentially this is not in everyone, but potentially
lower the risk of ovarian and endometrial cancers. It could
also decrease the risk of endometriosis, cysts, and pelvic inflammatory disease,
(03:58):
not to mention their more. There's more, uh, it may
alleviate PMS symptoms like cramping and heavy bleeding, and of course,
while you're on it, it also reduces the chance of
getting pregnant babies. It reduces the chance of babies. As
far as when you should sort of start trying or
(04:22):
stop waiting to get pregnant um. Dr Frank cherbinac Over
on web m d He's from Cornell says your best
bet is to actually complete your current cycle and then
attempt to get pregnant. He says this can help with
irregular bleeding. Yeah, and um Also, there might be a
question of well, if I'm taking birth control. Obviously there
is birth controls, not especially oral contraceptives. There still is
(04:47):
a possibility that you can get pregnant while on the pill.
So what happens then if you do get pregnant while
you um are on the pill? It also does not
incre the risk for miscarried's Obviously, as soon as you
find out you're pregnant, you probably want to stop taking
your birth control, right. But actually it was interesting to
(05:08):
read because I would think that if you're on any
sort of medication, or if you're you know, I just
felt like any medicine that you're on, if you didn't
know you're pregnant, it could have some weird effect on
the baby. But it actually I read that it it
doesn't have that pronounced of an effect. So so yes,
get off your birth control as soon as you know
you're pregnant. But if you've been taking it before you
(05:29):
realized it, you know, I think it's it's okay judging
by what I read. Um. And also keep in mind
that Caroline and I, although we would like to call
ourselves doctors, doctor Irvin, Dr Conger, we aren't um. So really, also,
you know, talk to your doctor or nurse practitioner if
you are on birth control and are thinking about getting pregnant,
(05:51):
right or if you found out you're pregnant while you're
still on birth control. Really, any just go to your
doctor physic right now, Just go to your doctor self
listening to this, what are you doing? Keep doing with yourself?
But speaking of birth control, a lot of this is
focused on oral contraceptives, but i u d s have
also been controversial in the past because some doctors have
(06:14):
said that if you have had an i D, which
is which is an intra uterine device, and it is
actually um one of the most effective forms of birth
control close to it's about as close to pent as
you can get without abstinence. UM. And there was a
two thousand one study in the British Journal of Obstetrics
(06:36):
and Gynecology claiming that long term use of an i
U D by a woman who has not previously been
pregnant increases the risk for impaired fertility. And I think
this was specifically the Copper i U D right. UM. Yeah,
it's actually it's kind of a scary study. Yeah, especially
if you don't know much about i u d s.
(06:57):
You might just think we'll screw it, I'll stay on
the pill, or I'll just use condoms or whatever. But um,
an independent group of researchers actually reanalyze the data and
found no significant difference between long term users of oral
contraceptives and long term io D users. And we already
talked about how long term use of the pill doesn't
affect your fertility, So that means that they found that
long term i U D use does not either. What
(07:20):
they found is the age was much more of a factor.
So if you've been using an i U D for
a long time, chances are you are older according to
the study than people who have been using it a
short time. And so you know, the older you are,
the more difficult it could become to have children are
become pregnant. So that's what they're aligning it with. Yeah,
(07:43):
because in that that initial study did not take that
into account, which is yet another lesson and why it
is so important to pay attention to study methodologies because
it can create you know, some some scary headlines. UM.
And another thing about long term io d us is
a lot of times, um, they last for up to
(08:05):
five years, and then what's the kind there's the kind
of last for five years, and then the kind that
can last for like twelve or something. I mean that
can it gets up there? I mean obviously it doesn't
get up there right up into the into literally into
your uterus um. But of course it doesn't mean that
if you once you get it removed, your fertility should return. UM.
(08:27):
And also planned Parenthood says that the ability to get pregnant,
like I said, returns quickly once the io D is
removed and they're safe to use wild breastfeeding. Yeah, so
you can pop that sucker right back in after you've
had your baby. And by you, we mean your gynecologist,
right right. I know we've talked about pelvic self exams
before and how some people do have speculums lying around,
(08:51):
not everyone. This is not the same thing there. I
did read there is evidence that if bacteria gets up
into the uterus when the io D is inserted, an
infection can occur, and that is what can affect fertility,
not the i U D itself, but if bacteria get
up in there while it's being inserted, that could cause
(09:11):
a lot of problems. Right. And also, um, there uh,
there was concern that bacteria could also get onto the strings.
It's a T shaped device. For any of you out
there who don't know what an iu D looks like,
it's a T shaped device with U two strings that
hang off the bottom of it. And there had been
concerned that bacteria could get into the strings. But um,
(09:34):
newer forms of i U d s are much much
better about making sure that that does not keeping those
sterile um while they are inside of you, right, and
whether whether you use a copper releasing device or pro
justine releasing one, a hormonal i u D. The job
of the io D is to impair sperm, not to
impair your reproductive system. So it's kind of like it's
(09:56):
just it's locked the doors. It's like nope, not today.
But as soon as you take it, you're like, well, okay,
time for sparing. So so far we've got nothing but
good news. Let's keep this going. Yeah, I like I
like good news episodes. UM well, as a strange transition
to that, let's talk about abortion, because again I think
(10:16):
there is uh concern out there that if you get
an abortion then it might impair your chances of conceiving
later on. And according to the Mayo Clinic, abortion generally
is not thought to cause fertility issues or complications in
later pregnancies, but there might be some links between abortion
(10:37):
UM and an increase risk of vaginal bleeding during early pregnancy,
preterm birth, low birth weight, and placentic and placenta prebia,
which is when the placenta covers the cervix and can
cause severe bleeding during pregnancy. But that does not mean
even though that that all might sound scary, UM, but
that doesn't mean that having an abortion will diminish your
(11:00):
fertility later in life. Correct and Dr. Going back to
Dr Chermanac of Cornell, he said he advises waiting about
three months if you have previously been pregnant or had
a miscarriage or anything like that. You basically need to
give your body time to heal before you try to
get pregnant again. Right, Um, And just to drive the
message home, the Good Mocker Institute UM says that abortion
(11:21):
is safe over the long term and again carries no
risk of fertility related problems, cancer, ECH topic pregnancy, or
psychological illnesses, which we have touched on before in our
podcast focusing just on abortion and speaking of EC topic pregnancy,
this is an issue that has been associated too with
(11:41):
i u d s and then topic pregnancy is when
the fertilized egg implants outside of the uterus, sometimes in
the fallopian tubes. But here's the thing. Although we have
heard warnings before about UM i u d s possibly
increasing the chance of EC topic pregnancy, get this. Overall,
women who use i u d s have a significantly
(12:03):
lower rate of ectopic pregnancies than women who do not
use any contraception. How about them, apples, Those are some facts,
those are some effects. Well, okay, so we've talked about
how birth control does not affect fertility, but what about
the people who find they can't get pregnant after they
go off birth um. It actually seems to be according
(12:28):
to everything we read, that birth control is not causing
fertility problems, but they might mask existing ones. So you
could possibly have maybe regular periods hormonal issues that could
affect fertility, but if you go on birth control, it
masks those issues by giving you a regular false period,
which is bleeding that's not related to ovulation. Yeah, and
(12:50):
if UM, for instance, the infertility issue might have to
do with, uh, say sperm count, then again, you know,
since you're not getting pregnant while on birth control, that
could be a way that it could mask other issues
as well. Right, those issues could be thyroid disorders, premature
O variant failure which is early on set menopause, and
(13:11):
polycystic ovary syndrome, which which is actually pretty common. I
didn't realize, um and uh, since we're talking about things
that could make it harder to become pregnant down the road. Really,
we shouldn't be so much concerned about birth control as
something such as, oh, I don't know smoking. Oh really, Yeah,
there's all this concern you know about you know, birth control.
(13:35):
And while I was researching the impact of birth control
on fertility long term, a French study came up basically
saying that that's smoking. Women who are smoking, and men too,
it can damage your your fertility actually, along with your lungs, yeah,
and and lots of other stuff, and your teeth and
(13:56):
your face and your hair. Yeah. It actually, it kind
of affects a little out of everything. It can affect
the nuclear quality of sperm, sperm qualities compromised. It kind
of gets into your cells and just like choke them.
So I think basically the takeaway from that, uh is
that you should just probably try to be as healthy
as you can if you want to get pregnant. It's
(14:17):
not just vitamins. It's quitting smoking, maybe you don't drink,
definitely stop taking birth control pills. I also like that
this French study, in a very French kind of way,
referred to becoming pregnant um as a parental project before
they advised quitting smoking before undertaking any parental project like
cleaning up the garage. Yes, blueprint of highly detailed plans
(14:44):
for the project of parenting. She's tapping her fingers together
in an evil way. One thing, though, that we have
not mentioned with all of this a is the fact that, um,
we we aren't by extension saying that uh, if you
get off birth control, everyone will magically and suddenly get pregnant.
And it does take time. Yeah, and we recognize that
some people are not able to get pregnant, and we
(15:04):
really we have not done an episode on fertility infertility yet,
which would probably be a good idea to talk about
at some point. But we should also bring up the
depot Preva shots, which, according to web md, have a
delayed return of fertility from anywhere from three to four
months to a year or two. Right, the time frame
(15:24):
is not related to how long you've been getting the shots.
It's not like if you've been getting the shots for
however long, you'll be even more unable to conceive. The
New York Times had an interesting feature about contraception. That's
where we got a lot of our information on i
u d s. And it's got all sorts of charts
and images. Um, but that overview gives a slightly different
(15:48):
time frame than web m D That depot can cause
persistent infertility for up to twenty two months after the
last injection, although the average is about ten months. So
if A is your form of contraception, that could possibly
be a reason why, um, you are having trouble getting pregnant.
If that's what you are trying to do, you're not
(16:09):
doing it anymore, right, but ask your doctor. Ask your
doctor again. You know we are not We're only doctors
in at Halloween parties. Doctors of love. Doctors doctors of
love is what we are. And with that, I think
I think that covers it. Good news today, folks spread
it around birth control not harming your your chances of
(16:30):
getting pregnant in the long term, once you get off
of it and you quit smoking and decide, in a
very French kind of way, perhaps over but get while
wearing a beret to start a parental project right after
you clean the garage. Oh yes, oh wait, I don't
mean that's not a metaphor. I literally mean cleaning garage. Okay,
(16:51):
you're blushing a little bit, Caroline, very pale, and with
that sign for a listener. Male mom stuff at how
Stuff Works stock com is email address, and I would
like to start off with an email from one of
my favorite if it's okay to play favorites. This is
from Diana. This is This is in response to um
(17:14):
our episode on soy and I should note that Diana
is a vegan and she says that I end up
having people tell me all kinds of ridiculous things about
soy because I'm vegan and people think I live on
this stuff. Just some thoughts on the podcast. She first
points out, I think we screwed up the Michael Pollen quote. Um.
(17:35):
She says, I'm not a fan of the man, but
I am a fan of the quote eat food not
too much, mostly plants um. And also the Indonesian study
that we talked about regarding dementia and tofu eaters has
been roundly criticized because in that region they often preserved
tofu with Formaldaha. Okay, well, I mean talking about how
(17:57):
the methodological error that's not so much let's yes a
formal odd when they look at just the amount of
tempe which is fermented soy um that people ate, there
was no link to dementia and she says, Finally, there
are mixed results in terms of soy, but much more
straightforward results that are not discussed when it comes to
(18:17):
cow's milk. After red meat, cheese and milk are major
predictors of cancer. Moreover, milk is not just a complex
hormonal concoction evolved to promote growth in calves and thus
might proliferate other cells, such as malignant cells and cancer.
Cows are mild when they are pregnant, in addition to
often being given other hormones to promote milk production. I'm
(18:39):
always surprised that there is so much more fearmongering around
soy than there is around Gary. Interesting. Yeah, don't don't
take cheese away from me, and don't store your tofu
and formalde hyde a lesson for all. Yes, um, this
is an email from Melissa about an old episode. She
said that um, she took time to go back and
(19:00):
listen to classic Mom Stuff episode, specifically the episode on
boob Politics a k a. Of the Cleavage Isshoo. One
comment that really stuck with me was that women who
were a decup or above should be shopping at Lane
Bryant for their bras or see what the store has
to help to keep cleavage at bay. This struck a
chord with me because I am a D cup and
wouldn't typically shop at Lane Bryant because I am not
(19:22):
a plus size woman. I am about five four and
where between a size two and eight depending on the store.
You know how wackadoo sizing is. Yeah, I have no
idea what size I am really um, I do have
a larger bus size, or seemingly larger for a woman
of my height and overall frame. Lane Bryant may have
bras that are for as small as thirty six seed
this is a recent inclusion, and then go much higher.
(19:44):
But when I attempted to go there to purchase a
bra when pregnant and nursing and even larger than my
usual size, it was rather awkward because I was seen
as out of place in that store. The assumption that
a woman with an endowed bus line to shop at
a plus size clothing store or use that store for
a source of their undergarment seemed a little presumptuous. And
don't get me started on the fact many who haven't
(20:04):
seen me since high school assume I got a boob
job due to being a late Bloomer, but that is
a whole other podcast. Do you need to do well,
I'm not. I'm not curious, so um for larger breasted
women out there, If there are some awesome places to
find larger cupped bras in a variety of styles and shapes,
(20:25):
you know, let us know, because I would also imagine
that was a long time ago. And I would imagine
too that Lane Bryan is certainly not the only place
to go. And one thing before we close out here
that I did not mention that Diana wrote in our email.
She said, I love the energy that Caroline is bringing
to the show, and I'd like to second that Caroline.
Can I just say, look, I I think Molly was
(20:48):
awesome at this podcast. I think she was awesome and
great and had amazing contributions. So it's very touching that
you guys welcome to me in with open arms. Yeah,
you guys are all pretty cool, like a warm snuggy Yeah,
you guys are like my warm internet snuggy something or other.
Something Well with that, if you'd like to send us,
(21:10):
uh well, warmth and energy and light like we enjoy
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(21:32):
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(21:58):
Brought to you by the reinventor a two thousand and
twelve Camry. It's ready, are you
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff mom Never told you?
From house Stop works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to
the podcast. I'm Kristen and I'm Caroline, and today we
(00:20):
are tackling a question that we've gotten a number of
times from female listeners, and that is whether or not
birth control makes it harder to get pregnant wait for
it down the road after you've gotten off birth control. Right,
I can see how a lot of people might think
it would. I mean, you know, you you're you're knocking
out your fertility for the time being. Yeah, while you're
(00:42):
on it. I can see how you would think that,
oh gosh, it might take for however, to get pregnant
after I get off birth control pills or stop you know,
using the ring or whatever. Um. But actually, we have
some good news for you. And the good news is
that birth control does not affect future fertility. And that's
the other podcast. Thanks, you can email us. Uh well, no,
(01:06):
that is uh yeah, that's the good news. I mean,
that's that's really it. In a nutshell. I um I
tweeted about this and Dr Jen gunter Um who is
sexual health expert and a doctor tweeted back, No, she
said the birth control pill does not affect long term
fertility at all. UM, And we will continue to reiterate
(01:28):
that message over and over again. But let's let's get
into the details. UM. And just as a side note, UM,
typically it takes a couple about eight months to get pregnant.
And yes this is we're speaking you know not um
uh sort of setting aside issues with with fertility, but yeah,
(01:49):
generally eight months, right. And the European Active Surveillance Study
on Oral contraceptive that is a very long name, UM
followed more than two thousand women who went off birth
can hole with the plan to become pregnant. They basically
wanted to just find out how long it would take them,
what their issues were, what they experienced, and they found
that within just one cycle of stopping the pill, more
(02:11):
than of women had become pregnant. And what's interesting about
that is it's almost identical. It falls right in line
with the natural pregnancy rate of people who are not
on birth control, which is between twenty success rate that
is fast one month I know, boom boom um. And
(02:32):
then a year after the women stopped using the pills,
seventy nine point four percent were pregnant, and the median
time until conception was three months, which which is shorter
than the eight months. Wait, I don't know, I don't
know what the deals with it with the eight month thing,
but the long story short, it was pretty swift, right, yeah,
(02:53):
so watch out for that. And as far as long
term use, if you're on the pill for uh two years, um,
it says that women who had used the pill for
more than twenty four months experienced no effects on their fertility.
So that's good. So it's not like if you're on
it for a long time, you're gonna you know, not
ever be able to have children. Your fertility is not
(03:15):
currently withering away correct and direct proportion to the amount
of time you have been on the pill or the
patch or the ring or the your over reason, aren't
sitting and there going like whoa wait with the patch?
Am I thinking about quitting smoking? Now there's a patch.
There's the first control patch for sure. Um, yes, yes,
I've seen it advertised. Um. And also along with the
(03:38):
you know, the good news that it does not put
a dent in your fertility, birth control has also been
found to potentially this is not in everyone, but potentially
lower the risk of ovarian and endometrial cancers. It could
also decrease the risk of endometriosis, cysts, and pelvic inflammatory disease,
(03:58):
not to mention their more. There's more, uh, it may
alleviate PMS symptoms like cramping and heavy bleeding, and of course,
while you're on it, it also reduces the chance of
getting pregnant babies. It reduces the chance of babies. As
far as when you should sort of start trying or
(04:22):
stop waiting to get pregnant um. Dr Frank cherbinac Over
on web m d He's from Cornell says your best
bet is to actually complete your current cycle and then
attempt to get pregnant. He says this can help with
irregular bleeding. Yeah, and um Also, there might be a
question of well, if I'm taking birth control. Obviously there
is birth controls, not especially oral contraceptives. There still is
(04:47):
a possibility that you can get pregnant while on the pill.
So what happens then if you do get pregnant while
you um are on the pill? It also does not
incre the risk for miscarried's Obviously, as soon as you
find out you're pregnant, you probably want to stop taking
your birth control, right. But actually it was interesting to
(05:08):
read because I would think that if you're on any
sort of medication, or if you're you know, I just
felt like any medicine that you're on, if you didn't
know you're pregnant, it could have some weird effect on
the baby. But it actually I read that it it
doesn't have that pronounced of an effect. So so yes,
get off your birth control as soon as you know
you're pregnant. But if you've been taking it before you
(05:29):
realized it, you know, I think it's it's okay judging
by what I read. Um. And also keep in mind
that Caroline and I, although we would like to call
ourselves doctors, doctor Irvin, Dr Conger, we aren't um. So really, also,
you know, talk to your doctor or nurse practitioner if
you are on birth control and are thinking about getting pregnant,
(05:51):
right or if you found out you're pregnant while you're
still on birth control. Really, any just go to your
doctor physic right now, Just go to your doctor self
listening to this, what are you doing? Keep doing with yourself?
But speaking of birth control, a lot of this is
focused on oral contraceptives, but i u d s have
also been controversial in the past because some doctors have
(06:14):
said that if you have had an i D, which
is which is an intra uterine device, and it is
actually um one of the most effective forms of birth
control close to it's about as close to pent as
you can get without abstinence. UM. And there was a
two thousand one study in the British Journal of Obstetrics
(06:36):
and Gynecology claiming that long term use of an i
U D by a woman who has not previously been
pregnant increases the risk for impaired fertility. And I think
this was specifically the Copper i U D right. UM. Yeah,
it's actually it's kind of a scary study. Yeah, especially
if you don't know much about i u d s.
(06:57):
You might just think we'll screw it, I'll stay on
the pill, or I'll just use condoms or whatever. But um,
an independent group of researchers actually reanalyze the data and
found no significant difference between long term users of oral
contraceptives and long term io D users. And we already
talked about how long term use of the pill doesn't
affect your fertility, So that means that they found that
long term i U D use does not either. What
(07:20):
they found is the age was much more of a factor.
So if you've been using an i U D for
a long time, chances are you are older according to
the study than people who have been using it a
short time. And so you know, the older you are,
the more difficult it could become to have children are
become pregnant. So that's what they're aligning it with. Yeah,
(07:43):
because in that that initial study did not take that
into account, which is yet another lesson and why it
is so important to pay attention to study methodologies because
it can create you know, some some scary headlines. UM.
And another thing about long term io d us is
a lot of times, um, they last for up to
(08:05):
five years, and then what's the kind there's the kind
of last for five years, and then the kind that
can last for like twelve or something. I mean that
can it gets up there? I mean obviously it doesn't
get up there right up into the into literally into
your uterus um. But of course it doesn't mean that
if you once you get it removed, your fertility should return. UM.
(08:27):
And also planned Parenthood says that the ability to get pregnant,
like I said, returns quickly once the io D is
removed and they're safe to use wild breastfeeding. Yeah, so
you can pop that sucker right back in after you've
had your baby. And by you, we mean your gynecologist,
right right. I know we've talked about pelvic self exams
before and how some people do have speculums lying around,
(08:51):
not everyone. This is not the same thing there. I
did read there is evidence that if bacteria gets up
into the uterus when the io D is inserted, an
infection can occur, and that is what can affect fertility,
not the i U D itself, but if bacteria get
up in there while it's being inserted, that could cause
(09:11):
a lot of problems. Right. And also, um, there uh,
there was concern that bacteria could also get onto the strings.
It's a T shaped device. For any of you out
there who don't know what an iu D looks like,
it's a T shaped device with U two strings that
hang off the bottom of it. And there had been
concerned that bacteria could get into the strings. But um,
(09:34):
newer forms of i U d s are much much
better about making sure that that does not keeping those
sterile um while they are inside of you, right, and
whether whether you use a copper releasing device or pro
justine releasing one, a hormonal i u D. The job
of the io D is to impair sperm, not to
impair your reproductive system. So it's kind of like it's
(09:56):
just it's locked the doors. It's like nope, not today.
But as soon as you take it, you're like, well, okay,
time for sparing. So so far we've got nothing but
good news. Let's keep this going. Yeah, I like I
like good news episodes. UM well, as a strange transition
to that, let's talk about abortion, because again I think
(10:16):
there is uh concern out there that if you get
an abortion then it might impair your chances of conceiving
later on. And according to the Mayo Clinic, abortion generally
is not thought to cause fertility issues or complications in
later pregnancies, but there might be some links between abortion
(10:37):
UM and an increase risk of vaginal bleeding during early pregnancy,
preterm birth, low birth weight, and placentic and placenta prebia,
which is when the placenta covers the cervix and can
cause severe bleeding during pregnancy. But that does not mean
even though that that all might sound scary, UM, but
that doesn't mean that having an abortion will diminish your
(11:00):
fertility later in life. Correct and Dr. Going back to
Dr Chermanac of Cornell, he said he advises waiting about
three months if you have previously been pregnant or had
a miscarriage or anything like that. You basically need to
give your body time to heal before you try to
get pregnant again. Right, Um, And just to drive the
message home, the Good Mocker Institute UM says that abortion
(11:21):
is safe over the long term and again carries no
risk of fertility related problems, cancer, ECH topic pregnancy, or
psychological illnesses, which we have touched on before in our
podcast focusing just on abortion and speaking of EC topic pregnancy,
this is an issue that has been associated too with
(11:41):
i u d s and then topic pregnancy is when
the fertilized egg implants outside of the uterus, sometimes in
the fallopian tubes. But here's the thing. Although we have
heard warnings before about UM i u d s possibly
increasing the chance of EC topic pregnancy, get this. Overall,
women who use i u d s have a significantly
(12:03):
lower rate of ectopic pregnancies than women who do not
use any contraception. How about them, apples, Those are some facts,
those are some effects. Well, okay, so we've talked about
how birth control does not affect fertility, but what about
the people who find they can't get pregnant after they
go off birth um. It actually seems to be according
(12:28):
to everything we read, that birth control is not causing
fertility problems, but they might mask existing ones. So you
could possibly have maybe regular periods hormonal issues that could
affect fertility, but if you go on birth control, it
masks those issues by giving you a regular false period,
which is bleeding that's not related to ovulation. Yeah, and
(12:50):
if UM, for instance, the infertility issue might have to
do with, uh, say sperm count, then again, you know,
since you're not getting pregnant while on birth control, that
could be a way that it could mask other issues
as well. Right, those issues could be thyroid disorders, premature
O variant failure which is early on set menopause, and
(13:11):
polycystic ovary syndrome, which which is actually pretty common. I
didn't realize, um and uh, since we're talking about things
that could make it harder to become pregnant down the road. Really,
we shouldn't be so much concerned about birth control as
something such as, oh, I don't know smoking. Oh really, Yeah,
there's all this concern you know about you know, birth control.
(13:35):
And while I was researching the impact of birth control
on fertility long term, a French study came up basically
saying that that's smoking. Women who are smoking, and men too,
it can damage your your fertility actually, along with your lungs, yeah,
and and lots of other stuff, and your teeth and
(13:56):
your face and your hair. Yeah. It actually, it kind
of affects a little out of everything. It can affect
the nuclear quality of sperm, sperm qualities compromised. It kind
of gets into your cells and just like choke them.
So I think basically the takeaway from that, uh is
that you should just probably try to be as healthy
as you can if you want to get pregnant. It's
(14:17):
not just vitamins. It's quitting smoking, maybe you don't drink,
definitely stop taking birth control pills. I also like that
this French study, in a very French kind of way,
referred to becoming pregnant um as a parental project before
they advised quitting smoking before undertaking any parental project like
cleaning up the garage. Yes, blueprint of highly detailed plans
(14:44):
for the project of parenting. She's tapping her fingers together
in an evil way. One thing, though, that we have
not mentioned with all of this a is the fact that, um,
we we aren't by extension saying that uh, if you
get off birth control, everyone will magically and suddenly get pregnant.
And it does take time. Yeah, and we recognize that
some people are not able to get pregnant, and we
(15:04):
really we have not done an episode on fertility infertility yet,
which would probably be a good idea to talk about
at some point. But we should also bring up the
depot Preva shots, which, according to web md, have a
delayed return of fertility from anywhere from three to four
months to a year or two. Right, the time frame
(15:24):
is not related to how long you've been getting the shots.
It's not like if you've been getting the shots for
however long, you'll be even more unable to conceive. The
New York Times had an interesting feature about contraception. That's
where we got a lot of our information on i
u d s. And it's got all sorts of charts
and images. Um, but that overview gives a slightly different
(15:48):
time frame than web m D That depot can cause
persistent infertility for up to twenty two months after the
last injection, although the average is about ten months. So
if A is your form of contraception, that could possibly
be a reason why, um, you are having trouble getting pregnant.
If that's what you are trying to do, you're not
(16:09):
doing it anymore, right, but ask your doctor. Ask your
doctor again. You know we are not We're only doctors
in at Halloween parties. Doctors of love. Doctors doctors of
love is what we are. And with that, I think
I think that covers it. Good news today, folks spread
it around birth control not harming your your chances of
(16:30):
getting pregnant in the long term, once you get off
of it and you quit smoking and decide, in a
very French kind of way, perhaps over but get while
wearing a beret to start a parental project right after
you clean the garage. Oh yes, oh wait, I don't
mean that's not a metaphor. I literally mean cleaning garage. Okay,
(16:51):
you're blushing a little bit, Caroline, very pale, and with
that sign for a listener. Male mom stuff at how
Stuff Works stock com is email address, and I would
like to start off with an email from one of
my favorite if it's okay to play favorites. This is
from Diana. This is This is in response to um
(17:14):
our episode on soy and I should note that Diana
is a vegan and she says that I end up
having people tell me all kinds of ridiculous things about
soy because I'm vegan and people think I live on
this stuff. Just some thoughts on the podcast. She first
points out, I think we screwed up the Michael Pollen quote. Um.
(17:35):
She says, I'm not a fan of the man, but
I am a fan of the quote eat food not
too much, mostly plants um. And also the Indonesian study
that we talked about regarding dementia and tofu eaters has
been roundly criticized because in that region they often preserved
tofu with Formaldaha. Okay, well, I mean talking about how
(17:57):
the methodological error that's not so much let's yes a
formal odd when they look at just the amount of
tempe which is fermented soy um that people ate, there
was no link to dementia and she says, Finally, there
are mixed results in terms of soy, but much more
straightforward results that are not discussed when it comes to
(18:17):
cow's milk. After red meat, cheese and milk are major
predictors of cancer. Moreover, milk is not just a complex
hormonal concoction evolved to promote growth in calves and thus
might proliferate other cells, such as malignant cells and cancer.
Cows are mild when they are pregnant, in addition to
often being given other hormones to promote milk production. I'm
(18:39):
always surprised that there is so much more fearmongering around
soy than there is around Gary. Interesting. Yeah, don't don't
take cheese away from me, and don't store your tofu
and formalde hyde a lesson for all. Yes, um, this
is an email from Melissa about an old episode. She
said that um, she took time to go back and
(19:00):
listen to classic Mom Stuff episode, specifically the episode on
boob Politics a k a. Of the Cleavage Isshoo. One
comment that really stuck with me was that women who
were a decup or above should be shopping at Lane
Bryant for their bras or see what the store has
to help to keep cleavage at bay. This struck a
chord with me because I am a D cup and
wouldn't typically shop at Lane Bryant because I am not
(19:22):
a plus size woman. I am about five four and
where between a size two and eight depending on the store.
You know how wackadoo sizing is. Yeah, I have no
idea what size I am really um, I do have
a larger bus size, or seemingly larger for a woman
of my height and overall frame. Lane Bryant may have
bras that are for as small as thirty six seed
this is a recent inclusion, and then go much higher.
(19:44):
But when I attempted to go there to purchase a
bra when pregnant and nursing and even larger than my
usual size, it was rather awkward because I was seen
as out of place in that store. The assumption that
a woman with an endowed bus line to shop at
a plus size clothing store or use that store for
a source of their undergarment seemed a little presumptuous. And
don't get me started on the fact many who haven't
(20:04):
seen me since high school assume I got a boob
job due to being a late Bloomer, but that is
a whole other podcast. Do you need to do well,
I'm not. I'm not curious, so um for larger breasted
women out there, If there are some awesome places to
find larger cupped bras in a variety of styles and shapes,
(20:25):
you know, let us know, because I would also imagine
that was a long time ago. And I would imagine
too that Lane Bryan is certainly not the only place
to go. And one thing before we close out here
that I did not mention that Diana wrote in our email.
She said, I love the energy that Caroline is bringing
to the show, and I'd like to second that Caroline.
Can I just say, look, I I think Molly was
(20:48):
awesome at this podcast. I think she was awesome and
great and had amazing contributions. So it's very touching that
you guys welcome to me in with open arms. Yeah,
you guys are all pretty cool, like a warm snuggy Yeah,
you guys are like my warm internet snuggy something or other.
Something Well with that, if you'd like to send us,
(21:10):
uh well, warmth and energy and light like we enjoy
mom stuff at how stuff works dot com is our
email address. Why don't you like us on Facebook? Have
you not done that already? All it takes is a
click of a button and a thumbs up, and then
follow us on Twitter if you'd like to get some
tweets at Mom Stuff Podcast and you can read the
(21:32):
blog during the week. It's stuff Mom Never told you
at how Stuff works dot com. Be sure to check
out our new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join
how Stuff Work staff as we explore the most promising
and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow. The how Stuff Works I
Find app has a ride. Download it today on iTunes.
(21:58):
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