If you are trying to become pregnant and having a difficult time, then you are likely scouring multiple sources for any assistance you can find. Unfortunately, the fertility field has been so mired in legends and myths for centuries, that it’s getting hard to determine what is real or fake. People used to believe that ground up rhinoceros horn would improve male fertility and that praying to statues and other idols would bestow a baby.
But today, with modern science, doctors have been able to debunk most of these legends and provide better alternatives to conceiving. But there are still other myths floating around the fertility scene that you should know about before you try them, so let’s go over a few of the more common myths.
1) The Day 14 Myth
There has been a long standing belief that all women ovulate on the 14th day of their cycle so that is the day that doctors and specialists most often recommend for optimum fertilization.
Unfortunately, not every woman’s body is standardized, so this belief doesn’t seem to hold much weight. If this were true, no one would ever have sex on this day if they were avoiding pregnancy. The important thing when trying to conceive naturally is that you have to pay attention to your own body and cycle.
2) Cough Syrup
Apparently this was a big idea in the 1980s, but once again science has disproved this unhealthy theory. One of the major drugs in cough syrup is Guaifenesin, and was believed to thin the cervical mucus allowing for more sperm to reach an egg.
In all actuality, too much consumption of cough syrup can have damaging effects on the liver and brain. So, despite the supposed benefits, the costs were much more dire.
3) Long-Term Birth Control
Many people believe that if you take birth control pills for too many years that conceiving will be much more difficult for you later on in life. This could not be farther from the truth. What many don’t understand about birth control is that nothing is being damaged. Birth control pills just provide small amounts of hormones so that the woman does not become pregnant. If you are trying to become pregnant, speak to your gynecologist about being weaned off them. Many women have taken birth control for years and have no trouble conceiving.
4) Adopting
For many couples, the stress and cost of infertility can become too much so instead they choose to adopt. Adoption is a great decision to make because so many children need good, loving homes and no one that wants to be a parent should have to be without a child. But people have a tendency to say, “Once you adopt, you’ll probably get pregnant.” While it is true that many couples have children the natural way after adoption, probably because of the decreased stress, but adopting one child for the hope of another should not be the reason you adopt. You should adopt because you want that child to be your child and you would be happy even if he or she were your only child.
5) Headstands
This has to be one of the sillier myths to come across: women believing that standing on your head after sex will allow gravity to get sperm to an egg faster. While this is creative and interesting to see, there a number of factors that contribute to pregnancy and unfortunately, gravity isn’t one of them.
Whatever your method may be, make sure it doesn’t include any of these. Despite headstands being fun, we don’t want you hurting yourself right before you’re trying to hold a child!
This article was written by M.G. Bachemin in association with Doctors Imaging, the best place in New Orleans for MRI and other medical imaging procedures.
