Transcript
Dr Cris here with The Ask Dr Cris show. Today’s question comes from the Elizabeth she is about to turn 40 and she’s concerned because she hasn’t had children, and everyone talks about an egg timer or you you’re running out of time with fertility, so, I get that and I understand that.
I have patients that come to me, in that stage in their life, when they feel that it is time to start a family and they’re worried about the quantity and about the quality of their eggs. I would actually say that your overall health will determine your fertility to a greater degree, so your chronological age won’t necessarily be your biological age, you can be still young on the inside which is great news. If you’ve looked after yourself, reduced your stress level, exercised, make sure factors like: insulin resistance (which is weight around the middle), and fertility are obviously very linked. Polycystic ovaries, endometriosis, they are all conditions that we see generally on an everyday basis in clinical practice and they can be tested and diagnose. So keeping those conditions under control can maximise fertility. There is a test that you can do to see how many eggs you have got left, it is like an egg timer test, it’s more accurate under the age of 35 but it can still provide some information closer to forty and that’s called AMH testing antimalarial hormone. If that level is low you may consider going through IVF to have eggs stored until such time as you’re ready to use them. Remember though it only takes one egg to fall pregnant, and oftentimes the body will do what it does best and it will select which eggs are best and it will use those first. So don’t be frightened about fertility over the age of 40, do speak to your local doctor about maximising your fertility chances and your health, and do speak to a gynaecologist or IVF specialists if you are not yet ready to start a Family and you are thinking that it might be quite a few years away, you may need to in that case store some eggs.
That’s a great question, thank you so much for asking them, please feel free to ask any questions below. I hope that you are loving The Ask Dr Cris Show, if you would like to see more of The Ask Dr Cris Show please press subscribe.
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Dr Cris
Holistic Medical Doctor, Author ‘Healthy Habits, 52 Ways to Better Health‘
