Getting Pregnant Naturally_ Healthy Choi - Winifred Conkling [40]
If you are taking any prescription medicines, discuss your fertility issues with your doctor. Some of these drugs may inhibit fertility—and some may be dangerous to your baby once you do conceive. As an overall rule of thumb, avoid all medications when you’re trying to become pregnant, unless your doctor recommends otherwise.
CALL FOR HELP
For more information on overcoming an addiction, consider contacting one of the following organizations:
Alcoholics Anonymous
(212) 870-3400, or check Yellow Pages for local listing
American Lung Association
(800) 586-4872
Center for Substance Abuse Prevention
(800) 843-4971
Cocaine Anonymous
(800) COCAINE; (213) 559-5833
Narcotics Anonymous
(800) 662-4357; (818)780-3951
National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information
(301) 468-2600
National Institute on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse
(800) 662-4357; (301) 443-4373
Say No to Steroids
Both men and women use anabolic steroids—and both men and women have their fertility damaged by the use of these dangerous drugs. Anabolic steroids are sometimes used by athletes for bodybuilding and stamina, but they often trigger changes in the pituitary gland that throw the body’s hormone balance dangerously out of whack.
Women should never use bodybuilding steroids under any circumstances. In women, they often cause irreversible hormonal imbalances and reproductive problems. Men shouldn’t use them, either. They can cause heart problems, depression, rage, and psychosis, in addition to shrunken testicles and sterility. In most cases, men can regain their fertility when they stop using the drugs; a man should abstain from steroid use for at least three months before trying to get his partner pregnant to give his body a chance to cleanse itself of potentially damaged sperm.
Use Your Computer Safely
First researchers thought computers caused fertility problems, then they decided they didn’t, and now they once again suspect that computers contribute to a number of reproductive problems, including infertility, miscarriage, and birth defects.
A recent study of almost sixteen hundred women conducted by the Kaiser-Permanente Medical Group in northern California found that women who worked at a computer video display terminal for more than twenty hours per week had twice as many miscarriages in the first trimester of pregnancy as women who did not use computers. In addition, women who used a computer for just five hours a day were 40 percent more likely than nonusers to have babies born with a congenital birth defect. Another study conducted in Manchester, England, found that women who use computers were more likely to experience menstrual irregularities and a failure to ovulate, compared to women who did not use computers.
Men also need to take steps to reduce their exposure to radiation from computers, since radiation has been linked to lowered sperm count, chromosomal damage to the sperm, and testicle damage.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO THROW AWAY YOUR PC
While radiation exposure from computers can impair your fertility, there are steps you can take to protect your reproductive system:
Most of the radiation escapes from the transformer at the back of your computer monitor, so avoid standing near the rear of your machine. (Most of the radiation falls off within ten feet of the monitor; you’re safe if your monitor faces a wall.)
Keep the monitor at hand’s length (as long as you don’t experience eye strain) to minimize your radiation exposure.
If you work in an office with more than one computer, be sure you do not stand or sit near the side or back of anyone else’s computer.
If you have a choice, use a portable