BC and Infertility
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BC and Infertility
| Tue, 12-05-2006 - 3:38pm |
I was recently told that if you are on the pill for an extended amount of time that there are increased chances that when you go off you will NOT be able to ever get pregnant, is this true? I have been on the pill for about 7 years so this comment scared me!

Jill
I've never heard anything to that effect.
There are two major reasons for decreased fertility after going off the pill.
1) your age
2) how your cycles were prior to going on the pill. If you went on the pill to "regulate" your period, then the irregularities usually come back after you stop the pill. Whatever the cause is can attribute to not being able to get pregnant. So if you had problems with your cycle prior to the pill, then you need to find out what the cause is if the irregularities etc return.
I was on the pill and/or patch for 16 years and got pregnant the first month off of the patch, so I know it doesn’t always affect fertility. (And DH and I were both 35 when I got pregnant.)
I would not worry if I were you.
Holly
Hi again
Jill
Hi there,
As Jill said, if a woman is unable to conceive after stopping the pill, it's because there was an underlying fertility issue there in the first place, not because the pill has made her infertile.
Another thing is, some women can take months for their hormones to come right, and charting can help to show a woman where her hormones are going wrong. I have had my Mirena IUD removed for nearly five months, and my natural hormones are still wacky, after nearly five years of progesterone only methods. I'm working with a naturopath to help resolve this issue, and after only a month of doing this, I have noticed some considerable improvement on last month's cycle.
The most common cause for infertility is polycystic ovarian syndrome. Many women have no symptoms, and no two women have the same symptoms, so it can be easily overlooked. It can be identified by one symptom, or one slight chemical imbalance - often the cysts are too small to show up in ultrasound. The best specialist to identify any hormonal issues is a reproductive endocrinologist. With the use of some drugs, most women can conceive without having IVF, etc.
Another cause for infertility is endometriosis, and again, dealing with the right specialist, most women should be able to conceive.
The other thing is, many women leave their attempts to conceive until they are in their 30s now, by which stage their fertility is starting to decrease anyway. If they went on the pill from a young age, and used it for 15 years or so, they have no idea what their natural hormones are doing, and by the time they try to conceive, any fertility issues that may be present have had a lot of time to worsen, and compound on the age factor.
That's why when many women come to my Gyn board seeking advice about their irregular cycles, I stress the importance of finding out the CAUSE of their irregular cycles, rather than having their doctors or gyns treat the SYMPTOMS of the problem with birth control. Birth control gives the illusion that everything is sudddenly alright with their body, when really it isn't.