Alcohol Drugs and Tobacco and Their Effects on Pregnancy
Uploaded by Rozen on May 07, 2008
Alcohol and drugs--including marijuana, nicotine, and certain medications--can temporarily reduce sperm quality. Also, environmental toxins, including pesticides and lead, may be to blame for some cases of infertility.
Drugs and Surgery
Depending on what the tests turn up, different treatments are recommended. Eighty to 90 percent of infertility cases are treated with drugs or surgery.
Therapy with the fertility drug Clomid or with a more potent hormone stimulator--Pergonal, Metrodin, Humegon, or Fertinex--is often recommended for women with ovulation problems. The benefits of each drug and the side effects, which can be minor or serious but rare, should be discussed with the doctor. Multiple births occur in 10 to 20 percent of births resulting from fertility drug use.
Other drugs, used under very limited circumstances, include Parlodel (bromocriptine mesylate), for women with elevated levels of a hormone called prolactin, and a hormone pump that releases gonadotropins necessary for ovulation.
If drugs aren't the answer, surgery may be. Because major surgery is involved, operations to repair damage to the woman's ovaries, fallopian tubes, or uterus are recommended only if there is a good chance of restoring fertility.
In the man, one infertility problem often treated surgically is damage to the vas deferens, commonly caused by a sexually transmitted disease, other infection, or vasectomy (male sterilization).
Other important tools in the battle against infertility include artificial insemination and the so-called assisted reproductive technologies. (See "Science and Art.")
Fulfillment Regardless
Lisa became pregnant without assisted reproductive technologies, after taking ovulation-promoting medication and undergoing surgery to repair her damaged fallopian tubes. Her daughter is now 4 years old.
"It was definitely worth it. I really appreciate having my daughter because of what I went through," she says. But Lisa and her husband won't try to have a second child just yet. "At some point you have to stop trying to have a baby, stop obsessing over what might be an unreachable goal," she says.
When having a genetically related baby seems unachievable, a couple may decide to stop treatment and proceed with the rest of their lives. Some may choose to lead an enriched life without children. Others may choose to adopt.
And no, according to Resolve, you're not more likely to get pregnant if you adopt a baby.
Drug Supply Restored
The availability of sufficient supplies of the FDA-approved fertility drugs Pergonal, Metrodin, and Humegon, and the recent FDA approval of the fertility drug Fertinex have...