Mine is Bigger than Yours! The Truth about Fertility
These days young women are quite caught up in their careers. And why not? Advances in fertility treatment have given them a great deal of hope. They can now balance both job and family-planning in a calmer manner. There is no rush. But is this false hope? After all, women’s biology has not changed one bit. Statistics show that the rate of first births for women in their 30s and 40s has surged in this country - quadrupling since 1970. At the same time, rates for women in their early 20s have dropped by a third. So, the tendency to have “cake” now and children later has become pervasive in a capitalistic and technologically advanced society like our own. One thing couples fail to realize, however, is the bottom line: advancing age still decreases a woman’s ability to have children. “Mine is bigger than yours” has no validity or substance whatsoever, when the tick-tock of the biological clock is tossed into the mix. That is not to say that enormous advances have not been made in treating both male and female infertility. Egg and sperm can be mixed in a petri dish, embryos can be genetically tested for certain abnormalities, and then weeded out before implantation. Sluggish sperm can be “pepped up,” by injecting them directly into an egg. Surrogates can carry babies for those who can’t. Even 63-year-old grandmothers can lend a womb, a prayer, and some luck to this game we call “motherhood,” with a reasonable chance of success. Our “brave new world” has become even braver, as scientists now search for new ways to attack the most frustrating problem in infertility today: the older woman’s eggs. Freezing slices of ovarian tissue, which contain thousands of eggs in an immature state, and “nuclear transfer,” in which the nucleus is sucked out of an older woman’s egg, and then transferred into the cytoplasm of a younger egg, are two new experimental ways in which the hands of the biological clock are being turned back. Does everything, so far, sound too good to be true? Are you considering a postponement of the “pitter-patter of little feet?” Well, before you make a decision, be forewarned that there is a downside, too. Science can’t always beat the biological clock. Studies have shown that while women have an excellent understanding of birth control, they tend to overestimate the age at which fertility declines. And doctors, for their part, afraid to offend or intrude, usually don’t raise the question of fertility unless asked. And why should they? The fertility business continues to boom, regardless. Perhaps down the road, determination of individual reproductive age and an understanding of the molecular processes contributing to the aging of eggs will raise the curtain on uncertainty and slow the intrepid march of time. Until then, however, “mine is bigger than yours” will remain the battle cry of those who continue to disregard the laws of nature and the timetable of a human body, which hasn’t changed in thousands of years.
Copyright 2004, Albert M. Balesh, M.D. All rights reserved.
posted by Dr. Al at
7/11/2006 08:42:00 AM
2 Comments:
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