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Turning Back Your Biological Clock
Most women have heard the cliché by now – your biological clock is ticking, Tick! Tock! In fact, all women are born with all of the eggs that they will ever produce, so the longer they live without having used any of those eggs, the less likely it is that they will be able to conceive. Men, on the other hand, produce sperm on a regular basis throughout their lives, so they are able to conceive children into old age. So the biological odds are certainly stacked against women.
Scientific research has shown that women’s fertility will decrease significantly after the age of 30 and again after 35. In today’s world, where more and more women tend to put off having a family until they have achieved particular personal or career goals, this is becoming a hot button issue. Fertility techniques have increased women’s ability to successfully bear children at older ages, but these techniques don’t come without their risks, so women need to carefully consider all the possibilities before considering pregnancy later in life.
The longer an egg sits in the ovaries, the greater the chances that it will develop abnormalities in its chromosomal makeup. These abnormalities can increase a woman’s risk of miscarriage as well as having a child with birth defects or mental retardation. A woman in her 20’s generally has about a 12-15% chance of miscarriage with each pregnancy. For women in their 40’s, that chance increases to 50%.
Not all women are the same, of course, and not every woman will develop abnormalities in her eggs at the same age. Each case is unique, and so is their treatment. The most important tool for determining fertility in older women is testing for Follicle Stimulating Hormone, or FSH. FSH is the main hormone responsible for the development of eggs. The higher a woman’s FSH level, the less likely it is that she will have viable eggs. A simple blood test can determine your FSH level, but levels do vary from month to month so you may need to have more than one test done.
While many forms of assisted conception exist, most older women don’t have success with them. As it usually the condition of the eggs and not the uterus itself which causes infertility in older women, the most successful fertility method for them is egg donation. Recent studies have shown a better than 80% success rate in women who have undergone egg donation.
Unfortunately, biology works against most women, but with advances in medicine there is no reason that your time has to run out at any given moment. So don’t let the ticking bother you, with your doctor’s help it is possible to turn back the hands of time.