We?ve heard it all before: it gets harder for women to get pregnant after 35, and chances drop precipitously after 40?but that doesn?t mean younger women are immune to fertility issues. From Chrissy Teigen to Kim Kardashian, more millennials are sharing how tough it can sometimes be to conceive.
In Canada, an estimated one in six couples face infertility, and it?s not just because people are waiting longer. A survey by HSBC from earlier this year found that 21 percent of millennials are prepared to delay having children to save up for a home. But there are also a whole host of reasons for infertility aside from age.
?When you start your family later, it can be harder. But for everybody, there are other risks such as tubal diseases, like endometriosis or sexually transmitted diseases,? says Dr. Sonya Kashyap, medical director at the Genesis Fertility Centre in Vancouver. ?There could be anovulation [when the ovaries don?t release an egg during a menstrual cycle], either due to BMI being too high or too low, or there could be environmental effects leading to lower ovarian reserve.? And then there?s the unknown. Between 10 and 20 percent of fertility is unexplained, says Dr. Kashyap. But the problem with infertility is that you might not know you?ll have trouble until you start trying?and let?s be honest, it?s not exactly something you can casually test out. Difficulty conceiving is also something we don?t often talk about, either. Thankfully, more people are op...