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“Infertility” is a term that many women who have experienced it will tell you is not discussed enough, and secondary infertility may be talked about even less — but what exactly is it?
“Perhaps one of the most challenging things about infertility is that ‘infertility’ is a broad category,” she says. “This category includes all of the many diagnoses (reasons) that make it challenging for couples to get pregnant. As a result, treatments and interventions vary depending upon the diagnosis and/or cause.”
While one in eight couples trying to conceivewill experience infertility in some form, 30 percent of those cases are ones of secondary infertility,Good Morning Americareports.
“When I see patients in the office who are thinking aboutconceiving their second or third pregnancies, they often ask me if it will be ‘as easy’ or ‘as difficult’ as the last time they attempted to get pregnant,” Dr. Previte tells PEOPLE. “As we get older, our eggs age with us, and this makes getting pregnant harder.”
Mom hugging child.Getty
“Time makes a huge difference when you’re a woman,”Dr. Jaime Knopman, a board-certified reproductive endocrinologist at CCRM Fertility in N.Y.C., toldGMA. “And male age is not insignificant too. We recognize that sperm quality and quantity decrease with age as well, though not as severely as with females and eggs.”
Aside from age, other causes of secondary infertility,Mayo Clinicexplains, could be “impaired sperm production, function or delivery in men,” damaged Fallopian tube(s), ovulation abnormalities and uterine conditions such as scarring and endometriosis, as well as medication usage or weight change.
“There are interventionsthat can help improve pregnancyrates in some patients. For example, in patients who are overweight or obese, weight loss has been shown to improve their chances of getting pregnant significantly,” Dr. Previte explains to PEOPLE.
Many moms and moms-to-be have been searching for information surrounding secondary infertility this week afterDylan Dreyerannounced on theTodayshow Monday that shehas been struggling with the conditionand suffered a miscarriage while she and husbandBrian Ficherawere trying to give their sonCalvin Bradley, 2, a sibling.
Jenna Bush Hager and Dylan Dreyer.
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One apparent issue, Dreyer revealed, was that her uterus “was two-thirds scarred shut” as a result ofthe emergency cesarean sectionshe’d had with Calvin, which resulted in a surgery where the doctor removed the scar tissue. Then, she got pregnant immediately before the couple suffered the tragic loss.
Dreyer, 37, admitted she “didn’t know secondary infertility was a thing”until her experience, and thatthe couple are looking at in vitro fertilization for their next steps.
Co-hostJenna Bush Hagerannouncedher third child on the waythe same day, in another segment of Monday’s episode, and revealed she had “fertility issues” with her younger daughterPoppy Louise, 3½, before she and husbandHenry Hagerconceived theirlittle boy on the way.
Bush Hager, 37, also revealed she hadsuffered an ectopic pregnancybefore having her now-6-year-old daughterMargaret “Mila” Laura, calling the experience “very isolating” and remarking, “There is joy and there is pain.”
Silhouette of pregnant woman.
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Of Dreyer’s case, Dr. Previte, who has not treated Dreyer, tells PEOPLE, “If scar tissue in her uterus was the only identifiable challenge to her conceiving a pregnancy, then the studies show that successful break-up of this scar tissue would generally enable her to have successful pregnancies in the future.”
She also emphasizes that both miscarriage and infertility aremuch more common than many would be led to believe, due to the fact that they aren’t openly discussed as often as they occur. In reality, “roughly one-third of pregnancies will end in miscarriage in the first 12 to 14 weeks of pregnancy,” Dr. Previte shares.
“Most Americans know little about it, and therefore incorrectly think that both are rare,” she adds. “Sadly, mostpatients and their partners who experience miscarriageand/or infertility report feeling isolated from friends, family and sometimes from each other as they go through these emotional and challenging times.”
source: people.com
