There are five more of them.

1. After an embryo transfer you must lie at home and not move anywhere

Nonsense. My patients normally get up and go straight home once the transfer is done, and I tell them firmly not to lie at home keeping watch over the bathroom — and the results come back to me one after another. Lying about at home with nothing to do: isn't that stressful, my dear?

2. Infertility always comes from the woman

Nonsense again. In general the causes we find are split half and half between the two of you. Do not put pressure on yourself, do not blame yourself. Take it that you made your merit (or your karma) together as a pair, so help one another along. It is not my fault and it is not your fault. Help one another along, and you will get there.

3. A man's age has nothing to do with infertility

Nonsense once again. Rising age in a man makes conceiving harder just the same. It is only that in men age begins to tell a full 10 years later than in women — that is, from 40 onwards a man's chance of having a child starts to fall.

4. Freezing embryos makes their quality worse

Nonsense yet again. Whether an embryo's quality is good or not after freezing depends on the quality it had before it went in, and on the skill of the scientist looking after it. If the embryo was not a good one... it is like freezing rubbish: thaw it out and it is still rubbish, isn't it.

As a rule, with a standard embryo-freezing programme, at least 80% of the embryos must survive the thaw.

5. Being on the contraceptive pill for years causes infertility

Nonsense here too. The main action of most contraceptives is to hold ovulation back. They do not destroy the eggs you already have, not in the slightest.

The injectable contraceptive — after you stop it, it may take as long as 1 year before ovulation comes back to normal.
The oral contraceptive — more than 80% of those who use it have ovulation back from the very first month after stopping.

Don't say I didn't warn you

If you are planning to have a baby soon, then say no to the injectable contraceptive.

10 fertility beliefs: true or nonsense? Part 2