Can You Get Pregnant After Menopause?

It depends.

Don’t you just hate it when you visit older relatives and they keep reminding you that your biological clock is ticking? Yes, aunty, we know, but there’s more to a woman’s life these days than having a soccer team of kids.

When you choose to have children is up to you, whether in your 20s, 30s or 40s, but past this time you will find that it can get more difficult, bordering on impossible.

This is because of menopause. When this happens the body goes through several changes and these changes can harm your fertility and your chances of getting pregnant.

Notice that we said can, and not will. This means that it is not impossible to get pregnant at this time, it is just less likely to happen and comes with a set of risks. Many women don’t know this and end up with unplanned pregnancies in their first few years of menopause.

This article will lay all false notions to rest and educate you on what to expect relating to menopause and pregnancy.

4 things you probably thought were true but aren’t

There are many myths and misconceptions surrounding pregnancy and menopause. Here are a few that you probably thought were true but really aren’t.

You have an infinite number of eggs

You don’t have an infinite number of eggs.

At birth, female babies are born with all the egg cells they will ever have in a lifetime. That means that you haven’t produced any new egg cells, they just matured over time.

Immature eggs are called oocytes   and can’t be fertilized for quite a few years. Instead, they remain in follicles in the ovaries until they become ova (mature eggs).

As a fetus , you had approximately six million eggs. This number falls to one or two million when you were born.

When you hit puberty, the brain released a special hormone   called GnRH, or gonadotropin-releasing hormones that told your pituitary gland “hey, she’s ready for follicle-stimulating hormones(FSH)”. When these hormones were released, your eggs were activated and your ovaries started to produce estrogen.

By this point, your egg count  fell to about 300,000 to 400,000. Even though you weren’t ovulating and having periods, about 11 000 died every month.
After puberty, you lose fewer eggs every month, about 1000 of them or 30-35 every day. By the time you’re 40, you’d have only about  3% of your egg supply left. Certain factors such as smoking and overexercising can even decrease your egg count.

As you age your egg quality declines. This means that every time you ovulate and your eggs divide, you’re more prone to errors in the division and your chances of getting pregnant decrease.

When you hit menopause you’re basically out of eggs and the eggs that remain may not be the strongest. If you were born with a large number of eggs, closer to two million than one, then your chances of conceiving past 40 are higher than if you were born with closer to one million eggs.

Having symptoms of menopause means you are menopausal

While there are some [symptoms] of menopause that are almost synonymous with menopause, having these symptoms doesn’t mean that you are menopausal.

These symptoms  include:

HOT FLASHES

Many women would agree that hot flashes are the most annoying symptom of menopause. When you have a hot flash your body feels much warmer than usual, especially around your neck and face. You can become sweaty and red and might feel a chill immediately after your hot flash (called a cold flash).

These are most common during the perimenopause years and you’ll find that they gradually decrease in intensity after a few years.
Having hot flashes doesn’t mean you are menopausal though. Hot flashes can happen when due to thyroid problems, tumors, stress and certain medications.

VAGINAL ISSUES

Menopause causes your vagina to dry out. This can make sex uncomfortable and leaves you at a higher risk of getting an infection.

Vaginal dryness  is a symptom of menopause but it is also a side effect of many medications and even birth control. Vaginal dryness can also be caused by douching, smoking and stress.

IRREGULAR PERIODS

As you approach menopause you may find that you skip a period for a month or two and when it does happen it is lighter or spotty. Alternatively, your periods can become heavier and last longer than usual.

Having irregular periods  is a symptom of menopause but it isn’t unique to it. Certain birth control methods such as the injection and IUD can make your period stop altogether. Not having a period can be a result of radiation treatments for several conditions and you’ll find that they return a few months after treatment is over.

LOW SEX DRIVE

Not all women experience a low sex drive  because of menopause but if you do, menopause isn’t the only cause. Weight gain, stress, depression and certain conditions such as fibroids and endometriosis can decrease sex drive.

SLEEP DISTURBANCE

During menopause, you may experience trouble falling or staying asleep. This happens because of low estrogen and progesterone levels and the side effects that come with that.

But menopause isn’t the only reason you have sleep disturbances. You can have sleeping problems if you are stressed, if you have a poor diet, if you look at bright screens (such as your TV, phone, laptop or tablet) before bed, or something as simple as taking naps during the day.

MEMORY PROBLEMS

Another symptom you might experience is forgetfulness and difficulties concentrating. You might take a much longer time to recall certain details and focusing.

This symptom of menopause isn’t directly linked to estrogen levels and can be caused by many factors, primarily stress, depression and lack of sleep.

URINARY ISSUES

Low estrogen levels will weaken your urethra and may make it harder for you to hold your urine for long. You may also find that you need to use the bathroom more often. Developing a urinary tract infection is not uncommon.

Urinary issues may also be caused by drinking lots of fluids daily, nerve damage, stress, and age.

MOOD SWINGS

The hormonal fluctuations you experience during menopause can cause you to go through a rollercoaster of emotions. One minute you are happy, the next minute you can become snappy or irritable. You may even experience new or worsening anxiety and depression.

Mood swings are not only a result of menopause and can be caused by lack of sleep, stress, changes in your family or relationship or poor diet.

HOW TO BE SURE

The only way to be sure you are menopausal is by going to see your doctor .

Your doctor will ask you some questions regarding your symptoms and medical history and can usually tell you right there and then if you are experiencing menopause.

He may have you do a blood test to check your FSH and estrogen levels to rule out other conditions. During menopause, FSH levels rise and estrogen levels fall.

Your blood may also be tested for thyroid-stimulating hormones (TSH) and/or anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) which can help to determine when you will reach menopause if you haven’t already.

He may also take a swab to conduct a vaginal pH test. When you are fertile, your vagina has a pH of about 4.5. During menopause, that number rises to 6.

You don’t need condoms during menopause

As you may have already known, as you age you become less fertile. Menopause marks the end of natural fertility. Here, you will go a full 12 months without having a period and your estrogen levels are very low.

Many women find joy in knowing that they can ditch their birth control pills and condom because there’s a slim to none chance of becoming pregnant, but condoms don’t only protect against pregnancy.

During menopause, you are at a higher risk of contracting STDs because of your dry, fragile vaginal tissue. Not using protection with a new partner or multiple partners would be a risky and irresponsible move on your part.

You can’t get pregnant during or after menopause

Sure, menopause is defined as not having periods, etc etc, but that is actually a pretty general statement. It is still possible to get pregnant during menopause.

This can happen because menopause happens in three stages : perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause and can last for several years.

Perimenopause or the transition stage is when you start to experience the above symptoms at their worst stage. This stage can start up to 10 years before menopause and it is possible to get pregnant during this time.

This is because eggs are still being released, even if they aren’t the best of your batch. If a viable egg is fertilized then you can become pregnant.

Becoming pregnant doesn’t mean you have “won” since the chances of complications with pregnancy go up after 35. These include:

 

  • Miscarriages (where an embryo dies before the 20th week of pregnancy)
  • Ectopic pregnancy  (where the embryo attaches outside of the uterus)
  • Premature birth (where a baby is born more than three weeks before its due date)
  • Stillbirth (delivery of a baby that died after the 20th week of pregnancy)
  • Preeclampsia (high blood pressure causing organ damage or failure which affects the mother and baby)
  • Placenta previa (where the placenta lies low in the uterus, partially or fully covering the cervix, causing severe bleeding during delivery)
  • Placental abruption (where the placenta separates from the uterus before delivery)
  • Chromosomal abnormalities such as Downs syndrome
  • Cesarean delivery (C-section)

Menopause is where you have not had a period for 12 consecutive months and your ovaries have stopped releasing eggs. After this stage, you will experience postmenopause where your synonyms subside. It is impossible to get pregnant naturally at these stages.

 

Note the use of the word naturally. No eggs mean no babies, but if you can get eggs into your body then you can get pregnant. This is called In vitro fertilization   or IVF  for short.

This is a process in which eggs are fertilized with sperm outside of the body and are then implanted into the uterus which has been medically stimulated. These eggs can come from a donor, or yourself if you chose to freeze your eggs during your fertile years.

Other treatment options are in the works with the promise of helping women to conceive after menopause. Many of these treatments are in their infant stages and have not been approved for use on patients.

Summary

 

  • Egg quantity and quality determine fertility
  • Most symptoms of menopause are not unique to menopause
  • You have to visit a doctor to confirm that you are menopausal
  • You still need protection against STDs during menopause

 

  • You can get pregnant naturally during perimenopause but there are some risks.

 

  • You can’t get pregnant naturally during postmenopause but medication and technology can make it possible.

Leave a Reply