Military Moves
By Pablo J. Calzada, DO, MPH, FAAFP
Frequent uprooting or long-distance moves can bring stress that intrudes into a military couple’s family planning efforts. The distractions and disruptions of relocating across the country or around the globe repeatedly may trigger biological changes that interfere with starting or enlarging a family.
It’s natural to experience physical and emotional strains from a permanent change of station (PCS) that involves a new setting, different personnel, changed responsibilities and perhaps an unfamiliar culture or language. Each partner is affected, whether or not both are service members. Relocation stress often intensifies for a nonmilitary spouse who needs to find work, new friends and a fresh social network.
A cascade of concerns during months of adjustment may cause headaches, insomnia, reduced appetite, high blood pressure, moodiness and other changes. Military couples “often are emotionally consumed and physically exhausted by the logistics of moving,” says a 2003 social work journal report titled “Military Families Under Stress.”
Anxiety over financial or lifestyle changes can impede conception of a child – and not necessarily because it’s tough to get “in the mood.” During my medical and military careers, including four years as an active duty U.S. Navy physician, I’ve seen how easy it is to disrupt the delicate fertility equilibrium that depends on age, timing and many other factors.
Service members and spouses face the added disturbance of residential instability during the family-building years of their 20s and 30s. About one-third of U.S. men and women in uniform relocate annually, a 2002 report shows. And because of changes in the military and society, the ranks reflect dramatic increases in women, married enlistees and dual military couples.
Cycle is disrupted
Women under significant stress often have difficulty conceiving, research confirms. Extreme, prolonged mental strain affects a brain gland called the hypothalamus. It can produce too much prolactin, cortisol and other hormones that may delay monthly ovulation – the release of eggs necessary to conceive.
In men, severe stress may reduce sperm production and quality – also because of hormonal changes.
Beyond those direct biological effects, stress can cause people to smoke or drink alcohol – which are fertility-harming behaviors. It’s important to recognize that in health terms, “stress” also refers to excitement over positive changes -- such as a cross-country or international move that’s a welcome opportunity.
Whatever the spark, one result can be a puzzling, seemingly indefinite wait to become pregnant. That frustrating situation needn’t add more stress, however.
Conception Kit breakthrough
Military couples and others now have easy access to a government-cleared method of at-home assisted reproductive technology that’s effective, safe and private. The Conception Kit, an intimate way to overcome various fertility challenges, uses a proven method of helping sperm reach an egg. It’s also ideal for addressing stress-related changes in the ovulation cycle.
The innovative kit, made in the USA and available with a prescription from any doctor, includes two dozen ovulation predictors and conception timing wheels – vital tools for adjusting to cycles thrown off by stress.
The key component is the Conception Cap, a
flexible, thimble-shaped device that’s a new-generation update of the cervical cap used for decades. Partners gather semen with a semen collector during normal intercourse when ovulation has likely occurred and then place the semen-filled cap painlessly on the cervix, making it much easier for sperm to swim into the uterus and fertilize an egg. This compensates for a reduced sperm count or slowed movement from stress.
Women move around normally while the soft, light cap stays comfortably in place at the cervical opening before the user removes it after four to six hours via an attached loop. More than 40 percent of women using the cervical cap become pregnant, according to medical school studies in Philadelphia and Detroit. Unlike some costlier infertility treatments performed by a specialist in a clinical setting, this natural method doesn’t raise the chance of a multiple birth.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this year cleared the Conception Kit for sale with a prescription. The Conception Kit has a three-month boxed supply of silicone caps, non-latex semen collectors, moisturizer, instructions in English, Spanish and French, and other support materials. It’s the only product cleared for assisted insemination in a non-clinical setting – letting prospective parents just relax, act naturally and proceed normally.
I’m familiar with rewarding success stories from couples who helped nature along and are building a family while moving around to serve our country.
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Dr. Pablo J. Calzada, a former U.S. Navy physician and retired Commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve, is Assistant Dean for Clinical Operationsat NovaSoutheasternUniversity’s College of Osteopathic Medicine in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Details about the Conception Kit are available at www.conceptionkit.com.