The Dangerous Way That Cocaine Affects Your Fertility

The fact that cocaine will negatively affect one's health shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Not only will it lower a female's fertility, it will also negatively affect a male's fertility. Over 600,000 people were reported to have tried cocaine back in 2012 and over 658,000 people sought help for cocaine addiction that same year. So, unfortunately, cocaine use has become a nationwide problem. Here are some more facts that you should familiarize yourself with before trying cocaine.

• Cocaine messes with a woman's long term fertility in multiple ways.
• Cocaine can cause hormone level changes in men which affect sperm movement, and thus cause infertility.
• Studies have shown that cocaine causes birth defects in children.

Getting pregnant will be harder if you are using cocaine

During the 1990s, Dr. Nancy Mello studied cocaine and its impact on fertility. According to her findings, cocaine can affect a woman's ovulation as well as the hormones associated with implantation. This, in turn, messes with her menstrual cycle. Fallopian tube abnormalities may also occur and her long term fertility will be negatively impacted as a result.

Men are affected too

Several studies have proven that a man's fertility can also be lowered from cocaine. According to a study conducted in 1990 by Yale University, men who used cocaine were found to have significantly lower sperm counts than those that didn't. Long-term use can also cause difficulty for men in maintaining testosterone levels, which then hurts the quality of sperm in men. Cocaine can also harm a man's ability to become erect as testicular blood flow becomes restricted as a result of its use. So, while the drug may cause short time effects that are perceived positively, its long term effects can be quite devastating for anyone considering starting a family.

Your children can also be affected

Not only will cocaine negatively impact the health of the parents', it can be quite harmful to the child as well. In fact, because the drug can pass from the sperm to the egg after it is fertilized, the mother can end up miscarrying. It has also been known to cause birth defects such as stunted growth and nervous system damage. The children will also face a higher risk of Sudden Infant Death and can go through withdrawal symptoms if their mother is hooked on it during her pregnancy. Couples who are tempted to try cocaine while attempting to conceive are discouraged from doing so as it is not only extremely addicting, but detrimental to everyone involved. However, it is still possible to quit if one ends up addicted to cocaine, and users are encouraged to seek help from the numerous resources available to them.