The impact of the drugs we take on our fertility may, for society, be the most important impact these drugs are having – greater than the risks of dependence, suicide, or violence. They almost certainly contribute to the falls in fertility rates now happening across the developed world. Perhaps not the sole cause, but we cannot solve our individual or societal fertility problems without taking the effects of our medicines into account.
Fertility clinics have lists of drugs that affect both men and women, but outside of fertility clinics it is difficult to find the information we need to help us solve our individual fertility problems. Beyond our individual problems, there needs to be greater discussion about the effects of our medicines on our national fertility issues.
Some medicines can impact on another person as much as us when we take them – drugs that cause homicide or sexual dysfunction for instance. When drugs affect fertility, they affect not just us and our partner, but can shape the entire country in which we live.
The regulators of medicines, and politicians concerned about our falling fertility rates, are aware that our treatments are impacting on national fertility but at present seem unwilling to let us know what we need to know in order for us to be effective political actors in countries in which we live and vote and are expected to contribute to social services. Informed consent has been an important cornerstone of medicine for 50 years. When it comes to sex and fertility and taking a medicine, we are now less informed than we were 50 years ago.
As a result, this Fertility Zone is a work in progress. We have tried to pull together drug problems that impair fertility. We have had to draw these from very different areas of medicine and don’t know if we have the right balance to inform you if you are on a drug that might be affecting you, or to help you engage with the big picture issues no-one is talking about. More than for any other zone, we need your feedback on things that are missing and things that aren’t working right. We also need your reports to RxISK on the effects of treatments on your fertility or the fertility of others you know.
For more background on these issues, see the following blog posts.
On this website:
- Uterine Roulette and Consent
- No Room at the Inn
- Medicine, Civilization and Cradles
- Sex, Fertility, France and Serotonin Timeline
- Disaster Sex Yes, No Sex Disaster
On davidhealy.org:
- Has Healthcare Gone Mad
- Pharmageddon and Fertility
- Pharmageddon and Our HealthCare Climate
- Liberty, Equality and Fertility
- TAIL Wags God – Technology and Morality
Fertility-related adverse event reports
Enter the name of a medication in the box below to see a list of fertility-related adverse events that have been reported to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
We have more tools to look up adverse event reports on our Drug Search page.
You might also want to enter the name of a drug or side effect in the website search box at the bottom of the page. This will search our website for any related content.
Other side effects
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Are you experiencing a drug side effect?
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