# Since there are older people here (more specifically women)... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 3, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-there-are-older-people-here-more-specifically-women/667920 "2013-09-03T20:47:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-there-are-older-people-here-more-specifically-women/667920/41 "2013-09-04T22:12:47Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > At 46, conception without artificial assistance is effectively impossible, it’s never happened to anyone. > Even with medical assistance, it’s quite rare for a woman of that age to get pregnant. > Was what I learned when I looked into it some years ago. I’m not a doctor, and not female. Sorry, that’s wrong. Spontaneous pregnancies (i.e. pregnant the usual way, without medical assistance) happen quite regularly after the age of 45. From: [Successful spontaneous pregnancies in women older than 45 years](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=15136098). The study involvedtwo hundred nine women who conceived spontaneously and had their most recent delivery after the age of 45 years. Uncommon but hardly _rare_. Much more common in grand multips (women who had 6 or more children). ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-there-are-older-people-here-more-specifically-women/667920/42 "2013-09-04T22:30:02Z")
P.S. I am a doctor (albeit a male one), and delivered one woman who was 46 at the time of birth. It was quite the surprise baby, and the woman’s 22 year old daughter wasn’t quite sure what to make of her newborn sister. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-there-are-older-people-here-more-specifically-women/667920/43 "2013-09-04T22:40:04Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Life finds a way. If you don’t want an “oopsie” late life baby, I’d suggest Essure or a tubal ligation. [**Cat Whisperer** , the kind of control you’re attempting is- it’s not possible. If there’s one thing the history of evolution has taught us it’s that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories and crashes through barriers. Painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, uh… well, there it is.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkWeMvrNiOM) ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-there-are-older-people-here-more-specifically-women/667920/44 "2013-09-04T22:44:14Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > At 46, conception without artificial assistance is effectively impossible, it’s never happened to anyone. > Even with medical assistance, it’s quite rare for a woman of that age to get pregnant. > Was what I learned when I looked into it some years ago. I’m not a doctor, and not female. Do you always spread playground-level misinformation on the internet, or just on life-changingly important topics? Until menopause is complete, pregnancy is \*always \*a possibility. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-there-are-older-people-here-more-specifically-women/667920/45 "2013-09-04T22:47:42Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Sorry, that’s wrong. \ It’s not only wrong, it’s so wrong that I think most of us thought he was making some kind of joke. > [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > [**Cat Whisperer** , the kind of control you’re attempting is- it’s not possible. If there’s one thing the history of evolution has taught us it’s that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories and crashes through barriers. Painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, uh… well, there it is.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkWeMvrNiOM) That’s what I’m talking about, baby! Well, not the amphibian females spontaneously changing to male, but otherwise, just like that! ---
**Author:** ![want2befree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3e96dc/32.png) [@want2befree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2befree)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-there-are-older-people-here-more-specifically-women/667920/46 "2013-09-04T23:11:28Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > [**Cat Whisperer** , the kind of control you’re attempting is- it’s not possible. If there’s one thing the history of evolution has taught us it’s that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories and crashes through barriers. Painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, uh… well, there it is.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkWeMvrNiOM) JG is so sexy there… ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-there-are-older-people-here-more-specifically-women/667920/47 "2013-09-05T01:18:40Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > . . . Hysterectomies are the best. In so many ways. (Not that anyone else has to agree.) ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-there-are-older-people-here-more-specifically-women/667920/48 "2013-09-05T01:21:20Z")
> [@want2befree](#): > > JG is so sexy there… ROWerrrrrr. 43 and still using the Pill here. Doc checks my lipids and blood pressure and I’ve never smoked, so she says I’m fine as long as all those stay normal and can stay on the Pill. Seems I’m starting to have perimenopausal symptoms, and staying on the Pill may also help keep things in check so I plan to keep with it. I dread, really, really dread the idea of hot flashes, so if the Pill helps with that shit at ALL, I’m definitely staying on it as long as possible. You are definitely still fertile as long as you are having periods and can’t consider yourself in menopause until no period or anything like spotting has happened for a full year. Even then, not sure I’d consider things “safe” for another while after that! ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-there-are-older-people-here-more-specifically-women/667920/49 "2013-09-05T01:41:52Z")
Vasectomy. I highly recommend it if you’re in a long term committed relationship. It’s so much easier for either of us v the alternatives. Ironically, now that I’m peri menopausal, my Gyno is advising that I go back on The Pill to manage the hot flashes and irregular and heavy periods. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-there-are-older-people-here-more-specifically-women/667920/50 "2013-09-13T22:12:11Z")
> [@Moonlitherial](#): > > After some pretty intense conversations with my doctor I had a tubal when I was 23. I had two children at the time and both were conceived while on some form (or two!) of birth control. I think you came the closest to my age - I had my tubal at 22, but I was unmarried & childless. I was lucky enough to find a doctor that believed me when I said I never want kids. We did have a problem with his usual hospital though; he had to do the procedure at a different one. In 38 years I’ve never regretted it. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-there-are-older-people-here-more-specifically-women/667920/51 "2013-09-13T22:46:27Z")
I did the birth control pill when we needed something reversible - it was only fair that my husband got the dental floss, jack daniels and rusty razorblade treatment when we were done. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-there-are-older-people-here-more-specifically-women/667920/52 "2013-09-13T23:46:42Z")
39 with a tubal. I wasn’t taking any more chances when I decided I was done. My Dr. assured me that nothing was getting through ever again. 😉 I was a copper IUD baby (I’m lucky there isn’t a spiral shaped birthmark in my butt cheek), and my family has a long history of blood clotting disorders, so getting something physically done was the best option. ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-there-are-older-people-here-more-specifically-women/667920/53 "2013-09-13T23:57:35Z")
I’ll be 50 this November. I have not bled in three years. My transition was pretty smooth. I started getting irregular periods, then they became very light and short in duration. At the end I got two or three that felt like I was bleeding to death and then, that was it!! El fin! ¡No más! I couldn’t be more thrilled about it. 😃 😛 ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-there-are-older-people-here-more-specifically-women/667920/54 "2013-09-14T00:47:45Z")
Sadly, abstinence seems to be working for me. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-there-are-older-people-here-more-specifically-women/667920/55 "2013-09-14T01:16:35Z")
> [@scootergirl](#): > > I’ll be 50 this November. I have not bled in three years. My transition was pretty smooth. I started getting irregular periods, then they became very light and short in duration. At the end I got two or three that felt like I was bleeding to death and then, that was it!! > El fin! ¡No más! I couldn’t be more thrilled about it. 😃 😛 Any recollection of how long that took? If I could think things will be over in another 4 years, I’ll take it. Symptoms started for me last summer. I’m really not looking forward to a decade of this, even without the hot flashes (thank Og! But if they start later on…), I’m having mood swing and irregularity issues even with the Pill. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-there-are-older-people-here-more-specifically-women/667920/56 "2013-09-14T02:26:32Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > Still on the pill at age 46. Never had kids, never wanted any, never even tried to get sterilized to avoid the inevitable “but you might change your mind!” discussion. Likewise, 45 in a couple of weeks. I’ve toyed with the idea of trying something else, but nothing else looks like less of a PITA (and surgery doesn’t thrill me). So path of least resistance it is. ---
**Author:** ![dada2fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dada2fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dada2fish)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-there-are-older-people-here-more-specifically-women/667920/57 "2013-09-14T03:39:03Z")
~raises hand~ Another woman here who had my one and only child at age 46. Conceived naturally after decades of infertility. I’m on my 3rd year of the Mirena IUD. Like others, it completely eliminated my period and migraines. I’ve got 2 years left on it. Not sure what I’ll do then. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-there-are-older-people-here-more-specifically-women/667920.md?page=2)