Keeping Your Cervix Healthy

Your cervix is a gateway to everything sacred in the world of fertility – so it makes sense to prioritize cervical health.

That’s why we’re taking January – Cervical Health Awareness Month – to honor this important reproductive organ and give you tips for keeping it healthy.

5 Steps to Support a Healthy Cervix

Prior to trying to get pregnant, we bet you didn’t give your cervix a whole lot of thought. In fact, this small – but powerful – organ has so big responsibilities. Your cervix:

• Allows your menstrual blood to flow out of the uterus and into the vagina to exit the body
• Keeps the cervical gate closed when you’re not fertile – and more accommodating when you are fertile – to prevent infection but promote conception.
• Creates cervical mucous that changes all cycle long to prevent – or promote – pregnancy in sync with ovulation
• In a healthy pregnancy, the cervix remains tightly and firmly closed until you’re in labor.

The healthier your cervix is, the better it will be able to do the job it was created for. The following tips all support the health of your cervix.

1) Observe annual exams and schedule pap smears

Those annual OB/GYN exams and routine pap smears (typically every three years) are the best way for you and your doctor to keep abreast of any changes or abnormalities that wouldn’t be recognized otherwise.

Your pap smear, in particular, determines whether or not there are abnormal cervical cells that indicate cancer – something that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. Always share any symptoms or signs that something is amiss with your physician.

2) Follow your doctor’s recommendations

When and if your doctor does schedule a follow-up appointment, recommends a specific treatment, advises a colposcopy (an in-office procedure that allows your doctor to get a better look at your cervix).

The sad thing is that the large majority of these “missed appointments” occur because women are afraid they won’t be able to pay for them when, in fact, health insurance carriers cover all of the above.

3) Get the HPV vaccination

Typically, we recommend women between the ages of 17 and 26 get the HPV vaccine, although studies showing the vaccine’s effectiveness on older women may increase that age range in time. If you fall within that bracket, talk to your doctor about the vaccination, which prevents HPV – a leading precursor to cervical cancer.

Also, if you’ve had an STD or are sexually active with more than one partner – be honest with your OB/GYN or fertility specialist. This information will help to hone what they look for as they assess reproductive health – particularly in terms of scarring and tubal blockages.

Quit smoking

Not only is smoking bad for your lungs, and for your fertility – smokers have higher rates of cervical cancer and other cervical abnormalities.

Eat well and eliminate stress

Perhaps one of the most surprising facts is that women with abnormal pap smear results that aren’t cancer have often just been through a major life event, leading researchers to take a closer look at how our stress levels and lifestyles affect cervical health.

Incorporate stress management tools into your life and overhaul your diet wherever you can to eat foods that promote physical mental and emotional well-being.

Those of us here at the Reproductive Resource Center know cervical health and fertility health are related, so here’s to a healthy cervix!