Worldwide a million number of couples suffer from Infertility. They fail to have a baby as parent. Many of them tried to conceive for a long time but still become unable to have a baby.This is known as Infertility as a general term.
Infertility Definition
As a medical term Infertility means inability to have a baby ie the female partner is unable to get pregnant despite frequent, unprotected sex for minimum of 1 upto 2 year.
Infertility is of two types. They are Primary and Secondary . Primary infertility means the couple is not able to conceive at all. No previous pregnancy they have. Secondary infertility is when someone has previously a pregnancy but is no longer able to conceive now.
Who is responsible for Infertility ?
It’s our very bad habit that we usually give the discredit for Infertility to the woman partner every time there is an event of Infertility in the couple. But the reality is there is almost equal contribution for this infertility from male partner as well as female partner.
Infertility can happen due to issues in any one of them or may be dute to Health issues in both partner.
It is seen many couple who in the initial days faced problems to have a baby, may eventually get pregnant in later years.
If still all measures fails couples can take the advantage of recent advancements in Medical Treatments. There is a lot of options for to conceive.
When to consult a doctor ?
For a Woman
- A woman of age 35 or more who have tried to conceive for last six months or longer but failed to conceive
- If her age is over 40
- If she have no periods or experienced irregular or very painful periods
- If she has a known fertility problems or any congenital anomalies in uterus or genital organs or fibroids
- She has endometriosis or a history of pelvic inflammatory disease
- She already had more than one miscarriage
- If she has undergone cancer treatment this may be either a chemotherapy or a radiation therapy
For a Man
- The man has s a family history or history in relatives with infertility problems
- The man has history of infertility with a partner in the past
- The man has undergone a hernia surgery in recent or previous years
- The man has history of any testicular, prostate related diseases or sexual transmitted disease
- No testicle in scrotum or testicle are smaller than the typical adult size, or swollen veins feeling like bag of worms also known as varicocele.
- Or he had a very low number of sperm or other problems with sperm or ejaculation
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How pregnancy happens ?
Ova and Sperm
The sperm is produced in the testicles. When the ejaculate comes out of the penis, semen helps transport the sperm toward the female tract. It reaches to ovum. Ovum is produced from follicles inside ovary.
Fertilization
The sperm meets with Ova in the fallopian tube and fertilization occurs to form a zygote.
Implantation & Pregnancy
The zygote transforms into some stages which eventually gets implanted inside uterus. Thus is forms an embryo and successful pregnancy occurs. Progesterone hormone helps in maintaining pregnancy.
How to increase chance of Pregnancy ?
- Avoid addiction, alcohol, tobacco and drugs abuse
Quit smoking - For woman maintaining a healthy weight, regular exercises and workout helps a loy
- Proper timely sexual intercourse ie-during the fertile preiod of menstrual cycle that is in and around the time of ovulation
Treatment of Infertility
Treatment of Infertility varies. First of all the strategy used is by giving advice to couple who want to conceive by having sexual intercourse more often around the time of ovulation during preiods.Treatments will depend on the underlying cause of infertility if this fails
Male
For males if Erectile Dysfunction is there it is treated with proper medication. A semen analysis is done to analyze the quality, quantity, morphology and motility of Sperms
Female
For female treatment of underlying causes are important.If the cause is due to ovulation failure it can be treated by medication like Clomophene Citrate, Letrozole, Dopamine agonist as they inhibits hyperprolactenemia.
Blood test, Hysterosalpingography, Laparoscopy are some investigation modalities that are done to rule out female factors of infertility. Test for ovarian reserve, Pelvic Ultrasound, Thyroid Function Test etc also done.
Assisted Reproduction Technology
There are many methods for treating infertility in a couple by assisted reproductive technologyj.
IVF also known as in vitro fertilization
Intrauterine insemination (IUI)
Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Insertion (ICSI)
Surrogacy and Donation of Ova or Sperm
When conception does not occur, it lead to stress as well as depression. It might harm a relationship.Fortunately new technologies are becoming more and more available, fertility treatment is now becoming more accessible to people. And also the success rates and safety are improving all the time. For assisted reproductive technologies there can be a chance of an ectopic pregnancy or multiple pregnancies.
So infertility should be properly addressed, discussion with an experienced physician or gynecologist is essential.Its not a fault rather a treatable incidence as of now.
