Fade away infertility

February 22, 2020

About 186 million individuals suffer from infertility worldwide, with male infertility being the leader. Yet infertility is more of an issue in women than in men. Women and men with infertility usually suffer from the feeling of not being worthy. This, in addition to social unacceptance, causes different psychosocial conditions mainly in a form of depression and anxiety. The social consequences of infertility included social exclusion, verbal and physical abuse as well as divorce. Assisted reproductive techniques can help couples overcome this struggle.

What is infertility?

According to WHO infertility is “a disease of the reproductive system defined by the failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse”. Regular unprotected sex means to have sex unprotected sex every 2 or 3 days. It is important to know that this definition can be changed based on each couples conditions.

How to fight infertility?

  • Be sure to get a medical diagnosis

Infertility is a clinical diagnosis which needs to be made by a doctor. So if you are having sex routinely but not getting pregnant, visit your doctor for more evaluations. After being diagnosed with infertility, based on the cause, you will have to choose between different options.

  • Consider different options

Depending on the cause of fertility you may have different choices. For example one of the causes of male infertility is varicocele. A simple surgery on enlarged veins of scrotum can relieve this condition. Sometimes a condition called PCOS is the cause of infertility in women due to hormonal irregularities. To fight PCOS, one can use special medications, lose weight, have a healthy diet and exercise.

Assisted reproductive techniques

Assisted reproductive techniques or ART, are the treatments that are used to help people get pregnant. ART is a wide spectrum of technologies, depending on the cause of infertility.

  • For women who do not ovulate or ovulate irregularly, ovulation induction is the choice. This technique is based on hormonal medication, to induce ovulation.

Intrauterine insemination

One of the other technologies that is used to treat infertility is intrauterine insemination. This technique is mostly used in cases when there is a mechanical barrier in getting pregnant. For example, if there is an ejaculation difficulty or erection disability, intrauterine insemination can put semen in uterus, so sperms can meet the ovum.

In-vitro fertilisation (IVF)

IVF is one of the most common technologies to help with conception and infertility. In cases where there is a problem with conceiving inside the uterine for example due to fallopian tube obstruction, IVF is one of the best choices. Women’s eggs and men’s sperms are collected and are put in a dish, so that the eggs can be fertilized in a laboratory setting. Then when the embryos are made, they will be put back in to the uterus to be implanted and grow. IVF is a costly way of getting pregnant, with various risks and side effects, which makes it hard for couples to decide on it. Listening to other couples stories who went through a successful IVF treatment or even unsuccessful one is always a useful way to help you pass the journey.

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)

This is another way of in lab fertilisation, in which a sperm is directly injected to each egg.

Surrogacy

Surrogacy is when another woman carries another couple’s baby through pregnancy. People may have different reasons to choose surrogacy. It may be due to multiple miscarriages, abnormal anatomy (eg missing uterus), failed IVFs or in the case of homosexual couples.

Whilst going through any of these paths to get pregnant, always remember that your health is above your child’s. Before every healthy child there is a healthy mother. So don’t forget your doctor visits, your folic acid, iron supplements and healthy lifestyle!

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