Signs and Symptoms of Infertility
Signs of infertility are really straightforward: Either a couple conceives or they don’t – and if they don’t for over a year – this is a sign of infertility.
And two reasons that aging reduces a woman’s fertility are diminished health of her eggs and a reduced ability of the ovaries to release them. They also have a higher risk for miscarriage and other health problems that affect their fertility.
In her twenties is when a woman’s fertility is highest with a steadily increasing difficulty in conceiving into her thirties – as her ovaries stop making eggs at the rate they once did. The risk of miscarriage generally doesn’t become an issue until she reaches at least thirty-six. Drinking and smoking increases the level of infertility in all women. Today, aging is the most common fertility problem as women are choosing to have their first child at 35 or older.
Infertility is categorized as Primary or Secondary: Primary is when a woman can’t get pregnant after a year of trying and Secondary Infertility is when she can’t after a year of trying – but she had already become pregnant in some year past.
Infertility runs at a fifty-fifty ratio between males and females, according to some experts. Others say that females have sixty percent of infertility issues. Statistically, ten percent of couples who are trying to conceive will have trouble, and four out of five will succeed within one year. A normal amount of time to conceive is up to two years.
Often, couples must each submit to thorough physical examinations to determine their fertility factors. There is a general misunderstanding by many couples that it’s only the female who could possibly have the fertility issue. Males, however, account for a large percentage, which is why it’s important that they get a medical exam as well.
The first tests normally done by a fertility specialist are for a woman’s levels of FSH and her LH. (These abbreviations stand for Follicle Stimulating Hormone and Luteinizing Hormone.) These tests are usually done on a woman’s first and her third visits to her doctor. It should be noted that the tests for these two hormones – Luteinzing Hormone and Follicle Stimulating Hormone – can be done on the male partner, as well. LH and FSH are both important for male fertility too.
There are many other fertility tests available to the fertility specialist. Some of these – for the female – are the cervical mucus test, hormone tests (other than LH or FSH), and ultrasound tests. The cervical mucus test is done less often now, but sometimes it’s done because the male does not want to be tested. For this test, two to eight hours after intercourse, the doctor will test the vaginal mucus for the presence and health of sperm.
Ultrasound testing can be done as part of your initial consultation with a reproductive endocrinologist. Ultrasound testing is done to get an overall picture of the health of all the female reproductive organs. Ultrasound imaging is also done to see if an egg has been released from ovulation.
Reproductive Endocrinologists can test for many other important hormones, other than just the luteinizing hormone and the follicle stimulating hormone. The primary ones are: androstenedione, DHEAS, total testosterone, progesterone, estradiol, prolactin, free T3, and free testosterone.
Infertility can make couples go to great lengths to fix any problems in order to conceive. And the treatments can get very expensive, especially considering that most treatments for infertility are not covered by any insurance. Hopefully, any problems can be remedied with prescription
Problems ovulating can be treated with the drug clomiphene. The next thing on the list of ever-increasing extreme treatments for infertility is hormone therapy. This is more extreme because besides bad side effects, it often results in multiple-baby pregnancies.
In Vitro Fertilization (a.k.a. “IVF”) is at the top of the most extreme measures that a couple can take in their effort to conceive. Expensive, emotionally and physically taxing, it requires daily hormone injections (can be painful), daily monitoring by a doctor, and regular blood testing. With acupuncture by fertility acupuncture specialists in combination with IVF, however, the success rate is very high indeed – one in three couples are parents. This can come with the ‘cost,’ however, of having to raise twins (one-third of couples who use IVF and get pregnant have twins).
Janet has been publishing helpful articles on infertility and pregnancy