Infertility And How To Overcome It

Chapter 1: Am I Really Infertile? (Extract)

Life seems unfair sometimes doesn't it?  As you walk through the park you ask yourself why that couple playing with their son on the swing were able to have a child.  You question why that woman sitting on the park bench was able to conceive. 

You and your partner, on the other hand, have been trying to have a baby for more than a year now - and there is still no pitter patter of little feet in your house.

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Of course you're frustrated, confused and downright angry!  Who wouldn't be!  And of course you have questions - it seems like an infinite list of questions - about the whole process.

Doctor, why can't I get pregnant?  Is it me?  Is it my husband?  Is it temporary? Will I ever be able to have children?

For many women, getting married and having children is the center piece of a life well lived.  For many couples, the desire and joy of having a baby, raising them, watching them grow and sharing a natural, extended love, is something they have dreamed about for years.

But that dream for about 10 to 15 percent of all couples in the United States is just an empty promise.  These couples are infertile.  Try as they might, they are unable to conceive.

The medical community defines infertility as the inability to get pregnant after at least one year of repeated, frequent attempts.  In other words, if you and your partner are not using any type of birth control, have had sex for at least a  year and you still have no child, medically speaking you're considered infertile.

Is it a death sentence?  Does it mean that you'll never be able to have a child?  Even though you may think so right at this moment, actually nothing could be further from the truth.

Here's some good news for you!

In reality, you actually stand a good chance of conceiving a child in the future.  Many medical experts tell couples that very often what's preventing a conception is a condition or problem that is quite treatable.

Let's take a quick look at some of the normal conception statistics.  You may be shocked to see that even for healthy couples, the odds of getting pregnant in any given month are really stacked against them.

The success rate of achieving conception in any given month for a healthy couple hovers between 15 and 20 percent.  Surprised?  Many are.  You can see then that it may take several months - to say the least - to overcome these seemingly dismal odds.

Generally speaking, about 70 percent of couples conceive after they've been trying for six months.  Eight-five percent of couples are successful at the end of one year or 12 months.

But now, here's the surprising part.  After two years of trying, nearly 95 percent of couple are successful and have gotten pregnant.  Two years!  So, in some ways, if you've only been trying to one year and have not conceived, it's not ... well, inconceivable that you can still have a baby.  In fact, the odds are very much in your favor.

I've presented more detailed statistics in a chart that maps out these statistics quite clearly.  Included in this table are not only the number of months a couple has been attempting to have a baby, followed by the percent who have not conceived during this time period. 

The table, though, also reveals the percent who have conceived.  And it also shows the percentage of couples who can expect to conceive within the next 12 months.

Even though the table can be found easily in Appendix I, I can't help but cite this one statistic for you.  At the end of five years of trying, statistics show that only 0.6 percent of couples have not gotten pregnant. 

That means 94 percent of them have.  The success rate per month is low at this point - a measly four percent. But, looking to the future, the proportion of those couples who can still look forward to conceiving in the following 12 months is still a rather healthy figure of 36 percent.

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The problem may be subfertility

Now, let's look at the definition of infertility again.  You can clearly see that after only a year of trying all hope is not really lost. Some medical experts, after viewing these conception statistics want to call the problem subfertility instead of infertility.

Barring any physical disorder on either the woman or man's side, conception is still a distinct possibility.  The problem lies more in the timing of the pregnancy than in the lack of it.  The event just isn't happening as quickly as you would like.

That's not to say that at the end of a year of trying you shouldn't visit your doctor. At this point it's wise.  At the very least, you can exclude the possibility of some insurmountable health problem preventing the event.

Your infertility may very well be due to one simple, single cause present either in your system or that of your partner.  Or, the fact that you can't conceive may be the result of several factors that when discovered and treated will allow you to enjoy all the delights of parenthood!

All of this becomes much clearer once you understand infertility better.

Symptoms of infertility

Of course!  It almost seems stupid to say it, now doesn't it?  But the main and overriding symptom of infertility is the inability to get pregnant.  But beyond that there are telltale signs that may indicate your infertility - whether you're a woman or a man.

For example, many infertile women have irregular menstrual periods.  This symptom alone would make it difficult to conceive.  Men who are infertile may exhibit signs indicating hormonal problem.  This condition could appear as a change in hair growth or even sexual function.

For most couples, the time to visit a doctor about this problem is after a year of struggling to have a baby.  There are several exceptions to this suggestion though.  Don't wait until a year has passed if you're a female older than 30 and have had no menstrual periods for six months. Visit your doctor as soon as you can.

Similarly, visit your physician before the completion of the year of trying to conceive if, as a woman, you've had a history of irregular or painful periods.  This would include pelvic pain, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), endometriosis, and even a history of repeated miscarriages.

Men should visit their doctor prior to that one year mark if they know they possess a low sperm count or have a history of testicular or prostate problems or sexual problems in general.

For any of these conditions, there's no need to wait for a year of failed attempts.  The sooner you enlist the aid of your physician, the sooner he can discover the root cause - and hopefully - send you on your way, one step closer to family bliss.

Doctor, what causes my infertility?

When people refer to the miracle of birth it really is more than just a phrase - it's a fact.  The human reproductive system is miraculously complex.  If one considers everything involved in getting pregnant, you're in awe that anyone of us was born at all.

A possible pregnancy starts anew every month when the pituitary gland in a woman's brain signals her ovaries to prepare an egg for ovulation.  This releases the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). Once the pituitary gland secretes these, thus stimulating the ovaries, a woman is fertile. 

Generally speaking, this occurs about midway through a woman's menstrual cycle.  If you have a 28-day cycle, this event happens at approximately day 14.

Once the hormones have prepared the ovaries, the woman's egg travels through her fallopian tube in anticipation of being fertilized.  The window of opportunity here is usually 24 hours. The odds of conceiving are higher when intercourse takes place one, even two days, before the actual ovulation occurs.

While the female is fertile, it's necessary for the sperm to unite with the egg in the fallopian tube.  The sperm, by the way, is capable of fertilization for up to 72 hours following its release. Obviously, the sperm need to be in the tube at the same time the egg is there.

But that's not all (and here's where Mother Nature gets real particular!), not only does there need to be a significant amount of sperm present to ensure conception, but the sperm needs to be just the right shape ... and it needs to move in the proper way. Those are the requirements on the man's part.

For the woman, she needs to have a healthy vagina and uterus in order for the sperm to travel to the egg!

It's only when all these criteria are met that the egg is fertilized.  .You would think that's the end of the story, but no, the process isn't quite complete, yet. This fertilized egg now must move into the uterus.  Here it attaches itself to the uterine lining.  And that's when the nine months of growth begin. Finally!

Whew! As you can see, both the sperm and the egg are working on rather a tight schedule here - a matter of hours really.  The miracle of birth is a rather appropriate description of the entire process.  Seen in this light, you have the inclination to look around you, thinking that any of us was able to show up in this world is pretty amazing!

The process goes awry

You can easily see how a small "malfunction" in any one of these steps can result in the failure of the egg to get fertilized.

It's customary when you think of infertility to automatically assume that the problem lies with the female reproductive system. But, you may be surprised to learn that the cause of infertility on average is equally found in females and males alike.

In about 40 percent of the cases, in fact, the failure to get pregnant lies with the man.  In another 40 to 50 percent, the problem is with the female reproductive system.  And surprisingly, for up to 20 percent of the couples, the problem involves both partners in some way.

What puts you at risk for infertility?

And yes, to answer that question that is undoubtedly on the tip of your tongue right now, there are certain risk factors, as the medical community likes to call them, that would make some individuals more susceptible to this condition than other individuals...

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