Infertility

Sometimes infertility is related to lifestyle or other health conditions. To help protect your fertility:

• Avoid using tobacco (cigarettes) and marijuana.
• Avoid exposure to harmful chemicals.
• Avoid excessive alcohol use.
• Limit sex partners and use condoms to reduce the risk of getting a sexually transmitted infection, Opens dialog (STI). Untreated STIs can damage the reproductive system and cause infertility. If you think you may have an STI, get treatment right away to reduce the risk of damage.
• Stay at a body weight that's close to the ideal for your height. It will reduce the chance of hormone imbalances.

If you have been diagnosed with cancer and hope to have children in the future, talk to your doctor about your options to help preserve fertility.

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Consult with your doctor if you:

• Want children but have been unable to become pregnant after 1 year of having sex without using birth control.
• Are older than 35 and have been unable to become pregnant after about 6 months of sex without using birth control.
• Have had two or more miscarriages, Opens dialog in a row.

Watchful waiting

Before seeking medical help with conception, you can increase your chances of becoming pregnant by practicing fertility awareness. This means charting your basal body temperature, Opens dialog and using home tests to let you know when you are likely to ovulate and be fertile.

Who to see

For your first fertility questions and testing, you can see:

For complete fertility testing, see an obstetrician/gynecologist, Opens dialog with special training and experience in fertility problems. This doctor may be called a reproductive endocrinologist, Opens dialog or fertility specialist. When looking for a specialist, ask what percentage of a doctor's practice is fertility treatment. Also ask if the doctor has training in reproductive endocrinology.

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To check for infertility, a doctor can:

• Do a physical exam.
• Ask questions about your past health. This may help your doctor find clues, such as a history of miscarriages or pelvic inflammatory disease, Opens dialog.
• Ask about your lifestyle habits. This includes how often you exercise and whether you drink alcohol or use drugs.
• Do tests that check semen, Opens dialog quality. Other tests can measure hormone, Opens dialog levels. Hormone imbalances can be a sign of ovulation problems or sperm problems that can be treated.
• Check the uterus, fallopian tubes, Opens dialog, and ovaries.

Before you have fertility tests, it may help to try fertility awareness, Opens dialog. Chart basal body temperature, Opens dialog and use home tests to learn when you are likely to ovulate and be fertile. Some people find that they have been missing the most fertile days when trying to conceive.

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A wide range of treatments may be used for infertility. Treatment depends on the cause of fertility problems. They can include:

• Problems with releasing an egg (ovulating). Treatment may include taking medicine, such as:
  • Clomiphene or letrozole. These stimulate your ovaries to release eggs.
  • Metformin. It's used to treat polycystic ovary syndrome, Opens dialog.
• Blocked or damaged tubes. If your fallopian tubes, Opens dialog are blocked, treatment may include tubal surgery.
• Endometriosis. If mild to moderate endometriosis, Opens dialog seems to be the main reason for your infertility, treatment may include laparoscopic surgery to remove endometrial tissue growth. This treatment may not be an option if you have severe endometriosis.
• Problems with sperm. Depending on the cause of the problem, treatment may include medicines, surgery, or insemination. If your doctor recommends insemination, the sperm are collected. Then an increased number of healthy sperm are placed inside the uterus.
• Unexplained infertility. If your doctor can't find out why you haven't been able to get pregnant, treatment may include:
  • Clomiphene.
  • Hormone injections.
  • Insemination.

Assisted reproductive technology

Many people who have problems getting pregnant consider assisted reproductive technology (ART). The most common type of ART is in vitro fertilization (IVF). During IVF, eggs are fertilized by sperm in a lab. The fertilized egg or eggs are then placed in the uterus through the cervix. Sometimes a technique called intracytoplasmic sperm injection, or ICSI (say "ICK-see"), is used during IVF. With ICSI, each egg is injected with one sperm in the lab. This can help fertilize the eggs.

Taking time to plan

Before you start treatment, talk with your doctor about treatment success rates and risks. And think about how far you want to go with treatment. For example, you may want to try medicine but don't want to have surgery. You may change your mind during your treatment. But it's good to start with an idea of what you want your limits to be.

Treatment for fertility can also cost a lot. And insurance often doesn't cover these expenses. If cost is a concern for you, ask how much the medicines and procedures cost. Then find out if your insurance covers any costs.

What affects the success of treatment?

Infertility treatment is a success if it results in the birth of a healthy baby. Many things affect your chances of conceiving and carrying a healthy pregnancy. These include:

Your age and how long you've been trying to conceive.

Your age (and the age of your egg supply) has a big impact on your chances of getting pregnant and having a healthy baby. From your mid-30s into your 40s, your chance of pregnancy with your own eggs decreases. And your risk of miscarriage increases.

The cause of infertility.

Ovulation problems (except those related to age) are the most successfully treated cause of infertility. But problems with the fallopian tubes can be harder to treat. The success of treating other causes depends on the type of problem and how severe it is.

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• Take a multivitamin with folic acid. This helps to prevent birth defects if you do become pregnant.
• Get regular exercise. But do not overdo it. Excessive exercise can cause eggs to release less often or sperm count to lower.
• Avoid excessive alcohol and caffeine use.
• Avoid smoking, marijuana, and illegal drugs.
• Stay at a healthy weight. This will increase your chances of getting pregnant. Being overweight or weighing too little can affect fertility.
• Talk to your doctor about all medicines you are taking or may take. This includes over-the-counter and prescribed medicines and herbal remedies. Some medicines interfere with pregnancy.
• Write down when your period starts and stops for a few months. Bring that information to your doctor. Your doctor can help you figure out when you ovulate and are most likely to get pregnant if you have sex. Or you may prefer to use a home ovulation test.
• If you know when you will ovulate, try to have sex once a day for the 4 days before ovulation and on the day of ovulation.
• If you don't know when you will ovulate, have sex 2 or 3 times each week.
• Don't use lubricants during sex. They may affect how well sperm can travel to meet an egg.

Protecting sperm count and quality

Here are some steps you can take to help lower the risk of fertility problems and increase the chances of pregnancy.

• If you use a vaginal lubricant during sex, select one that doesn't kill or damage sperm.
• Reduce your level of activity, if you exercise strenuously most days of the week.

  Very strenuous exercise may be a cause of lower sperm counts.

• Try to reduce your risk from lifestyle factors that affect fertility.

  Smoking, drinking alcohol, using marijuana or other drugs, being very overweight, and psychological stress are some of the lifestyle factors that can affect sperm and sperm production.

• Avoid having increased heat to the scrotum for long periods of time.

  Many things may increase scrotal temperatures, including regular use of hot tubs and saunas. High scrotal temperatures may decrease sperm count and quality.

• Try to reduce your exposure to environmental toxins at work or home.

  These include substances such as pesticides and heavy metals, including lead, cadmium, and mercury.

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When you have infertility, you may feel alone, confused, or scared. Talking with others about your feelings can help. Here are some places you may find support.

• Family and friends. They can help you cope by giving you comfort and encouragement.
• Counseling. Professional counseling can help you understand and deal with your infertility, and the emotions that may come with it.
• Your doctor. Find a doctor you trust and feel comfortable with. Be open and honest about your fears and concerns.
• Spiritual or religious groups. These groups can provide comfort. And they may be able to help you find counseling or other social support services.
• Support groups. In a support group, you can talk to others who have had similar experiences. Your doctor may be able to tell you about groups in your community. You may also be able to find support in online groups, forums, or discussion boards.

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Medicine or hormone treatments are often the first steps in fertility treatment. They're also used for in vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted reproductive technologies, Opens dialog. Medicines include:

• Clomiphene and letrozole. These stimulate the release of hormones that help with ovulation.
• Gonadotropins. These hormone shots stimulate the ovaries to produce mature eggs.
• Treatment for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). If you're not ovulating because of PCOS, your doctor might recommend a drug such as metformin along with clomiphene.
• Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). It increases production of hormones needed to produce eggs and sperm.
• Bromocriptine and cabergoline. These lower prolactin levels. High prolactin levels can prevent ovulation and sperm production.
• GnRH analogue. This is used for IVF.

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For some people with fertility problems, a structural problem can be treated with surgery. Treatment can increase the chances of natural conception.

When thinking about surgery, ask your doctor questions about the procedure. For example, how many times has the surgeon done the procedure? What are the chances of treatment success? How long will it take to recover?

Surgery may include:

• Fallopian tube procedures. This includes sterilization reversal.
• Laparoscopic surgery. This may help treat endometriosis.
• Myomectomy. This may help treat uterine fibroids.
• Laparoscopic ovarian drilling. This may be used when weight loss and medicine haven't stimulated ovulation in people who have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
• Varicocele repair. This is used to cut or bypass an enlarged vein in the scrotum.
• Vasectomy reversal. This reconnects the tubes (vas deferens) that were cut during a vasectomy.

If you have severely blocked fallopian tubes, your doctor may recommend that you skip surgery and have in vitro fertilization (IVF). You might also choose IVF first if you are older than 34 (for any type of blockage) or if you want to get pregnant as soon as possible, at any age. You may be able to get pregnant sooner if you choose IVF than if you have surgery.

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Complementary medicine, Opens dialog may help you stay well and cope with infertility. Complementary medicine for fertility includes:

• Acupuncture.
• Dietary changes.
• Relaxation techniques.
• Mind-body medicine.

Talk with your doctor about any complementary health practice that you would like to try or are already using. Your doctor can help you manage your health better if they know about all of your health practices.

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