Infertility Treatments

Now that the cause of your childlessness has been established, it is time to discuss what are the treatments available. Depending on the results of the tests, you may be directed towards one particular treatment or may be offered a range of appropriate options. Unfortunately, in human fertility, no one treatment is guaranteed to succeed and each one is associated with a particular chance of pregnancy. Many other factors also may play a part in the success rates such as lifestyle, the woman’s age, smoking etc. and these will all be addressed. The most important thing to remember is that with persistence, the majority of couples will be rewarded with a child, or more! :)

 

There are multiple treatments available to help a couple become pregnant. It all depends on the cause, and most times, the test results will indicate the problem that needs treatment.

The simplest treatments relate to couples who have difficulty deciding when the most fertile time of the month is. This is especially true for women who have irregular menstrual cycles due to either early or late ovulation. Ovulation problems account for about a quarter of the problems in childless couples and these are often the easiest to resolve without needing expensive treatments. There are medications which can regulate the ovulation, for example Clomiphene. This type of treatment is called Ovarian Induction.

If ovarian induction doesn’t work after a couple of months, or if there are other problems such as weak sperm, it may be wise to move on to intrauterine insemination (IUI) as the next step. If all else fails, or if it a severe problem such as blocked or damaged fallopian tubes or an extremely low sperm count, In-vitro Fertilization (IVF) or Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) may be necessary. These last two treatments have very high success rates.

All of these treatments will be discussed further in upcoming posts.