Male and female infertility treatment symptoms causes risk factors

Definition of infertility. A couple can say that they have an infertility problem after they try to conceive for an year without a result. Lots of women panic if they can conceive after only three month of trying. If the infertility problem can’t be resolved with treatment then it is also called sterility. A woman who can get pregnant but has repeated miscarriages is also considered infertile.

Pregnancy is not as simple as many would think. The process of getting pregnant consist in the following steps:

- the first step is the ovulation – the woman releases an egg from the ovary;

- then the egg goes through the fallopian tube to the uterus;

- a sperm from a man must fertilize the egg on the way;

- the last step is the implantation meaning that the egg which has been fertilized attaches to the uterus’s wall.

Infertility Causes

Female factor infertility represents the inability to conceive or carry a pregnancy to term. The main cause of women infertility is ovulation problems. The symptoms of this problem are irregular or non-existent menstrual cycles. Other causes of female fertility problems are polycystic ovarian syndrome,hostile cervical mucus,uterine and pelvic abnormalities and secondary infertility.

Male factor infertility represents the inability of a man to fertilize a woman’s egg. The causes of this fact are multiple:low sperm motility,varicocele,abnormal shape of the sperm, low sperm count (oligospermia). Low sperm motility means that the ability of the sperm to swim forward and to penetrate the egg is not efficace. So if the sperm’s movement is slow or not in a straight line they might not be able to rich into the cervical mucus. A normal motility is when two thirds of the sperm can invade the cervix and penetrate the egg. When a fertility test that shows that less than 8 milion sperm per milliliter of semen have a normal motility, means that the male patient has a low sperm motility.

Infertility Treatment

Female infertility treatment

Ovulation induction. This treatment is recommended for women with an irregular menstrual cycles. In order to induce ovulation the female patient receives infertility drugs like: gonadotropins and clomiphene citrate.

Artificial insemination is a treatment that consists in injecting the sperm into the woman’s reproductive tract so that fertilization could be easier.

Male infertility treatment

ART can be used whether ther is a female or a male infertility issue. But if the cause of infertility comes only from the male part there are several infertility treatments depending on the type of male infertility cause.

Sperm retrieval is a method use for man with low sperm count. There are several procedures of sperm retrieval :

Infertility Diagnosis

There are a few diagnostic methods that can help your doctor to identify the infertility causes. After the doctor performs the initial fertility tests: medical history and physical exam he can continue with some particular diagnostic investigations depending on what he considers the infertility cause might be. Possible infertility causes can be classified as it follows: the female pelvic cavity (endometriosis, fibroids, uterine problems), the female endocrine system, cervical interactions, male reproductive tract.

Fertility Tests

Fertility tests for women When a simply test like blood analysis doesn’t show a potential infertility cause other test are performed. Usually these test consist in an examination of the ovaries, uterus and the fallopian tubes. Bellow you can find useful information about the most known fertility test for women:

Fertility tests for men. If the first fertility tests are not conclusive your doctor may recommend you other tests. Semen analysis is done to check the sperm count, how many sperm can move normally, how many of them look normal, the number of semen’s white blood cells (normally they shouldn’t exist in the semen). More than one-third of infertile couples have a problem with the sperm or the semen.

Infertility Symptoms

Female symptoms. In some cases the infertility symptoms (physical symptoms) aren’t obvious. Sometimes infertile women don’t have physical symptoms and this isn’t a good thing because, even though they are uncomfortable, these symptoms help your doctor to determine the infertility cause and to establish a diagnosis faster. A woman should know her body very well and she should pay attention at it especially when she’s trying to have a baby because physical symptoms like pelvic pain, irregular periods, chronic acne, weight gain, the absence of menstruation are signs that should be told to her doctor. He could help her and her partner to accomplish their desire of having a baby. Here are the main symptoms that can lead to female infertility divided in 5 categories:

Male symptoms.Sometimes man can have physical symptoms that might indicate a diagnosis of infertility, but some men may not experience any symptom. Sometimes the gain or loss of a man’s weight can be the cause of infertility. It is advisable to consult your doctor at the first infertility symptoms because he could help you to resolve this problem. Here are some symptoms that can lead to male infertility. They are separated in two categories depending on the way they manifest.

Infertility Risk Factors

Some reports show that industrialization had a serious impact on the reproductive system, because the quality of the semen has diminished on men from United States and Europe over the last century. The toxins (physical, chemical) are considered potential factors of infertility. For example, high temperature (hyperthermia), electromagnetic fields or radiation are some of the physical factors that cause infertility in men. Among the chemical factors we can enumerate marijuana, cocaine, smoking or alcohol consumed excessively. Other factors that cause infertility are pesticides, exposure to heavy metal, industrial toxins and many more. Also, nutrition, stress or other lifestyle factors represent a risk factor for infertility.

Infertility Costs

People are bad informed concerning the cost of infertility treatments. For example they think that insurance doesn’t cover for infertility treatments, that the fertility specialists are expensive. The mass media tends to focus only on treatments like: in vitro fertilization, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, intracytoplasmic sperm injection, but there are other infertility treatments that are affordable and very effective. 30% of patients with infertility problems resort to in vitro fertilization treatment.