Infertility - Blocking The Path To Conception

Conceiving a child is one of the most natural processes we as humans ever experience. Most females enter their childbearing years in their mid-teens and remain capable of bearing children into their 40’s and men can continue to father children into extreme old age. Yet despite the overwhelming odds in favor of naturally conceiving, one out of every 5 or 6 couples will experience infertility.

The fertilization process is actually quite complex. Between the exit of sperm from the male body to the implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus, there are literally hundreds of hormonal, chemical and physical events which happen. The slightest variance in any of these can prevent normal fertilization from occurring. Everything from a reduced number of sperm, to muscle spasm or excess cervical mucus preventing penetration of an egg, to the inability of the fertilized egg to reach the uterus can cause the fertilization process to falter.

The good news is that even though the process remains complex, advances in medical science have both prevented infertility rates from rising and increased the ability to aid the fertilization process along, so the chances of successfully conceiving remain quite good for the average couple.

Usually, infertility will not be diagnosed until a couple has tried unsuccessfully to conceive for more than one year. At this point, your doctor can run a series of tests on both the male and female partners to determine the exact cause or causes of infertility. In women, infertility can be caused by structural or functional problems, most of which can be treated. One of the more common causes of female infertility is endometriosis, or the development of uterine cells outside of the uterus. These cells will build up, causing scar tissue throughout the reproductive system. This condition can be treated either surgically or medicinally.

In men, infertility is most often caused by low sperm count or low mobility level. Often, a varicocele, or tangle of veins surrounding the testicle, will develop, preventing the release of sperm. This condition can be surgically corrected, restoring fertility in nearly two thirds of affected men.

Once a diagnosis is made, your doctor can give you options for helping the conception process along. The optimum choice is to let the natural method work its course. Sometimes this will require careful monitoring of the woman’s ovulation and scheduling of “attempts”. If this doesn’t work, there are a myriad of options from IVF or in-vitro fertilization (where an egg is artificially inseminated and then implanted into the uterus), to sperm or egg donors to the use of a surrogate mother.

The ethical and legal issues involved in some of these methods have not quite caught up to the medical advances, so proceeding along this path does have its challenges but there are infertility counseling services available, so you don’t ever have to go it alone.