Fertility Problems and Possible Solutions

Making a baby isn’t always easy. Even if neither of you have fertility problems, you have only a 25% chance of falling pregnant each cycle. Many doctors will not consider a couple has a fertility problem until they have been trying for a baby for at least one year. But one in every seven couples needs some kind of medical help to conceive. Causes of infertility One cause of fertility problems for women is Endometriosis – a gynaecological condition where tissue, similar to the lining of the womb, grows in other areas of the body, most commonly on the ovaries, causing inflammation, scarring and adhesions. Another cause is PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) when a hormone imbalance prevents eggs from maturing in the ovaries. rnPelvic inflammatory disease (PID); fibroids, STDs, chronic illnesses like diabetes, cancer and thyroid disease can also interfere with fertility. As many as 25% of couples with fertility problems have a sperm allergy. It can occur in both men and women when an immune reaction makes sperm immobile and unable to swim towards the egg. Fertility can also be affected by being overweight or underweight, smoking (cannabis or cigarettes). Stress and too much alcohol can also seriously affect your fertility. The male to female infertility ratio is about 40/60. A man’s health and lifestyle are factors, but medical problems can be to blame, like a blockage in the sperm-carrying tubes – possibly caused by a sporting injury to the testicles, STDs or hernia repairs. Only one in ten of men with blocked tubes are born that way. Genetic disorders exist, but are rare. Chromosome irregularities can disrupt cell division and sperm production. Men can also have hormone irregularities. For example the over-production of the female hormone prolactin in men has an affect on fertility. Possible Treatments • Fertility drugs (clomid or gonadotrophins) to stimulate the ovaries to produce more mature eggs each month, increasing the odds of conceiving. Multiple pregnancies are a risk. • IVF (in vitro fertilisation). Fertility drugs stimulate egg production. These are removed and put into a Petri dish with a fresh sample of sperm. If healthy embryos develop one or two are returned to the woman’s uterus. Remaining embryos can be frozen for the future. If the man’s sperm is unviable a donor can be used. • GIFT (Gamete intrafallopian transfer) - like IVF but the eggs and the sperm are immediately transferred to the uterus to fertilise in the body, not the lab.
• Sperm extraction (removing sperm directly from the testicles) • ICSI (Intracytoplasmic sperm injection) - one sperm is injected directly into a harvested egg in the laboratory and transferred to the uterus. • Blastocyst transfer – like IVF the embryo is created in the lab, but is only transferred back after five or six days when it has had longer to develop. • Assisted hatching - a small hole is made in the membrane of the lining of the womb to help the implantation of the fertilised egg.