Female Infertility

What is Female Infertility?

Female infertility is a set of underlying medical issues that causes problems in conceiving naturally. It affects the ability to get pregnant naturally, even after trying to conceive for over a year with unprotected sex. Along with facing problems in conceiving, recurrent miscarriages is also a part of female infertility.

Female infertility is caused when there is some disturbance in the normal functions of the reproductive system like in Ovulation, Implantation and Hormones.

Everything You Need to Know About Female Infertility

Causes | Signs, and Symptoms | Treatment | Prevention

Causes of Female Infertility

American Society Reproductive Medicine (ASRM): According to the American society Fertility can be affected by smoking, alcoholism, age, sexually transmitted infections, and Being overweight or underweight.

There are various causes of female infertility that includes:

1. Ovulation Problems: Normal ovaries must produce and release an egg every month that is known as ovulation. Any problems in ovulation can affect fertility and cause complications. Ovulation problems may include Hypothalamic dysfunction, PCOS, premature ovarian failure, hyperprolactinemia, etc.
2. Fertility issue in a partner: To get pregnant, you need sperms that fertilize the eggs. If there’s any problem with your partner’s fertility, you will face problems in conceiving.
3. Blocked Fallopian Tubes: An egg and a sperm meet in the fallopian tubes to fuse. If you have blocked fallopian tubes, fertilization can’t take place. Pelvic inflammatory disease, previous surgeries, pelvic tuberculosis and endometriosis, can also cause tubal infertility.
4. Implantation Problems: Even if everything in the fertilization process goes right, the embryo needs to implant in the uterus walls. If the implantation does not occur in more than one pregnancy cycle, it also indicates infertility.
5. Infertility Conditions: Some health conditions like endometriosis, benign polyps or tumors, fibroids, uterine abnormalities, cervical stenosis can also cause problems in conceiving naturally.
6. Lifestyle Habits: Smoking and consuming alcohol can affect the ovarian reserve that means fewer good quality eggs in the ovaries. It means that pregnancy chances become even lower.

Sub Treatments For Female Infertility

Signs and Symptoms

The main symptom of female infertility is the inability in getting pregnant even after trying for one year. This is also to have an irregular ovulation cycle. There are maybe no other symptoms of female infertility. But it is also important to see a doctor if you have been trying to conceive for over a year but can’t get pregnant.

Your concerns may be more if your age is more than 35 years or you have a history of any surgery of ovary or endometriosis, pelvic tuberculosis, etc. In these cases, you can consult the doctor even after 6 months of trying and your doctor will provide you with consultation based on it.

On your visit to your doctor, he may perform various tests and investigations as a part of a workup for female infertility. These tests will rule out any particular infertility issue you have.

Female infertility treatment

Infertility treatment depends upon various things like your age, cause of infertility, and couple’s personal preferences. Some women’s fertility may be restored with one or two treatments, whereas other women might need more than 2-3 treatments to see results.

There are two main motives of infertility treatments: one is to help you restore your fertility with surgery or medicines, and the second one is to help you conceive with the help of ART procedures.

Female Infertility Treatment may include:

• Fertility Restoration by Medicines: Women that have issues with their irregular ovulation cycle may need drugs to regulate them. These drugs are natural hormones that regulate and stimulate ovulation in infertile women. Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) helps to trigger ovulation and restore fertility. There are various fertility drugs like Clomiphene citrate, Metformin, Letrozole, Gonadotropins, etc. Fertility drugs need monitoring once prescribed, hence, please consult your doctor properly before taking them.
• Surgical Fertility Restoration: We can restore women’s fertility with the help of some surgeries by correcting some infertility problems. Doctors use tubal surgeries to correct tubal abnormalities. With the help of laparoscopy surgery, the doctor may remove adhesions, create a new opening or dilating a tube to treat fallopian tube problems etc. With laparoscopy surgery, the doctor may correct or treat abnormal uterine shape, endometrial polyps and fibroids in the uterine cavity, pelvic or uterine adhesions, etc. Laparoscopy also helps in removing cysts of ovaries as endometriomas and dermoids etc, especially to restore a tubo-ovarian relationship.
• ART Procedures: Assisted Reproductive Techniques may help Infertile women to conceive. Advanced procedures like IVF, ICSI, IUI help a woman to get pregnant. The choice of an ART procedure depends upon the cause of infertility, the woman’s age, etc.

Female infertility prevention

If you plan to become pregnant in the coming future, you need to focus and plan your pregnancy. With the help of a few lifestyle changes, we can prevent fertility issues in women. These points are some lifestyle and diet changes that keep your fertility safe.

These key points are:

• Quit smoking: Smoking is bad for health, and in case you are planning your pregnancy, smoking can affect your fertility adversely.
• Maintain a Healthy Weight: Healthy weight is important to stay fit and active. Obesity can cause complications in conceiving.
• No alcohol: Just like smoking, alcohol consumption also results in decreased fertility. Its consumption also affects the development of the fetus.
• Reduce Tension: Any stress or tension is bad for your overall health. It has also shown the poor result of fertility treatments.

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