Treatment for Infertility
Monday, March 24th, 2008Approximately two thirds of all couples that seek help for infertility are able to have a baby at some point in time. In an estimated 80 to 85 percent of cases, infertility is treated by way of surgery or drugs, but other methods are available.
Infertility can be treated in a variety of ways. Conventional medicine, surgery, assisted reproductive technology (ART) or artificial inseminations are all valid and current methods for treating infertility. Sometimes one treatment will be tried and if it does not prove successful, another will be attempted. In other cases, more than one treatment is combined for optimum results.
A doctor decides on what treatment to use based on a number of different factors which include the results of diagnostic tests, the length of time which a couple has been attempting to conceive, the age of both partners, the overall general health of both partners, and whether or not the partners have a preference for having a boy or a girl baby.
The main causes of infertility in men are sexual problems or too few sperm. A sexual problem could be either impotency or premature ejaculation; in most instances, either medicine or behavioural therapy or both is used to treat these problems. If a lack of sperm is the problem (or if the sperm are not good swimmers), then surgery can be undertaken to correct this situation. In some cases, physicians can surgically remove sperm from the man’s reproductive tract to use for the purposes of impregnating a woman. In a few cases, low sperm count can be attributed to an infection. If this is the case then antibiotics can be prescribed to clear up the infection.
A variety of different treatments are often employed to treat women who are infertile. If ovulation occurs sporadically or not at all then it is essential for the woman to speak with her doctor about both the pros as well as the cons of taking medicine to improve the situation and get her ovulation back to normal. It is extremely important that a woman understands all of the risks and benefits as well as the side effects that could accompany these medications.
Surgery is sometimes a viable method of treating some instances of infertility in women, depending on where the problem lies. If a woman’s has a blockage in her fallopian tubes then surgery could be effective and surgery could also be effective if the problem lies with the ovaries or the uterus.
Another type of treatment for infertility is intrauterine insemination (IUI). Intrauterine insemination is more commonly known as artificial insemination. In IUI, a woman is injected with sperm that has been specially prepared in a laboratory. In some cases, before artificial insemination is undertaken the female patient is instructed to take medication that is meant to stimulate ovulation. IUI is most often a viable means of treating females who have problems with their amount of cervical mucus. In fewer cases, the cause can be what is known as “a mild male factor” causing the infertility. In some cases, infertility problems have no apparent cause.
Scott Meyers is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Fertility.
Tags: impotency, infertility, ovulation
