peterhutch asked:


le may be infertile during their reproductive years. They may be unaware of this because they are not seeking to create a pregnancy. On any one occasion, the chance of pregnancy is just one percent. About one in seven couples in the United States are infertile. Age, lifestyle and physical problems can all contribute to infertility.

Infertility Cancer and its treatment may sometimes put female survivors at risk for infertility. Infertility means not being able to get pregnant or maintain a pregnancy, usually after you have been trying for over a year. There are many different causes for infertility in cancer survivors. While it’s best to discuss your risk for infertility before treatment begins, there are still options for cancer survivors who may experience infertility as a result of cancer or its treatment.

Infertility affects approximately 10% of the population. Since infertility strikes diverse groups-affecting people from all socioeconomic levels and cutting across all racial, ethnic and religious lines- chances are great that a friend, relative, neighbor or perhaps you are attempting to cope with the medical and emotional aspects of infertility.

If you’ve been trying to conceive for more than a year, there’s a chance that something may be interfering with your efforts to have a child. Infertility may be due to a single cause in either you or your partner, or a combination of factors that may prevent a pregnancy from occurring or continuing.

Infertility or possible infertility may affect you emotionally. If you want to have children, it’s perfectly understandable if thinking about being infertile makes you feel sad or upset. This document outlines the physical causes of infertility and options for survivors who may have difficulty having children. It does not explain how infertility can affect you emotionally, which is something you may want to discuss with a mental health professional.

Causes of infertility can be found in about 90% of infertility cases but, despite extensive tests, about 10% of couples will never know why they cannot conceive. Between 10 – 30% of cases of infertility have more than one cause. Male or female infertility each account for about 30 – 40% of cases. In men, ***** defects (their quality and quantity) are usually responsible. Female infertility is more complex.

Roughly one-third of infertility cases can be attributed to male factors and another one-third to factors that affect women. For the remaining infertile couples, infertility is caused by a combination of problems in both partners (about 13%) or is unexplained (about 10%). The most common causes of male infertility include azoospermia (no ***** cells are produced) and oligospermia (few ***** cells are produced). Sometimes, ***** cells are malformed or they die before they can reach the egg. In rare cases, male infertility is caused by a genetic disease such as cystic fibrosis or a chromosomal abnormality.

Infertility affects men and women equally. About one-third of the cases are due to a male factor, one-third to the female and the remaining to the combination of both partners. Causes of infertility include a wide range of physical as well as emotional factors. For a woman to be fertile, her reproductive organs must be healthy and functional. To conceive a child, the ovaries must release healthy eggs regularly and her reproductive tract must allow the eggs and ***** to pass into her fallopian tubes for a possible union.

Doris

Kayla asked:


I have canker sores and the doctor gave me this medicine. I was wondering can it cause infertility and should I take it if I want kids in the future?

Rodney

Jess asked:


My insurance is having some stupid problem until Oct. But my husband and I have tried to have a baby for 2months and don’t want to wait until Oct for taking a infertility test. Does anyone know how much does that cost to run a test? Tnx so much..

Clifford

Kasja asked:


My husband and i have been trying to conceive for a pretty long time now and i was wondering if they have any type of insurance for just infertlity..I live in New Mexico…
Any help would be greatly appreciated…

I would also like to know whether discounts would be better than regular health insurance see i have both insurance and this dicsounts thing for dental, health, infertility, vision( you get cards and all) though they don’t call themselves an insurance place???
Anybody have discount instead of insurance and is it better

Jack

laitoste asked:


A good friend of mine had poison ivy on his inner thighs and *********. He unfortunately treated the open sores and the entire area with straight bleach not diluted with water. He left the bleach on for about 15 minutes before washing it off. (as you can imagine it was very painful) The poison ivy did clear up, but is there a chance he might suffer from infertility?

Donald

J*Mo asked:


I’m 32 years old. I miscarried Dec 06 then in March 07 after trying for 3 years. I have not been pregnant since. How long did you wait before starting infertility?

Dana

Leokadia Angela asked:


It’s a common myth these days that infertility is simply a woman’s problem. Because the woman is responsible for pregnancy, people often think that conception is completely her project as well. However, nothing could be further from the truth, and if you are a couple experiencing problems while trying to get pregnant, you owe it to yourselves to understand the truth about male infertility. After all, to ignore this issue is to waste valuable time that could be spent correcting it and addressing it properly.

How common is male infertility?

When a couple is having problems conceiving, it’s believed that the problem is usually 50/50, in other words, it’s equally likely that the problem is male infertility as it is the woman’s infertility. About 1 in 10 couples that try to conceive have difficulty, so you can understand just how common this issue is with men.

What are the common causes of male infertility?

Most people have heard that low ***** count is one of the common reasons for male infertility, but there are others; additionally, there are reasons why a man’s ***** count may be low. For example, smoking causes much damage to the reproductive system in a man, and can interfere with his ***** production. Trauma to the ******* region or testicles, such as an injury or accident, can also interfere with his ***** productions.

Other common causes for male infertility include malformed *****. In order to fertilize an egg, a ***** must be healthy, otherwise it will simply die before it even reaches the egg in the first place. Another common cause is low ***** motility. This is also called ‘lazy’ or ’slow’ *****. From a human point of view, the distance that ***** need to travel in order to fertilize a woman’s egg is not that much ‘ only a matter of inches, really ‘ but to the microscopic sperm, it may as well be miles. And ***** are very fragile to begin with, so if they are not active and mWhen talking about reproductive issues, a couple does well to consider some male infertility treatments that they can easily try at home. This is because in most cases of reproductive issues, infertility can equally be caused by the man’s reproductive system as it can be the woman’s. It is a common misconception (no pun intended) that all reproductive issues are strictly the woman’s problem. In reality, most couples being treated for this by medical doctors are finding this it’s a 50/50 chance that the man may need treatment, or it’s a combination of problems with both the man and the woman. In any case, someone may immediately wonder about male infertility treatments that you can try at home, first, before looking into medical intervention, expensive drugs, invasive surgeries, and the like. The good news is that there are some such treatments that men can try that may very well increase his abilities to impregnate.

Diet May be the Best Male Infertility Treatment

In a new study cited in OBGYN News, a group of Harvard researchers found that 79% of infertile couples had a lower-than-average intake of foods high in antioxidants – like fruits and vegetables. In one study published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Medicine, doctors found that after one week of daily doses of 1,000 milligrams of vitamin C, ***** counts rose by some 140%. So, a multivitamin or a vitamin C supplement may be the first male infertility treatment that you would want to try.

More recently, a study published in the Archives of Andrology showed the antioxidants vitamin E and selenium improved the ability of ***** to swim – a skill necessary to reach the egg.

Exercise also improves muscle tone and good muscle tone helps every aspect of your system as well. Excessive body weight also puts undue pressure on the reproductive organs and doesn’t allow them to function optimally; obese persons often suffer from reproductive issues. Any male infertility treatment that you try at home should include regular physical activity and exercise.

Drugs and Smoking ‘ A Barrier to Any Effective Male Infertility Treatment

Some medications can interfere with a woman’s and a man’s reproductive systems. If you are taking any prescription drugs, be mindful of the side effects. Ask your doctor if you’re not sure. And this includes illegal drugs as well. Many narcotics interfere with the body’s fertility, as does tobacco. Excessive drinking (more than three alcoholic beverages per day) can too.

If you or your partner smoke, it’s time to quit. Smokers have been shown to have 17% less ***** count on average, not to mention that it disrupts the health of remaining *****. If you’re taking illicit drugs, it’s time to quit those as well. And if necessary, make note of your drinking levels and cut back if needed.

So there you have it ‘ some natural, healthy male infertility treatments that any man or couple can try at home, before undergoing invasive surgery or doling out thousands on tests and medicines.

Blocked ***** ducts are another common cause of male infertility. When a man ejaculates, only about 1% of that fluid is actually sperm; if his ***** ducts are blocked, this means there will be even less sperm, if any at all.

A high ***** count and healthy ***** themselves are of course crucial for a man to be able to impregnate a woman. The more healthy ***** he has, the greater the chance of at least one of those ***** reaching that egg.

Male infertility can be treated!

The good news is that many of these conditions can be reversed, or helped along by your doctor; even if it means a medical intervention, most men with low ***** counts or malformed ***** can still help to conceive a healthy child. So if you’re experiencing problems conceiving, don’t waste another minute assuming that it’s just the woman. See your doctor today!



Darryl

Dr. Lester De Silva asked:


Background

Definition of unexplained infertility: Infertility cases in which the standard infertility testing has not found a cause for the failure to conceive.

The definition of what “standard testing” consists of is not agreed upon by all experts. Unexplained infertility is also referred to as idiopathic infertility. Medical studies have reported that 0-26% of infertile couples have unexplained infertility. The most commonly reported figures are between 10-20% of infertile couples. However, those percentages are from studies in which all the women had laparoscopy surgery to investigate the no longer done as part of the routine fertility workup. Therefore, we are not finding all of the causes of infertility that we used to – leaving more couples in the unexplained category. The current rate of unexplained infertility is probably about 50% for couples with a female partner under age 35 and about 80% by age 40 (see discussion below about female age issues).

In reality, there are probably hundreds of “causes” of infertility. What this means is that there are a lot of things that have to happen perfectly in order to conceive and have a baby. As a simplified example:

The hormones that stimulate egg development must be made in the brain and pituitary and be released properly The egg must be of sufficient quality and be chromosomally normal The egg must develop to maturity The brain must release a sufficient surge of the LH hormone to stimulate final maturation of the egg The follicle must rupture and release the follicular fluid and the egg The tube must “pick up” the egg The ***** must survive their brief visit in the vagina, enter the cervical mucous, swim to the fallopian tube and “find” the egg The ***** must be able to get through the cumulus cells around the egg and bind the shell (zona pellucida) of the egg The ***** must undergo a biochemical reaction and release their DNA package (23 chromosomes) into the egg The fertilized egg must be able to divide   The early embryo must continue to divide and develop normally After 3 days, the tube should have transported the embryo into the uterus The embryo must continue to develop into a blastocyst The blastocyst must hatch from its shell The endometrial lining of the uterus must be properly developed and receptive  The hatched blastocyst must attach to the endometrial lining and “implant” Many more miracles in early embryonic and fetal development must then follow…

 A weak link anywhere in chain can this cause failure to conceive

The above list is very oversimplified, but the point is made. There are literally hundreds of molecular and biochemical events that have to function properly in order to have a pregnancy develop. The standard tests for infertility barely scratch the surface and are really only looking for very obvious factors, such as blocked tubes, abnormal ***** counts, ovulation regularity, etc. These tests do not address the molecular issues at all. That is still for the future…2

The subtle causes of sub fertility that have been proposed as underlying unexplained infertility are as follows3

Ovarian and endocrine factors

 Abnormal follicle growth

Luteinized unruptured follicles and ovarian cysts

Hyper secretion of LH

Hypersecretion of prolactin in the presence of ovulation

Reduced growth hormone secretion /sensitivity

Cytological abnormalities in oocytes

Genetic abnormalities in oocytes

Antibodies to zona pellucida

  Peritoneal factors

 Altered macrophage and immune activity

Mild endometriosis

Antichlaydial Ab

  Tubal factors

 Abnormal peristalsis or cilliac activity

Altered macrophage and immune activity

  Endometrial factors

 Abnormal secretion of endometrial proteins

Abnormal intergrin/adhesion molecules

Abnormal t cell and natural killer cell activity

Secretion of embryo toxic factors

Abnormalities in uterine perfusion

 Cervical factors

 Altered cervical mucous

Increased immunogenicity

General immune factors

Altered cell mediated immunity

  Male factors

 Reduction in motility, acrosome reaction, oocyte  binding ,and zona penetration

Ultrasructural abnormalities of head morphology

  Embryological factors

 Poor quality embryos

Reduced progression to blastocyst

Abnormal chromosomal complement-increased miscarriage rate

Unexplained infertility and female age

Women are born with certain number of eggs and when they attain menarche they start releasing these eggs cyclically. As the woman ages they run out of there eggs and quality of eggs will become poorer too. Therefore the likelihood of a diagnosis of unexplained infertility is increased substantially in women 35 and over – and greatly increased in women over 38. Since we do not have a “standard category” called egg factor infertility, these couples sometimes get lumped in to the “unexplained” infertility category. Most women over 40 who try to get pregnant will have difficulty, and fertility over age 44 is rare – even in women who are ovulating regularly every month. The point is that the older the female partner, the more likely that there is an egg related issue causing the fertility problem. Unfortunately, there is currently no specific test for “egg quality”.2

Unexplained infertility and Mild endometriosis

It is not quite clear whether mild endometriosis causes infertility and treating mild endometriosis improve the fertility rates. Some recent studies has shown surgical treatment for mild endometriosis increases the fertility. Some experts would also consider infertility associated with mild endometriosis to be in the “unexplained” category. This is because a cause and effect relationship has not been definitely established between mild endometriosis and fertility problems.

Chance for getting pregnant on own – without fertility treatment – for couples with unexplained infertility

The duration of infertility is important. The longer the infertility, the less likely the couple is to conceive on their own. After 5 years of infertility, a couple with unexplained infertility has less than a 10% chance for success on their own.

One study showed that for couples with unexplained infertility and over 3 years of trying on their own, the cumulative pregnancy rate after 24 months of attempting conception without any treatment was 28%. This number was found to be reduced by 10% for each year that the female is over 31.4

Treatment options for unexplained infertility

Ovarian stimulation and/or intrauterine insemination (IUI)

Intrauterine insemination vs. timed *********** – no medications involved

Studies have been shown that chances of pregnancy is increased with intrauterine insemination  compared to timed ***********.

Clomid and timed intercourse

Glazener et al .treated 100women,43% of whom were porous ,with either clomid 100mg from days 2-6 and placebo in a randomized cross over study. Overall there was a 50% increase in pregnancy rates after 3 cycles of treatment. Benefit was seen in after 3 years of infertility and more so in parous women.The same study showed that there were no conception in women over 35 years.5 This suggest that these women are not suitable candidates for clomid treatment and should be treated vigorously with assisted conception methods.

Clomid plus IUI

Treatment with Clomid tablets plus IUI improves fertility rates. For unexplained infertility, studies have shown that for women under 35, monthly success rates for Clomid plus insemination are about 10% per cycle. This pregnancy rate holds up for about 3 tries and the success rate is considerably lower after that.

Deaton et al carried out a randomized study between timed *********** or clomid with IUI, and showed that monthly fecundity was 9.5% in clomid plus IUI group compared to control group- a significant difference.6  In the same study it has been showed that there was no difference in number of follicles between conception and non conception cycles, suggesting that the insemination component have a more important influence than the Clomid does on outcome- but success rates are higher when both are used together.

Collating all studies together a recent systematic review, Hughes et al. reported that treatment with clomid is superior to no treatment or placebo (95% CI 1.5-4.65).7

Injectable gonadotropins plus intercourse

This is less extensively studied. However a study by Mascarenhas et al demonstrated that super ovulation with gonadotrophins significantly increased the pregnancy rates in unexplained infertility.8

Injectable gonadotropins (shots of FSH hormone) plus IUI

Several studies showed improved pregnancy success rates with injectable FSH plus IUI treatment as compared to no treatment. A meta-analysis by Hughes9 indicated that FSH plus IUI increases the pregnancy rate by 2.3 times than compared to FSH plus timed ***********.

It is most likely that super ovulation and IUI  both independently increase fertility potential, with relatively more fertility benefit coming from the IUI component.

Assisted reproductive technologies

IVF

In vitro fertilization (IVF) has high success in young women with normal ovarian reserve (normal FSH levels) and unexplained infertility. Most couples with unexplained infertility with a female partner under age of 35 could try about 3 artificial inseminations and if fail to pregnant  it is sensible to have IVF. On the other hand women over 35 years should have been offered IVF as a first line treatment.

GIFT

Gamate intrafallopian transfer goes one step further than superovulation/IUI as it involves the collection of oocytes and ***** into fallopian tubes. The main disadvantage compared to IUI is the need of laparoscopy and more complicated ovarian stimulation regimes. Compared with GIFT the main advantages of IVF are, that being able to study the fertilization, gives the opportunity to transfer best quality embryos to the uterus, and it also gives couple with surplus fertilized oocytes which can be cryo preserved for future use.

A large multi-center randomized study performed by European Society of Human Reproductive and Emryology to compare five treatments for unexplained fertility .The study concluded that there was no significant difference in outcome between them.(super ovulation 15% per cycle, super ovulation 27%,superovulation/IUI 27%,GIFT28%,IVF26%.10

 In summary, strategic management of unexplained infertility should focus on the efficacy of the method ,cost effectiveness and invasiveness of the procedures involved. Evidence suggest that there would be little or no benefit if treatment start in  a woman less than 35 years. Therefore it is worth considering superovulation and/or IUI for 3 cycles after 3 years of infertility, and if not successful go for IVF. However for older women (over 35) to consider IVF straight away.

References

1. Hull MGR, Glazener CMA, Kelly NJ et al.(1985), Population study of causes,

2. Unexplained Infertility

http ;//www.advancedfertility.com/unexplain.ntm( accessed 11/03/2008).

3. Adam, H.B. & Howard, S.J, (2003), Infertility In Practice, Churchill Livingstone, London.

4. Collings JA ( 1989), Natural course of unexplained infertility, Proceedings of the Serono symposium on unexplained infertility : basic and clinical aspects. Serono Aries Publishers, Rome.

5. Glazener CMA, Coulson C, Lambert PA et al, ( 1990), Clomiphene treatement for women with unexplained infertility : placebo-controlled study of hormonal responses and conception rates. Gynecol Endocrinol 4: 75-83

6. Deaton JL, Gibson M, Blackmer KM, Nakajima ST, Badger GJ & Brumsted JR, (1990), A randomized, controlled trial of clomiphene citrate and intrauterine insemination in couples with unexplained infertility or surgically corrected endometriosis. Fertil Steril 54 : 1083- 1088.

7. Hughes E, Collins J, & Vandekerchhove P (2002),Clomiphene citrate for unexplaine subfertility in women. Cochrane Database of systematic Reviews, Issue 1, 2002.

8. Mascarenhas L, Khastgir G, Davies WAR & Lee S, ( 1994),Superovulation and timed intercourse: can it provide a reasonable alternative  for those unable to afford assisted conception ? Hum Reprod  9: 67 -70

9. Hughes EG (1997), The effectiveness of ovulation induction and intrauterine insemination in the treatment of persistent infertility : a meta-analysis. Hum Reprod 12 : 1865-1872

10. Crosignani PG, Walters DE & Soliani A, (1991), ESHERE multicentre trail on the treatment of unexplained infertility : a preliminary report. Hum Reprod 6: 953-958.



Alice

cammievip1 asked:


I have infertility issue(s), one which is most obvious is that I do not ovulate. I did some lab work incl glucose and everything came back negative. Now I will do a ultrasound. I just want to know how long is this process going to be or a general idea from experiences. Thanks

Jose

Cindy Heller asked:


Infertility financial help is worth a look for couples who are facing infertility. Infertility treatments are costly and if you intended to go for the full course, there is a need to consider financial aid to fund the infertility treatments. You may be able to afford the cost of treatments or you might need financial assistance.

With infertility financial assistance, they help you to afford the costly treatments that you have chosen to get yourself conceived. There is a need to fully understand the various kinds of infertility financial assistance and the type of treatments it covered so as not to end up with the wrong type of coverage.

Majority will not be able to afford the type of treatment needed to get conceive but the choice is there for you to apply for a loan or through credit card if the approval for credit is given. Certain infertility clinic provide financial aid advisor to give you the support you require.

It is essential to do a bit of research on other infertility financial aid offers before coming to a decision as it is possible to find one good deal that suit you. You also might find financial aid companies through the facility you are using.

In vitro fertilization (IFV) refund program is one such infertility financial aid that merit discussing. With IFV refund program, you can afford a few IVF cycles to be carried out and it will refund you for the cycles that you found yourself unable to conceive within a certain time frame.

The couple has to be under a certain age and that come with a reduced fees to afford a certain number of cycles, minimum number of cycles that you have to go through before a refund, with the refund amount tag to seventy to hundred percent and only certain type of services are allowed. Therefore it is vital to choose the right type of infertility financial aid program.

There are always ways to get an unsecured loan to afford the infertility treatments and infertility drugs that you required. The cost of the drug can be upwards of thirty five percent of the whole cost and certain organization provide special loans that is designed to finance your IVF cycles.

With such infertility financial aid, there is a guarantee that if you cannot conceive after meeting the requirement, you can get a refund. Certain infertility procedures are covered under your health insurance policy. Irrespective of what you get for your infertility financial assistance, the ability to conceive is more important.



Besides infertility financial aid, there is infertility insurance to help you afford the cost of infertility treatments. Infertility insurance is godsend for couples who are unable to conceive and require going for infertility treatments but there are guidelines to meet before they are considered.

In vitro fertilization and intrauterine insemination are two of the infertility treatments that assist the couple to conceive but they are costly. If the treatment requires more than one treatment, it can run into a hefty amount. Coupled with it, there is still the cost of medication. Couples need to consider the treatment carefully before getting the type of infertility insurance that suit you.

Adoption could be more costly than infertility treatments and most insurance companies will provide some form of infertility insurance together with your regular insurance coverage to cover certain infertility treatments. It is essential to look into your insurance policy to determine the kind of coverage that is provided for infertility insurance. Certain states legislate that it is necessary for all health insurance to have infertility insurance.

Aside from infertility insurance, you can consider making use of your credit cards to pay for infertility treatments but the credit limits must be high. Financial aid at the infertility clinic can provide the information on the kind of infertility insurance you can get.

Doing some form of research can go a long way to get the right type of infertility insurance and your regular insurance policy might provide some form of infertility insurance coverage. To get the right information on infertility insurance, it is best to consult your infertility specialist. They are there to assist couples to choose the right infertility insurance coverage that suit you.



Tony