Infertility
Infertility can be a heart-breaking experience. Even now, as it is becoming more common for couples to deliberately choose not to start families, the assumption is that if you've gone to the effort of getting married, children are the next step. But it's not always possible.
As the average age of conception increases from the 20s, to the 30s and 40s, with smoking, or the increase in obesity, the percentage of people trying to use fertility treatments has increased by over 10% in the last few years.
Lifestyle changes, improving diet, exercise, reducing toxins and stress, and natural supplements may help.
After my first son I had a negative pap smear, resulting in a biopsy, which caused a blocked cervix. After a D&C, they found fibroids. Then I had ovarian cysts. I became pregnant soon after, but had spotting and a threatened miscarriage. Then my waters broke at 29 weeks, and a week later, along came my son, at 1.515kg. He was in intensive care for 5 weeks, until he stabilised and put on enough weight to come home. Still a skinny kid, he always feels like a miracle.
Fertility Specialists
Specialists in fertility resources include:
Fertility Treatments
These fertility treatments are currently available. More are still in experimental stage.
- IVF - In-vitro fertilisation
Stimulate the ovaries to produce more eggs. Extract the eggs and fertilised with sperm "in-vitro" (in a glass test tube), then placed back inside the woman's body.
- IUI - Intra-uterine insemination
Inserting sperm into the womb at ovulation, to increase chance of conception.
- ICSI - Intra cytoplasmic sperm injection
Inject a single sperm into a single egg, typically to treat male infertility.
- PGD - Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis
DNA screening of IVF-created embryos to determine genetically defective embryos.
- Therapeutic Drugs
A variety of drugs address problems in making and releasing and implantation in the womb.
- Surgery
Laparoscopies and keyhole surgery can treat endometriosis, polycystic ovaries