4 Standard Infertility Treatments You Should Know About

If you're trying to get pregnant and struggling, it may be time to consider seeking some medical attention. A lot of people are afraid to consult with a fertility doctor because they fear bad news, but there are four distinct lines of treatment available that are helpful to millions of couples around the world every year. You should consider consulting clinics like Contemporary Health Care for Women about using these options to soon be able to conceive.

Fertility Drugs

Prescription drugs are usually the first tool doctors use in cases of infertility. Fertility drugs are available for both men and women, and basically work by altering hormone levels in the bloodstream. In men, the drugs are used to boost sperm count while in women they are used to help stabilize ovulation cycles and increase the receptiveness of the uterine walls to implantation of an embryo.

The drugs do have some side effects, like moodiness in men and weight gain in women, but they are the least invasive option available to couples looking to get pregnant.

Surgery

Sometimes the problem preventing pregnancy is a very simple blockage somewhere in the woman's reproductive system. In these cases, a simple, low-risk surgery can often correct the problem completely without any additional treatment.

For example, vaginal cysts can sometimes block sperm from reaching and fertilizing the egg. Removing the cyst usually solves the problem. Alternatively, some women have slight malformations in their fallopian tubes that prevent their eggs from descending. The surgery to correct this deformation is minor and almost always effective.

Artificial Insemination

Artificial insemination is has been used in agriculture for thousands of years to increase the chance of pregnancy, and it works just as well in humans as it does in animals. The idea of AI is to take a highly concentrated dose of the man's sperm and inject it into the woman's uterus at the optimal time in the ovulation cycle. Artificial insemination basically takes the natural process of conception and rigs the deck a bit to improve the odds of success.

In Vitro Fertilization

In vitro fertilization, or IVF, is the last line of treatment for infertility difficulties. The premise behind IVF is that doctors can jumpstart the reproductive process by creating an embryo in the lab and then implanting it into a woman's uterine wall. Doctors usually implant more than one embryo at a time because several are likely to lose their grip, but occasionally all the embryos successfully implant and IVF results in multiple pregnancies and multiple births. 

If you're trying to get pregnant, don't delay any further. Get advice from a fertility expert today, and find out what you can do to have the baby you're dreaming of.

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