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Pune IVF Centre is one of the best IVF centers in Pune with the largest team of Gynecologists and Embryologists in one place.
Infertility is when you are not able to get pregnant or conceive after one year or longer of unprotected sex.
Men and women both contribute to the challenge of infertility. It isn’t only a male or female problem.
It can happen that you had a baby once but later on you might face trouble during your next pregnancy.
Infertility has become common these days since couples wait to have children later in life. Also, late marriages have become common.
Present lifestyle and food habits also have become a major challenge.
Age affects fertility of men and women. It is one of the biggest factors to affect a woman’s ability to conceive. A woman’s fertility starts reducing after the age of 30 and even more after 35 years.
As women age risk of pregnancy complications rise. Male infertility also declines but is more subtle. Men’s age affects the partner’s chances of getting pregnancy. Male age over the age of 45 years increases the risk of miscarriage. The child can face mental health issues or developmental disorders.
Stress alone cannot cause infertility. But it can impact the ability of a woman to get pregnant. Women with history of depression can face the challenge of infertility.
Most forms of female infertility cannot be prevented. But some factors that impact fertility and chances to get pregnant can be controlled to prevent the condition.
Men can also improve their lifestyle to better their chances of fertility.
Most doctors recommend treatments to overcome infertility and treat issues that might stop a woman from getting pregnant. Treatments might help to conceive naturally.
Fallopian tubes connect to the ovaries and uterus and form the female reproductive organs. When a woman ovulates every month, the fallopian tubes carry the egg from ovary to uterus. Conception happens in the fallopian tube. When the egg fertilizes it goes through the fallopian tube to the uterus for implantation.
When the fallopian tube is blocked, the passage for the sperm to reach the egg and the path for the fertilized egg to reach the uterus also are blocked. This leads to infertility.
PCOS is a condition of high levels of male hormones in the body, which prevent the ovary from releasing an egg, which is called as an ovulation.
An imbalance in the production of hormones indicates irregular egg ovulation making it tough for the woman to get pregnant.
It refers to the reproductive potential of a woman’s two ovaries based on the number and quality of eggs. Diminished ovarian reserve is the loss of the reproductive potential in the ovaries as the count lowers or the quality of egg diminishes.
Endometrial tissue is the inner lining of the uterus where the embryo implants.
But when this endometrial tissue starts developing in places other than the lining of the uterus it is called as endometriosis. This endometriosis can affect fertility by affecting the egg quality and causing disturbances in Tubo-Ovarian relationship.
When menstrual cycle is shorter than 24 days, or more than 38 days long or from month after month the duration of the periods keeps varying it is called as irregular periods.
Fibroids, Polyps and Adenomyosis affect your ability to become pregnant in various ways.
In simple words it is just an over growth of normal uterine tissue which hinders fertility.
A thorough detailed sonography can help you find out the reasons for infertility.
In case of two or more miscarriages it’s referred as Frequent Miscarriage. After three repeated miscarriages a detailed physical examination and tests are advised.
This is more common among older women and occurs when the embryo gets an abnormal number of chromosomes while fertilizing. It is a genetic problem.
It is possible that you conceive naturally the first time but find it difficult to conceive again. This is referred as secondary infertility.
Maintain a healthy lifestyle. Avoid smoking as it lowers your chances of conceiving. If you are taking any medicines consult the doctor to find out if it will impact your fertility.
May it be over the counter medicines, supplements or herbal remedies, they might adversely impact your fertility. Also, avoid vaginal lubricants.
Have regular intercourse during the fertility part of your cycle.
Yes, both man and woman need to be tested as either or both of you could be infertile. Finding out the reason is vital to choose a treatment.
Doctors often suggest specialist if you:
The entire testing and diagnosing takes around a month since particular tests need to be done at a specific time as per the menstrual cycle.
Others are repeated over a few months. If you are above the age of 35 and if you are worried about the whole process, consult your doctor. Some patients feel they are wasting time as age keeps catching up.
As much as 10 to 15 percent of couples are not able to know the reason for infertility despite taking tests.
The diagnosis is mentioned as “unexplained infertility.” Though there exist reasons but they have don’t get revealed in the tests. Some more tests can clarify the situation. You can choose to take second opinion.
Couples are advised standard treatments like IVG or IUI.
When fertility becomes an issue, the couple has to understand what components about parenting are vital. Counselling can help to assess various priorities and options.
But if becoming a parent is the most vital factor for a couple, they can pursue adoption. While some couples may decide to mentor or nurture their nieces, nephews or friend’s children. Other might end up associating themselves with an organization working towards nurturing children.
A couple will have to take a medical appointment together. The couple will be interviewed on various topics.
A man will be asked about puberty developments, if ever he has fathered a child. He will be asked if he has had any infection or illness, medicines he has been taking, operations involving genitals.
If at all he has been consuming any recreational drugs, or smoking heavily. The kind of lifestyle will also be analyzed.
A woman’s lifestyle will also be queried. She will be asked about her reproductive history, including her menstrual cycle, abortions, previous pregnancies, miscarriages, genealogical issues or any infections. She will be queried about the medicines she is consuming.
Both have to share their information frankly to arrive at the right diagnosis.
It isn’t true that if you adopt a child you are likely to get pregnant. This is a myth that can be hurtful for couples who want to conceive.
You can opt for adoption whenever both wish to. Some couple choose to adopt instead of consulting a doctor for treatment.
While some wish to go in for treatment before choosing adoption. Other couples simultaneously pursue both the options.
Pursuing both can be a challenge. Some agencies will not accept a couple’s application who is undergoing medical treatment.
Also, it takes time, money and efforts to pursue both adoption and medical treatment at the same time. It is actually a fine balance to maintain. At time couples get disappointed when they choose to postpone adoption while the treatment fails. They realize that they have spent a lot of time on treatment.
Yes, doctors do speak about adoption with couples. But not all doctors have complete information about it. You and the doctor should discuss frankly about family building before you opt for medical treatment. At times mid way through the treatment the couple might think of adoption and they should be able to share this with the doctor.
Even though couple of infertility programs provide the same treatment the approach won’t be same for every couple. It depends oN various factors like:
The program might offer high tech treatments like IVF. But if you just started to work on a treatment then initial treatments should be better.
At times various types of specialists are involved. Ease of communication among specialists with regards to larger programs is vital. Couples might require more than one type of treatment.
Also, couples might have different approach towards taking risk. Some might not want to take excessive risk while some might be fine with it.You might not be able to start the treatment immediately. Some programs require waiting lists, if detailed laboratory test are required. Ask the doctor how long you will have to wait and the schedule of the treatment and if you need more tests before beginning the treatment.
You can know about various treatment experiences by discussing with friends, relatives and support group members. They can share their emotional ups and downs, physical impact, and effect on daily life. Couples can alert you about potential frustrations or the support you will need.
You will become aware if the schedules run on time and if the doctor answered all their queries. Was the staff cooperative in financial matters.? But you cannot decide on the basis of other’s experience, success or failure.
Emotional support is necessary to cope with infertility and the treatment too. It’s a crisis for most women and men. It is upsetting for the couple so emotional support is vital. The treatment can also cause stress on the couple.
At each step the couple goes through many emotions so some programs provide emotional support but vary in their services they offer. A counsellor can help to evaluate these emotions while starting the treatment and as it proceeds. Support group help is also offered by some doctors and relaxation techniques are also taught to ease stress.
You can independently seek the help and guidance from a counsellor.
Every couple has unique set of challenges so there are limitations in predicting how you will respond to the treatment. You will be given an estimate of the chances of you getting pregnant. This will be based on the diagnosis and result of the tests and prior experience.
Be cautious if you are given a guarantee or an unrealistic estimate. You need to ask on what basis an estimate or a prediction was made.
Yes, doctors can decide whom to accept as a patient based on their discretion. A doctor should use professional judgement if a treatment is possible or reasonable in your case.
The doctor can accept you as a patient or refuse to continue with the treatment. But doctors should have clarity about screening policies.
Doctors will ask you to undergo certain medical and psychological tests. You may have to take some tests to check for infection transmitted during pregnancy or tissue transplant like HIV or Hepatitis. Over a certain age women will be asked to take extra medical tests to check if they are able to withstand the physical demands of pregnancy.
Psychological tests are also necessary to gauge a woman’s stability and ability to take decisions in case of complex treatments.
Infertility treatment is similar to other types of treatment in many ways. But there are certain differences:
There are differences in opinions among doctors. Often infertility experts ask patients to seek second opinion. A second opinion might help to get prior medical intervention when you go for new approach or re-evaluating if you need to continue care.
When you go for a second opinion carry your records and test results.
A doctor is required to obtain your informed consent before treating you.
Before you agree to getting treated you should have the following information:
Some of these will be applicable to IVF and variations of this treatment.
Infertility treatment is evolving at a rapid pace. Doctors now are learning new procedures and older ways are altered. They are eager to implement these innovations. But a technique should not be offered without prior experience in performing it.
Be sure you have all these answers when you begin the new treatment.
It all depends on your decision to accept the treatment. If you decide not to go ahead there should be standard treatments available.
Some of the questions you need to ask about the reproductive surgery are as follows:
Why should I undergo surgery or choose this particular approach?
What will the recuperations? How much time will it take?
How soon can I start trying to conceive?
If I choose to undergo a surgery what are the chances of conceiving?
What is the success rate in the past two years?
At times a tubal ligation or vasectomy is possible to be reversed surgically. Though the success rate depends on the procedure followed and how long ago you had it. Also, other factors related to fertility in both of you will decide the success rate. Doctors might advise IVF instead of a surgical reversal to help you conceive.
Fertility drugs boost the ovulation process among women ovulating irregularly or not at all. Due to the drugs several eggs mature in a single menstrual cycle at ovulation. This helps to improve the challenges faced while conceiving during intercourse or along with other treatments like IVF. You need to understand the advantages and disadvantages. Discuss it with your doctor.
When you and your doctor work in agreement to use the drugs properly it does improve the chances of conceiving.
But you need to be monitored properly and injectable fertility drugs should be used under doctor’s care. Your responses need to be tracked by using blood tests and ultrasound.
Follow all instructions. The process needs to re-evaluated at regular time intervals. Fertility drugs and should not be used on regular basis.
Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) is a treatment for infertility wherein sperms are washed, processed and concentrated prior to placement within the uterus. IUI is a basic infertility treatment. IUI can be offered for unexplained infertility, ovulatory disorders like PCOS, mild to moderate male factor infertility, sexual dysfunction, and IUI with frozen semen sample.
Before you undergo IUI it is necessary to understand the benefits and risks. Ask your doctor:
In this process the ovaries are stimulated to produce multiple eggs with the help of medicines and daily hormonal injections. This helps to retrieve the mature eggs, later these eggs are allowed to fertilize with the sperms in the Petri dish in the IVF lab.
When they grow in 3 to 5 days, the fertilized egg (embryo) is placed in the uterus. IVF is used to treat certain hormonal conditions, and blocked fallopian tubes that lead to infertility.
Men with severe and untreatable oligospermia or low sperm count can be treated by using the IVF method.
Whether you need to undergo IVF is a major decision so you should assess medical, emotional and financial aspects. Speak with your doctor, infertility counsellor or a support group. Ask these questions to your doctor:
It all depends on the fertility challenges you face. Based on the challenge you can decide a lower tech treatment or no treatment at all.
Some other alternatives are:
GIFT- In gamete intrafallopian transfer
The first two steps are similar to IVF. But eggs are not fertilized in the laboratory. Instead a mixture of sperm and eggs get placed into the woman’s fallopian tube; either one or both.
In GIFT, fertilization and the embroys’ reach the uterus by travelling in natural environment of the fallopian tubes.
ZIFT – zygote intrafallopian transfer
This process combines elements of IVF and GIFT.
The first three are the same as IVF. But the embryos are not transferred into the uterus. They are placed in the woman’s fallopian tubes; one or both.
ART – assisted reproductive technologies
This is a general term that is utilized for all treatments involving the removal of a woman’s eggs and getting it together with a sperm outside the body. This includes IVF, ZIFT and GIFT.
To get IVF done many vital decisions need to be made:
It all depends on the response you have given to prior treatments and the variations of IVF that were suggested. Each suggestion adds to the cost and the risk as well.
Some of the choices are:
Frozen donor semen are accessible from semen bank from where they are purchased. Sometimes infertility programs offer their own semen bank. Semen banks have their donors.
It’s important to know how they select these donors and the kind of information available to you.
Donor eggs are collected and utilized immediately, unlike donor semen that is frozen. Young adult women are egg donors recruited and screened by the donor programs. Donors’ health conditions are studies and they undergo medical procedures.
Yes, semen also houses bacteria and viruses causing illnesses in the recipient. So semen donors should be regularly tested for infections. A man might not test positive for HIV until many months even after he is exposed to it. So, the donor semen has to be frozen for at least 180 days and not released to be donated until the donor tests negative. Ensure that you are fully confident about the quality of precautions taken by the semen bank for prevention of transmission of any infectious diseases.
It is possible to pass infection through a donor egg. Most treatment programs test egg donors for infections while testing semen donors.
You have to rely on egg donor’s current HIV test results or the embryos have to be frozen after the donor is restested.
When a donor has a genetic disease or has no health issue but carries a gene that is related to a genetic disease, it gets transmitted while donating the semen or egg.
Your donor bank should go through genetic histories and perform tests to check genetic issues. But many genetic abnormalities can’t be detected. Share with your doctor about any genetic issue that run in the family or common in your ethnic group. You can seek genetic counselling before proceeding.
Donors get complications from fertility drugs or the process of egg removal. In rare circumstances it’s a serious condition that needs hospitalization. Review all the information of your donor to ensure her treatment is acceptable.
In case your donor develops complications find out who holds the financial responsibility.
The kind of information available to you varies as per the programs. Some provide few details while matching, others provide biographical information and test results. You should have medical information to choose an appropriate donor. In case you carry a recessive genetic disease ensure that your donor is not a carrier.
That is entirely upto you. In the past children were not told about the donor but today things have changed. Parents and doctor quite often share this information.
This too is entirely your decision. If you plan to inform your child about the donor then only inform the relatives and friends.
Not quite possible. Another child who was conceived by using semen or egg from similar donor is just genetically half sibling of your son or daughter. If your child meets his or her genetic sibling will depend on the number of children born from the same donor.
The donor should not know about the parents if you are using the commercial semen bank. He will most likely not know if anyone got pregnant after his semen was used.
You and your child can get this information. At some banks this information is revealed. But if you wish to share this information with your child is your prerogative.
You and your child can get this information. At some banks this information is revealed. But if you wish to share this information with your child is your prerogative.
There are so may ways to start your fertility journey.
Please choose the path that best suits your stage, or give us a call for guidance.