Fertility and reproductive health can be significant aspects of a woman’s wellbeing. Fertility refers to all aspects of your ability to have a baby, from conceiving to carrying the pregnancy through to full term. Many factors can impact your fertility; some can be addressed with lifestyle changes while others require specialist management with medications or surgery.
Infertility is defined as being unable to fall pregnant after 12 months trying to conceive – after this time, it is recommended to see your GP or gynaecologist for a fertility assessment. For women over the age of 35 years, this timeframe shortens to six months. Female fertility factors are implicated in around one third of couples experiencing infertility.
Age is the most significant factor in determining a woman’s reproductive potential. At birth, you already possess all the eggs your body will ever produce. As you get older, this supply of eggs slowly decreases due to your menstrual periods and natural cell loss. The quality of your eggs also deteriorates with age, decreasing your likelihood of conceiving and increasing your risk of pregnancy complications or genetic problems in the baby.
Fertility challenges in women can also be caused by:
The ideal time to consider your fertility and preconception health is before you start trying to conceive. Undertaking fertility testing at this stage can uncover potential problems and enable early treatment to optimise your fertility and likelihood of a successful pregnancy.
Dr Mayooran provides comprehensive fertility assessment for both women in the preconception stage and those who have been trying to conceive for some time without success. Your medical history, including previous pregnancy attempts, will guide his investigations. This may include:
If you are trying to conceive with a partner, it’s also important that your partner undertakes male fertility testing at the same time as male factors are present in at least 20-30% of couples facing infertility.
While some women may need specialist intervention to help them along the path to motherhood, other women may simply need to make some basic lifestyle adjustments to boost their natural fertility. Steps you can take to improve your chances of falling pregnant include:
The right approach to fertility treatment will depend on the underlying reasons for your fertility challenges, your age, the quality of your partner’s sperm, and your personal preferences.
Ovulation induction is a medical fertility treatment used to regulate the release of an egg from your ovary so that you can more accurately time intercourse for when you are most likely to conceive. Through hormone medications administered via tablets or injection, ovulation induction treatment supports your ovaries in maturing and releasing an egg.
Ovulation induction is usually suitable for women whose menstrual cycles are irregular, infrequent, or entirely absent, with no other fertility issues.
IVF involves retrieving your eggs and combining it with the sperm provided from your partner (or donor) in a laboratory dish, giving the sperm a head start in swimming to the egg to fertilise it. ICSI is a more involved approach to IVF, with a single sperm being injected directly into the egg for fertilisation. In both cases, the fertilised egg is incubated for several days in an embryology lab before the healthiest one is selected for transfer to your uterus to continue growing through pregnancy.
IVF with or without ICSI is useful in a wide variety of infertility cases, including both male and female factor infertility and unexplained infertility.
Women who prioritise a less invasive approach to assisted reproduction and have only mild fertility problems may be suitable for IUI. IUI treatment involves introducing your partner’s (or donor’s) processed sperm directly into your uterus via a long, thin tube passed through your cervix. From this point, sperm must swim to and fertilise the egg waiting in the fallopian tube.
IUI may be appropriate if you would like a more natural form of assisted reproduction and are having difficulties conceiving due to reasons such as unexplained infertility, mild endometriosis, mild male factor infertility, or problems with timing intercourse.
