Tests For Infertility – Go With Ultrasound First

Signs of infertility are really very simple: Either a couple conceives or they don’t – and if they don’t for over a year – this is a sign of infertility.

Some of the reasons for the reduced fertility in women as they age are a diminished ability for their ovaries to release eggs and the lower health level of those eggs. In addition, aging women become more likely with each passing year to have health issues that interfere with their fertility. There’s also a higher risk for miscarriage.

Of course, the years of highest fertility are in a woman’s twenties, followed by increasing difficulties conceiving in her mid-thirties. By her late thirties her ovaries aren’t making eggs like they used to and miscarriage risks become significant. Infertility is a common problem for women who drink or smoke very much. Today, age-related infertility is the number one reason for difficulty in conceiving for women as more women are choosing to put off having their first child until they are at least thirty-five.

Infertility is categorized as Primary or Secondary: Primary is when a woman can’t get pregnant after a year of trying and Secondary Infertility is when she can’t after a year of trying – but she had already become pregnant in some year past.

Infertility issues plague both men and women equally, according to some experts, while others say women comprise sixty percent. Statistics show that ten percent of actively trying couples have trouble conceiving, with four of five conceiving within a year. A “normal” amount of time to conceive is considered to be up to two years.

Often, couples must each submit to thorough physical examinations to determine their fertility factors. There is a general misunderstanding by many couples that it’s only the female who could possibly have the fertility issue. Males, however, account for a large percentage, which is why it’s important that they get a medical exam as well.

In order to get a base for comparison, the first tests normally done by a doctor are for the female’s levels of Luteinizing Hormone (LH) and Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH). The tests for these two hormones are normally done on a woman’s first visit to her specialist as well as her third. Since FSH and LH are both critical to male fertility (they are important to sperm health and production), these tests can be done on the male, at the discretion of the fertility specialist.

Some of the other tests routinely done (female) include ultrasound tests, a cervical mucus test, and additional hormone testing. A post-intercourse test that’s not done as much today, the cervical mucus test looks for active sperm from a sampling of the vaginal mucus. Two to eight hours following intercourse, the female is examined by the fertility specialist. Sometimes a bacterial test is done at the same time.

Ultrasounds are a good way to for the fertility specialist to examine the condition of the uterus, ovaries, and cervix without complicated and invasive examination techniques. Ultrasound can also be utilized to determine if ovulation has occurred.

The reproductive endocrinologist has many other hormone tests that he or she has available to them. The main ones are tests for prolactin, free T3, free testosterone, total testosterone, progesterone, estradiol, DHEAS, and androstenedione.

Treating infertility is a subject for an entire series of articles, but in a nutshell, infertility treatments run the gamut from simple drugs to surgery. Infertility treatments can get very expensive and time-consuming – and rarely covered by insurance, so it boils down to how bad a couple wants to conceive. Certain treatable infertility problems include Polycystic Ovary Syndrome or PCOS, which is treated with the drugs clomiphene and metformin together.

Problems ovulating can be treated with the drug clomiphene. The next thing on the list of ever-increasing extreme treatments for infertility is hormone therapy. This is more extreme because besides bad side effects, it often results in multiple-baby pregnancies.

In Vitro Fertilization (a.k.a. “IVF”) is at the top of the most extreme measures that a couple can take in their effort to conceive. Expensive, emotionally and physically taxing, it requires daily hormone injections (can be painful), daily monitoring by a doctor, and regular blood testing. With acupuncture by fertility acupuncture specialists in combination with IVF, however, the success rate is very high indeed – one in three couples are parents. This can come with the ‘cost,’ however, of having to raise twins (one-third of couples who use IVF and get pregnant have twins).

Janet has been publishing helpful articles on fertility and pregnancy for years. Discover more about the signs of infertility and ways to track fertility with innovative solutions such as the Clear blue Fertility Monitor and other helpful tips on the website.