If you would like to learn about the causes of infertility, go to What are the Causes of Infertility?Si vous souhaitez connaître les causes de l’infertilité, référez-vous au billet Quelles sont les causes de l’infertilité?
How can you increase your likelihood of conceiving? Like with all good lifestyle habits, you have to be in top shape. Eat well, exercise, have a healthy weight, sleep well, stop smoking, drink moderately, learn relaxation techniques to reduce stress and anxiety. These can all improve your chances.
Pregnancies occur more frequently in healthy bodies. Poor lifestyle habits are associated with infertility. Today, health and obesity problems are a significant issue. Couples can help their situation by adopting a healthy lifestyle to maximise their chances of conceiving. Exercising 30 minutes a day can have a considerable impact on your wellbeing and health. The good news is that today, a body that is healthy at the start yet has an identifiable infertility problem has a higher chance of treatments being successful. So you have everything to gain!
If you are known to have a hormonal problem (female or male), you have to solve it before determining if the difficulty in conceiving persists and moving on to more invasive treatments.
A visit to your family doctor or gynecologist is often the first thing you should do. You will have blood tests, your history and family history will be examined, etc. You also have to choose the right times for sexual relations based on your cycle to maximise success. Health professionals can help as needed. They can evaluate your cycle to advise you when the time is right. In addition to blood tests, you will likely have a full physical. For women, you will also have a gynecological exam with different samples being taken. For males, you will be screened for sexually transmitted diseases.
Women should not be surprised to also have a pelvic ultrasound, x-rays with contrast materials to see if there are any obstructions in your gynecological system. A uterine ultrasound (laparoscopy) may be done to detect fibromas, polyps or to check for endometriosis. But this test is much less prevalent today. Infertility treatments also treat endometriosis, reducing the risk of surgery.
Men will likely have their sperm analysed, especially if they have already had children. This is to verify if there are new issues. Then there may be genetic tests if there are suspected genetic causes.
Finally, it may be necessary to consult a specialist doctor to have minor or more major surgery on reproductive organs. The attending physician will try to solve the issue, for example, endometriosis blocking the fallopian tube.
Fertility
A woman’s fertility period is based on her ovulation. Ovulation always takes place 14 days before menstruation, but the length of the cycle and vary from one woman to another. An ovum lives 24-28 hours, and sperm 3-5 days.
How can you know if the woman is genuinely ovulating? Here are a couple of methods used to detect fertility periods:
- Basal temperature method: take your temperature in the morning on awakening and chart a graph;
- Ovulation testing devices that detect the hormone responsible for ovulation (LH). Ideally, with morning urine, as hormones have a higher concentration. Ovulation is expected to occur about 24-36 hours after an increase in the LH hormone. If the test is positive, you are fertile for 1-2 days;
- Fertility digital monitors have appeared on the market. This method allows you to determine your fertility period by detecting the variation in 2 different hormones. The urine test is done every day, and the results are registered in the device to create a precise portrait of your ovulation cycle and fertility.
At all times, you have to follow the manufacturer’s instructions for the different methods.
To learn more about when everything fails, go to What should you do if nothing works?
Afin de savoir quoi faire si les tentatives échouent consultez Quoi faire si cela ne donne aucun résultat?
