Chances are you’re reading this blog post because you are either struggling to conceive yourself or are interested to find out more about infertility…
Either way- I’m happy you’re here and trying to educate yourself on one of the most painful, “silent” diseases that can affect couples. You read that right, infertility is a disease of the reproductive system the affects 1 in 6 couples according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention- just like Asthma, Diabetes and Crohn’s. Only difference is, infertility is usually suffered in silence by those that have it and isn’t usually understood or supported by others. Its brushed off or explained away by people who have never had to endure the pain it causes.
So you’re probably asking yourself, how do you know if you are struggling with infertility? Medically speaking, if you’ve been having regular sex with the same person unprotected for at least a year and haven’t conceived, chances are you’re struggling with infertility.
Although some couples do take longer than a year to conceive, the more you know about your reproductive system, genetics and background, the better advocate you can be for yourself. So whether you currently want to have kids or want to have kids down the road, seeing an OB to run preliminary tests can help prevent wasting time, money (take it from me) and even heartache down the road. (A future blog post will explain what this preliminary doctors appointment looks like & what types of tests they’ll run).
If you’ve been trying to conceive for a year already without any success, my personal advice would be to seek out a specialist and not waste any more time. This is not to scare you, but to give advice I wish I had been given as I wasted time & money I could have been using towards fertility treatment. Do your homework, do your research, read reviews and look at specialists’ stats on www.sart.org
Infertility looks different for everyone who goes through it and no two stories or treatment plans are the same. It can affect one person or both people who are trying to conceive, but here are the 3 types of infertility in a nutshell:
Approximately one-third of infertility is attributed to the female partner.
One-third attributed to the male partner.
One-third is caused by a combination of problems in both partners or, is unexplained.
Some of the more common forms of infertility in women (but not limited to this list):
PCOS
POI
Lack of or abnormal ovulation
Endometriosis
Some of the more common forms of infertility in men (but not limited to this list):
Varicocele
Low sperm count
Low sperm motility (speed)
Low sperm morphology (shape)
The two outlier types of infertility:
Unexplained (no explanation)
Secondary Infertility (not being able to conceive after a success pregnancy)
Writing these posts about infertility and IVF are bitter-sweet for me. On one hand, it brings up memories that are still etched on my heart after years of struggling to conceive. It also reminds me that there’s still SO many couples out there struggling in silence like we did. Theres really no way to spruce up or put a bow on a topic that can be so haunting & painful for couples. BUT! If these blog posts can help encourage, support or equip someone out there struggling with infertility, it’ll all be worth it.