Infertility can wreck emotional havoc and stress on one’s life. However, the only way to overcome infertility is to become informed.
Infertility is diagnosed as the inability for a woman to get pregnancy after one year of trying or a woman who is able to become pregnant but suffers from repeated miscarriages.
While a male and his sperm may be the targets to blame, it is now known that females are just as likely to be the cause of a couple’s infertility.
As the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says, infertility is one-third a male problem, one-third a female problem, and one-third a combination of the two caused by unknown factors.
Although there are some unknown factors, there is a myriad of identifiable causes and one of the most common is age.
According the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “About one-third of couples in which the woman is over 35 have infertility problems.”
While conception can be a challenge at any age, once a woman reaches her 30s the chances of infertility increases rapidly each year.
For this reason, while women in their 20s are encouraged to seek medical intervention after one year of trying to conceive, women in their 30s should only wait six months.
However, if a woman at any age is experiencing irregular or missed periods, very painful menstruation cycles, pelvic inflammatory disease, or has had more than one miscarriage, these women should seek a doctor more immediately.
Another, more common cause of female infertility is an ovulation disorder like polycystic ovary syndrome, says the Mayo Clinic.
This includes any interference with the process of developing and releasing mature eggs for fertilization.
While other disorders are linked to sterility as well, another common cause is endometriosis.
Endometriosis is a female condition where tissue, similar to the type that lines the uterus, grows elsewhere, often on the ovaries and the fallopian tubes.
As it states on Endometriosis.org, a non-profit group dedicated to the collaboration of information on endometriosis, “It is estimated that 30-40 percent of women with endometriosis are infertile.”
Other risks factors linked to female sterility include stress, poor diet, intense athletic training, over or under weight, tobacco smoking, alcohol use, sexually transmitted diseases, and hormonal changes from previous health problems.
While infertility cannot always be corrected, there is an array of treatments used to successfully treat the condition.
With the use of medications, surgical procedures, artificial insemination, and assistive reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization, “About two-thirds of couples who are treated for infertility are able to have a baby,” says the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
With 2.1 million infertile married couples and 9.3 million women who have undergone infertility services, reports the Center for Disease Control’s National Center for Health Statistics, it is important for those experiencing problems conceiving to know they are not alone and there are treatment options available.
Similarly it is important to remember that “conception is a complicated process that depends on many factors . . . [and] when just one of these factors is impaired, infertility can result,” says the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.