Causes of Infertility

Being pregnant is a dream come true for many women and yet it is only a dream for some women.

Infertility..... has led many women to depression.

Infertility in women and men has been increasing over the recent years. Infertile couples all over the world are longing to become pregnant and hence, are going through a long struggle to get the babies that they really want so much. They are willing to spend hundreds of dollars in any medicine or medical service available to them. At times, they even ignore the side effects a medicine or a treatment can cause them and put their lives in danger.

What causes infertility?

Many a times, we fail to acknowledge the root cause to a problem and go on doing things which have no effect or solution to the problem. So let's look at the root causes and analyze what can be done based on the root cause.

Stress is a common culprit who causes the body to be stiff and not in a relaxed mode. Most of the time, men and women are working so hard to put bread on the table that they forgot to enjoy some intimacy moments in their lives. Financial burden causes the biggest stress. When a woman is stressful, her body will produce more acid which in return will kill the sperm entering her body. When the woman is more relaxed and is enjoying sex, her body will lubricate and produce an alkaline environment. This will help the sperm to swim to the egg and will protect the sperm. So reducing stress will be great while you are trying to conceive.

Being Overweight is a major root cause of infertility. Overweight women as well as men have problems becoming pregnant. Weight plays an important role in your health. Thus, loosing some weight and reaching the ideal weight for your height, will definitely improve your chances of conceiving. But there are women who try to loose some weight but are not able to.... so what is their root cause?

Hormonal Disorder is another root cause of infertility. Some overweight people are only overweight for a while as they are affected by other illnesses that prevent their body from loosing the excess weight. It could be the side effects from the medicines that they are taking. For example, certain diabetic medicine can cause swelling for a while. These are just the side effects from taking the medicine and they are short term. So once you stop taking the medicine, start to do some exercises to get fit and in shape. That way you will be able to conceive soon. If this is not your case, then it could be other hormonal problems. For example, it can cause a cyst in the women's ovaries causing an imbalance in the hormones. This cyst is what we call a PCOS.

Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) , is quite common in infertile women. Being overweight, weight increasing over the years, lose of hair, unwanted hair growth, irregular menstrual cycles are just some obvious symptoms that can be concluded as a possible PCOS. Cysts are very micro small in size but they create a big mess in your menstrual cycle. Follicles containing eggs are released from your ovaries every month. Now these follicles grow in size. When mature enough and doesn't have a sperm interacting with it, becomes your period for the month. But when these follicles don't grow to the correct size and doesn't come down as your period, stays in your body and becomes a cyst. So that causes irregular menstrual cycles. This can be corrected with the proper hormonal medicines prescribed by the Obst/Gynae.

Absence of Mensus is seldom seen in women. There are women who tend to go without their periods for months and even years. If you are planning to conceive, it is high time you visit an infertility doctor and get some advice. The doctor will put you on clomid and perhaps metformin, hormonal medications to get your body working right first. Then the doctor will follow up your situation and side effects and give you some choices of treatments depending on how your body react to the medicines.

Blocked tubes are another reason why the menstrual cycle is irregular because the eggs are not released properly and could not travel to the womb. Usually at the gynae's clinic, a dye is injected into the ovary area and is allowed to flow through the tubes; meanwhile x-rays are taken within intervals. If your tubes are blocked, then the dye will not flow through. Then a minor surgery and other treatments are available according to your situation. Likewise, it could also be thyroid problems causing the infertility.

Thyroid problems are related to hormonal disorder. Swelling around the neck area is the most common symptom. Thyroid can be detected from a blood test. If you are diagnosed as having thyroid, then taking the proper medications is very important to reduce the thyroid in your body. At times, if the thyroid is quite bad, an operation maybe necessary to remove the thyroid in your body.

Infertility is not just a women's fault. It can be a men's problem too.

Low sperm count is a common infertility in men. The higher the number of sperm count, the better is your chances of conceiving. Men must keep his body temperature cool to allow healthy and higher sperm count in their body. Thus, taking a hot tub shower before having sex will not help. It will kill the sperm quality in their body and produce very little good quality sperm for interaction with the egg. So things you can do to avoid low sperm count will be as follows. Don't carry your handphones in the pants pocket. Don't place the laptops on your laps while doing work in it. Don't take a hot shower or steam bath before having sex. Drink lots of milk. Do enough exercises and keep your body healthy and in shape. Being overweight also reduces the sperm count; especially having a big tummy doesn't help much in conceiving. These are just some tips.

When to seek the doctor for help?

In any case, if you have been trying for at least one year with regular sex and you are not able to conceive naturally, then it is high time you seek a doctor's advice. At the doctors', they will ask both husband and wife some questions regarding their medical history. Then they will run the necessary tests and treatments. If all these fail, then what next?

Don't loose hope. If you have tried all the possible treatments, including IVF test tube babies, then do consider surrogate mothers or even adopting a child.

Good Luck with your venture to getting the baby that you really want.