Infertility Treatment:
What Are the Various Solutions?

Infertility is the inability to conceive after 12-15 months of trying. Infertility can affect both men and women, but it bears mentioning that it is NOT a disease. Rather, it is an indication that there is something wrong, physically and/or mentally, preventing conception. There are various infertility treatments available and besides the obvious widely medical procedures there are many alternative treatment methods available which aim at helping the couple regain the balance between their mind and body and boost chances of getting pregnant. 

Get diagnosed

• The first thing an infertile couple needs to do is get diagnosed. This will help detect the problem, if any. Doctors will initially advise the couple on how to boost chances of pregnancy. If still not able to conceive, the couple can opt for one of the many medical fertility procedures available. Sometimes, no reason can be found. This is most often because of stress, lifestyle or anxiety caused by not being able to get pregnant.
• If the problem is scarring of the fallopian tubes or ovarian cysts, surgery may be recommended. For men, it could be premature ejaculation or impotence which can be corrected both medically and by therapy. Besides medication, surgery may be needed for low sperm count and motility.

 Medical fertility treatments

• Hormone injection is a common option. This helps enhance ovulation and some women even produce more than just one egg per menstrual cycle. Side effects include putting on weight, rashes and mood swings. For men, these injections can help raise sperm count but could result in their exhibiting some feminine qualities, albeit temporarily. Hormone injections may help couples get pregnant but can also cause miscarriages and there is a risk of multiple births if more than one egg is fertilized.
• Another common option is in-vitro fertilization (IVF) which involves the harvesting of the woman’s eggs and fertilizing it with the sperm outside the body. Of the embryos formed, only the healthiest are placed in the uterus. Artificial insemination is when sperm is injected directly into the woman’s uterus. In ICSI, or Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection, the egg is injected with sperm and the embryo thus formed is planted in the uterus. 
• Sometimes, donor eggs or sperm and frozen embryos are used. This is when the woman is unable to produce eggs or the man has an extremely low, or no, sperm count. Often, this option is used to avoid passing on any genetic problems to the child. Donor or frozen embryos, created from the donor egg and sperm, is another option.
• Another is Zygote Intrafallopian Transfer or ZIFT and Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer (GIFT). ZIFT is very much like IVF where fertilization takes place outside the woman’s body but the embryo is transferred to the fallopian tube instead of the uterus. In GIFT, fertilization takes place in the fallopian tube after the egg and sperm are placed there. These are not widely-used options.
• Surrogacy is another option. This is when the woman cannot produce healthy eggs. The surrogate agrees to get pregnant using her egg and the man’s sperm, carries the child to term and then gives it up for adoption to the couple at birth.
• A gestational carrier can be used in instances when the woman has ovaries but no uterus or is ailing. Here, the woman uses her own egg fertilized by her partner’s sperm. The embryo is then transferred to the carrier's uterus.

Holistic approach

Some couples may not use medical fertility treatments at all and turn to the holistic approach while some may use both. The holistic approach includes the use of Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture, changes in diet and lifestyle and exercises like yoga and T’ai Chi to reduce stress. Meals should be balanced and high in vitamins, iron and folic acid. Caffeine should be avoided, as also smoking and drinking.