Hope and Possibilities

The process of accepting one’s infertility is never easy. Most infertility patients go through a period of denial when medical interventions seem too overwhelming- even entertaining the thoughts that conceiving will be difficult can set off the deepest of fears. But as time passes and the need for a child becomes deeper, infertile individuals begin to see that opening the door to treatment also means opening the door to hope and possibilities. For many infertility patients, medical treatment provides the miracle they have always pictured.

However, moving through the world of reproductive medicine can be an arduous journey of painful tests and expensive treatments. It is a world fraught with many questions and sometimes few answers. Infertility treatment is as draining emotionally as it is physically. But we are lucky because we live in a brave new world of options and hopes where most infertility patients end their journey with a child at the end of the road.

It is important for couples to begin this journey with the help of an infertility expert (a licensed reproductive endocrinologist). According to Resolve, a national organization for infertility patients, any of the following situations warrant seeing an infertility specialist:

1. couples who are so called normal infertiles; in other words, those who basic tests came back normal but who after one year of trying have on their own have not yet succeeded in conceiving
2. patients who need microsurgery or treatment for endometriosis or tubal damage
3. patients with a history of miscarriages
4. patients who have irregular menstrual cycles with evidence of  irregular ovulation
5. patients with poor semen analysis showing a low count, low motility or poor morphology
6. women who are thirty five or older
7. women with a history of pelvic infection