Reproductive health & wellbeing for everybody
Joyous scenes of ‘perfect’ families together are hard to ignore at Christmas. The endless TV adverts of children opening presents under trees, proud parents at school nativity plays, and the daily arrival of greetings cards displaying this year’s group photograph.
IVF is a real journey and it helps when you don’t feel so alone. Here Natalia shares her story of infertility and the journey it has taken her on.
Secondary infertility is when a couple are having difficulty getting pregnant, after having had a child through natural conception in the past. It’s natural to presume that, because you’ve had a child before, conception will be just as easy, if not easier, the second or third time around. It may surprise you to know that secondary infertility is just as common as primary infertility, so you are not alone. Secondary infertility can affect both men and women and there are a variety of possible causes. As with primary infertility, there are options that can help, so it’s advisable to contact your doctor.
There are many reasons why couples actively trying for a baby fail to conceive and male infertility issues account for around 30-40% of them. The remaining percentage is a combination of female infertility issues, both partners with fertility problems and unexplained fertility issues.Male infertility is any health-related issue that lowers the chances of a man’s female partner getting pregnant, through unprotected sex with him.
Chemotherapy can affect the fertility of both men and women and by talking to your oncologist and fertility experts, you can potentially reduce your risk of not being able to have children.
Around 15 – 20 percent of couples trying to conceive will have trouble with fertility, so if you are experiencing difficulty with getting pregnant, you are not alone. If you are in the early stages of trying for a baby, it may just be that you need longer to identify your ovulation pattern, so you can predict more accurately when to try to conceive. (See our earlier blog post: When are my most fertile days)
For many individuals and couples, IVF brings a successful outcome, but it is a challenging procedure in itself and it’s important to be mentally and physically prepared for the challenges.
While it’s unlikely that stress alone can cause infertility, there are many studies to suggest that it can have a negative impact. Yet trying to tell someone who is struggling with infertility to ‘just relax,’ or that stress will decrease their chances of getting pregnant, is actually more likely to increase their anxiety and stress levels!
If you and your partner are struggling to conceive, then the cause of the infertility could be related to your job or profession. Certain working conditions, for example working with some chemicals, can negatively affect your sperm and reduce your fertility.
Every individual is different and you should also seek advice from your GP or fertility specialist, to see when it is safest to try again from a medical perspective, with your own particular circumstances. Read more…
How does male fertility play a part in IVF and what exactly is meant by ‘health sperm’? Find out in our male fertility blog…
We explore the support for people deciding to parent without a partner and a number of ways in which this can be achieved with assisted reproductive techniques (ART).
