Infertility should not be considered a taboo… It should be taken like any other problem you face e.g. when you face difficulty in your vision you visit an ophthalmologist or when you find any problem in hearing you see an ENT specialist. Similarly, if you are facing any difficulty in conceiving a pregnancy then you should visit an infertility specialist.
It’s tragic that our social system is such that people are labeled somewhat incompetent or inferior if they don’t conceive naturally. Even when they do conceive after treatment they have to hide the fact that they had conceived with some treatment etc. Anyway, that is a social aspect that will take its own time to change, coming to the clinical perspective We provide strict privacy to the couple. We understand that considering current social scenario privacy and secrecy of treatment is an important issue. We completely respect their privacy & choices in that aspect.
I suggest that if a couple younger than 35 yrs is unable to conceive even after trying for one year then they should definitely consult an infertility specialist. In case their ages are more than 35yrs then its recommended to consult just after 6months of trying for natural conception.
There are many reasons for this inability to conceive. It can be as minor as an infection or thyroid abnormality which can be treated with medicines only. Sometimes just counseling regarding fertile periods may be enough for achieving pregnancy.
Rarely, advanced treatment options like IUI or IVF may be needed.
Each and every couple has their own specific problem. Accurate diagnosis and targeted treatment of that problem help in achieving quick results.
IVF Treatment Failures
Many patients have multiple IVF treatment failures. We have seen that detailed analysis of their medical reports and treatment history helps in forming a stepwise treatment plan for them. Such a patient-specific treatment protocol has very high success rates even up to 90% in an IVF cycle.
Besides there are many advancements in the field of IVF nowadays like Blastocyst culture, Laser Assisted Hatching, PGS, PGD, use of embryoscope, etc which are the reasons behind such high success rates.
IVF Procedure complication
As such IVF procedure does not involve any major complication. The woman has to take injections ( normal injections like commonly taken as a tetanus shot or the way a diabetic patient takes an insulin injection). The duration of these injections varies from 8-10 days. She may have to take 2 or more injections in a day. Once eggs are ready then she needs to get admitted for egg pickup. This procedure is done under anaesthesia and there are no sutures or scars. She gets admitted in the morning and is discharged in the evening. Usually, there is no requirement for an overnight stay.
These eggs are fertilized with the sperms in the IVF laboratory. Once embryos are ready, these are transferred into the woman’s uterus. This transfer can be done using day 3 embryos or day 5 embryos (Blastocyst), depending upon quantity and quality of embryos. Definitely success rate is very high with Blastocyst transfer. Also, the transfer can be done in a fresh cycle ( same cycle during which eggs are retrieved i.e. after 3 or 5 days of egg pick up.) or next month of the period cycle. This later transfer is called as Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET), as all good quality embryos formed in the last cycle are frozen for later use. Again, Frozen cycles have been found to have better success rates in comparison to Fresh Cycle.
With so many advancements and new techniques, we are able to achieve much better, up to 80-90% success rates nowadays.
