Options for Getting Pregnant

The Option of Natural Conception

The usual option for getting pregnant is natural conception. It helps to realise, however, that even for healthy couples, the chances of getting pregnant – or natural conception rates – are not very high. Research has found that in any given month your chances of getting pregnant at age 20 – 35 is only about 25%, at age 35 – 39 only 18% and at age 40, about 5%.

Fertility peaks in most women in their 20s, and gradually begins to decline in the late 20s. At around age 35, fertility starts to decline at a much more rapid pace.

Today, an estimated 1 in 6 couples require assistance to conceive. Featuring strongly as one of the reasons for this increase in couples that face fertility challenges is advanced maternal age. In today’s modern world, most women postpone starting a family beyond age 35 when their fertility is declining at a rapid rate. Therefore, many require assistance in getting pregnant.

However, not only age plays a role in the chances of conception. Fertility requires healthy sperm and healthy eggs. If a couple has healthy sperm and healthy eggs, their chances of conceiving are that much higher.

Among the many possible causes of infertility, certain lifestyle choices and stress also feature strongly, because they negatively affect your overall health, and, therefore, your fertility as well.

The number of couples experiencing fertility problems is increasing exponentially and this is directly related to certain lifestyle choices, such as stress, poor dietary habits and poor nutrition, smoking and excessive alcohol use.

In addition to the statistics, percentages and ages, there is also a long list of possible medical causes of infertility.

Furthermore, about one-third of infertility cases are due to the female partner; one-third are due to the male partner; and the remaining one-third are due to a combination of male and female factor issues. To complicate issues even further, in 25% of couples, there is also more than one factor contributing to infertility.

Fortunately, as long as the possible list of causes of infertility is the range of options – including specialised medications and treatments – to assist couples in getting pregnant.

A Broad Range of Options for Getting Pregnant

At Medfem Fertility Clinic, we offer a broad range of treatment options covering many of the causes of infertility, as listed below.

These options ensure there is a treatment available for almost any infertility challenge you are facing.

Options for getting pregnant with male infertility challenges

Male infertility may be caused by the sperm, the testes themselves, the ducts that lead out from the testes, a functional problem in relation to sexual activity, hormonal issues or genetic problems. However, most causes of male infertility are usually related to sperm disorders.

Fortunately, there are many advanced tests are available to determine the exact cause of a sperm disorder from the diverse range of possible causes. There are also many innovative treatments, proven procedures and alternative options that have allowed hundreds of thousands of men to address their fertility challenges.

These include, for example, hormonal therapy, varicocele repair, vasectomy reversals, surgical sperm retrieval, Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), Artificial Insemination (AI) / Intrauterine Insemination (IUI), as well as sperm donation and sperm freezing and storage.

You can read more about these options here…

Options for getting pregnant with female infertility challenges

Some of the common causes of female infertility include abnormal thyroid, advanced maternal age, anovulation, blocked fallopian tubes, cervical factor, diminished ovarian reserve, endometriosis, hyperprolactinaemia, polycystic ovarian syndrome, stress and uterine factor.

Fortunately, scientific advances over the past three decades have given millions of women other options for getting pregnant despite these and other problems with infertility.

Options for female infertility treatments ranging from medications to assisted reproductive technologies (ART) – including in vitro fertilisation (IVF) – and are achieving unprecedented success.
IVF treatment was originally developed for women with damaged or missing fallopian tubes and has been the standard treatment for infertility since 1983. Since then, more than 5 million IVF babies have been born worldwide. In fact, IVF treatment success rates are now comparable – and even superior – to those of natural conception.

A relatively new and advanced reproductive technology (ART) that offers a gentle alternative of ovarian stimulation to traditional in vitro fertilisation (IVF) is Low Dose IVF. Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) is a procedure in which sperm are directly injected into the egg and is usually offered to couples who have had poor or no fertilisation during standard IVF, or when fertilisation is less likely to occur with routine IVF.

Ovulation induction is a female infertility treatment option designed to increase the number of eggs that a woman ovulates in a cycle through a course of fertility hormones. Where couples are not getting pregnant due to an issue with the eggs, egg donation is also an option. Another option is egg freezing and storage – a breakthrough technology that allows women to freeze and store their eggs when they are younger or before they have treatments such as chemotherapy until they are ready to get pregnant.

To address some of the other possible causes of infertility, there are also options such as a myomectomy – a type of fibroid surgery during which only fibroids are removed, not your uterus; endometriosis treatment that can either be surgical or medical (by means of medication), although some patients need a combination; and congenital uterine anomalies treatment with excellent prognosis for a successful pregnancy.

What is the best option for you?

All these options are likely to leave you wondering how you will know which treatments, procedures and options are right for you? The answer is simple: an initial consultation with a fertility specialist.

To determine the exact cause why you are not getting pregnant, and the right treatment options that are available to you, you need a 30 – 60 minute initial Skype or Zoom consultation with one of Medfem’s highly qualified and experienced fertility specialists.

During the virtual consultation, your fertility specialist will review your medical history, provide in-depth explanations and answers to all your questions, detail a broad range of infertility treatment options, develop with you a personalised fertility treatment plan and schedule further scans and tests.

Simply click here or contact us on +27 (11) 463 2244 to book your initial Skype or Zoom consultation and take your first step to parenthood.

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Your safety is very important to us. We ensure that you only visit us if essential, and that when you do, you are as safe as possible. To ensure you only visit us if essential, we interact with our patients via Skype or Zoom Consultations and the Healthdocs Patient App. You can read more about our thorough Covid-19 patient visit protocols here…