If you have tried to get pregnant for more than a year (six months for women over age 35) without success, you should consider having a complete fertility evaluation. Dr. Douglas will run a full battery of tests to determine what fertility problems might be preventing you from conceiving. In many cases issues like anovulation, poor egg quality, tubal blockages or male factory infertility could be preventing you from having the family you desire.

Unfortunately, 10 to 15 percent of couples are diagnosed with unexplained infertility. This term is used when the initial tests Dr. Douglas performs to evaluate ovulation, the fallopian tubes and semen are normal, but a couple has difficulty conceiving because of some inefficiency in the conception process.

Resolving Unexplained Infertility

Receiving a diagnosis of unexplained infertility can produce frustration and disappointment. Not finding a reason to explain your infertility can make it seem like you are out of options. Although Dr. Douglas may not be able to identify the exact cause of your problems, he will work with you and your partner to achieve a successful outcome: pregnancy and a healthy baby.

Unexplained fertility is a bit confusing. What it really means is that something is wrong at the level of the egg and sperm, how they interact with each other, or their interaction with the female reproductive organs. For example, you can have sperm that appear normal under a microscope, but do not adequately perform the function of fertilization. As well, you could have normal sperm but poor quality eggs, which means they fertilize at a lower than expected rate or not at all.

Several treatments are available to help couples struggling with unexplained infertility:

Clomid and Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)

Using an ovulation induction medication like Clomid with IUI is designed to increase the number of eggs present and help give the sperm a better chance of making it to the egg so that fertilization can occur.

Injectable Medications and Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)

If you have had three failed attempts with Clomid and IUI, then Dr. Douglas may move on to IUI combined with injectable gonadotropins like hMG or FSH as a more aggressive treatment.

In-vitro Fertilization (IVF)

Often, couples with unexplained infertility achieve the desired result with in-vitro fertilization. Dr. Douglas will stimulate egg production, retrieve viable eggs, and fertilize them with your partner’s sperm in the laboratory to produce embryos. Then, he will transfer the healthy embryos back to your uterus so that implantation can occur.

For more information, please visit www.ivfplano.com.

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