What is Infertility?
Infertility is medical condition. Infertility means not being able to get pregnant or conceive a child even after trying to conceive for several times. About 10 percent of women (6.1 million) in the United States ages 15-44 have difficulty getting pregnant or staying pregnant, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). So it can be considered as common problem.
It can affect not only women but also men. In fact women and men can have problems that can cause infertility. In case of women more the age higher is the risk of infertility. Women who can get pregnant but are unable to stay pregnant may also be infertile.
Pregnancy is the result of a process that has many steps. To get pregnant:
- A woman’s body must release an egg from one of her ovaries (ovulation).
- The egg must go through a fallopian tube toward the uterus (womb).
- A man's sperm must join with (fertilize) the egg along the way.
- The fertilized egg must attach to the inside of the uterus (implantation).
Infertility can happen if there are problems with any of these steps. In case of men factors like low sperm count, slow movement of sperm, shape of the sperm etc factors can be responsible.
What increases a man’s risk of infertility?
A man's sperm can be changed by his overall health and lifestyle. Some things that may reduce the health or number of sperm include:
- Heavy alcohol use
- Drugs
- Smoking cigarettes
- Age
- Environmental toxins, including pesticides and lead
- Medicines
- Radiation treatment and chemotherapy for cancer
What causes infertility in women?
Most cases of female infertility are caused by problems with ovulation. Without ovulation, there are no eggs to be fertilized. Some signs that a woman is not ovulating normally include irregular or absent menstrual periods.
What things increase a woman's risk of infertility?
Many things can change a woman's ability to have a baby. These include:
- Age
- Smoking
- Excess alcohol use
- Stress
- Poor diet
- Athletic training
- Being overweight or underweight
- Sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
Infertility can be treated medically with new advances in technologies like IVF treatment but its psychological impact can be huge. Men or women who are infertile can have feelings of depression, anxiety related to it or they may find it very hard to enjoy life. Marital discord between the couple, blame game can cause distress for both the partners. They can seek help from a counselor or in extreme case from psychiatric medicines. A counselor can help in managing the emotional stresses associated with infertility or need assistance in decisions regarding your treatment options.
Infertility not only affects the individual but it may have long standing impact on that person’s relationship with others, his/her perspective on life etc. It’s a medical condition and it can affect anyone. How one deal with this problem depends on personality, family support etc.
After all not everyone is blessed with everything in life. So acceptance of what you cannot change and identifying what can you change will makes us happier more easily, isn’t it?
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Manaswa
Thanking You
Regards
Swapnil Pange
