Monday 30 April 2012

Getting Pregnant Second Time

Secondary Infertility – Sex, Age & Lifestyle Factors

It is a misconception in majority of the population that if you get pregnant once you have no problem next time.

Secondary infertility is a common problem that can be heartbreaking for many couples. Once you have had a child, you normally think that getting pregnant again should be no problem; after all, haven’t you proven your fertility?

Fertility is a function of age. It starts to decline at age 27, and the most pronounced decline is above age 40.Unfortunately, there’s no test that shows when fertility starts to decline.

Secondary infertility means that couple has at least one biological child but are having difficulty in conceiving for the second time. Twenty percent of women experience a condition called secondary infertility. Even for a healthy couple with no reproductive problems it can take time to conceive. However, such problems can be avoided if you are careful about your body.

Read about what you can do to prevent secondary infertility.


Secondary infertility may happen at any time and the causes are almost identical to those of primary infertility. The problem can lie with the woman’s reproductive system, the man’s reproductive system, or with both partners.

Many women’s don’t have any problems getting pregnant for the first time. So they never believe trying for a second child would be an issue. However, even after trying for more than a year if someone is not able to conceive, a visit to the infertility specialists is must. The biggest step in coping with the problem is deciding that a person needs some help this time. A trip to the doctor may result in women undergoing number of tests. The outcome may be secondary infertility.

About 20% of couples who wish to conceive do so within a month. During each subsequent month, about 20% of the remaining couples conceive, so that there is about an 85% chance of conceiving within six months. A physician will generally initiate a medical evaluation only if a couple has not conceived after one year of trying, or, if the woman is over 35, after six months. About one in seven couples have problems conceiving. The percentage of couples experiencing secondary infertility in particular is not known because some couples do not seek medical help.

Why do I have secondary infertility?


There are many reasons why you can have secondary infertility. These reasons are often the same reasons why couples experience primary infertility. See a fertility specialist to try and help diagnose your secondary infertility but some common reasons for secondary infertility include:

* Ovulation problems
* uterine fibroids
* endometriosis
* you or your partner got an infection since your last pregnancy
* you or your husband/partner gained weight
* you or your husband/partner changed your diet
* egg or embryo quality has changed
* sperm issues are now present sperm count, morphology, motility.

There are many reasons you can have secondary infertility. Your lifestyle can be a huge factor in your fertility so check first to see if you have made any lifestyle changes that might be affection your fertility.

There are several factors mentioned below contributing to the Secondary Infertility and which can be controlled by you.

Unavoidable factor in today’s life-stress:

Stress can be a major factor in trying to get pregnant. The stress hormone cortisol interferes with ovulation, leading to decreased fertility. In addition, stress can also cause elevated blood pressure and other conditions, which can create complications in a pregnancy. Research has shown that 77 percent of women who were able to reduce their levels of cortisol succeeded in restoring their ovulation abilities.
Reducing stress can be done in different ways. Generally, reducing stress hormone levels involves a change in diet and exercising. Meditation has also proved effective as a stress buster. Many doctors may also recommend taking a short vacation to rejuvenate your body.

 

Fertile period:

The fertile period during the monthly cycle in a women decreases with the increase in the age. Finding fertile period every month becomes a priority because the egg released the ovary remains fertile only for around 12 hours or so. Ovulation kit or ovulation stick is used to determine when a person is ovulating.

 

Age and the fertility:

Fertility decreases with the age it is an accepted medical fact that the chances of female not conceiving or infertility in women is higher once she is 30 years old. It is not common with all. In most cases decreased fertility does not hamper a woman’s chances of getting pregnant, especially if she has been pregnant before. However, some women do experience the problem of infertility, termed as secondary infertility. This is more common in women who have had their first child after the age of 30. Many treatments are available to overcome this stage.

Complete Medical checkup:

Couples under the age of 35 when they fail to conceive after trying for more than a year should consult a specialist and undergo a complete check up. For women over 35, the waiting period is six months. The basic test includes Pap smear test to check for abnormalities in the uterus and ovaries and a three-day FSH/ estradiol blood test to measure the level of FSH or follicle-stimulating hormone, which is responsible for release of eggs from the ovary. High levels of the hormone indicate that body is working more to stimulate your ovaries.

 

Additional help of vitamins:

Iron and folic acid is very good to improve the fertility. Available in the form of multivitamin tablets, it is taken in addition to the regular meals. The use of this increases the chances of a successful conception and also prevents the baby inside from suffering certain birth defects.
Unlike those couples who have never had a child, those couples going through secondary infertility find it hard to get support from their network of friends and family
The good news is that secondary infertility can be treated just like primary infertility. If you suspect you have a fertility problem, get checked out. The sooner you find out the problem, the sooner you can get back on track to having your second, third or fourth child.


Friday 27 April 2012

Male Infertility

Male infertility refers to the inability of a male to achieve a pregnancy in a fertile female.



Infertility is a couple’s inability to conceive a child after 12 months of unprotected sex. It is widely assumed that infertility has more to do with women rather than men, however it is not so. Estimates suggest that 30% of infertility is caused by male factors, another 30% is caused by female factors and the remaining 40% is caused by a combination of female and male factors. Men also suffer from infertility due to genetic reasons, lifestyle, hormonal imbalance, and age.





 

Understanding Male Infertility

 

Let’s take a look at the cause, diagnosis, and possible treatments available.


Rapid urbanization has changed the way men eat, drink, and sleep and that has taken a toll on their health. Consumption of alcohol, smoking, drugs, unhealthy eating patterns, stress and obesity are believed to be the common causes for infertility. Being overweight or underweight may also prove to be risk factors. A recent study also suggests that external factors like pollution can also infiltrate male reproductive organs. However, you can reduce the risk by a proper exercise and a healthy diet.

Other reasons why a man has trouble getting a woman pregnant, besides male infertility include erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, retrograde ejaculation, or problems from penis enlargement surgery.

A low sperm volume (or none at all) can be caused by severe mumps infection, hormone problems, genetics, or an infection. It can also be caused by poor blood circulation due to tight underwear, smoking, alcohol or illegal drugs, and also by pollution.

Some of the factors that play an important role in male infertility are: Sperm Motility, Sperm Morphology, and Sperm Count.

 

Male Infertility Causes and Treatments

 

Usually a semen analysis is conducted to diagnose the cause which includes the following:


Sperm motility 

Sperm motility is the ability of sperms to move towards the egg which results in its fertilization. Sperm which do not properly swim will not reach the egg in order to fertilize it.

Sperm count

Sperm count is the quantity of sperms or cells, the more the sperms more are the chances of normal pregnancy. A healthy sperm count should total about 20 million sperm per milliliter and the normal semen volume per ejaculation is 2 ml. Azoospermia is a condition in which there is complete absence of sperm. It can also be congenital. Correctible causes must be found and treated. Even then if there are no sperm in the ejaculate, sperm can often be harvested and used to achieve fertilization.

Sperm morphology

Sperm morphology refers to the size and shape (form) of an individual sperm which is evaluated during semen analysis.

According to WHO manual of 1989, morphology is considered normal if it is around 30% or more.

Deficiency of any of these factors can result in infertility.

If you are facing infertility that does not means that your parental hopes have become extinct. Infertility is a common problem among men and fortunately these days, treatment options are available. If the cause is diagnosed at an early stage your chances of success are more as age plays an important role in infertility treatment. Modern scientific technologies like ART, ICSI, and IUI have made the treatment easy. However, this treatment can be very expensive and can burn a hole in your pocket. Today inexpensive methods are also available without any compromise on the treatment and methodology.

Once the cause of male infertility is established, your doctor may recommend a range of treatments now for the design of the pair as possible. Each treatment corresponds to a particular case.

At least one-half of male fertility problems can be treated so that conception is possible. There are three basic categories of treatment for male infertility namely, Assisted reproduction, Drug therapy, Surgery.

A couple experiencing infertility should not underestimate the significance of the problems that can exist in the male. These problems may be the sole or contributing reason for the couple’s failure to conceive and are best identified by a male infertility specialist. Care and attention in looking for and identifying disease processes in both the man and woman will prevent missed opportunity for a potential cure and give the couple the timeliest and most efficient pathway to start or expand their family.

Always remember that infertility can be cured like any other disease and it does not mean that your masculinity is at stake. By being fit you can fight infertility.


If you have been through or experiencing infertility, come share your experiences with us

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Unexplained infertility and Fallopian Tube Sperm Perfusion

Treatment of Unexplained Infertility and Fallopian tube sperm perfusion.

If you are thinking about trying fertility treatments to help you conceive, you will likely undergo a variety of tests to determine the source of your infertility. However, many couples undergo dozens of tests only to come up with few answers.

Known as unexplained infertility, such a situation can often be quite frustrating for everyone involved. Unfortunately, it is quite common and can sometimes hinder the fertility treatment process.

Unexplained infertility is actually quite common. Up to 10% of couples who visit a fertility clinic for treatment receive a diagnosis of unexplained fertility. Of course, these rates vary from clinic to clinic, and country to country.

In the treatment of couples with unexplained infertility, the FSP procedure seems to give a better birth rate. FSP is less invasive and less expensive than alternative procedures such as GIFT, ZIFT and IVF.

 

Possible Causes of Unexplained Infertility

There are a number of things that may underlie your unexplained infertility. Through patience and careful testing it may be possible to attribute your infertility to one of these underlying factors. Fertility treatment can then proceed based on the diagnosis. To name the few Abnormal Fallopian Tubes, Abnormal Eggs, Luteinized Uncultured Follicle (LUF) Syndrome, Abnormal Luteal Phase, Immune Problems, Infection, Weak Sperm.

Intrauterine, artificial, Insemination (IUI) has been used to treat infertility for many years and is most often employed where there is mild male factor infertility, antigen/antibody reactions in the cervical mucus, or a male donor.

Most infertility clinics in India currently use the standard technique of Intra Uterine Insemination (IUI), where sperm are placed inside the uterus. Pregnancy rates in clinics vary depending on the way the insemination is performed, the type of ovarian stimulation, the quality of the gametes and the cause of infertility. Ages of the woman and luteal phase efficiency (or deficiency) are also major factors contributing to the success of the treatment. Unfortunately, those IUI success rates have been much lower than with IVF. Fallopian Tube Sperm Perfusion (FSP) is a relatively recent modification of IUI in which the insemination will directly place sperm into the fallopian tubes. It is thought that insemination with FSP may yield higher pregnancy and live birth rates for couples with unexplained infertility.FSP use the same protocols of ovarian stimulation and the monitoring of the cycle as for the IUI but FSP has shown very encouraging results in pregnancy efficiency. It is widely considered as more efficient technique and suggested to be appropriate for cases with unexplained infertility. 

Always remember that infertility can be cured like any other disease and by being fit you can fight infertility.



Tuesday 24 April 2012

Blastocyst & Embryo Freezing in IVF, Vitrification & Cryopreservation

Success Rates of Frozen Embryo Transfer, cryo shipping, vitrification process:


A short history lesson of cryoshipping and vitrification process.


Vitrified Human Blastocysts and Surrogacy pregnancy
In 1972 preimplantation mammalian embryos were first successfully cryopreserved. The method was very time consuming. Slow cooling was used (1 degree/min or less) to about -80 degrees Centigrade. Then the embryos were placed in liquid nitrogen.The embryos also needed to be thawed slowly and a cryoprotectant added and removed in many gradual steps. This was a lot of work.


The first reported pregnancy in humans from frozen embryos was in 1983.Research continues in this area and human embryo freezing and thawing protocols have improved tremendously over the past 25 years.




What is the difference between slow freezing and vitrification?


Patients who undergo IVF may have several eggs collected. The eggs are then fertilized with a sperm and checked for fertilization. Fertilized eggs are called embryos. A patient may have multiple high quality embryos eligible for embryo transfer back to the uterus. A certain number of embryos are chosen for embryo transfer, and the surplus of high quality embryos can be cryopreserved for future use.

Blastocyst & Embryo Freezing in IVF, Vitrification & Cryopreservation
Previously, embryos were cryopreserved using a slow freeze method. Embryos were run through different solutions of media to Storage of Cryopreserved embryos dehydrate the cells of water and replace it with cryoprotectant. Then the cryoprotected embryos were individually labeled and stored in cryopreservation straws, which were put in special freezers. These freezers slowly (-0.3 degrees Celsius per minute), cooled the embryos to -35 degrees Celsius using liquid nitrogen. They were then stored in liquid nitrogen (-196 degrees Celsius). At that extremely cold temperature, cellular activity is essentially brought to a halt, allowing the embryos to remain viable indefinitely.

When patients decide to use their cryopreserved embryos to try for a pregnancy, the embryos are removed from the liquid nitrogen, warmed and run through solutions of media to remove the cryoprotectant and rehydrate the cells with water. During cryopreservation, the formation of intracellular ice crystals can damage the cells of the embryo, decreasing future viability. Therefore, new methods were developed to improve cryopreservation techniques.

Vitrification-hook Recent technical advancement in the field of cryobiology has opened up various options for freezing gametes and embryos at different developmental stages. The tendency of the IVF world to switch over to natural cycle IVF and to elective single-embryo transfer has put cryotechnology in the forefront of IVF. Vitrification method is gaining popularity as the method of choice for gamete/embryo cryopreservation.

Vitrification is a new process for cryopreserving embryos. Through vitrification, the water molecules in an embryo are removed and replaced with a higher concentration of cryoprotectant than in the slow freeze method. The embryos are then plunged directly into liquid nitrogen. This drastic (-12,000 degrees Celsius per minute) freezing creates a glass transition temperature, commonly called a “glass” state, and the embryos are vitrified. This quick freezing reduces the chance for intercellular ice crystals to be formed, thus decreasing the degeneration of cells upon thawing for embryo transfer.

Many studies show survival rates of vitrified embryos to be far higher than survival rates of slow freeze embryos.


Till now, we have received frozen embryos from many countries and successfully transferred them into surrogate mothers. Most of these embryos were frozen by the slow freezing process. As vitrification is becoming popular as a method of choice for freezing gametes, we have started receiving vitrified embryos from world over. Our first case of cryoshipped, vitrified blastocyst transfer has resulted in a pregnancy.



Vitrified Blastocysts

Friday 13 April 2012

Celebrities that turned to IVF science or assisted reproductive technology to help them complete their families.

1. Courteney Bass Cox and her husband David Arquette conceived daughter Coco, now four, with the help of IVF. Coco was born in 2007. Before conceiving her healthy daughter, Courteney had suffered several miscarriages due to immunity problems.
Courteney Bass Cox (born June 15, 1964) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Monica Geller on the NBC sitcom Friends, Gale Weathers in the horror series Scream

2. Desperate Housewives star Marcia Cross started IVF soon after her marriage, and successfully conceived twins, Eden and Savannah. Marcia, as an actress on a high-rated show, acknowledged the high cost of IVF, telling USA Today, “it’s very expensive and (requires) a lot of needles and shots.”
Marcia Anne Cross
Marcia Anne Cross (born March 25, 1962) is an American actress. She is known for her television roles as Bree Van de Kamp on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives.

3. Actress Emma Thompson gave birth to daughter Gaia in 1999, thanks to IVF. Emma suffers from polycystic ovary syndrome, and has spoken about her struggle to get pregnant, and her grief at being unable to have more children after Gaia.
Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actor, comedian and screenwriter. She first came to prominence in 1987 in two BBC TV series, Tutti Frutti and Fortunes of War. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End.

4. After an ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage with ex-husband, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and new husband, country musician Keith Urban had their first child, allegedly conceived after eight months of fertility treatment. Sunday Rose was born in July 2008. Nicole Mary Kidman, AC (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian.

5. Trinny Woodall, from BBC’s What Not to Wear, gave birth to her daughter Lyla in October 2003. Trinny suffered nine failed attempts at IVF and two miscarriages before falling pregnant and having her daughter.
Trinny Woodall (born Sarah-Jane Woodall; 8 February 1964 in Marylebone, London) is an English fashion advisor and designer, television presenter and author.

6. Celine Dion is goy pregnant with twins, after six attempts at IVF. She and husband Rene are expecting their new arrivals in November. IVF baby Eddy and Nelson - who were conceived after six IVF attempts – have made her life “extraordinary”, and that she “doesn’t know how women do it”. The couples already have a son, Rene-Charles, whom Celine fell pregnant with after having IVF treatment. This followed six years of attempting to conceive naturally.
Céline Marie Claudette Dion, CC, OQ is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star. She is Singer, songwriter-composer, actress.

7. TV sports presenter Gabby Logan and her husband rugby player Kenny Logan had twins in July 2005, thanks to IVF. The couple started to try and get pregnant a few months after their marriage in the summer of 2001
Gabby Logan (born 24 April 1973) is a television presenter and radio presenter, as well as a former Wales international gymnast.

8. Rod Stewart and wife Penny Lancaster’s:
Rod Stewart is a British singer- songwriter, born and raised in North London, England.

Monday 9 April 2012

Molecule Detected That Sets Off Maturation of Mammalian Eggs Can Pilot to More IVF Pregnancies


 
Women with eggs that are incapable of maturing will not become pregnant; in addition they cannot be assisted with in vitro fertilization (IVF). Now researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have identified a molecule called Cdk1 that has an important function for mammalian egg maturation. In the future this could lead to an increased rate of successful IVF.
 
 
Up to 15% of all women of reproductive age struggle to become pregnant. In vitro fertilization (IVF) can help these women become mothers. However, women who are infertile because their eggs do not mature properly cannot be helped medically, as immature eggs cannot be fertilized. In the future, such patients might be helped as a research group at the University of Gothenburg has found that the Cdk1 molecule has an important function in mammalian egg maturation. Their results have now been published in the journal Human Molecular Genetics.

"This is the first functional evidence that Cdk1 is a key molecule in mammalian egg maturation. If the results can be translated into clinical settings, it could possibly improve the chances of successful IVF treatment for women who today are not becoming pregnant because their eggs do not mature" says Kui Liu, professor at the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.Kui Liu and his colleagues performed experiments on tissue-specific knockout mice. The results show that when the Cdk1 molecule was removed from eggs of mice, the egg maturation stopped. When the molecule was added again, maturation resumed. Professor Liu is a professor in molecular biology at the Faculty of Science, University of Gothenburg, since February 2011. His research group specializes in studying the development of female germ cells. In the last few years he has been working on making his results useful for humans.

"We are eager to start tests on human eggs. Hopefully we can apply this in clinics within ten years" says Liu.The article, titled Cdk1, but not Cdk2, is the sole Cdk that is essential and sufficient to drive resumption of meiosis in mouse oocytes, was published in the journal Human Molecular Genetics on 24 February 2012.

Friday 6 April 2012

Less Than One-Fifth Of Men Get Tested For Infertility

Fertility problems haunt women more than men, despite the fact that half of the problems are due to the male, with low sperm count as the main cause, reveals a new survey.

According to the survey conducted for Sperm Check Fertility, 42 percent of those who conceived say they became obsessed with getting pregnant once they started trying. Yet just 10 percent say their partner shared this obsession.

This year, approximately 7 million couples will experience conception issues and about 50 percent of these infertility problems will be directly attributed to the male, according to John C. Herr, PhD., director of the University of Virginia's Center for Research in Contraceptive and Reproductive Health.

Most male infertility problems are mainly due to low sperm count, he added.

Yet women are typically the ones to take action when conception is slow to happen, often undergoing a battery of sometimes invasive and typically costly testing.

While - analyzing the male's sperm count is considered a key first step by infertility specialists - less than one-fifth of men (17 percent) ever get tested for their sperm count, according to the Sperm Check survey.

And just 23 percent of the women surveyed who are currently pregnant or who have conceived a child said their partner did everything he could to get himself as healthy as possible before they started trying to conceive.

"While there is absolutely nothing to be self-conscious about, many men are often reluctant or embarrassed to go to their healthcare provider to take a sperm count test, even if it means that their partner might take it upon herself to start having herself tested and in some cases begin taking fertility treatments," said Pamela Madsen, a nationally recognized fertility educator, advocate and founder of the American Fertility Association.

"Now, with Sperm Check Fertility, a new and easy, 10-minute, over-the-counter, FDA-approved, at-home sperm count screening test that men can take in the privacy of their home, they can find out if their sperm count is normal or low - and have an accurate answer, right then," she noted.

The Sperm Check survey found that 8 out of 10 women (83 percent) trying to or planning to conceive say their partner assumes he is fertile, and 43 percent say their partner would like to know for sure that his sperm count is normal.

A much higher number, more than two thirds of women surveyed say they would like to know their partner's sperm count is normal when they start trying to get pregnant.

Thursday 5 April 2012

Conception Via Sex in Marriage Alone is 'Acceptable', IVF is 'Arrogant': Pope

Pope Benedict XVI has asked wedded couples to shun non-natural methods of conception since sex between a husband and wife is the solely acceptable way to conceive.
He said that methods like in vitro fertilization (IVF) for getting pregnant were simply 'arrogance' as he spoke at the end of a three-day Vatican conference on infertility in Rome.
The Pope reiterated the Church's stance against artificial procreation, and told scientists and fertility experts that matrimony was the 'only place worthy of the call to existence of a new human being'.
"The human and Christian dignity of procreation, in fact, doesn't consist in a 'product', but in its link to the conjugal act, an expression of the love of the spouses of their union, not only biological but also spiritual," the Daily Mail quoted Benedict as saying.
He told the specialists in his audience to resist "the fascination of the technology of artificial fertility", warning against "easy income, or even worse, the arrogance of taking the place of the Creator".
He suggested that this was the attitude that underlies the field of artificial procreation.
Sperm or egg donation and methods such like IVF are banned for members of the Catholic Church.
The emphasis on science and "the logic of profit seem today to dominate the field of infertility and human procreation", the Pope said.

Monday 2 April 2012

Effect of advanced age on Fertility and Pregnancy in Women




Effect of advanced age on fertility and pregnancy in women
Female age is perhaps the “biggest enemy” to fertility. Advanced Age plays an important role in a woman’s ability to become pregnant and carry a pregnancy to term. It has become a more prevalent cause of infertility and the fertility clinics are having more and more couples with infertility problems. There is no universal definition of advanced reproductive age in women. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) defines infertility as the inability to conceive after one year of unprotected, regular intercourse. The time is shortened to six months in women over 35 because of the rapid loss of fertility that can occur in this age group. These women should see a reproductive endocrinologist, infertility specialist as soon as possible.
Management of infertility and pregnancy in women of advanced age
Infertility in women’s has increased over the last several years as more and more women choose to delay childbearing. A higher percentage of women are marrying at older ages, many are delaying childbearing until their careers are established, the divorce rate is high and many couples remarry and desire their own children. It is clear that the biological clock is not in sync with these societal changes as a woman’s greatest fertility occurs in her teens and twenties. The rise in the number of women waiting until later in life to have children increases their chances of infertility and remaining childless. Fertility clearly declines with advancing age, especially after the mid-30s, and women who conceive are at greater risk of pregnancy complications. Egg quality declines measurably in the mid to late thirties and most women will reach perimenopause by age 43. The ages vary considerably in different women and some will experience premature menopause, which can occur much earlier. However, studies have generally shown that women over 45 years of age or over 50 years of age have good pregnancy outcomes and are able to cope with the physical and emotional stresses of pregnancy and parenting. With use of assisted reproductive techniques (ART), births have been reported to several women at the age of 66 years and at 70 also. The oldest woman to achieve a naturally conceived pregnancy was 57 years old.


Evaluation for Age related Infertility
The major hurdles faced by the women with advanced age and infertility are covered in the following.
1] Down Syndrome babies: The advanced age in the women increases the chances of genetic problems. This is the reason for the increased risk of Down Syndrome babies in women over age 35. At age 25, 1 in 1250 women will give birth to a child with Down Syndrome. At age 30, it’s a 1 in 952 risk, and by age 35, the chance is 1 in 378.
2] Miscarriage: As per the statistics risk for miscarriage also rises with the age. About 10% of pregnancies end in miscarriage for women in their early 20s. By the early 30s, 12% of women experience miscarriages. After age 35, 18% of pregnancies will end in miscarriage. And in the early 40s, 34% of pregnancies end in miscarriage.
3] Quality of Matured Eggs: As women age infertility increases. Age and infertility are directly correlated and age is a common cause of infertility.
Women are born with all of the eggs that are needed for a lifetime. Once menstruation begins, an egg(s) is ovulated each month until the menopause. As women age, their eggs begin to lose their ability to fertilize and develop into a healthy fetus, the condition is known as reduced ovarian reserve. After menopause, the condition is known as ovarian failure and menopause can occur at much earlier ages than predicted. Fortunately, donor egg IVF is available for women who cannot become pregnant using their own eggs due to age related infertility. Donors are healthy, screened, younger women who wish to donate their eggs to help infertile couples. In the infertility treatment called In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), success rates using donor eggs are high being equivalent to the age of the donor. For example, if the eggs from a younger woman between the age of 22-25 is used in an IVF cycle with a women aging 40 years, the success rates equal the 22-25 year old age group. Donors are compensated for their time and efforts. Those who cannot conceive with donor eggs due to some problems can also opt for surrogacy option using the services of surrogate mother.
4] Pr-Existing Conditions: Advanced maternal age is often linked to high blood pressure and diabetes that can affect pregnancy. For example, if diabetes is not controlled, it can contribute to birth defects, miscarriage, while high blood pressure can affect fetal growth by slowing it down.
Egg freezing is a process that could dramatically help many women wanting to preserve their fertility. Those who are young and do not want to have pregnancy at this age have started freezing their egg for their future. Young women who have fertile eggs are choosing the option of egg freezing for their future motherhood.
 
A Journey Through Infertility: Advanced Maternal Age
Donor oocytes and menopausal pregnancy: Oocyte donation to women of advanced reproductive age: pregnancy results and obstetrical outcomes in patients 45 years and older. However most women in their late 30s and 40s can look forward to healthy pregnancies and prevent a high risk pregnancy. Women of all ages can improve their chances of having a healthy pregnancy when they follow simple steps.
·        Have a preconception check-up with your doctor or infertility specialist.
·        Relax and have a happy attitude. Emotional well being can also affect your pregnancy. The mental state of the mother can affect the health of the child.
·        The average time it takes a couple of over 35 years to conceive is 1-2 years, so try to remain positive if you do not become pregnant immediately.
·        Visit your doctor at the earliest if you haven’t conceived after 6 months of purposeful intercourse.
·        Begin pregnancy at a healthy weight.
·        Avoid alcohol, smoking and caffeine which can negatively affect fertility.
·        Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, vitamins and drink purified water.
·        Use over-the-counter tests that help screen for key elements either male or female fertility.
Pregnant women who are classified as having advanced maternal age are not sick, this is not a disease, so do not get alarmed, just do your best to have a healthy life style to ensure a healthy pregnancy.
Despite these grim statistics, not everyone will have trouble getting pregnant after 35. However, if you are having trouble, and you’re older than 35, you shouldn’t try on your own for longer than six months. The sooner you get help, the better your chances of treatment success. Uncover a wealth of valuable information that can significantly increase a couple’s chances of pregnancy through IVF.