Welcome
Beginners Guide to Infertility
You’ve been trying month after month, after month, ad infinitum, it seems, to try and get pregnant. It’s not working. You’ve googled the terms “very early pregnancy symptoms” one too many times and have now surrendered to the fact that you never had any of those “very early pregnancy symptoms”, and that all of it was in fact, as you dreaded, only your mind. You now know the culprit for these phantom symptoms is the hormone progesterone. You have charted your cycle and temperature and gathered more biological data on your own body than Tiger Woods have completed scorecards. You have experienced blurred vision one too many times after looking up from a pregnancy test. You’ve been waiting till the cows come home, but nothing! Nada! Zero! Now what?
I get asked fertility related questions quite often. For what reason people ask me questions about making babies, I have no clue whatsoever, it’s not like I’ve got a noisy choir of drooling little soldiers to prove my competence in any matters baby making related (not yet, anyway)! Still, for some reason people confide in us infertile creatures to gaze into the crystal ball of fertility and tell them the truth. Why is it not happening? What am I doing wrong?
Firstly, I’d like to say that I’m very sorry that you are in the unfortunate position to have ended up reading this article, but in the same breath I want to say that there is hope. So don’t stop reading.
After daily exchanges with literally hundreds of infertile women some key issues have spontaneously made its way to the surface, key issues that every infertile should be aware of, herewith a short introduction.
When should I seek treatment?
Trust your gut feel. If you are concerned about your fertility, seek medical care as soon as possible. Generally, a couple is only considered to be infertile after one year of unprotected regular intercourse. Remember that age plays a very important role in fertility and seeking treatment earlier, rather than later, will serve you well in the future.
People differ in their approaches to this life crisis, some try every trick in the book before seeking treatment, just to make sure they didn’t miss anything. My suggestion would be to add a consultation with a fertility specialist to that list of tricks of yours, and try to put it closer to the top, than to the bottom of the list. If you think it’s too soon, but you simply can’t ignore that niggly feeling in your gut, please discuss this with your fertility specialist. So, essentially, don’t wait longer than a year before seeking consultation, and consult with a specialist, not a gynaecologist, if at all possible.
Article kindly provided by Maritza Prinsloo Botha.