Can You Increase Your Chances of Conceiving? There are both medical treatments and natural options available to help you and your partner improve reproductive health and hopefully have a baby.
What is reproductive health?
Every year, millions of adults have fertility problems that make pregnancy difficult.
About 85% of couples become pregnant within a year of trying. They are often able to conceive within a few months of trying. The 15% who fail to conceive within a year of trying will have reproductive problems or fertility problems, although about half of these couples will conceive within 2 years.
“When a couple comes to my clinic, they have usually been trying to get pregnant by themselves for 6 months to a year. If you are over 35 years old, it is a good idea to come over after 6 months of trying. However, some people don’t like the medicalization of their private lives, so they may have to wait years to see a reproductive endocrinologist or fertility specialist, says Ruben Alvero, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford Medical School.
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As a rule of thumb, see a fertility specialist if you’ve tried it for a year and are not yet pregnant, or 6 months if you’re a woman aged 35 and over.
Before seeing a fertility specialist, use an over-the-counter ovulation test to track when you are ovulating. This usually happens around the 14th day of the menstrual cycle, Alvero says. Try to have intercourse at least every other day from day 10 of your cycle, as each viable egg will only last in your fallopian tube for about 12 hours.
What causes fertility problems?
In women, age is the most common cause of fertility problems, but there are a variety of reasons why some couples have difficulty getting pregnant on their own, says Alvero.
“About 65% of couples with fertility problems can find a physical cause and treat them based on the cause.” Either partner can have a fertility assessment including:
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Common causes of infertility include blocked fallopian tubes, fibroids, low number or quality of a woman’s eggs, less often ovulation, or low quality or quantity of viable sperm in about 35% of men, he says. Chronic diseases like diabetes, celiac disease, lupus, or thyroid problems can affect fertility.
“Obesity can also have a significant negative impact on your fertility,” says Alvero. “In women, a low body weight can also have a negative effect on fertility. My advice to patients is that if you are overweight or obese, a weight loss of 5 to 10% of your body weight can significantly improve your chances of getting pregnant and make your pregnancy healthier. “
Overweight men may have less sperm production or mobility, preventing sperm from moving quickly into place to enable conception. Men who want to get pregnant should also check their weight.
Environment and lifestyle
When trying to get pregnant, beware of harmful chemicals, such as lead or cigarette smoke, at work or in your daily life that could affect sperm quality. Women’s fertility can also be adversely affected by exposure to chemicals, says Jaclyn Chasse, ND, a licensed naturopathic doctor with Perfect Fertility in Boston.
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“There are many compounds in our environment that can damage your reproductive health. For example some chemicals used in beauty products or pesticides in our food, or even BPA, a chemical used in plastics to make beverage bottles, ”she says. People who may be exposed to chemicals at work should wear protective clothing, gloves, and masks to avoid contact with toxins.
Even a few simple changes to your diet and lifestyle could improve your chances of conceiving, says Chasse.
“It’s kind of boring, but start with the basics like the foods you eat, your sleep quality, and your stress levels.” It measures patients’ sex hormones and tracks ovulation and suggests ways to improve their diet and overall health. “I also talk to my patients about their smoke, alcohol or marijuana use. People are so stressed these days that they may turn to alcohol or marijuana as a source of sales. ”Smoking tobacco or cannabis can affect sperm or egg quality.
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Here are some simple changes you can make to improve your reproductive health:
- Have frequent sexual intercourse, especially 5 days before and after ovulation.
- Do not smoke.
- Limit alcohol.
- Cut down on caffeine if you are a woman.
- Stay at a healthy weight. Women who are too heavy or too thin can affect fertility.
- Heat can lower sperm counts in men, so wear loose underwear, avoid hot tubs, and keep your laptop away from your scrotum.
- Get a lot of sleep.
- Try to avoid night shift work, which can disrupt hormone production.
- Exercise regularly, but don’t overdo it! Excessive exercise can affect ovulation. Limit vigorous exercise to 5 hours or less per week when trying to get pregnant.
- Take folic acid supplements to improve ovulation and, if you become pregnant, to prevent birth defects.
- Limit meat in your diet. Eat more fish that are high in omega-3 fatty acids or vegetable proteins, which can improve ovulation.
Another tip for couples: Avoid unsolicited advice from family and friends, many of whom are wrong, says Alvero.
“I hate to hear from my patients that a family member tells them to just relax. This blames the couple. It is not true. Relaxing or not stressing is not really going to change your fertility, ”he says.
Medical treatment
Your exam and test results will help your doctor adjust your treatment plan, Alvero says. First, they can prescribe fertility medication, usually a pill called clomiphene citrate (Clomid). It is prescribed to women to improve ovulation and men to increase testosterone. Anastrozole and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) are other drugs that are prescribed to increase male fertility.
Intrauterine insemination (IUI). If medication alone doesn’t induce conception, your doctor may try intrauterine insemination (IUI), a procedure that involves introducing sperm into your uterus around the time of the egg, says Alvero. At the end of four cycles of ovulation, these treatments combined have a cumulative pregnancy rate of 30% -35%.
“If you can’t get pregnant with clomiphene and IUI, we offer in vitro fertilization (IVF), the most aggressive treatment,” he says. “If your fallopian tubes are blocked, we go straight to IVF.”
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Surgery. Women with endometrial polyps, scar tissue or fibroids in the uterus, or pelvic adhesions may need surgery to improve their chances of conceiving. Men with sperm blockage may have surgery to restore normal flow.
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Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). IVF is the most widely used assisted reproductive technology. Your doctor will stimulate your ovaries to produce eggs, which will then be removed and fertilized with sperm in a laboratory. A few days after the embryos are formed, they are implanted in your uterus.
Other ART techniques that can help you conceive include:
- Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), where a healthy sperm is injected into an egg. This can be done if the man’s sperm quality is poor or if you’ve tried IVF a few times without getting pregnant.
- Assisted hatching, a procedure in which the outer part of the embryo is opened or “hatched” so that it can successfully implant in the lining of the uterus
- Use of donor eggs or sperm when the partner’s own cells are not healthy enough to conceive
Fertility treatments and ART may not be covered by insurance, says Alvero, president of the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, a professional association advocating new laws to expand the coverage of these treatments. “Patients don’t always have a lot of time and these insurance barriers delay treatment.”
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Above all, don’t give up your dream of starting a family, says Chasse.
“People who come to me may have the feeling that they have reached the end of the street. You feel hopeless, ”she says. “Helping couples get pregnant is my greatest honor. It’s very fulfilling. “
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