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Getting Ready

The first step in preparing for IVF is to understand the current status of your reproductive system as well as that of your partner. This helps the doctor understand what needs to be done, how your ovaries may respond to the treatment and the number of embryos that will need to be transferred to ensure maximum chances of success. This will be determined through a series of screenings:

• Ovarian Reserve Testing – A procedure that analyses hormone levels in your blood, this helps the doctor gauge the quantity and quality of your eggs.
• Semen Analysis – This procedure is usually conducted during the early stages, but can also be conducted before the IVF treatment starts.
• Infectious Disease Screening – A customary screening for sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS.
• Uterine Cavity Exam – The doctor will examine the uterine cavity to check for any abnormalities that could affect the treatment.

Preparing your body and mind

As a hopeful mother, it is crucial to condition your body and ensure the best environment for your baby’s development right from the early stages. A healthy diet, particularly applied for a period of 30 days before initiating treatment, can help build the health of the egg and increase your chances of success. A good fertility diet would be rich in antioxidants, minerals and vitamins to prevent free-radicals from damaging egg and sperm health as well as provide sufficient nutrients to support the baby during the initial stages of the pregnancy. And while supplements aren’t ideal, they can help ensure you have all the right nutrients required for successful IVF treatment.

Now given stress can affect your chances of a successful pregnancy, it is important to go into IVF treatment mentally prepared to tackle emotional challenges. The treatment has more than its fair share of ups and downs and as each stage gives way to the next, the anticipation and stress levels continue on an upward curve with a failed cycle bringing it all crashing down. This can severely affect one’s marriage, relationships and even change you as a person. Knowing the challenges that come with each IVF cycle, it would help to keep your personal life stable so as to keep away other sources of stress. It is important for you and your partner to maintain a healthy relationship without making IVF the sole focus of your thoughts. An IVF cycle is without a doubt, a challenging experience and whether or not it ends in success, emerging from the treatment with a strong spirit is the best thing you can do for yourself and your loved ones.

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The IVF procedure involves:

1. A hormonal medication is administered which hyper stimulates the ovaries to produce multiple follicles, each of which can produce an egg during ovulation. As eggs develop during ovulation, it is time to retrieve them.
2. Using a technique called transvaginal oocyte retrieval, in which a needle is inserted into the follicles, the follicular fluid is aspirated and is passed on to an embryologist to identify ova. At least 10 to 30 eggs are retrieved usually under sedation or general anaesthesia. This procedure takes anywhere between 30 to 60 minutes.
3. The eggs which have a high chance of ensuring a successful pregnancy are selected. In the meantime, the sperm is prepared by washing off the inactive cells and the seminal fluid. If the sperm was from a donor and was stored quarantined and frozen, it would be thawed and readied for use.
4. The egg and sperm are then mixed and kept under observation over a period of 2-5 days till it reaches the blastocyst stage.
5. Once the embryo is ready, it is transferred into the uterus using a flexible tube called a catheter, through the vagina and the cervix. To increase the chances of pregnancy, more than one embryo (usually three) is transferred, though this can lead to multiple pregnancy with health risks for the mother and the baby.
6. About two weeks after embryo transfer a pregnancy test is performed to determine the success of the procedure.

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Age

Almost all men are aware that the fertility of women starts to decline after 35 years, yet they are not aware of the fact that even a man’s age can affect their fertility and the capability to be a parent as well. Even though it is less known about the effect of age on male fertility, the evidence of older men losing their fertility is increasing day by day.

The fact is that for a man who is over 45 years old, it may take five or more times longer to conceive as compared to a man under 25 years of age.

Obesity

There is a significant confirmation that male obesity has negative effects on fertility through changes in hormonal levels and also direct changes to the function of the sperm and the molecular composition of the sperm. Impaired spermatogenesis along with sexual dysfunction have been shown to drive other variables towards poor fertility potential by various research studies. The increase in BMI is directly linked to lowering sperm concentration, serum testosterone, and serum estradiol increase research prove it.

Therefore, men who are overweight or obese are at a greater risk for infertility and thus need constant monitoring as it not only affects fertility but also causes several other complications like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and so on. Overweight and obese men are more likely to have low sperm count, or not have any viable sperm as compared with men who have normal weight.

There are several tests and treatments nowadays even for men to determine fertility and the cause of infertility in men.

Tests

To determine male fertility, it involves the production of healthy sperms and its movements towards the egg. The tests performed for male infertility is to determine if any of the processes are damaged.

It is likely that men should undergo a general physical examination that includes the examination of the genitals as well. Precise fertility tests can consist of:

• Analysis of Semen- One or more semen specimens may be asked to be produced. The semen specimen is then analyzed in a lab but sometimes in some rare cases, the sperm can also be tested for in the urine.
• Testing of Hormone- Blood tests are done to establish and verify the level of male hormones such as testosterone.
• Genetic Analysis- Genetic analysis is the testing to find out if there are any genetic issues that are causing infertility.
• Biopsy of the testicles- In some rare cases, a biopsy of the testicles is done to ascertain aberrations impacting infertility and to obtain the sperm to be used during assisted reproductive techniques, such as IVF if required.
• Additional Specialty testing- Sometimes rarely though, some tests may be done to assess the quality of the sperm so as to evaluate the semen specimen for DNA aberrations or abnormalities. Also, imaging studies like brain MRI, scanning of bone mineral density, ultrasound (trans-rectal or scrotal), or tests of the vas deferens could be done.

Treatments

The treatment for men usually comprises of treatment for common sexual complications or deficiency of healthy sperm. The treatment process can comprise of the following:

• Changing the lifestyle aspects- Cultivating healthier lifestyle habits and behavioral aspects can help in improving the probabilities for pregnancy. Avoiding certain medications and alcohol, maintaining regular exercise are some habits that will help in keeping you healthy.
• Prescriptions- Some medicines may improve sperm count and probability for accomplishing a positive pregnancy. These medications may enhance testicular function along with more sperm production and improving the quality.
• Surgery- Surgery may be able to reverse a sperm blockage and restore fertility in some cases. Also in certain rare cases, improving the overall chances for pregnancy may be done by surgically repairing a varicocele.
• Sperm retrieval- These techniques obtain sperm when ejaculation is a problem or when no sperm are present in the ejaculated fluid. They may also be used in cases where assisted reproductive techniques are planned and sperm counts are low or otherwise abnormal.

Generally, Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) is taken into consideration only if the other above treatments do not take effect. The ART techniques used more commonly during male infertility issues are IVF and Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

At Aspire Fertility Centre, our expert doctors are ever ready to listen to your questions and problems in order to find a solution. So, so call us or visit our clinic and you can also write to us, always welcome to do so.

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Recent studies on the effect of obesity and overweight among men show that there is a significant effect on male fertility as well. The studies show that the motility and quality of the sperm are considerably affected when a man is obese or overweight. Many research studies are still being conducted to find the correlation between obesity and decreased fertility in patients and how being overweight affects fertility in both males and females.

In reality, the period of time needed by obese women is often longer when trying to become pregnant spontaneously and are triple times more likely to have infertility issues than those women who have normal weight. Additionally, in obese women, the risk of obstetric complications is again three times higher than women with normal weight, along with increased miscarriage rates and the risk of fetal death and premature delivery being twice much more. Hence the recommendation by doctors and specialists about maintaining normal weight during pregnancy so that there is the least risk and also to avoid the undesirable effects on the baby’s health.

However, with the number of people whose fertility is getting affected by being overweight or obese increasing drastically, there is clearly a significant value in enhancing their chances of reproductive success and to make improved and effective treatments available. As such, it is not a surprise when medical consultants make recommendations that one should maintain a healthy weight through proper diet and regular exercise not only for a healthy life but to giving a chance of becoming pregnant successfully if one is trying to get pregnant.

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