Fertility Treatments for Women

Female Fertility/Infertility
Female fertility is a woman's capability to conceive and have children through normal, natural sexual activity. Estimates are that 85 percent of women under the age of 30 become pregnant within one year of trying. Fertility is a normal state.

Female infertility is the failure to conceive after trying to get pregnant for one full year. Female infertility stems from a number of causes-some genetic, some acquired. Among the most common are

• Abnormally low production or faulty regulation of the reproductive hormones;


• Damage to the fallopian tubes from infection, surgery, previous pregnancy, or a genetic condition;


• Cervical stenosis, a narrowing or blockage of the cervix;


• Polyps or cysts in the uterus;


• Adhesions (scar tissue) in any of the reproductive organs from disease and infection, surgery, or a genetic condition;


• Endometriosis, the growth of the tissue that normally lines the uterus also growing elsewhere in the body; and


• Stress and an unhealthy lifestyle.

Fertility Treatments
A number of fertility treatments are available to women. (The terms fertility treatments and infertility treatments are interchangeable. They both deal with problems of fertility.) Here is a brief summary of the most common fertility treatments.

Physical Therapy
Physical therapy is a noninvasive, drug-free fertility treatment. Certain PT techniques, such as the Wurn Technique, help break up adhesions in the female reproductive organs. Adhesions account for about half of all cases of female infertility. Hands-on bodywork also helps trigger and regulate reproductive hormone production.

Risks: None
Side effects: Brief minor soreness, occasionally
Success rate: Better than 70 percent with some techniques; successful over the long term, beyond one menstrual cycle

Fertility Drugs
Another noninvasive fertility treatment, fertility drugs regulate the reproductive hormones and stimulate the release of eggs during ovulation. Most women need to take them for up to six menstrual cycles. Clomiphene and the gonadotropins are the most common fertility drugs.

Risks: Multiple pregnancy-twins, triplets, or more; ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome
Side effects: Headache, bloating, hot flashes, vaginal dryness, rash
Success rate: Between 20 percent and 60 percent, often with the help of artificial insemination

Surgery
Surgical fertility treatments include operations to repair genetic defects and remove adhesions, polyps, cysts, and other abnormal tissue growths.

Risks: Reaction to anesthesia; bleeding; infection; buildup of scar tissue that requires additional surgeries
Side effects: Mild to severe pain and discomfort following surgery
Success rate: Varies greatly, from 10 to 90 percent, depending on the problem and procedure

Artificial Insemination
This is one of the assisted reproductive technologies (ART). With this fertility treatment, a concentrated dose of sperm from a partner or donor is injected into the woman's uterus, cervix, or fallopian tubes with a catheter. In some cases, women take fertility drugs several menstrual cycles before the procedure.

Risks: Multiple pregnancies; infection from contaminated semen or unsterile catheter
Side effects: Minor cramping and pain; vaginal discharge or light bleeding following the procedure; fertility drugs side effects
Success rate: Varies from 5 to 25 percent

In Vitro Fertilization
Another ART, with this fertility treatment, eggs are removed from the ovaries and fertilized with partner or donor sperm in a laboratory then placed in the uterus to grow. Some women need to take fertility drugs as well.

Risks: Multiple pregnancy; ectopic pregnancy; ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome; birth defects (although fertility specialists agree more research is needed to confirm this claim); reaction to anesthesia; infection; bleeding
Side effects: Cramping; minor pain; mood swings; fertility drugs side effects
Success rate: Claims vary from 28 to 75 percent