Infertility Treatments: When is the right time?
Deciding on the right time to start your infertility treatments can be difficult. To help you decide when to seek infertility treatment, here are a few facts about fertility.
It is time to consult a Fertility Specialist, if you are:
- under 35 years and have been trying to get pregnant for over 12 months.
- over 35 and have been trying for 6 months.
- over 40 and been trying for 3 months.
Meeting a Fertility Specialist
After an initial consultation and comprehensive review of your medical history, the fertility specialist will ask most patients to undergo a complete physical exam and a series of tests. This evaluation phase also involves some blood and hormone tests which your Fertility Specialist will use along with your history and physical exam to diagnose the cause of infertility. Once the cause of infertility is known the physician may recommend one of the many infertility treatments, including Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART), that can help you.
Assisted Reproductive Technologies (A.R.T)
Assisted Reproductive Technologies (A.R.T) is a generic term for all advanced fertility therapies. It most commonly refers to in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET or IVF) but also includes other treatments, such as intracytoplasmic sperm injections (ICSI), egg or embryo preservation and use of donor eggs. These procedures all involve the removal of a woman’s eggs from her ovaries, processing these eggs with sperm, and returning the embryo(s) to the woman to attempt pregnancy.