What Doctors Don’t Tell You About Fertility Drugs and Treatments?

02/08/2023

 

Female Infertility Medications and Treatments

Female infertility can be described as a process of trying to get pregnant for a year with frequent unprotected sex but with no success. It can result from both female and male factors, but sometimes it isn’t easy to diagnose its actual cause. Your physician will evaluate your partner and you and then proceed with the treatment accordingly. The main treatment for female infertility or women with ovulation disorders includes Fertility drugs. They are known to stimulate ovulation to help women get pregnant. These drugs function like natural hormones, i.e., FSH and LH, which trigger ovulation in women. Moving forward, you should know about the medications, surgery options, and assisted reproductive technologies available nowadays.

A. Fertility Medications

Clomiphene Citrate – This fertility drug, clomiphene, stimulates the ovulation process, which causes the pituitary gland to release more natural hormones like LH and FSH. It helps with the growth of an ovarian follicle which contains an egg.

Injected Hormones – HCG, FSH, HMG, GnRH, and GnRH agonists are hormones available in injection form. Their major function is to trigger the ovaries to release an egg along with other fertility medications. We carry generic fertility drugs online, like HCG; you can place an order with us and save up to 80% on your fertility medications.

There are other medications like metformin, letrozole, and bromocriptine available in the market that doctors prescribe to women dealing with fertility issues.

B. Surgery Options

There are only a few surgical options available that can either correct or improve fertility in women. These treatments include Laparoscopic or hysteroscopic surgery and Tubal surgeries.

C. Reproductive assistance

Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) - It includes procedures for handling embryos or eggs. It involves surgically removing eggs from a female’s ovary, combining them with a man’s sperm in the Lab, and then placing the resulting embryos back in the woman’s uterus. One of the most effective and successful ART is IVF.

Intrauterine insemination (IUI) - It is a process that involves placing millions of healthy sperm inside a woman’s uterus around the time of ovulation.

 

Realities about your Fertility Drugs and Treatments that your Doctor may not mention but you should be aware of:

1. Consulting a wrong doctor– 

Women usually opt to go to their regular ob-gyn, who can prescribe fertility drugs. They wait for a long time before they visit a specialist, i.e., a Reproductive Endocrinologist who is specialized in conducting procedures like IVF. Also, some Ob-gyn make their patient stay on fertility drugs for a long time, which is neither required nor healthy for a patient. There are higher chances of conceiving via the IVF process under the guidance of an RE as they have more experience in that field.       

2. No guarantee of success using ART –

Now, there is a software available that can provide a personalized estimate for a woman trying to get pregnant using ART. Also, some physicians still do not explicitly inform the patient about the success rate of their pregnancy even after having such advanced technologies. The chance of an ART to result in a successful live birth is around 38% for women under the age of 35 which drops to 32% for women aged between 35-37. The success rate is about 23% in women aged 38-40, which decreases further to 14 percent among women 41-42 and 7 percent for women aged 43 and 44. The lowest success rate is 3% for women after 44.

3. Fertility Treatments and Medications take a toll on your health condition –

An IVF process can be very stressful for the patient. Patients undergoing this process can end up feeling anxious or depressed. You should consult a mental health counselor if you think your mood is heading in the wrong direction. Try to spend time with your close ones or with people you can trust and confide in.

4. Fertility drugs, too, have risks –

Although fertility drugs have relatively low risks compared to other treatments, the most common of them is having multiple pregnancies, mainly a risk of having twins. Another risk related to fertility drugs is induced ovulation, known as OHSS Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Lastly, women taking these medications for more than 12 months without a successful pregnancy might develop borderline ovarian tumors later in life.

5. If you don’t become pregnant with medications and treatments, it can make you feel different about your body –

Most women think their bodies are designed to carry babies, so the inability to not get pregnant even after fertility drugs and treatments can adversely affect self-esteem, body image, and self-image. Women might feel their body has defects, which can lead to changes in their sexual functioning as well.

6. It’s time to stop the treatment –

It’s a doctor’s work to guide you throughout the treatment. Many times doctors try to push the treatment beyond its requirement. Either they are trying to help you get pregnant genuinely, or they are trying to upsell their treatment to you. A lot of times, doctors, rather than stopping the treatment for the patient, keep selling them additional services. Instead, they should make the patient understand the risks of continuing the process and stop the treatment when needed.

 

Conclusion

Conceiving a baby is a wonderful path that every woman wants to lead and which comes naturally to most of them, but for some, it’s challenging. This challenge has almost doubled in recent years due to lifestyle changes, pollution, trying to get pregnant in the late 30s, obesity, etc. Now we have Fertility drugs and treatments that can help a couple achieve a successful pregnancy. Fertility drugs also come with challenges, So consult your doctor to learn more about them and get detailed information about the treatments for a better experience.