Using Drugs During Infertility Treatment By: Stuart Smith

For a woman undergoing fertility treatment it is quite normal to expect possible surgery and drugs prior to the In Vitro Fertilization starting. Drugs can help trigger egg production for a woman who has erratic or no monthly ovulation; that is when an egg is created and released every month.

This is known as ovulation induction and whilst you may get pregnant using fertility drugs alone, they are more often used with other treatments such as Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) and In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). Clomiphene Citrate, usually known simply as Clomid, is the oldest and probably the most widely used fertility drug. When taken in tablet form it is used to send a signal to your brain telling it that it isn't producing enough estrogen which indirectly triggers the ovaries into producing more eggs.

Before In Vitro Fertilization and Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection was popular, and easily available, surgery was used more but it can still be helpful with infertility. Blocked tubes, caused by inflammation and scarring as a result of infections such as chlamydia, for example. Others include Fibroids, Endometriosis and other conditions affecting the womb or tubes. Fortunately, nowadays keyhole surgery is the norm and your physician at the fertility clinic will be the best person to advise you on available courses of action.

The use of drugs in male infertility is not as prominent as they are with treating infertility in women. Sometimes they may be prescribed for men under special circumstances. Antibiotics are used to treat infection or inflammation and sometimes vitamins C & E are prescribed to help increase sperm movement but the there is still no real evidence that this works. Sometimes a man will have had a vasectomy and it cannot be reversed so a small procedure called ‘Surgical Sperm Retrieval' is carried out where sperm are removed from the testicles, or to give it the correct medical term, Epididymis.

Fertility Drugs injected to stimulate ovulation do increase your chances of a multiple pregnancy and birth: twins, triplets or more. To reduce the chance of multiple pregnancies, physicians will often cancel a cycle where a large number of follicles or egg sacks are produced, if fertility drugs are being used in conjunction with Intrauterine Insemination. However, if In Vitro Fertilization is being used then the chances of a multiple pregnancy is lowered by replacing one or two embryos.

Of course, this article can only furnish a small amount of information on fertility drugs and surgery in what is a complex subject.

For more details of infertility treatments visit Infertility Treatment Now

Total Views : 2    Word Count: 413   See All Articles By Stuart Smith