|
|
Remember, you still have a fairly good chance of getting pregnant on your own without needing any treatment at all! If no abnormality is found, your chance of getting pregnant without treatment within 3 years is about 1 in 3. Taking treatment helps to increase the chances of your conceiving --- and also makes it likelier that you will get pregnant sooner.
The treatment of luteal phase defects is as controversial as their diagnosis. They can be treated by using clomiphene which may help by augmenting the secretion of FSH and thus improving the quality of the follicle (and therefore the corpus luteum which develops from it). Direct treatment with progesterone can also help luteal phase abnormalities. The progesterone is usually given as vaginal suppositories, which are started after ovulation occurs.
Many patients are worried that if we are not able to find the cause of the infertility, we will not be able to treat them. Fortunately, this is not true today, our technology for treating infertility is far superior than our technology for making a diagnosis! In any case, most infertile couples are not really interested in a diagnosis of what the problem is they are much more interested in finding the solution to their problem --- getting a baby! Today, with assisted reproductive technology, the chance of treatment being successful is very good. Intrauterine insemination with superovulation is the simplest approach, and it helps because it increases the chances of the egg and sperm meeting; but some patients may also need IVF or ZIFT. IVF can be helpful, because it provides information about the sperm's fertilizing ability, and also allows the doctor to perform in the laboratory what is not happening in the bedroom (whatever the reason for this); ZIFT, on the other hand, has a higher pregnancy rate, and is very useful in these patients, since they have normal fallopian tubes.
© Dr. Aniruddha Malpani and Dr. Anjali Malpani www.drmalpani.com
Credits: How to Have a Baby: Overcoming Infertility
_2.jpg)
