Tag: infertility

When my husband and I turned to In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) for conception help, we were very hopeful. Because of our health history, we’d been told that it was nearly impossible to conceive naturally, so reproductive assistance gave us options that we wouldn’t have had otherwise.

We embarked on a journey we thought would be relatively manageable, but the process quickly took over our lives, both physically and emotionally. Then, after an egg retrieval procedure led to severe internal bleeding, I learned first-hand about the IVF risks that many doctors don’t disclose.

If only I was Tyrian Lannister of Game of Thrones—knowing things about who was going to win the war for the iron throne instead of this taboo topic of infertility. If someone five years ago would have told me, a marine and total man-child, everything I know now about infertility, I would’ve laughed in their face.

When you think about infertility you usually think about the perspective of the woman. There is a lot more going on in the uterus than there is in the testicles. The human woman's reproductive organ is a mystery even today.

Women seeking fertility treatment, particularly young women, may experience a negative impact on their sex lives, although it will likely dissipate over time, according to a U.S. study.

“We weren’t surprised at all to find sexual distress in couples who are infertile,” said senior study author Dr. Tami S. Rowen of the University of California-San Francisco’s Irene Betty Moore Women’s Hospital. “Sex takes on a really different meaning for people trying to get pregnant.”

Infertility affects approximately 6.7 million women in the United States, Rowen and her colleagues write in the journal Sexual Medicine. Couples with infertility have significantly more anxiety, depression and stress, and that can have an ongoing effect on quality of life and the health of a marriage.