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Research shows that fertility issues are relatively common among both men and women. Even after a year of trying, around fifteen percent of couples do not achieve successful conception after one year. Around one-third of those that are unsuccessful in the first year will be able to conceive after a year, leaving fully one in ten couples unable to conceive a child even after two years of trying.
Age plays a major role in fertility. Younger men and women have higher success rates in creating a pregnancy than older couples. Among couples under the age of thirty with no medical issues, between twenty and thirty-seven percent of couples that are trying to have children succeed in conception in a matter of months. Fertility remains high until around the age of thirty, when it slowly starts to decline for both sexes, associated with various forms of hormone decline, among other variables.
Menstrual Issues that Lead to Fertility Issues
Every woman has her own particular menstrual patterns. When women first experience puberty, these menstrual cycles can be somewhat erratic, but over the course of three years or so, their bodies usually enter a stable pattern of hormone release. Women usually have a cycle which lasts anywhere from three to six weeks.
A minority of women have issues with their cycle, however. Around one in seven women either have heavy flow during them menstrual cycle, or their body does not experience the cycle in a normal pattern. There are three primary categories of irregularity which can impact fertility: Ovulatory Infertility, Anovulatory Infertility, and Oligoovulation.
Ovulatory Infertility means that the patient releases eggs and experiences her menstrual cycle in a normal pattern, but there are issues which limit fertility unrelated to the release of eggs. For example, if the woman can experience fertilization but not implantation, this is a form of Ovulatory Infertility. Another example is when ovulation occurs, but sperm is not able to reach the egg. Ovulatory Infertility is the cause of sixty to seventy percent of female infertility.
Anovulatory Infertility means that the patient does not experience her period in a normal pattern, or goes for long periods of time without experiencing her period. In some cases, the woman may experience her period without ovulation. This condition is also known as Ovulatory Dysfunction.
Thirty to forty percent of women that experience fertility issues have such issues because they are unable or have trouble ovulating. This form of infertility is easy to treat for most patients, and seven out of ten women can conceive with the help of medications which encourage ovulation and promote a normal cycle, such as Repronex and Clomiphene Citrate.
Oligoovulation is a condition in which ovulation occurs, but occurs in an irregular pattern which makes it harder to conceive.
What Conditions Prevent or Inhibit Ovulation and Fertility in Women?
There are four categories of issues which inhibit ovulation:, Hormonal Issues, Follicle Issues, Early Menopause, and Ovarian Damage.
Hormonal Issues Which Inhibit Fertility
Most women that have trouble ovulating have issues as a result of Hormone Imbalances which prevent normal ovulation. There are three main categories of Hormone Irregularity:
Pituitary Malfunction-In both men and women, the pituitary gland is responsible for producing two hormones vital for fertility: Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and Luteinizing Hormone (LH). In order to be sufficiently fertile, women need to produce a specific amount of both of these hormones.
There are a number of issues that can contribute to this, including tumors, physical injury to the pituitary, and any other cause of Hormonal Imbalance.
Hypothalamic Malfunction-In order for FSH and LH to be produced, they receive signals from the Hypothalamus in the form of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone (GnRH). If the Hypothalamus does not send the correct signal to the pituitary, it can prevent a woman's eggs from reaching maturity, which prevents ovulation. Around one in five women do not ovulate for this reason.
