FAQ

Infertility stands for the difficulty of achieving pregnancy after 12 months of regular unprotected sexual intercourse.

Infertility can be caused by female factors, male factors or it can be unexplained.

Female factors include problems with ovulation (the monthly release of an egg from the ovaries), with the uterus (shape of uterus, fibroids, polyps) or with tubes (tubal blockage).

Male factors include problems with sperm number and/or quality or total absence of sperm production.

Unexplained infertility stands for infertility with no obvious problem. Sometime the excessive stress is a cause of unexplained infertility

There are some simple lifestyle tips which can help to avoid infertility.

1) Maintain a healthy weight. Overweight and underweight women and men can experience infertility problems because of poor quality eggs and sperm. Also women with very high (above 30) or very low (below 18) BMI (Body Mass Index) are at increased risk of ovulation problems.

2) Exercise. Try to involve a long walk in your daily routine for 20-30 minutes, 2-3 times per week. The sedentary way of life can have a negative effect in your fertility.

3) Eat healthy. Fast foods and prepared foods contain high levels of preservatives usually harmful not only for your general health but for your fertility as well.

4) Stop smoking and avoid alcohol. Both smoking and alcohol have negative impact to eggs and mainly to sperm quality.

5) Reduce stress. Although is very difficult, try to reduce the level of stress in your daily routine. Stress has been associated with tissues’ resistance which is restrictive for embryo implantation.

If you are trying for about 12 months for a baby, having regular, unprotected intercourses and you can’t get pregnant, then you should ask for help. You may need some investigations to find the cause of infertility. However, if you are older than 35-36 years old it’s better to ask for help after 6 months of trying.

When you are trying for a natural pregnancy, you should avoid over thinking about your fertile days and your ovulation and you should get rid of all these applications in your mobile phone associated with this. When you focus on your ovulation the procedure is becoming very very stressful for you and your partner. Besides, you can’t really be sure about your ovulation day. You may have abdominal pain and clear discharges and all these symptoms of ovulation, even 2-3 days before your actual ovulation. So the best way to try for a baby is to have unprotected intercourses every 2-3 days from the end of your period until the beginning of the next one. In this way your ovulation day will be included for sure.

Although the ovulation tests that are available at the moment are quite accurate, they are not 100% because they can give you a positive result (usually a smiling face) 2-3 days before your actual ovulation and it depends a lot on your compliance with the instructions for use.

The answer in this question is yes. Most women with infertility problems have regular periods. In the case that the cause of infertility is ovulation difficulties, you may experience some problems with your period. However, you may have severe fertility issues even with regular periods.

The eggs are so small that it is impossible to see them with our eyes. That means that we need a microscope in order to see them. With the use of ultrasound we can see the bag that contains the egg (it is called follicle) but not the egg itself.

Every follicle contains one egg.

Poor quality of eggs stands for eggs that usually look normal, however, they can’t get fertilized or they can give embryos of poor quality, meaning embryos which can’t give a full term pregnancy.

The egg is the female gamete and the sperm is the male gamete. The embryo is the product of the two.

There are a lot of multivitamin supplements which you can use during your efforts for a pregnancy. Before you start your efforts for a pregnancy it is advisable to start taking folic acid and vitamin-D. Also, Q-10 Coenzyme has been found to have a positive impact on the quality of eggs.

The problems that male partners usually have in their semen analysis, are associated with concentration, motility and morphology of the sperm. Healthy eating, exercise, quitting of smoking, avoiding alcohol and fast foods are some simple rules that can help to improve your sperm. Also, avoiding tight underwear and trousers would be helpful as well.

After the age of 35 the number and the quality of the eggs we produce is getting slowly lower and lower. After the age of 40 this deterioration of our genetic material is taking place faster and faster and as a consequence at the age of 45 our chances of a live birth is almost 1-2%.