Infertility Specialist

What is infertility?

Infertility means you are having problems conceiving after trying for a year or more. Most healthy couples conceive in the first six months after stopping the use of birth control, so if you haven’t become pregnant after a year of trying, it could indicate a degree of infertility.

Before you get too concerned about your inability to conceive, you should make sure that you’re optimizing your chances of becoming pregnant. In many cases, stress, work pressures, and significant events in your life can affect your ability to conceive, without any underlying medical cause of infertility.

Learning to relax, living a healthy lifestyle, and having sex regularly at the optimal time could be all you need to do to solve the problem. You can chart your ovulation using a smartphone app or calendar to make sure you’re having sex at the best time, and make changes to your lifestyle to promote optimal mental and physical health. If you’re getting everything right and still struggling to conceive, Dr. Enriquez can help.

How is infertility diagnosed?

When you visit Lake Mary Gynecology, Dr. Enriquez spends time going over your medical history and looking at what could be affecting your ability to conceive. She examines you to look for any indications of infection or disease, and carries out routine blood tests to check your general health.

Other diagnostic techniques Dr. Enriquez may use to help with pinpointing the cause of your infertility include:

• Semen analysis for your partner
• Hysterosalpingogram (HSG)
• Hormonal assessments
• Laparoscopy
• Saline sonogram (SIS)

Hormone imbalances and gynecological conditions like endometriosis are frequently a cause of infertility, but by prescribing the right treatment for these kinds of conditions Dr. Enriquez can increase your chances of conceiving.

How is infertility treated?

Initially, infertility treatments focus on addressing any lifestyle or medical issues that could be affecting your fertility. Treating underlying conditions is the priority, because failing to manage your health makes it less likely that fertility treatments are going to be effective, and it’s important that you are in the best possible health when you do conceive.

Following any initial interventions, Dr. Enriquez may then prescribe medication to improve ovulation. In some cases, even the most rigorous testing doesn’t establish the cause of infertility, but ovulation medications can still improve your chances of conceiving even if the cause of your infertility is unknown.

Even though fertility generally decreases as you get into your 30s and 40s, modern science has opened many doors to help you bear children naturally in the later stages of your child-bearing years. Dr. Enriquez welcomes women regardless of age, and in her experience, women can have trouble-free pregnancies at 40 or older, but she does recommend getting help with infertility without delaying too long.

For women who are finding conception a serious problem, treatments such as intrauterine insemination (IUI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF) are available.

If you’re trying to start a family and having problems conceiving, call Lake Mary Gynecology today, or book an appointment online.