What Are The Most Common Fertility Problems in Women?

About half of couples who experience a problem with fertility do so because of a fertility problem in the woman. Infertility is defined as the inability to become pregnant after one year of attempting to become pregnant. Infertility is a common problem. Roughly 10 percent of women who attempt to become pregnant encounter problems with infertility. There are several common fertility problems in women. These can include:

- Endometriosis.
Endometriosis occurs when the tissue that is usually found only in the lining of the uterus (known as endometrial tissue) grows somewhere outside of the uterus in the abdominal and pelvic region. Endometriosis may have no symptoms, or it can cause painful intercourse and/or menstruation, and general pelvic pain. Endometriosis can be address through surgery to remove the tissue or through artificial insemination.

- Problems with ovulation.
Some women will have either irregular ovulation or will not ovulate at all. This is usually caused by problems with hormones, and may or may not be accompanied by the absence of a period. Most women with ovulation problems can become pregnant through the use of fertility medications such as clomid or through in vitro fertilization.

- Poor egg quality.
Some women will have eggs that have abnormalities that make it so that they can not sustain a pregnancy. This is particularly common as a woman becomes older, as the quality of her eggs will decline over time. Women with poor egg quality have fewer options, including IVF using the eggs of a donor.

- PCOS.
Short for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, PCOS is among the most common of causes of infertility. PCOS can cause a variety of problems, from a delay in conception to higher miscarriage rates to complications with pregnancy. For some women, the first symptoms of PCOS are that they are having very few or even no periods. Women with PCOS can often be treated successfully through the use of fertility medications such as Clomid. Some women are also successful using Metformin (Glucophage) to help regulate ovulation.

- Blocked or damaged fallopian tubes.
This will prevent sperm from getting to the egg to be fertilized, and will also prevent the fertilized egg from getting to your uterus. Fallopian tube problems can often be resolved surgically.

These are just a few of the most common fertility problems in women. If you are having problems with fertility, you should contact your health care provider who can help determine what the cause might be, as well as how best to treat it.

Diggdel.icio.usFacebookStumbleUpon

This entry was posted under Fertility Issues.