At Cape Fertility, we are passionate about raising awareness about infertility and the treatments available, and this World Infertility Awareness Month, we would like to highlight the benefits of early detection and recommend that couples seek help sooner rather than later, because often there is a simple treatment that can prevent a great deal of stress, heartache and ‘lost’ time.

World Infertility Awareness Month in June each year is a time to celebrate the amazing advances already achieved in overcoming infertility. It also creates an opportunity for those affected to share their stories and experiences, while providing support and resources for those struggling with infertility.

This World Infertility Awareness Month, our team at Cape Fertility wants to spotlight the importance of couples seeking professional help as soon as they become concerned about their fertility.

How long should you try to conceive before seeking help?

The World Health Organization (WHO) https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/infertility defines infertility as “a disease of the male or female reproductive system defined by the failure to achieve a pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse”.

For women over the age of 35, the time frame for this diagnosis is generally reduced to 6 months, as it is a known fact that women’s fertility reduces gradually over time but drops significantly around the age of 35.

So, it may sound like you should try for a whole year (or more than 6 months if you are over 35) if you are concerned about your fertility, before seeking professional help.

This may hold true for some couples, due to the fact that the chance of natural conception each month is just 18 to 20% – even for young, healthy couples with no confounding factors and no general medical conditions, who are having normal intercourse regularly without protection.

There are many reasons for such a low natural conception rate. To achieve conception, there needs to be a healthy, normal egg, as well as a healthy, normal sperm, that meet unobstructed in healthy fallopian tubes during a narrow ‘fertile period’ of 2 to 5 days, and – if the egg cell is fertilised – the resulting embryo must still find its way to the uterus and successfully implant itself in the lining. On average, for young, healthy couples, the chances of all these factors lining up perfectly to result in a pregnancy is just 20% each month.

So, the advice for young, healthy couples could well be to try for an extended period of time, especially when no cause for infertility can be found, because it might just be that all the essential elements required for conception have not yet lined up perfectly.

The benefits of early detection of infertility

However, the general guideline of trying for a year (or 6 months after age 35) does not hold true for everyone.

If you are not a young, healthy couple, or if you have any reason to be concerned about your fertility, our team would like to encourage seeking help without delay.

This is because, for many people, the already low natural chance of conception of just 20% each month is further reduced by poor health due to a lack of balanced nutrition and poor lifestyle choices, such as smoking and alcohol and drug use.

Add to this the fact that as women get older, they have fewer eggs, and the quality of the remaining eggs also reduce, which means that the chances of ovulating a normal, healthy egg become even lower the older we get.

At the same time, even though sperm quality is less affected by age, there is a general and alarming drop in sperm quality globally, and in half of couples facing fertility challenges,

there is a male fertility problem.

There may also be a range of other fertility challenges in one or both partners, such as hormone problems or autoimmune diseases, or physical issues, like injuries or conditions such as blocked fallopian tubes or endometriosis.

“If you’re young and healthy and you’ve tried unsuccessfully for one or two months, it just might be that all necessary factors were not lined up perfectly. So, it might be wise to just wait another few months,” says Dr Jo Pottow, a Reproductive Medicine Specialist at Cape Fertility, during a recent IFAASA webinar.

“But to have a couple try for a whole year unassisted may not in their best interest! Getting a negative pregnancy test month after month, or facing the disappointment of your period again and again for an entire year, is an emotional challenge and can cause a great deal of stress and relationship strain, which in itself can further reduce the chances of a pregnancy. It takes great courage to say ‘Okay, let’s try again’. ‘Let’s try again’. It’s difficult.”

“At Cape Fertility, we encourage couples to seek help as soon as they become concerned about their fertility. So, even if you under 35 and have been trying for less than a year, there’s absolutely no harm in doing the basics: seeking help from a specialist, having a few basic tests done and just finding out what options there are.”

Dr Jo explains: “It is very sad to have a couple come to our clinic after a whole emotional year of trying, just to find a minor issue like, for example, the female partner has a thyroid issue, or one of the other hormones, like prolactin, is completely abnormal. Or a simple, routine semen analysis reveals an issue with the male partner’s sperm. These problems detract from the perfect conditions necessary for conception, but are quite straightforward to fix. The couple has lost a year of time and suffered a great deal of distress because of something that could have been picked up and treated at a first consultation with a fertility specialist.

“A basic ultrasound, a basic semen analysis and some basic blood tests can do no harm. It doesn’t mean you have to step it up to advanced fertility treatments. Sometimes it’s just a matter of getting checked out. Even if no issues are picked up, it will still give you the reassurance that everything is looking fine, and you should keep on trying because there are no obvious obstacles, so you have a good chance of conceiving naturally.”

Seek help as soon as you are concerned about your fertility!

Infertility is a very tough journey, no matter what the cause thereof is.

However, it is important to know that even though there are many possible causes for infertility, there are also a range of treatments – and some are as simple and straightforward as taking medications. Only a small percentage of fertility patients require advanced Assisted Reproductive Therapy (ART) such as IVF or ICSI.

If you are concerned about your fertility, the best way to know if there is a problem – and a treatment – is to consult with a fertility specialist.

Arranging your initial consultation is as simple as contacting us here…

At Cape Fertility, we value each individual patient and we look forward to providing you with individualised and personalised care, affordable quality fertility treatment, and higher success rates at our purpose-built premises in the beautiful city of Cape Town.