From a medical point of view, infertility is determined after one year of marriage in which regular sexual relationships are held but without any success in obtaining a pregnancy. There are fertility problems that have simple solutions and treatments, and others that are more complicated, but all can be placed under the umbrella of infertility. We can say that most fertility problems are treatable, and there are only rare cases in which we talk about actual pathological infertility.

The reasons are numerous and differ between men and women. First, it must be clarified that pregnancy happens through several stages. The woman ovulates once a month and she has only one or two eggs, for a pregnancy to occur, the intimate relationship must take place during this period of the month and a sperm must reach the egg. If there is weakness in the movement of sperms, or for example a blockage in woman’s tubes, pregnancy will not occur. A good quality sperm should meet the egg for a fertilization to happen.

In 50 percent of the cases, not making sperm is a congenital problem. Also, similar cases were observed with people who had chemotherapy as a cancer treatment. Therefore, all doctors are currently emphasizing on young people with cancer to freeze some sperms for later before undergoing chemotherapy.

In fact, the reasons are numerous and can’t be limited. Some of them are congenital, some may arise later, and some are related to infections. Environmental factors such as pollution and smoking tend to play the major role, and their impact appears to be greater on men than on women.

If the wife is not over the age of forty, the success ratio reach 30 or 40% in the single operation, while the chances of success can reach 60 or 70% when the operation is repeated. In other techniques, the chances of success do not exceed 6%.

If the wife is over the age of forty, the chances of getting pregnant with other techniques do not exceed 3%, while with IVF procedure, it reaches 30%.

Here, it must be stressed not to waste time, because success ratio decline with woman’s age.

When the woman has no eggs, or the man has no sperms (not even in the testicles), then there is no point even by resorting to IVF procedure, as it does not work.

One of the most common misconceptions is that the woman should lie down for some time, a week or so, after undergoing IVF operation. But in fact, there is no need for that at all as studies have shown.

However, the doctor may advise her to rest for two days or three if it gives her psychological relief, so that she does not feel guilty if the operation fails. But medically speaking, this does not have any influence on the success rate of the operation.

After 12 days from embryo transfer, the woman should take a blood test, not a urine test, to check wither she is pregnant or not. The number showing in the blood test is very important for doctors in case another IVF procedure should be done in the future.

If the operation is not successful the first time, the procedure can be repeated in the following month, as it is very likely that the IVF operation will not be successful the first time. The important thing is that there should be an interval between the two operations of at least 30 days.