Frequenty Asked Questions
When should I seek fertility treatments?
What are my chances of becoming pregnant?
What should we consider when choosing a therapy?
When should I seek fertility treatments?
If you know for sure that you have a problem then there is no reason to wait.
Examples of potential fertility problems include:
• Abnormal menstrual cycles
o Shorter than 27 days
o Longer than 35 days
o Cycles that vary in length by more than a few days
• History of pelvic inflammatory disease
• History of testicular trauma
If you have no reason to suspect a problem and you are young (less than 35 years old) it is okay to try for a year before seeking help.
The primary reason to consider seeking help sooner as you get older is that the probability of a fertility problem goes up and the success rates of expensive fertility treatments begin to decline.
It is never wrong to seek preconceptual counseling. If you have concerns make an appointment.
What are my chances of becoming pregnant?
There are no definitive ways of determining the probability of pregnancy unless there is a clear and significant problem.
In most cases we use data collected from groups of people that share similar characteristics to predict the probability of pregnancy in individual couples.
In general, younger women are more successful than older women. The oldest woman to get pregnant with her own oocytes at the Duke Fertility Center is 44 years of age.
This is a common observation in fertility clinics across the United States. The chances of conceiving are also directly linked to the type of therapy that is employed.
What should we consider when choosing a therapy?
Three of the most important to consider when choosing an infertility therapy are the probability of success, the risk of high order multiples (more than twins) and the cost.
The probability of success at fertility centers improves from year to year.
