Sex may permeate our popular culture, but conversations about it are still associated with stigma and shame in Indian households. As a result, most individuals dealing with sexual health issues or trying to find information about sex often resort to unverified online sources or follow the unscientific advice of their friends.
To address the widespread misinformation about sex, News18.com is running this weekly sex column, titled ‘Let’s Talk Sex’. We hope to initiate conversations about sex through this column and address sexual health issues with scientific insight and nuance.
In this article, we will go over what could be causing your fertility issues despite normal semen tests and how to fix them.
Are you wondering why you and your partner haven’t had a baby yet, even though you have a healthy sex life and normal semen tests? You might be facing an issue with infertility. Before we dive into what could be causing your infertility, it’s important to remember that you are not alone.
What Is Infertility?
Maybe you’ve been trying to have a baby for months, or even years, but just can’t seem to get pregnant. Put simply, infertility is defined as the inability for a couple to naturally conceive a child. This doesn’t necessarily mean that getting pregnant isn’t possible. Rather, it could indicate that the process of getting pregnant is harder and takes more time than it typically would for a regular couple.
The good news is that infertility doesn’t always mean something is wrong.
In fact, sometimes couples with a healthy sex life and normal semen tests just haven’t gotten pregnant due to timing or other factors out of their control. Additionally, there are many treatments available today that can help couples conceive Even if they don’t understand why they can’t do it naturally.
Signs of Infertility
Some signs of infertility in couples include:
- Sexually active for at least one year without conceiving
- Abnormal menstrual cycles
- Painful or irregular periods
- Endometriosis
- Low sperm count or abnormal sperm shape and motility
If any of the above sound familiar, then it’s time to talk to your doctor and start looking into the root cause of your infertility. A comprehensive fertility assessment can help diagnose the reasons why you are unable to conceive. With a better understanding comes the opportunity to make improvements in your lifestyle and look into potential treatment options that can help you achieve your dream of becoming a parent.
Potential Causes of Infertility
It’s possible that even if you have a healthy sex life and normal semen tests, there can be some other potential causes of infertility. Here are some of the most common ones:
Hormonal Imbalances: Hormonal imbalances can make it hard for couples to conceive, especially if one or both of them has an underlying medical condition. Hormones play a crucial role in reproductive health, and as such, imbalances can prevent ovulation or low sperm count.
Blockage in the Reproductive Tracts: Blockages in the reproductive tracts – sperm ducts, uterus, fallopian tubes – can prevent conception. These blockages can be caused by past infections from STDs, endometriosis or pelvic inflammatory disease.
Genetic and Congenital Issues: Genetics and congenital issues also cause infertility. While it is rare, some people may have chromosomal abnormalities that result in infertility.
Other Causes: There are some other potential causes you should consider:
– Structural issues like blockages between testicles and the vas deferens; this will typically require surgery to fix
– Too much stress can make it hard for a man to relax enough for erection and ejaculation; this is known as psychogenic erectile dysfunction
– Substance use (including marijuana) may lower sperm count and motility.
Unexplained Infertility: Another cause of infertility could be a combination of factors that wasn’t picked up with sperm testing – in medical terms this is called “unexplained infertility.” It’s important to note that even women who have had babies in the past can experience unexplained infertility when they are trying for another child.
The best way to uncover potential infertility causes is to collaborate with your doctor to get tested and find out what is going on in your body so you can get the right treatment option for you and your partner.
Tips for Overcoming Infertility
If you’ve been actively trying to conceive with no result, it is possible that you may have difficulties with infertility. Don’t give up hope, there are tips and strategies you can use to increase your chances at having a child.
- Talk to your doctor: The first step is to talk with your doctor about the issue. Even if tests have come back normal and there doesn’t appear to be any problems, it can be helpful to get a second opinion or to explore additional tests. Depending on your age and the results of any tests, your doctor may recommend different treatments or lifestyle changes that can help improve your odds of getting pregnant.
- Take care of yourself: Your general health plays a big role in achieving fertility, so make sure you are taking good care of yourself. Eat healthy foods, exercise regularly, get plenty of rest and avoid any habits like smoking or drinking alcohol that could hamper fertility. Consider also reducing stress levels by learning stress management techniques like yoga or meditation.
- Identify ovulation: If infertility is due to egg production issues in the female partner, tracking ovulation can be a useful way of pinpointing when one is most likely to conceive. This can involve keeping track of mensuration cycles, monitoring basal body temperature or using an over-the-counter ovulation predictor kit.
If it’s difficult for couples to get pregnant, it’s important to take a complete medical history and to perform a few tests to look for the underlying cause. While the semen analysis is a great place to start, there could be other factors at play, like poor egg quality, structural issues, and immunological issues.
In the end, a diagnosis can be made only with a more detailed medical history, physical examination, and additional laboratory screens. While this journey can be long and challenging, it’s important to seek help to understand the cause and receive necessary treatments. And while it’s easy to be overwhelmed, it is possible to achieve your dream of having a baby.
Prof (Dr) Saransh Jain is the winner of the Swasth Bharat Rattan Award and is a Certified and Licensed Sexologist by the American Board of Sexology. He is currently a Senior Consultant at Dr SK Jain’s Burlington Clinic in Lucknow. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
