Infertility Treatments For Women Over 40

A lot of questions arise when women are deemed "infertile." What is causing my infertility? Does this mean I will never have children? Are there fertility treatments? If so, what do they entail?



The questions become even more pressing for infertile women over the age of 40 due to the narrow window of opportunity in conceiving a child. Before making a hasty decision about treatment options, a woman and her partner must furst take a breath and digest what it means to be infertile and the common causes of infertility before seeking treatment.



The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women's Health defines infertility as "not being able to get pregnant after one year of trying. Or six months, if a woman is 35 or older." Another possible classification of infertility is when a woman can get pregnant but cannot maintain the pregnancy.



In order to get pregnant, there are numerous steps the body must take. A broad overview of these steps are as follows:



1. One of the woman's ovaries must release an egg. This process is the ovulation.



2. The egg must then travel through the fallopian tube and into the woman's uterus.
3. A man's sperm must fertilize the egg.
4. The fertilized egg must then attach itself to the uterus.



If there are problems with any of these steps, infertility may result.



Infertility is devastating to many women who desire a successful pregnancy however according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as much as 10% of women have difficulty getting pregnant and/or staying pregnant. This translates to about 6.



1 million women in the U.S. It is a fairly common situation and a woman must realize she is not alone. Millions of women, many in their 40s, have gone through treatments to reverse their infertility and have successfully conceived and given birth.



Also, the notion of infertility being solely a woman's problem is just not true. Per the Office of Women's Health, about one-third of infertility cases are due to the woman, another one-third is due to problems with the man, and the remaining one-third is due to a combination of the woman and the man's problems.



Frustratingly, there are times when causes of infertility are just not known.