Involuntary childlessness
During intercourse, millions of sperm cells are ejected into the woman’s vagina. From here, some of the sperm cells swim up into the Fallopian tubes. Once a month, a mature egg is released from one of the woman’s ovaries. The egg is intercepted by a Fallopian tube and there the sperm cells penetrate the egg. The – now fertilised – egg makes its way down into the uterus, where it hopefully attaches itself.
That easy... and yet many reasons can cause the process to wrong occasionally and for the process to be unsuccessful.
If the couple do not achieve pregnancy after trying for one year, they should be examined by their GP (doctor). The male partner will submit a sperm sample and the woman will have some blood tests taken so that the GP can see if the sperm quality is up to standard and whether ovulation is occurring. The GP will then often refer the couple to a fertility clinic or a gynaecologist for more detailed examinations and treatment.
The examinations and treatment of involuntary childlessness initiated are not without costs – but the results are good.
The cause of childlessness must be determined before planning and carrying out the treatment, and fortunately, we are almost always able to discover the cause or causes – often more than one cause is present. When we know the cause of the childlessness, we can more efficiently, more professionally and more securely advise our patients on the choice and duration of potential treatment methods.
Examination and advice are therefore key words for our individual treatment strategies that we strive to make our hallmark.
Understandably, fewer and fewer people are happy to be classed in the category “no known cause of childlessness”.
Emotions
Involuntary childlessness is often associated with emotions and lack of self confidence: “Is there something wrong with me as a man or a woman?” and guilt “Is it my fault?”. They may feel inadequate because they cannot manage the most basic task in life – reproduction. Nothing could be more wrong. And these kinds of negative feelings can spiral into anger and accusations directed against the partner that are entirely unreasonable.
Many couples in this situation do not seek help, despite the fact that they desperately want a child, even though by far the majority of involuntary childless couples can be treated successfully – they have a child. On average, 70% of the couples who use whatever forms of treatment are necessary have a child.
More and more receiving treatment
Over the past 8 years, the number of test-tube treatments has risen by 60%, and in 2006 almost 13,000 treatments were carried out at public and private fertility clinics. In 2007, the number had risen to 14,000.
Today, almost 7% of all newborn babies in Denmark are born with help from the scientific community.
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