When we talk about treatments for infertility, you probably already know that fertility drugs are a major part of the treatment. If you are researching treatments to help you conceive, fertility drugs is probably the first treatment that should pop up in front of you, or the first treatment that your doctor will suggest you. Though it depends on a lot of factors like age and obesity, this is considered as the first resort to your problem.
In general, these drugs are used to temporarily put in place woman’s ovulation system so that she is able to conceive. These can also be prescribed as a part of an infertility treatment like Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) or In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). The cost of these fertility medications constitutes to about 30 percent of the total cost of the treatment.
The most common fertility drugs are the ovulation induction drugs. Patients facing ovulation disorders are prescribed these drugs. This is done so the patient can produce a single mature egg during a treatment cycle to help them get pregnant.
In addition to this, these medications may also be used for super-ovulation to increase the chances of fertilizing eggs. Certain fertility drugs stimulate ovaries, so they produce more than one egg during a cycle. This increases the probability of at least one egg getting fertilized thus increasing the chances of pregnancy.
There is another type of follicular drug known as gonadotropins. These help the ovaries produce dominant follicles for each treatment cycle. These are administered to patients by injection. These are mostly given in combination with IUI and IVF treatments.
Fertility medications carry some risks based on a patient’s diagnosis and their response to a certain drug. The most common risks associated with these medications are:
– Due to overstimulation of ovaries by the fertility drugs, the ovaries become enlarged. The vessels carrying blood to the ovaries become leaky which causes fluid to get collected in the abdomen. Serious cases may need hospitalization and it takes about 1 to 2 weeks to recover
– Since fertility drugs causes ovaries to release more than one egg, the chances of more than one egg getting fertilized is much higher. This may cause multiple births like twins, triplets or more.
– Sometimes, instead of the uterus the embryo gets implanted in the fallopian tube. This is called “Ectopic Pregnancy”. The chances of this happening are more than 2% in women attempting to conceive through fertility drugs.
– Continuous ovulation due to fertility medication increases the risk of Ovarian Cancer in women. Whereas, pregnancy and use of birth control pills reduce the risk of cancer.
At Apollo Fertility, we aim at providing you with all of the knowledge so that you can be in charge of your fertility. We strive to provide individualized and personal treatment plans that will give you a new ray of hope to become parents.
