Deciding on a Fertility Therapy, Taking Charge or Waiting On the Doctor?

Many couples deal with infertility for many different reasons. Every infertility journey is its own story, no two are the exact same. It is important to know when to take charge of your journey and to determine what is right for you along this path. There may be times where you need to make a call on starting or changing up your fertility therapies or when you may need to follow your doctor’s orders.

Along the way, you can determine what is best for you and your significant other on your journey to adding to your family.

The First Steps

There are many different fertility therapies available with today’s modern world. These therapies could be as simple as a daily medication that you take, to IUI – intrauterine insemination, or even IVF – in-vitro fertilization.

A couple is considered to be dealing with infertility after twelve consecutive months of carefully timed, unprotected intercourse. After this time has passed you may find yourself wanting to look for a solution to why things are not working out the way that you would like.

For many women this process will begin by talking to your gynecologist and determining if further testing is right for you. There are certain therapies and medications that your gynecologist can provide, but they may not be able to help you in all aspects. Your doctor may refer you to a reproductive endocrinologist that can help with therapies such as IUI or IVF.

If when going to a reproductive endocrinologist you feel pressured or overwhelmed by the options they present, taking charge, doing research, and preparing questions about what is to come may help make the process a little smoother.

Taking Charge

There are so many different ways that your life could go, this is where taking charge of your story comes into action. This journey of infertility is YOUR journey. Therefore, you need to decide what is best for you. For many women suffering from infertility, they are commonly told to “keep trying” or to “be patient” or to “stress less” but lets face it, those are not always the “solution” to the issues at hand.

If you feel that you have been trying to the best of your ability for six- twelve months, but your doctor isn’t listening to you then perhaps it is time to look for help elsewhere. This could be by researching different fertility diets to try to help boost fertility or even supplements that may help. It could even be taking the time to switch to a new doctor that will better listen and hear your viewpoints on the matter.

There are some doctors that do not want to go straight into fertility therapies and would simply prefer you to keep trying for six more months, however, this may not be what you feel is best for yourself. As mentioned before, this is YOUR journey and only you can decide what is the best route for you to take.

If you find yourself feeling pressured to go do a fertility therapy that you may not feel is necessary or you do not feel quite ready for, then take a pause. Never let anyone tell you what you need to do, if something doesn’t feel right or feels like it is too much or not enough, perhaps finding a second opinion or another path may be best for you.

Waiting on The Doctor

When you are dealing with infertility it can feel like all you do is wait. It can feel as if time is going by immensely slow and as if it will never speed up again.

However, sometimes with fertility it is best to wait and see how things go. Your doctor may request that you keep trying naturally for a few more months, or to try a new medication for a set amount of months to monitor progress and hope for better results.

While you may not want to wait and see how things go or wait and see if your body responds to the medication, sometimes doctors really do know best. This again, is a time where you need to determine what path feels right to you.

Many fertility therapies will make your hormones go up and down like a rollercoaster and some do have side effects or risks to consider. The best path for you may be the slower pace of listening to your doctor and taking small steps in the right direction.

Speak Up

Infertility is not easy, it is something that will test you and bring you through some rough roads. Along those roads you need to make sure that everything you are doing is what is best for you, your significant other, and your future family.

Try to remember not to place the blame on each other or other external factors. Focus more on the end goal, which is finding a way to adding to your family. Take the time to be honest with yourself and your significant other. If either of you do not feel fully comfortable with the path ahead, talk it out, ask all of the questions that you may have, and seek a second opinion if you feel it is necessary.

This is your story and you are in charge. Make sure to never go down a path that you are not 100% comfortable with and know that you always have a choice in the matters ahead.

Also try not to forget, that there is a wonderful community of men and women who have gone through something similar in the infertility world, sometimes reaching out and asking questions can help to make all of the difference.