Going for fertility test

bobbyj946

Hi,

Myself and my recently married wife are considering not trying for a child for a few years but we are worried about our fertility chances. She has two family members who couldn't get pregnant after years of trying. I suggested we go to a fertility clinic now to check us both out and if there is an issue we can start earlier and younger.

Where do we start in terms of getting tested? We are based in Dublin. General advice/comments welcome.

howamidifferent

As a man you can buy tests for home use online very cheaply.

stickybean

Hi bobby,

depending on your age, most clinics wait 1 year if you are under 35 and 6 months if you are over 35.

If you have been trying unsuccessfully or have a previous diagnoses (such as PCOS, endo) you can go to your GP and they can start initial testing. For the male this includes a semen analysis and for the female they do day 3 and 21 bloods. If you wife can keep a diary of her cycle this can be very helpful.

Alternatively you can go directly to a clinic, but they will carry out tests and it can be more expensive.

Also start the with a healthy lifestyle, cutting down on alcohol, smoking, your wife taking folic acid and trying to maintain a healthy BMI.

bobbyj946 wrote: »

Hi,

Myself and my recently married wife are considering not trying for a child for a few years but we are worried about our fertility chances. She has two family members who couldn't get pregnant after years of trying. I suggested we go to a fertility clinic now to check us both out and if there is an issue we can start earlier and younger.

Where do we start in terms of getting tested? We are based in Dublin. General advice/comments welcome.

LCD

Hey,

We went to HARI/Rotunda as I had a deep suspicion I would have issues & they saw me when I was 33.
I think you are right to go & get checked out, because if there s
are issues the process takes a really long time. From the day we first walked into HARI until we first attempted IVF it was 18months later & we moved things as quick as possible.

xalot

I don't know your age but I think it's a great idea to get tested, you just cant take your fertility for granted. If money is not an issue then I would recommend getting it done. If nothing else it'll put your minds at ease.

You can buy male fertility tests easily on amazon, cant comment on their accuracy. I've had an AMH test (egg count) done with SIMS for the exact same reasons as you and found the process very easy and would highly recommend it.

Neyite

Roughly 20% of all infertile couples or couples who encounter difficulties when ttc and need fertility treatment have a diagnosis of unexplained infertility. So you could still pay upwards of €750 to get various tests done and they all come back with perfect results and still have difficulty.

As an example, we've spent (before any specific fertility treatment):

€200 x 2: Consultant fee
€100 x 2: semen Analysis
€500-ish: assorted blood tests
€300 HSG Xray

That's about the base prices you'll pay, but they can vary from clinic to clinic. Every single test came back for us as normal. No cause found.

Its an area of medicine that is very new and there is a lot that they cant diagnose still I suppose. Like a previous poster has said, if money is no object then go for it, but be aware that you might get all the right answers and still find it tricky to get pregnant, or she might have no problem getting pregnant despite finding something that theoretically should make things trickier in that regard. Infertility tends to be a bit inexplicable like that.

From speaking to consultants, siblings infertility is usually unrelated to cases - what IS important is if there is a shared condition that causes or hinders infertility - eg if your wife and her sisters all have something like PCOS or Endometriosis or a shared diagnosed genetic condition. The other factor they will take into account that may have a bearing on your wife's ability to conceive is her mother and grandmothers reproductive histories and complications.

Hope this helps somewhat.