Simply put, you should always talk to your health care provider about taking any other sorts of medications or nutritional supplements while you are on fertility drugs. It may be that there is no reason for concern, but it may also be that there are reasons that you should not take pre-natal vitamins while on fertility drugs.

Some health care providers may recommend that you do begin a regimen of pre-natal vitamins once you begin to try to conceive. The important minerals and vitamins in these pills, such as Folate and iron, are extremely important in your baby’s development and can even help your baby’s growth in the very early days just after conception. Generally speaking, there is nothing in a standard pre-natal vitamin that should interfere with your fertility drugs either.

There is some research that suggests that certain vitamins can help with conception, as well. Some studies suggest that vitamin B6 and Vitamin C in particular can help with conception. Certainly both vitamins, and vitamin C in particular, are important nutrients that the body regularly needs an uses. However, studies are somewhat inconclusive as to whether these vitamins truly help with conception. These vitamins are not known to interfere with fertility drugs.

There are some nutritional supplements that should be specifically avoided while you are on fertility drugs as well. While these are not pre-natal vitamins per se, many of them contain the same types of vitamins that are typically found in pre-natal vitamins. The fertility products FertilAid and Fertility Blend are both known to contain extracts of chasteberry or Vitex. Vitex is actually known to work against the fertility drug Clomid, and these supplements should definitely not be taken if you are on fertility drugs such as Clomid.

Again, it is important that you discuss with your health care provider which sorts of vitamin or nutritional supplements may be best for your individual situation.

FSH refers to Follicle Stimulating Hormone. Produced by the pituitary gland, FSH is present in both men and in women. FSH helps both eggs and sperm to grow. FSH is necessary for pregnancy. However, high levels of FSH in women can be directly related to infertility. In fact, high levels of FSH will cause a woman problems with conception in 99% of cases. The good news is that high FSH levels may, sometimes, be decreased naturally.

First, it is important to understand that FSH levels can be a sign that a woman’s ovarian reserve is low. That is, she may just not have many eggs left. If this is the case, decreasing FSH levels won’t always help her to conceive. Still, it may be worth a try to decrease your FSH levels through natural ways.

One of the natural ways to help your FSH levels decrease may be to help improve blood flow to the ovaries. By using acupressure or acupuncture, the eggs may recieve more blood, and be more receptive to being fertilized, thereby reducing levels of FSH.

Another natural way to reduce your levels of FSH is with dietary supplements. Some of the supplements that may help can include blue-green algae, royal jelly, and wheat grass. Other dietary choices can cause FSH levels to increase, such as things like sugars, refind carbohydrates, coffee, and tobacco.

You may also have some success decreasing your FSH levels naturally by trying to balance out your overall hormone levels with herbal medicines. A variety of herbal medications and formulas are known to help balance a woman’s overall hormone levels, and taking these sorts of supplements may help your FSH levels to decrease. Talking to your trusted herbalist may be the best way to find out exactly which herbs may be the most useful in your particular situation.

Finally, if you have high levels of FSH your physician may have other procedures, medications, or advice for you. You should discuss your fertility problems with your health care provider, who can help to create an overall treatment plan that can take natural methods into account.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is one of many fertility treatment procedures that a couple may undergo in order to become pregnant. In IVF, the eggs and sperm are combined in a lab. Once these become embryos, the embryos are placed inside the uterus. IVF tends to be a comparatively complex procedure, and it is more expensive than many other fertility treatments.

IVF can be a viable option for a variety of fertility problems. These can include a low male sperm count, ovulation problems, hostile cervical mucus, uterine problems, endometriosis, problems with the fallopian tubes, or other, unknown fertility problems.

IVF is, for many couples, a method of last resort. Most often other treatments, such as fertility medications or a variety of artificial insemination methods are tried before attempting IVF.

According to the CDC, success rates for IVF are around 25%. This success rate can vary greatly based on age. IVF is most successful for women younger than 33; The rate of failure continues to drop after 35, and begins to greatly decrease after age 38. Very few women who attempt IVF after the age of 43 are successful.

To identify whether or not you are a good candidate for IVF, your health care provider will likely perform a variety of tests. The most common of these is to test your FSH and estradiol levels for three days. The best candidates for IVF will have FSH levels of 10 mIU/ml or less, and their estradiol levels will be at 70pg/ml or less. The higher that these levels are, the lower the chance that IVF would be successful.

Another test that your health care provider may use is known as a “clomiphene challenge” test. This test will help determine a woman’s egg supply.

Some other statistical information about IVF, provided by the CDC:

- Less than 1% of the time, IVF results in an ectopic pregnancy.

- In 11% of IVF pregnancies, the woman becomes pregnant with twins or multiples.

- Around 17% of IVF pregnancies resulted in miscarriage.

A tubal ligation, also know as getting your “tubes tied,” is a common sterilization technique that many women choose. Having your tubes tied closes the fallopian tubes, through cutting, burning, or blocking with clips, bands, or rings. This blocking keeps the egg from traveling from the ovary to the uterus. In addition, it prevents sperm from reaching the fallopian tube. A tubal ligation, while it is around 99.5% effective at preventing pregnancy, does not protect against Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs).

A tubal ligation is generally considered to be a permanent method of birth control. For women who think that they may change their minds about wanting children in the future, other birth control options are generally recommended.

After having your tubes tied, there are essentially three options if you decide you want children (or more children.) They include:

- A reversal of the tubal ligation. This is an operation that attempts to reconnect the fallopian tubes. This works best if you are in good health, in your late thirties or younger, and if you have a fertile partner. This is also most successful if it has been less than 10 years since the original tubal ligation. Your physician can determine through a physical exam, tests, and review of the original tubal ligation whether or not you are a good candidate for a reversal. Also, there is a greater risk for an ectopic pregnancy after a reversal. Additionally, reversing a tubal ligation can be difficult and expensive. Success rates for a reversal of the tubal ligation range anywhere from 20 to 70 percent.

- Assisted reproduction, such as in vitro fertilization. If your physician determines that you are not a good candidate for a reversal of your tubal ligation, you may still be able to conceive a child through in vitro fertilization. With IVF, there is no need for the egg to pass through the fallopian tubes.

- Adoption. While this is not the first choice of many women, it is certainly a viable option when the other possibilities have been exhausted.

Low sperm motility can severely impact a couple’s ability to conceive. Sperm motility refers to the rate and which sperm move “forward” after conception, up through the fallopian tubes where they can fertilize an egg. If sperm motility is low, especially if sperm motility is extremely low, a couple will not be able to conceive. In fact, low sperm motility can even affect a procedure like artificial insemination. Fortunately, there are other fertility procedures, such as ICSI, that a man can undergo that will have a much higher rate of success in terms of being able to conceive.

It is important first to understand what exactly ICSI is. ICSI stands for intracytoplasmic sperm injection. ICSI is one of the most revolutionary fertility treatments for male factor infertility. ICSI has been around for around 15 years, and is performed by most fertility centers in the United States. ICSI was derived from In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) research that took place in the late 1970s. ICSI is much less invasive than IVF, and much less costly as well.

ICSI is a process by which a single sperm is injected directly into the center of an egg, where it will, hopefully, fertilize the egg. By injecting the sperm directly into the egg, low sperm motility becomes much less of a factor. The sperm no longer have to be able to travel up the vaginal canal. The sperm no longer have to travel up the fallopian tubes. The sperm don’t even need to penetrate the egg; they are already inside. The sperm just needs to fertilize the egg.

ICSI is also able to help address a variety of other male-factor fertility problems, beyond sperm motility. A man with a very low sperm count, for example, can benefit from ICSI. As long as the man is producing some sperm and as long as the fertility specialist can isolate that sperm for use in ICSI, sperm count is not an issue at all. In addition, if a man has abnormal sperm shape, ICSI can still be used to isolate a healthy and normal sperm for use in ICSI.