Diagnosing Male and Female Infertility

Right from the start, we will lay a plan for treating your fertility problems.

DR. MILLER: Most strict definition infertility exists if two people have been having unprotected intercourse for a year without any resulting conception. If the woman is over 35 then that timeframe gets smaller, and it is unprotected intercourse for six months. And if there has been no conception then it is appropriate to see a reproductive endocrinologist. So when a couple comes with that problem we get right into the past history. Past gynecologic history, and the medical history of both the husband and the wife. When a couple comes in for a fertility consultation they have wanted to have been pregnant for a while. It is rare that somebody would come in and say I am thinking of getting pregnant now. And it is very important that they understand that a game plan will be laid out their first visit. So the consultation uncovers things in their history which may not have been evident in the past. We take a very thorough history. We do a physical exam. The history is of both the husband and the wife. And then I write for every couple on a piece of paper for them to take home what the testing that they will have to undergo will consist of. And then after the testing is done, which by the way takes no more than three to four weeks, then we convene again. And we have a game plan as far as treatment. And so the couple knows after the first visit what the treatment options will be, how long it will take to get to those options, and they leave with some feeling of hope.