Just curious. I've seen/heard different things.
Just curious. I've seen/heard different things.
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
I guess if you have a diagnosed reason for not being able to get pregnant OR have been trying for over a year (6 months?) with no diagnosis.
grapefruit / 4455 posts
@travellingbee: do you consider "trying" just no birth control method or more charting/using OPKS/ etc.?
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
@2littlepumpkins: I don't know. I guess I'd consider trying meaning you have an idea of when you ovulate and you have sex around then, for the purpose of making a baby.
grapefruit / 4455 posts
@travellingbee: ok that's what I think too. I've heard a year plus of no protection is IF.
pomelo / 5041 posts
We only tried for 10 months, not 12, but we were also diagnosed by an RE and got pregnant with our first course of IUI so obviously there was a problem that we couldn't get around on our own. I wouldn't call us not IF because we didn't wait a year.
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
@marionberry: yeah we only tried for 5 months (although I'm 37) before getting testing and a diagnosis. Obviously a diagnosis by a doctor, referral to RE etc would indicate IF.
grapefruit / 4455 posts
@marionberry: yes a diagnosis from a dr definitely counts!
For us we ntnp for 5-6 months, ttc actively 7 cycles with a couple skipped months in between. No diagnosis but my OBGYN did do an h/s and blood test in between cycles 6 and 7 ttc. (A break cycle.) I do NOT consider that to be IF although I really thought we were headed there because at our age (mid 20s) I didn't think it would take that long especially with lo1 taking one month no OPKs or charting!
pomelo / 5607 posts
Just wondering, is multiple miscarriages included? I don't consider our situation IF, just bad luck, but I worried about it after the first two pregnancies ended in m/c.
nectarine / 2220 posts
I'm not really sure. We actively tried (charting/temping/changes in diet) for almost two years with no results, but then.... just got pregnant. So I've always had a hard time retrospectively claiming I was "infertile".
But I guess a year of not doing anything (including avoiding sex at optimal times) to prevent getting pregnant, I'd say someone is struggling with infertility.
hostess / wonderful apple seed / 16729 posts
I think it's different for different people. It can include miscarriages or just many months of no BFP. Oh, when I started TTC, I was already 'prepped' (I was off BC for over a year). I don't really count the 2 months where we were NTNP.
Also, there is a stigma to IF, some people don't like to use the label. I can understand it. The word infertile or infertility is pretty hard to hear. I didn't start thinking I was in the IF category until my second failed IUI. Which was about 10 full months of TTC, I think. I talked to my OB/Gyn about our trouble TTC at 6 months of trying and DH had medical issues which I was concerned about. I just thought I had trouble at that point, not IF.
I was still hopeful that my first IUI would work... then hopeful my second IUI would work. Then my 3rd IUI failed. Then I decided to switch clinic and they finally diagnosed me! Woohoo! So we went back at IUI #4 with lots of hope. Skip to IUI #6 and still no BFP. Finally, we moved on to IVF and I'm finally pregnant.
I definitely feel like I've felt like I've been through IF, but I always keep in mind that there are other 'ahead' of me that have had countess IVF treatments that have failed. I'm always thinking of them. I have embraced my IF journey and it will always be a part of me (both good and bad).
grapefruit / 4455 posts
@bluestriped bee: I didn't even think of "prep time." I just never went on bc after lo1. I wonder if some people count month #1 off bc.. Thanks for sharing. It says a lot how much you are still thinking of those "ahead" of you.
persimmon / 1196 posts
On the one hand, if you asked me to define infertility, I would cite the "one year of ttc unsuccessfully" line.
However, I fit into that category, and I don't *feel* infertile. Though we've been officially trying for fifteen months (and I was off BC with regular cycles for four months before that), so much of that time I was skipping periods or not ovulating, we haven't even had half that many well-timed cycles. If we continue having well-timed sex for another handful of months with no results, then maybe I'll start to feel IF. Or if my GYN recommends referral to an RE after we review all of our test results.
pomegranate / 3764 posts
I suppose I don't really have ONE answer, because there are so many variations on IF. I do have a problem with people throwing the term around loosely (as in, if baby making just takes a little longer than what people think it should) - you know the types who decide that after 3 months of trying, they're infertile? And yeah, usually knocked up the month later.... ouch.
Ahem, but anyway.
For me, I'd consider it to be any situation where there are a) medical reasons behind it, or b) unexplained delays in pregnancy - I guess over a certain amount of time. Keeping in mind that when trying to get pregnant naturally, it is TOTALLY NORMAL to take at least 12 months... so I guess in my mind, the time frame would be over that.
I don't know where I feel about miscarriages fitting into infertility. Unfortunately our situation covers both. Maybe it comes down to the reasons FOR the pregnancy loss - as in, if it was a medical condition preventing pregnancies. There are loads of women who lose babies, but go on to get pregnant with their sticky babies very soon after. Does that make them infertile? Probably not. More like unlucky, and then lucky again, maybe. You see it happen all the time in the 'Beyond Miscarriage Support' thread!
So yeah... hard to label it. I wish we didn't have to be in this label at all, to be honest... but here we are, back again.
wonderful grape / 20453 posts
@Torchwood: technically, two in a row is considered a form of IF. My dr treats it as such. I sort of tread a line, where I have MTHFR and endo and know it can cause infertility problems but I also have E and was able to conceive #2 easily and was on meds asap to avoid the complications I ran into with E. But I would still throw recurrent loss into that category because theres often an underlying reason....I guess what I'm saying is that IF can present i many forms
pomegranate / 3533 posts
I'd go with the 12 months of unprotected sex definition. What you have to recognize is that it's preferable to have the definition be more inclusive or "sensitive"-- that keeps people (especially those with insurance coverage) from having to wait unnecessarily and reduces the temptation to delay a basic work-up. The person who conceives on cycle 13, 14, or 15 probably just had bad timing... There are LOTS of different causes of potential difficulty conceiving (thyroid disorders, anatomical variants, scarring or endometriosis, minor infections, MF issues, etc, etc) and some of these are very easy to address. Personally, DH and I went 2 years after a miscarriage without conceiving again naturally...we are officially "unexplained" after LOTS of testing...and I'm currently pregnant after IVF.
It sounds like you've started some testing... I hope you get your very soon!
kiwi / 673 posts
I think I'd consider it 12 months of unprotected sex or a diagnosis from the doctor. We are really, really close to the year mark, but I got a diagnosis from a doctor of annovulatory/PCOS in month 3 of trying. But I didn't really consider myself to be dealing with IF until about month 9. Maybe because up until that time I thought we just needed time/it would fix itself. We started with an RE at month 9ish, and I am categorized with her as IF. I definitely don't think the 12 months is the only definition. If DH and I would have just let it go for 12 months (which is what my ob/gyn wanted me to do last time I spoke with her), I would have only ovulated once in that time. It seems stupid just to wait for the year mark at that point. At my first appointment with my RE, she said she wasn't surprised that the ob/gyn would choose to wait, but also told me with an obvious problem that there was no reason to wait just for waiting sake.
grapefruit / 4455 posts
@FliegepilzHut: We were lucky and did get a bfp, due in October. It came right around 12 or so cycles of no protection, but not what I would consider IF quite yet. (eta- That's sort of why I ask..when people talk about IF I basically fit the description of some, but even according to my OBGYN that's not *really* IF.. and I feel like it's sort of downplaying IF problems to say that it is. I mean I definitely think it took longer than many though.)
@lady baltimore: Exactly.. I feel like there are other reasons besides an actual fertility problem one could go a year and not get pregnant. But I guess that's more the exception than the rule? I hope you see your bfp very soon!
@jaguar: Agree w/ so much of what you said. I hope you get your sticky rainbow baby very very soon.
@blackbird: Thanks for the info!
apricot / 347 posts
I guess for me it's when a couple is unable to conceive after a year or more of actively trying (charting, good timing, etc), without any additional intervention.
clementine / 903 posts
12 months of timed trying with no success, or diagnosis from doctor, which could come sooner...
persimmon / 1316 posts
I know most doctors would say 12 months of actively TTC (timed intercourse) and 6+ months with a known medical diagnosis (like endometriosis like I had) or 6+ months if you are over the age 35.
There are of of coarse other circumstances that could get you labeled sooner but I have known enough people to get pregnant naturally right around their 1 year mark give or take a couple months to think these definitions make sense and people shouldn't be too quick to think they are infertile.
pomegranate / 3533 posts
@2littlepumpkins: Just saw this! Congrats!!! I'd say since your came spontaneously near the 1 year mark (and routine investigations didn't turn anything up) that probably is considered "normal."
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