Artificial insemination is the process in which the sperm is placed into the female’s vagina or into the female’s uterus.
These types of inseminations include: intracervical insemination, intrauterine insemination, intrafallopian insemination, intravaginal insemination, and intraperitoneal insemination.
During these processes, the sperm is placed inside the pelvis, near the mouth of the fallopian tubes in order to combine with the released egg.
Among these techniques, the most commonly used ones are intrauterine insemination which is followed by intravaginal and intracerivical insemination.
Artificial insemination (AI) is greatly helpful for the couples with unexplained fertility problems. Also, this process is helpful if you have the sperm allergy or if your partner has low sperm mortality or low sperm count.
In order to improve the odds of becoming pregnant, your health care provider will initially suggest fertility drugs before undergoing artificial insemination. You need to start taking the drugs at the beginning of your menstrual cycle in order to stimulate the ovaries to grow several mature eggs for fertilization.
The process of artificial insemination takes about an hour, but you need to take fertility drugs for about a week before ovulation. Based on the cause of your fertility problem, mostly you undergo 3-6 cycles of artificial insemination before you become pregnant or try for another treatment.
Who will be benefited with artificial insemination?
Sperm donation is not recommended for all of you, only certain number of people is eligible for this treatment.
- Women with mild endometritis
- Partners with unexplained infertility
- Women with cervical mucus resentment or reduced cervical mucus
- Men with low sperm count, antisperm bodies or poor quality sperm
- Men who are unable to ejaculate
Various causes can lead to ejaculation failure such as diabetes, spinal cord injury, or retrograde ejaculation.
The success rate of artificial insemination depends on you and your partner’s fertility problem and on your age. The couples who receive artificial insemination have 5-20% more chances of getting pregnancy in each cycle. There are more chances to become pregnant if you take the fertility drugs along with the treatment.
Benefits and risks of artificial insemination:
This technique is fairly simple with very few side effects. This technique is less expensive and less invasive when compared to in vitro fertilization and various other types of assisted reproductive technologies.
AI also allows fertilization to occur naturally in your body. Though the procedure is relatively safe, there are some risks attached to it.
In order to remove bacteria and various other harmful substances, sperm washing is required. It is completely impossible to sterilize the sperm. Due to this, intrauterine insemination is used for sterilization. But, this procedure can cause infection in the uterus due to some cases. Though the infection can occur rarely, it can result in endometriosis.
The fertility drugs which are used along with artificial insemination can cause various side effects. Some of you can experience depression, hot flashes, irritability, restlessness and headaches.
Also, the drugs can result in ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. This condition can lead to abdominal pain, formation of ovarian cysts, swelling of the ovaries, and produces lots of eggs at a time, which can lead to multiple pregnancies.
So, if you are experiencing any difficulty in becoming pregnant and want to undergo AI, consult your doctor to know about the safety of the procedure.
