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The IVF treatment means in vitro fertilization. This is a kind of fertilization treatment through which your egg is removed, mixed with the sperm at a laboratory setting, inside a dish, or in vitro and returned to you after it was artificially fertilized. Since 1978 there have been thousands of babies born through the use of this method.

Why is the treatment of IVF good?

Your doctor may recommend you such a treatment if you have damaged or blocked fallopian tubes, your partner suffers from fertility problems or in case you tried fertility drugs but they didn’t have the desired effects. Also in case you were trying to get pregnant for two years you could use this treatment.

IVF and NHS

In some cases the couples are offered the treatment of IVF if your partner and you fulfill some criteria. According to official information, couples are supposed to be offered three cycles of IVF in case the woman is of between 23 and 39 years old.

Nonetheless the availability of the IVF treatment depends on other factors as well, such as the location, because in some places couples get only one cycle. In case you have children most probably you won’t be eligible. You also have to be thinking about the waiting lists that could be quite long.

How is the treatment regarding IVF performed?

There are different steps that you have to go through, starting with taking drugs to have many eggs.

Fertility drugs

The fertility drugs are needed during an IVF treatment because they stimulate the ovaries to produce more mature eggs that are suitable for fertilization. Normally the ovaries create one egg per cycle. You could opt for not taking any drugs, but in this case the chances of getting pregnant decrease.

During the treatment of IVF, the menstrual cycle will be controlled by specialists. You will have to take drugs that will stop or suppress your menstruation. You will have to take them for about two weeks on a daily basis in the form of an injection or a tablet. In case you have been affected by endometriosis, you will have to take some other drugs too.

Hormone injections

As part of the IVF treatment, you will also have hormone injections lasting for 12 days. These will ensure that your ovaries will release more mature eggs. The hormones that are used at this step include GnRH, LH and FSH. The patients have different reactions to these hormones, and they could have some side effects as well.

In order to make sure that everything goes well during the treatment of IVF, your doctor will monitor you closely. Due to the monitoring of the hormone levels of the blood, the doctors can know when the eggs get mature. Then you will be injected with GnRH for the ovaries to release these mature eggs.

Retrieval and collection

One of the most important steps of IVF treatment includes the retrieval of the egg and the collection of sperm. The eggs are retrieved after an ultrasound scan. During the procedure you will receive an anesthetic that will make you sleepy but you will still be conscious.

Then, as a part of the treatment of IVF the doctor will remove the eggs. This is done with the help of an ultrasound probe with a needle. This way the doctor can locate the eggs. During the procedure, you could feel some level of discomfort. In case you experience pain, you will receive some painkillers.

After this step of the IVF treatment, your partner will have to provide the doctors with a fresh semen sample. In case the sperm is frozen, it will be removed from the freezer.