Image via WikipediaInfertile couples are often confused whom they should visit when they need medical assistance. Even though infertility always affects a couple , it's usually the woman who takes the initiative in seeking medical care . Most will bypass their family physician , but are unsure whether to go to a gynecologist or an infertility specialist. Both options have advantages and disadvantages , and it’s worth examining these.The gynecologist is a logical first choice. Most women have a long-standing relationship with their gynecologist , and are comfortable with him. Since gynecologists are specialists in tackling women's health problems , most can competently diagnose the cause of infertility ; and provide basic medical treatment. They are usually quite conservative; and would be the first choice for simple problems . However , they are often poorly equipped to deal with complex infertility problems.
Since a man with a hammer only sees nails, they will often subject the patient to unnecessary surgical procedures , such as a laparoscopy; or perform intrauterine inseminations for men with low sperm counts , simply because they do not have anything else to offer. They are often extremely poor at handling male infertility problems , and will usually refer these to their friendly urologist. This often means that care gets fragmented; and ends up of being poor quality.
Most gynecologists are also not aggressive enough when dealing with older women. Since most of their women are fertile, they often forget to remember the impact which aging has on the ovarian reserve of infertile women.
Also since they rarely have a special interest in treating infertility , waiting rooms are often quite infertile-patient unfriendly. There are often full of expectant mothers , and this can cause unnecessary emotional distress. Also some of them are not compassionate or empathetic enough when dealing with the impact which infertility has on the woman's psyche.
Infertility specialists would be the first choice, if you have a complex problem. Not only are they experts at dealing with infertility they have a lot of experience; and are armed with the advanced reproductive technology to solve most problems. However they are often quite expensive ; and some of them will often resort to unnecessary , complex costly treatment, even to tackle simple problems.
This means the patient has to choose between the risk of wasted time with the gynecologist, versus overtreatment with the infertility specialist. Since the infertile couple doesn't know how simple or complex their medical problem is , this often leaves them in a quandary.
What we do in our clinic ? If I am the first doctor the infertile couple is seeing, I will complete the workup for them , so we have an idea as to what the reason for the infertility is. This takes about 7 days and costs about US $ 200 only. If it's a simple problem , we will suggest that they find a gynecologist for their treatment. This allows us to concentrate on infertile couples who have complex problems , so that we can provide them with a higher quality of service, without diluting our focus.
In the best of all possible worlds , gynecologists with take care of the simple problems ; and if they have failed to achieve a pregnancy within 6 months , they would refer these patients onto an infertility specialist. Unfortunately, since most doctors have a proprietary attitude towards their patients , they are often reluctant to refer these patients to infertility specialists , because they do not want to lose them. This often means that they waste the patient's time , money and energy in pursuing ineffective treatments.
One useful tip is to create a clear plan of action with a well defined timeframe in
partnership with your doctor , so you have a clear sense of what your treatment options are. This way, you retain control of your medical treatments as well as your life so you have peace of mind you did your best.
Choosing an infertility clinic is one of the hardest decisions you will make in your pursuit of fertility. You do your research, you ask around, but it's so complicated to make a decision!
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