Secondary infertility is when a couple is having trouble getting pregnant after successfully having a child (or children) in the past. Many women who don't experience any issues getting significant with their starting time kid may find information technology more hard to become meaning the second time around.

Reproductive Endocrinologists, Dr. Scott Morin and Dr. Jonathan Kort explain exactly why this happens and how to have a successful pregnancy if you are experiencing difficulties achieving pregnancy afterwards your beginning child.

What is Secondary Infertility?

A woman's fertility declines with historic period, sometimes it can exist harder to get pregnant with a second child than it was with the first. When a adult female has trouble getting pregnant on her own afterward a previously successful natural conception and birth, fertility doctors refer to this as secondary infertility. Secondary fertility can oft exist treated with fertility handling.

What is the difference between Primary Infertility and Secondary Infertility?

Primary infertility is more commonly referred to as simply, infertility. Primary infertility is diagnosed when a couple fails to go significant afterwards half dozen-12 months of trying. Secondary infertility is when a couple fails to get meaning later successfully giving nascence in the past.

The causes of primary and secondary infertility are nearly identical, but the emotional impact tin be very dissimilar from each other. Fortunately, fertility treatments for primary and secondary infertility are the same and both take high success rates.

How common is secondary infertility?

Secondary infertility is as common every bit primary infertility. Infertility affects 1 in 8 couples trying to conceive or about 12.5 percent.

Out of all infertility causes, secondary infertility makes up well-nigh fifty percent of all cases.

Causes of Secondary Infertility

Secondary infertility can exist caused by issues with the female or male partner.

  • Near 33% of all infertility cases stalk from problems with the female person partner.
  • Another 33% of cases stem from the male partner.
  • The remaining 33% are a combination of issues from both the male and female person partner

Causes of secondary infertility in women

  • Egg quality or quantity: A woman is born with all the eggs she'll e'er accept, and that supply slowly decreases equally she releases eggs every calendar month during her menstrual cycle. So as a woman ages, she has fewer eggs, and fewer good quality eggs – both factors that reduce her chances of getting significant naturally.Generally, a woman is most fertile in her mid-to-tardily-20s, afterwards which bespeak her fertility begins to decline slowly until age 35 when the reject accelerates. That said, every adult female is different, and that decline can begin earlier or later. Because fertility declines with age, information technology's possible – and fifty-fifty common – for women who had no trouble getting meaning with their starting time child to struggle to conceive the second time around, when they are older and less fertile.
  • Damaged or blocked fallopian tubes: Issues with the fallopian tubes tin hinder the egg from traveling to the ovaries successfully.
  • Issues with the uterus: Scaring from a C-section or fibroids may too cause infertility.
  • Endometriosis: Endometriosis is a very common cause of infertility. It is a condition where tissue that typically grows inside the uterus grows in places like the ovaries.
  • Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS): A hormonal disorder that causes women to take infrequent or prolonged periods. PCOS patients may too have excess androgen levels (male hormones). Patients with PCOS oftentimes develop pocket-sized collections of fluid effectually their ovaries which inhibit eggs from releasing.
  • Lifestyle: An increment in BMI and/or certain medications may also lead to ovary dysfunction and affect your fertility.

Causes of secondary infertility in men

Male person infertility is mainly caused by issues with their sperm, hormonal imbalances, or problems related to their reproductive anatomy.

  • Low sperm count: Low testosterone levels, a blocked duct, and fifty-fifty certain medications tin can cause depression sperm count.
  • Sperm abnormalities: Sperm may be abnormal in shape or may not be able to swim to the egg well enough for fertilization to occur.
  • Azoospermia: Azoospermia is when a man has no viable sperm. This ways that his torso produces abnormal sperm.
  • Varicocele: Call back of a varicocele as a varicose vein in the scrotum. This may raise the temperature in the testes to higher-than-normal levels which tin change sperm product.
  • Anti-sperm antibodies: Some men and women have anti-sperm antibodies that brand it difficult for them to reach a pregnancy.

Can a C-Section cause secondary infertility?

Roughly 20% of women who gave birth via cesarean department reported difficulties getting meaning with a second child.

A C-section causes scarring and sometimes this scarring tin crusade inflammation or obstructions that can make becoming pregnant more difficult.

Scar tissue can also grow and form large masses and cause endometriosis.

Secondary Infertility, Dr. Lange | RMA of Philadelphia, Fertility Clinic

When should I see a doctor for secondary fertility?

The guidelines on when y'all should see a fertility doctor for secondary infertility are exactly the same as for any adult female trying to get pregnant.

Y'all should seek the aid of a reproductive endocrinologist if you are under 35 years old and trying to conceive for 12 months.

It is recommended that you lot seek help after merely vi months of trying if you are 35 years old or older.

Tin you lot get pregnant with secondary infertility?

The short respond is yes, yous can go meaning with secondary infertility, but you may demand to seek out the help of a fertility md, and here'southward why.

While women over the historic period of 35 still have eggs left, it becomes more difficult to get significant because the eggs are of lower quality.

Research performed past doctors at RMA showed that a woman'due south age impacts the viability of the embryos created from her eggs.

Namely, the older a woman, the more likely it is that her eggs have a chromosomal error which volition, in turn, result in embryos being aneuploid, or chromosomally abnormal.

For instance, in her mid-to-late 20s, the rate of aneuploidy in a adult female's eggs is a little more than than 20 percent, rises to the mid-30s past historic period 35, is about fifty per centum by historic period twoscore, and is well-nigh 90 percent past age 42 and 43.

This ways that while about twenty percent of the embryos a woman creates may exist abnormal in her late 20s, most 90 percent could be abnormal by her early 40s. That is a meaning change in a little over a decade.

What does aneuploidy have to do with a successful pregnancy?

A lot. The contrary of aneuploid is euploid, which means an embryo is chromosomally normal, or that information technology has the normal amount of chromosomes and has a good chance of implanting inside the uterus and leading to a successful pregnancy.

Aneuploid embryos, on the other manus, take also few or too many chromosomes, and often neglect to implant inside the uterus.

In the chance they do implant, they often lead to miscarriage or an affected child.

So the older the woman, the higher her chances of producing aneuploid embryos that neglect to implant, leading to infertility.

Aneuploidy embryo chart

How can I tell if I have secondary infertility?

If you were able to get meaning naturally and gave birth without issue in the by but are having trouble conceiving on your ain for the second or third time, you may have secondary infertility.

However, it is also possible that there is another cause for your infertility, and doing the necessary fertility testing will assistance yous determine the cause so you can move forwards with the appropriate treatment.

All patients at RMA undergo diagnostic testing to get a consummate picture of their fertility before moving onto handling; this includes fertility bloodwork to acquire more about a patient'south egg count, which can help make up one's mind whether or non she is experiencing secondary infertility.

What type of treatment is bachelor for women with secondary infertility?

Secondary infertility is treatable, and many women diagnosed with it keep to take successful subsequent pregnancies.

In that location are diverse treatment options based on the adult female's specific fertility contour, including Intrauterine Insemination (IUI), where sperm is inserted into a adult female'south uterus at the time of ovulation.

In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is another option, where sperm and egg are fertilized exterior the woman's body and a resulting embryo is transferred back into the woman'southward uterus in hopes of implantation.

IVF infographic

No affair which treatment path you pursue, you should have promise that we are hither for you and you can overcome secondary infertility with merely a little bit of help.

Is IVF more successful in secondary fertility?

IVF is not necessarily more successful for patients with secondary infertility, just information technology is often the only or most successful fertility handling option.

Secondary Infertility Support Groups

Struggling with infertility can be very hard to deal with solitary. Information technology is important to know that there are support groups out there dedicated specifically to men and women dealing with infertility. Resolve: The National Infertility Association offers support groups all beyond the Us. Use their helpful Infertility Back up Group Finder to discover a coming together closest to you.