- How do you find out if you're fertile or not?
My name is Dr. Fleur Cattrall
and I am a Melbourne IVF fertility specialist.
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So are you fertile?
Well, if you're a woman and you have periods,
at least you know that you have a normal uterus
and your lining is shedding every month
and building up again
to prepare for the next ovulation and pregnancy.
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If you don't have periods,
this could be a sign that you're not fertile
but for women with polycystic ovaries,
they might have very infrequent ovulation
and still ovulate one egg a year.
So you couldn't say that they're not fertile.
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Your past medical history may give you a clue
of whether you're fertile or not.
So women that have had sexually transmitted diseases
such as chlamydia,
that can damage the pathway for the sperm
and the eggs to meet the fallopian tubes.
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So that can affect your fertility.
Women that have very painful periods,
could have conditions like endometriosis,
which is where the lining of the inside of the uterus
implant somewhere in the pelvis.
And every time they have a period
that lining will bleed and cause pain in their pelvis.
If you've had a family history of endometriosis
that increases your chance
of having endometriosis six times.
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Some women have an overgrowth
of the lining of the uterus called fibroids
and that can lead to very heavy, painful periods.
So if you have heavy, painful periods,
this could be a sign of having trouble falling pregnant,
but it's more of a clue
that you might have trouble with fertility not a diagnosis.
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Now for men, the best way to have to know if they're fertile
is to organize a semen analysis.
But before you get to the doctor,
one clue would be looking at the testicular size.
So men with very small testicles
maybe the size of a blueberry they might not be fertile,
but it's not conclusive.
It just is a clue.
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Testicular size actually varies a lot
but there is some correlation
between testosterone production and testicular size.
So men with large testicles probably have high testosterone
but there is also quite a huge variation in this.
The other thing that men can look out for
is whether they actually have two testicles.
So have they had some problem in the maybe as a child,
such as undescended testicles.
Now those men have a slightly higher chance
of having a low sperm count.
The other thing that men could look for
is whether there's evenness in the size of the testicle.
So if one is smaller than the other,
well the larger one could be an early indicator
of a testicular cancer
that would commonly present
as an enlarged area in the testicle that might be firm
but fortunately it's quite a rare condition.
So men, if you have any worries,
get checked out with your family doctor
or your fertility specialist.
The other condition that men might notice
is a bag of worms in their scrotum
which is known as a varicose seal.
Now varicose seals are varicose veins of the testicle
and they can leave men with a dragging painful sensation
at the end of the day.
All these things will give us a bit of a clue of fertility
but to know whether you're fertile or not
you really need to have further tests.
For women, the other thing to think about
is whether there is any family history
of going through the menopause early
because this might be an indicator
that you might be at risk of this as well.
Irregular periods can be an indication
that you're not ovulating,
but some women of your life anyway
even if they have infrequent periods.
So you can't assume that you're not fertile
if you have infrequent periods.
There is a condition called polycystic ovarian syndrome
and that is associated with a regular periods.
But there's lots of reasons for regular periods
and you really need further test
to work out whether this could be an indicator
that you're fertile or not.
So today I've given you some clues
on how you work out whether you're fertile or not.
But at the end of the day
you probably need some tests done to go to the next level.
So make an appointment with either your family doctor
or a fertility specialist,
and we can do some extra tests
to give us some more information
and then we can work out whether you're fertile or not.
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Take care and good luck with your fertility journey.