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Not really a term you want to hear when being diagnosed with Infertility, nor any other medical problem for that matter. What does it mean, though, to us the praying, hopeful couple?
Well, in essence, it means that the doctor or fertility specialist does not have a specific reason or answer to your problem of non-conception. Reasons for infertility are endless and most can be discovered through the medical process with relative ease. But for those of us who end up in the “unexplained” category, it makes the journey and decision making process that much harder and most of the time, longer.
If a couple received a definitive answer to their fertility woes – it would be much easier to develop a path to success. For example, if the couple was told that one partner was incapable of reproduction, then the path to donor eggs/sperm or the path towards adoption can occur much faster.
With “unexplained” infertility, couples spend years going through the “cookie cutter” fertility process beginning with prescriptions and IUI rounds, and moving towards IVF. Because there is a lack of “scientific method” that goes into the IVF process, there is no real way to prove why an IVF cycle failed. Doctors usually try to adjust protocols and throw the kitchen sink at the next attempt because IVF is expensive or insurance may only cover a certain number of tries. You don’t know if the tweaks to the protocols actually helped or hurt your chances.
The process is exhausting mentally and physically. You are screaming for answers and your specialist is grasping for explanations and guessing between multiple potential infertility issues. This makes it extremely hard to determine next steps in your overall goal of having a baby. “Unexplained” leads to the frustration of lost time.
