From WikiHealth

Secondary Inferility

What is it?

Secondary infertility is defined as a couple's inability to conceive despite previous conception, gestation and birth of a child or children.

Symptoms

Typically, most medical doctors consider a couple as having difficulty with conception after one year of regular intercourse without becoming pregnant for women who are under 35, and just six months of regular intercourse without a pregnancy for women over 35.

Causes

There are numerous causes for secondary infertility that are exactly the same as primary infertility; a preexisting medical condition, advanced maternal age, poor sperm quality are just a few of the many possible causes of infertility.

Who gets it?

Secondary infertility takes many couples by surprise. It often happens to couples who had no problem getting pregnant with their first child/children. Anyone can suffer from secondary infertility; however, it is always due to some underlying problem in either the man or the woman. It is well known that fertility rates decline with age (in both men and women), and this could be one of the leading causes of secondary infertility.

How is it diagnosed?

Secondary infertility is diagnosed the same way that primary infertility is diagnosed. However, given that the couple had success conceived with their previous child(ren), it is likely that the cause is less obvious. Diagnosis can involve checking the female hormone levels, checking the ovulation cycles, evaluating the health of the eggs as well as checking the male sperm health and count.

Treatment

Once secondary infertility is diagnosed, treatment would follow the same path that it would for regular infertility. For female fertility issues, treatments might include stimulating ovulation, insemination strategies (IUI), as well as InVitro Fertilization.

What is the long-term prognosis?

With proper diagnosis and treatment, the long term prognosis is positive. However, if the female is over the age of 35, and conceived her previous child(ren) when she was younger, she may have a greater problem trying to conceive.