The field of healthcare and medicine has advanced at a phenomenal speed. Each day new pharmaceuticals are developed to help the human body recover and be made healthier through science. One of these fields involves infertility. Most couples now have the option of taking a fertility drug to help conceive a child. It is a huge leap from the past when a couple had no options if conception was an issue.

Infertility is diagnosed when, under conventional methods, a woman and man are unable to conceive naturally. Naturally referring to not using a fertility drug or undergoing a medical procedure to inseminate an egg or implant an embryo. A fertility drug can help the body with its hormone levels.

The fertility drug clomiphene works by lowering the presence of estrogen in a woman’s body. If there is too much estrogen present, the egg may not be released. A fertility drug that works to suppress estrogen causes more follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) to be produced. When FSH is produced in abundance the woman’s body begins to ovulate more. Ovulation is when the ovary produces an egg. With more eggs being produced there is a higher chance of conception.

An infertility treatment that includes a fertility drug regimen is not without its risks though. Recent studies have shown that there may be a link to fertility drugs and ovarian cancer to the over-stimulation of the ovary. The facts are not conclusive to this yet and there will be many more studies needed in order to determine whether or not this is fact or fiction.

If the fertility drug clomiphene does not work, many doctors will turn to gonadotropins. It acts in a similar manner as clomiphene by causing the ovaries to produce more eggs. This fertility drug is used many times when the causes of infertility are not known. It can even be prescribed to help men with low sperm count. The very thing that helps a fertility drug work can also be used as an argument against the use of medications to help conception. The more eggs that are produced: the greater chance for multiple births.

One baby or even two babies can often seem like quite a handful but imagine having seven babies at once. Some couples, after taking a fertility drug, find out that their wish for a baby has come true. Sometimes that wish turns out to be multiple wishes. There is a higher chance of having multiples while taking fertility drugs. It is very important to understand this risk as well as the associated pregnancy risks of giving birth to multiples.

Taking a fertility drug does increase the chances of having multiples. Most patient undergoing infertility treatments is willing to take this risk. They want to feel a life growing inside them and see the results of nine months of waiting. Fertility drugs are not the only options available and as the science of infertility advances, more women will have the opportunity to have a baby.