Medical help for infertility generally begins with a woman’s general practitioner (GP) or gynaecologist. Both the GP and the gynaecologist are able to map out and treat general diseases of the female reproductive system.

The general practitioner can play an important role in the initial fertility investigation.

For example, besides your medical history, the general practitioner may take your basal body temperature or carry out a sperm analysis or blood tests to assess hormone levels. The post-coital test can also be carried out in your GP’s surgery. In the case of an irregular cycle or other suspected disorders, the general practitioner can refer you to a gynaecologist.

If the findings of initial investigations are normal, the couple may be advised to wait a further period of time in order to give spontaneous pregnancy a further chance to occur. Such advice will take into account the woman’s age and the length of time the couple have tried for a child. The general practitioner may also refer the couple to a gynaecologist or fertility clinic, depending on his or her own opinion on the nature of the problem. The role of the general practitioner will also depend on the time available to him or her and his/her interest /expertise in this area.

In general, gynaecologists aim to track down the possible cause of reduced fertility and to treat it. They will medically examine the woman and arrange for the man to have a semen analysis. The gynaecologist will look at the previous medical history of both partners and then perform an exploratory fertility examination.

For women, this generally consists of checking ovulation and measuring blood hormone levels. The gynaecologist can also perform a post-coital test as well as a transvaginal echographic examination, a hysterosalpingogram (HSG) if necessary and sometimes a laparoscopy. For men, the standard test principally consists of a semen (sperm) analysis.

A gynaecologist can in the first instance advise a number of provisional treatments ranging from a recommendation to lose weight to prescribing drugs, such as clomiphene citrate (Clomid® or Serophene®) to stimulate ovulation.