If you have had all of the standardized tests for infertility but still don’t have a cause, or a reason for the failure to conceive, then you have idiopathic infertility.
What is Idiopathic Infertility?
In a nutshell, idiopathic infertility is the same thing as unexplained infertility.
This is more common than many people realize.
In fact, some studies have shown as much as 26% of all infertile couples have idiopathic infertility. However, it is important to note that these particular studies relate to cases where the woman underwent laparoscopy testing, which is not routinely done anymore.
Consequently, some studies only show approximately 10%-20% of idiopathic infertility.
If a female is below the age of 35, unexplained or idiopathic infertility is the cause of about half of the infertility diagnoses. By the time a woman reaches the age of 40, idiopathic infertility accounts for approximately 80% of all infertility diagnoses.
So, a woman’s age is clearly a factor in idiopathic infertility.
That being said, there are actually hundreds of causes of infertility. Conception is an exceedingly complex process, and everything has to happen just so in order for a pregnancy to occur.
Here is a very basic outline of what does have to occur in order for conception to take place:
- First, the woman’s brain must manufacture and release the right hormones needed to stimulate egg development and release
- The egg itself must be healthy and have normal chromosomes
- The egg must be fully mature
- A woman’s brain must manufacture enough LH, or Luteinizing Hormone, to complete the maturation of the egg
- The ovarian follicles must rupture and release the eggs and follicular fluid
- The fallopian tube must then grab the egg and move it through the tube
- There must be viable sperm inside the vagina to heed the call of the waiting egg, swim through the cervical mucous and then through the fallopian tube to the egg
- The sperm must be able to break through the gelatinous substance surrounding the egg, and release the biochemicals needed to penetrate the hard surface shell of the egg, and tunnel through to the egg nucleus.
- The sperm must release its DNA package of 23 chromosomes into the egg
- The egg, now fertilized, must divide
- The embryo continues the process of division and normal development
- The fallopian tube must now move the 3 day old embryo on down to the uterus
- The embryo has to become a blast cyst
- The blastocsyt must break out of its shell
- The uterine lining must be ready and healthy to receive and nurture the embryo
- After breaking out of its shell, the blastocyst must then attach itself and implant on the endometrium
Amazing, isn’t it?
And that isn’t all of the complex events that must take place in order for a pregnancy to occur!
So, it is easy to see why—with so many possible things that could go wrong—there are a lot of cases of idiopathic infertility.
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Conception: When Egg and Sperm Collide
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