How ICSI Treatment Helped Me Overcome Infertility

 As a medical professional, I have seen all types of infertile cases. The most common ones are those where the woman has been trying to get pregnant for a long time with no results. These women are often diagnosed with PCOS, anovulation and endometriosis. ICSI is the gold standard when it comes to fertility treatments with almost 95% success rate. It involves a process called Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI). I know that infertility can be a very isolating and lonely experience. 

It's hard to talk about and there is no one you can talk to about it. With in vitro fertilization IVF treatments, even though you might have been told that this is your last shot at fertility, it's not always easy to accept that the first number on your test results will be the final number for the rest of your life. However, ICSI treatment helped me overcome infertility by giving me hope and encouragement through a process that was both painful and scary at times. It also gave me a new lease on my fertility as well as gave me back my confidence as an adult woman who didn't need anybody else anymore but myself.

What Is ICSI?

ICSI is a procedure used to treat certain cases of male infertility. It involves the injection of sperm into the female partner's eggs, thereby bypassing the usual process of fertilization by sperm in a woman's womb.

In ICSI, both partners are usually given fertility drugs that help them produce more and better quality sperm. Then, using a microscopic camera inserted into the vagina, doctors use a needle to extract sperm from one or both partners' testicles (the body part where sperm are made). This can take some time because it involves being very gentle with each testicle to avoid damaging them.

The process begins with your doctor performing an ultrasound to determine the number of good quality eggs that are available. The eggs are then collected during surgery and combined with the sperm in a laboratory before being transferred to your uterus.

ICSI is performed on women who have had at least one previous pregnancy with no live birth or miscarriage. It can also be used when there is no male partner available for donation or if a man has poor sperm quality or genetic diseases that render him unable to provide viable sperm.

What is ICSI treatment?

ICSI treatment is a way of fertilizing an egg with sperm in a lab. The ICSI treatment is the same as if you were to go to a fertility specialist and they would perform in vitro fertilization (IVF).

The main difference between IVF and ICSI is that with IVF, the eggs are retrieved from you (the patient) and placed into your uterus. With ICSI, the sperm are extracted from you (the patient) and inserted into an egg that has been removed from another woman.

ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) is a fertility treatment that uses a single sperm to fertilize an egg. It's the same as IVF in terms of timing, but it's more effective at getting pregnant because you can use your own eggs

Although ICSI is considered one of the most effective ways to get pregnant, it's not for everyone. If you have low sperm counts or have had multiple miscarriages, it might not be right for you. You may also need to take medications that could harm your fertility if used with ICSI.

How does ICSI work?

ICSI (in-cytoplasmic sperm injection) is a fertility treatment in which a single sperm is injected directly into an egg to fertilize it. This procedure is usually done with a catheter, but can also be done by injection into the vagina. The fertilized egg then implants in your uterus and grows into an embryo.

ICSI is used when you have poor-quality or damaged sperm or when you have trouble getting pregnant with your partner's sperm. It's also used when you're trying to get pregnant after having a child, like after miscarriage or a tubal ligation.

The sperm is then mixed with a special gel that allows it to be injected into the uterus. The gel is placed in a catheter (a long thin tube) that is inserted into one of the woman's fallopian tubes. The catheter contains a needle that punctures the wall of the fallopian tube and allows the sperm to reach its destination.

What are the steps of ICSI treatment?

The first step in ICSI treatment is choosing donor eggs. The next step is fertilizing the eggs with sperm and then transferring the embryo back into the uterus. The embryo is usually transferred between five and seven days after fertilization. The transfer can happen at a doctor's office or a clinic, but what happens after depends on the woman's body. If everything goes well, she will receive a pregnancy test within two weeks of transfer, and could be six to eight weeks pregnant after one cycle of treatment.