Maybe you have be trying to get pregnant for a while now with no luck. Maybe your periods have never been normal and you are at a point where you want to begin a family. Regardless of your reasons for seeing a doctor about your fertility, many of the tests your doctor will do will be the same.
One of the first things your doctor will want to check is to see if you are ovulating. This is something you can track yourself and is totally painless. By tracking your temperature first thing in the morning, you can see a pattern develop that can give you information about whether you are ovulating. There are a number of wonderful websites that can give you more information on tracking your basal body temperature including Fertility Friend. This important information for your doctor to have.
Blood and urine samples will be taken to test hormone levels and things like thyroid function. Your doctor might also take swabs of the inside of your vagina to test for infections or do a pap smear.
One of the next tests is an ultrasound. The doctor will generally do both an outside ultrasound on your belly; like a pregnancy ultrasound. They will also do an interior ultrasound. They have an ultrasound wand that they will put inside your vagina. It will allow them to see your reproductive organs more clearly than the outside ultrasound. This will give them an indication of physical problems that might need further testing.
A hysteroscopy is another test your doctor might do. Usually you are awake for this test and it is done under local anesthesia. The doctor will insert a tiny camera through your cervix and look at the structure of your uterus and check to make sure your fallopian tubes are not blocked. Your doctor will also look at your endometrial lining, and might take a small sample for testing. This is a diagnostic hysteroscopy. Sometimes, the doctor will use this same procedure to fix problems within your reproductive organs and that is called a surgical hysteroscopy. Most doctors use general anesthesia for that procedure.
Another test that is used to ensure your fallopian tubes are open is called a hystosalpinogram. Your doctor will fill your uterus with a dye that is easy to see on an X-Ray. If your tubes are open, the dye will flow out of your tubes and into your abdominal cavity. If they are blocked, the doctor will be able to see where the blockage is. Surgery is often used to open blocked tubes. Some women find this test to be painful, especially if they have blocked tubes. The pressure from the dye can cause severe cramping, but the pain in temporary.
A laposcropy is another test your doctor might do. This test is a surgical procedure done under general anesthesia, which your doctor might also use to correct problems that were discovered in other tests. A few small incisions are made in the abdomen. A camera and surgical instruments are inserted through these incisions. The doctor uses the camera to check for endometriosis, anomalies on the outside of the uterus, to make sure the fallopian tubes are not kinked or twisted, and to check the overall health of the ovaries.
These tests are the first step in diagnosing any fertility problems you might be having. Further tests might be done to gauge medication dosing, to judge the successfulness of surgery, or to get a more complete understanding of your hormone production.
This can be a scary and frustrating time, but you live in an amazing age where doctors can fix a majority of fertility problems either through surgery or medication. Having these tests done is an important first step in beginning your family!