When Jessi Kintanar, a 30-year-old woman who lives in the Chicago area, was first referred to a fertility doctor, shed been trying to conceive for three years. Shed never been told the gold standard advice on conceiving: If a year of unprotected sex doesnt result in a pregnancy, its time to see a doctor.

I had no clue about the one-year thing, she said. No clue.

Her experience is really common, according to Rebecca Flick, vice president of communications and programs at Resolve: The National Infertility Association.

We wish that when women decide to try to have a baby, that they know the guidelines of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine: Seek a specialists care after one year of unprotected sex and in six months if youre older than 35, Flick said.

About one in eight couples in the U.S. struggles to conceive or carry a pregnancy to term. This is about the same ratio of women who will develop an invasive breast cancer in their lifetime and the same ratio of men who will develop prostate cancer .

Yet theres not nearly as much recognition or awareness about infertility as there is about these other common diseases, in part because infertility remains shrouded in secrecy, much like cancer was decades ago .

This lack of understanding can lead to worse health outcomes, with patients like Kintanar not knowing to seek treatment. But they can also cause quite a bit of social discomfort, as friends and family dont know how to best support a loved one.

Isolation is a big problem for people facing infertility because of hurtful comments from friends and family, said Flick.

Indeed, social isolation can have mental health consequences: A study of men with infertility found that those who were socially isolated had a higher risk of severe anxiety than those who were able to get the emotional support they needed.