Ovulation Disorders
Ovulation is the other cornerstone of your fertility. Just as you cannot get pregnant without a lining for the fertilized egg to burrow into, if there is no egg to fertilize pregnancy is not possible. Ovulation disorders are a fairly common cause for fertility issues.
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)Your ovaries produce hormones every month, which regulate your cycle; once you ovulate, your period will come on approximately two weeks later. They produce estrogen and progesterone as well as some male hormones, called androgens. When the amount of the androgens that they produce is greater than it should be, your fertility is affected.
The excessive amounts of androgens can cause you to develop the eggs needed to achieve pregnancy, but your body will not actually ovulate. This can lead to cysts or lesions on the ovaries where these eggs were never released. This may also cause your menstrual cycles to stop.
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is a multi-system hormonal disorder that is often characterized by numerous symptoms like irregular menstrual cycles; obesity; male pattern baldness or hair growth on the face, chest, or arms (hirsutism); or difficulty getting pregnant. It is suspected that Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is a result of an insulin resistance or elevated levels of insulin. This resistance can also put you at a greater risk of future problems not related to your fertility like Type-II diabetes, heart disease, and so on. You will be closely followed and treated even once your fertility quest has ended to help you prevent many of the potential problems associated with this disease.
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) used to be known as Stein-Leventhal disease after the doctors who first discovered and named the syndrome in the 1930s.
Anovulation simply means your body is not ovulating. Obviously ovulation is required for you to get pregnant. Anovulation can be caused by many factors. You will undergo testing to see if you are ovulating. If you are not ovulating, your practitioner will then look for the cause to help you overcome the problem.
Premature MenopausePremature menopause is also known as premature ovarian failure. If you are suffering from symptoms of menopause like anovulatory cycles, loss of libido (sexual desire), vaginal dryness, painful intercourse, and hot flashes, you may be experiencing premature ovarian failure. It occurs in women under the age of thirty at the rate of about 1 per 1,000. Over thirty, those numbers go up dramatically to 1 in 100.
The cause of premature ovarian failure is not known. Often your first symptom will be altered menstrual cycles. If you are experiencing an altered or irregular menstrual cycle you should go to your practitioner for immediate evaluation. If you catch the symptoms early enough there may be enough time to try some aggressive forms of ovulation induction to help you achieve pregnancy with as little intervention as possible.
Sometimes you may be treated with estrogen supplementation. Other times you may find that the cause of your premature ovarian failure is due to problems related to your thyroid. More likely you will not find a cause of the premature menopause, but your fertility therapy will focus on achieving pregnancy in spite of it.
Treatments for cancer like chemotherapy and radiation are also known causes of premature ovarian failure. If you have been diagnosed with cancer, be sure to discuss future fertility options with your oncologist. There may be ways to help preserve some level of fertility or you may have the ability to retrieve and fertilize eggs to freeze for the time after your treatment.
