One of the key reasons for infertility in women is the link between infertility and PCOS, (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). Statistically, between 5 to 10 % of women of childbearing age have PCOS, and typically have an irregular menstruation cycle causing the normal release of eggs to fail.
There are many signs and symptoms of PCOS including an sporadic menstrual cycle or a woman’s period could end altogether. Other indications could include an increase in hair growth on different areas of the body including the chest, face or back. A lot of other symptoms can be characterised by weight gain, hair thinning, pelvic pain as well as acne. Because the symptoms differ a great deal in different women, quite a lot of women usually are not even aware they have problems with PCOS, as a consequence around 75% of women who have PCOS and never even diagnosed.
During a woman’s regular menstrual cycle she develops follicles within the ovaries. Ovulation occurs when one of these follicles develops and matures with an egg. Alas women with PCOS fail to produce enough female hormones for the follicles to produce an egg and so ovulation will not happen. These underdeveloped follicles can then grow to be cysts that on an ultrasound show as a ’string of pearls’.
It's not always required for women that have PCOS to need medical treatment. Some women, not knowing they've got PCOS, might still become pregnant, while some may just need to adjust their dieting as this could return hormonal balance which often then lead to ovulation. If however regular menstruation can't be accomplished, anovulation, then medical opinion ought to be sought.
Anovulation can be treated with many fertility drugs such as Clomid which serves to block the brain’s estrogen receptors allowing the brain to believe that estrogen levels are down. Believing that estrogen levels are depleted, the body starts to provide a higher level of follicle stimulating hormones (FHS) and a higher degree of a hormone created by the anterior pituitary gland called luteinizing hormone (LH) which causes the woman’s body to ovulate. Statistically, the women who fall pregnant after taking Clomid is only about 30 to 40%.
Another medication to treat women who are infertile owing to PCOS is Metformin. This anti diabetic drug improves a woman’s capability to absorb insulin, because it does not reduce the blood sugar level it’s judged safe to be given to women who are non-diabetic.
Other treatments that are prescribed to women, infertile with PCOS are invitro fertilisation by (IVF) and invitro maturation (IVM) these are both fertility procedures and are very costly. During IVF a woman’s eggs are gathered after they have matured and are then implanted into the woman’s uterus, after they've been fertilised, egg growth is assisted with the use of drug treatments which will also be very costly. In IVM treatments the eggs are gathered early in a woman’s cycle and are then developed in a laboratory, again they can then be fertilised and implanted into the woman’s uterus, this treatment is accomplished without using fertility drug treatments.
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