Infertility and Hormones
After all the blood tests, they finally informed you that it’s your hormones causing all the difficulties. When it comes to managing infertility, hormones are always an option although there are some dangers linked with taking infertility hormones so make sure you do your homework.
You could not need to take actual hormones, but rather have medication to regulate your hormones.
The medications listed below might be prescribed for the ladies:
· Bromocriptine – Prolactin suppresses ovulation and promotes breast milk production, so bromocriptine suppresses prolactin to stimulate ovulation. You may experience headaches, nausea, low blood pressure and maybe even dizziness as well.
· Clomiphene – Clomiphene stimulates the pituitary gland to manufacture FSH and LH which stimulate the ovaries to release eggs. It is rather inexpensive and rather successful, especially if you suffer from PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) or unpredictable periods, although you could experience nausea, tender breastsm insomnia and headaches while you’re taking it.
· Metoformin – This is used to help women with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) or insulin resistance as it decreases the levels of male hormones in the body and thus stimulates the body to ovulate.
If you (assuming you’re the woman) aren’t making eggs then some infertility hormones can make life easier.
· Human Menopausal Gonadotropin (hMG) – These are taklen if you experience pituitary gland trouble that don’t respond to previous medication and contains FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) and LH (luteinizing hormone) obtained from the urine of postmenopausal women. HMGs are rather expensive and success rates vary. The extra ultrasounds to ensure that the drug is doing its job will also increase the expense. Your risks of miscarriage or enlarged ovaries are amplified, as are your chances of multiple or premature births which have risks of their own.
· Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) – These function together with hMGs to promote ovulation and could also treat endometriosis although possible side effects include cysts on the ovaries, elevated risks of multiple births and enlarged ovaries.
· Urofollitropin (FSH) – Given if clomiphene is ineffective in encouraging ovulation in women with PCOS.
· Luteinizing Hormone – Releasing Hormone (LH-RH) – Endometriosis and Pituitary gland abnormalities can be treated through the use of LH-RH. Unfortunately you could have an elevated risk of infections and multiple births and the drug is difficult to administer.
· Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (Gn-RH) – Stimulates the pituitary gland to aid ovulation.
· Progesterone – Assists production of a healthy uterine lining to receive the fertilized egg.
For the gents:
Infertility hormones don’t work for guys as effectively as they do for the ladies, however they can be useful in certain circumstances. Below are some of the hormones that might be given to men, and it is interesting to note that many of them are quite similar to those given to women.
· Testosterone – Assists with general sexual performance by mimicking natural testosterone.
· Gn-RH – This stimulates the pituitary gland to release FSH, which directs the testes to manufacture sperm, and LH, which instructs the testes to make testosterone.
· Bromocriptine – Testosterone will not be manufactured if you have lots of prolactin so Bromocriptine will help lower prolactin levels. Just be cautious of the hallucinations.
· hCG & FSH – Encourages healthy sperm formation. These are of the most successful infertility hormones that can be recommended for men.
Risks
Ensure that you are informed about the risks of each type of medication prior to taking it, as you could have a condition that might be aggravated by the medication. A possible hitch with infertility hormones is the increased risk of multiple pregnancies. You’re probably thinking, “You say that like it’s a bad thing!” Having multiples entails far more difficulties than single pregnancies including an increased chance of premature birth and the complications that follow.
Hopefully this has helped you to decide whether you would like to go for the infertility hormones or not. Best of luck to you!
Here is more information on PCOS and Infertility. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Infertility.
