Would it surprise you to learn the cause of PCOS is actually rooted in the problem of insulin resistance? When I said that this disease is caused by a hormonal imbalance, your first thought, no doubt, was that your sexual hormones were the ones out of kilter here. And you can see that the criteria for definite diagnosis, it's true.
But since nothing in your body ever acts in isolation, you shouldn't be too surprised to realize that the problem may extend back even further -- to your master hormone, insulin.
You're probably already familiar with this term, since it's part of the larger health problems of today's society: obesity.
Insulin resistance is the precursor and biological marker of Type II Diabetes, normally found in individuals who are overweight and lead a sedentary lifestyle (which unfortunately include far too many of us).
Of course, you already know that insulin aids in the storage of sugars in your bloodstream. But you may not have known that it also signals both your pituitary gland and reproductive system when and how much hormones to release. These include the hormones response for your monthly ovulation.
And now we came to the crux of your PCOS disorder. Without a monthly cycle, it's next to impossible to get pregnant.
Thankfully, your doctor can treat this disorder with relative ease so your chances of giving birth increase. If left untreated, your chances of having a baby are slim.
Looking at the statistics, you may still think the odds are stacked against you -- even when you use fertility drugs like Clomid. According to one estimate, women 35 years of age and younger have a 10 to 15 percent chance of getting pregnant each month while under treatment.
If, after trying Clomid for several months, you're not ovulating properly, your physician has other medications he can prescribe for you. One of them is. The next choice for most physicians is to prescribe injectable gonadotropins or FSH hormone.
Statistics show that this specific treatment works for about 90 percent of the women experiencing infertility due to PCOS. Many of these, then, eventually get pregnant. Now, you may wonder why your health care practitioner didn't just cut to the chase at the very beginning. Skip the Clomid, doc, you're thinking. Hook me up with some of the gonadotropin!
Well, there's a very good reason why he didn't. And it comes down to two words: multiple births.
That's right! In a nutshell, the hormone works too well if you can believe that. Right now, in your baby-deprived state, you may be secretly saying to yourself "bring it on! Bring it on!"
But you need to realize that the presence of multiple births -- and we're not just talking twins or even triplets here -- can place your babies' health at risk from the very beginning. In fact, high-order multiple pregnancies, as their called in the medical community, can put the very life of the baby at risk. It may also result in birth defects and eventual disabilities for your babies.
Because of these distinct possibilities, your doctor may not even prescribe these gonadotropins for you. He may simply move you along from Clomid, the fertility medication to recommending IVF -- in vitro fertilization.
No comments:
Post a Comment