Addressing premature ovarian failure enables our patients to achieve their goals for parenthood
As your trusted Tulsa fertility specialists, our doctors combine clinical expertise with compassionate care to identify and treat common causes of female infertility. Maternal age, physical abnormalities and hormonal imbalances can all hinder your ability to conceive. In younger women, premature ovarian failure, or ovarian insufficiency, can also be a factor.
What is premature ovarian failure?
When a woman reaches puberty, her menstrual cycle begins, and her ovaries release an egg each month during ovulation. These monthly cycles continue until menopause, when estrogen levels drop, and ovulation no longer occurs.
In the United States, women often enter menopause during their early 50s. Unfortunately, some women experience ovarian insufficiency well before they should. Our Tulsa fertility specialists may suspect this diagnosis in women who are younger than 40 who have stopped having periods and aren’t producing any eggs.
What causes premature ovarian failure?
Although men continue to produce sperm throughout their lives, women are born with all the eggs they will ever have – approximately 1 million to 2 million – and that number declines throughout their lives. Once you reach puberty, an egg is released each month during ovulation. With ovarian insufficiency, your ovaries either don’t function like they should, or they stop producing eggs all together.
There are several common risk factors for premature ovarian failure.
- A family history
- Autoimmune diseases
- Medical treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation
- Genetic or chromosomal issues
- Prior reproductive surgery
- Endometriosis
How do we make this diagnosis?
In many cases, patients visit our Tulsa fertility specialists because they are having infrequent or absent periods. Your doctor will order blood tests to evaluate your reproductive hormone levels and rule out other possible health conditions. This analysis will provide critical details about your estradiol and FSH levels, the hormones that ensure optimal ovarian function. High FSH and low estrogen levels help our doctors confirm premature ovarian failure.
Exploring infertility treatment options for ovarian insufficiency
While there is no cure for ovulatory dysfunction, your doctor can treat symptoms and review infertility treatments that may help you get pregnant. Hormone therapy can improve symptoms and lower the risks of health issues, such as osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. If you want to have a baby, talk to your physician about IVF.
The team at Tulsa Fertility Center understands that getting pregnant is not always as easy as it seems. Knowing when to seek outside help from one of our Tulsa fertility specialists can make the process less confusing. Contact our office to schedule an appointment.