What is Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)?
If you are having trouble conceiving and have been looking for possible reasons, you no doubt would have heard of PCOS, or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, as a possible cause. But what exactly is PCOS and how does it interfere with you getting pregnant? We asked Dr Daniel Potter to expound on this and help us understand. Here is what he had to say.
What is PCOS? Well, that is a question that seems so simple to answer, but the answer is still somewhat controversial, in terms of what PCOS is and what causes it. If you get a bunch of experts together they have a hard time agreeing on anything.
The basic thing is, PCOS is a condition that causes a disruption in normal menstrual ovarian cyclicity. So the menstrual cycle is usually disrupted, and the root cause for this in the genuine condition we are thinking of when we are talking about PCOS. So it’s one of these things where you ask people what it is and they can’t tell you, but they say I know it when I see it. But the basic underlying problem is insulin resistance.
So the patients that have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome are born with a defective insulin receptor. And that insulin receptor does not work as effectively as a normal insulin receptor so, more insulin needs to be produced. So the patients have Hyperinsulinemia, they secrete too much insulin. What happens as a result of this over secretion of insulin is it alters the secretion of hormones that are responsible for producing eggs, and stimulating the eggs … to maturity.
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Categories: Infertility, PCOS Tags: fertility, infertility, PCOS, polycystic ovary syndrome, trouble getting pregnant
What Is Endometriosis And How Does It Affect Fertility?
Dr Liyun Li
Are you have trouble conceiving but don’t know why? Do you experience pain each month during menstruation? The problem might be Endometriosis. You have probably heard of Endometriosis … but what is it, and how does it affect your fertility. To explain Endometriosis and answer these questions is Dr Liyun Li of the Pacific Fertility Center in San Francisco.
To best explain Endometriosis let’s first do a review of our reproductive system. The uterus, as we all know, is a muscular sac that the fetus is housed in during pregnancy. The lining of the uterus, inside the uterine wall, is where the fetus implants. Now every month, after puberty, women ovulate one egg, and that egg can get get fertilized and become an embryo, which then implants in the lining within the uterus. This lining is called the Endometrium. At the end of a cycle, when a pregnancy doesn’t always occur, this lining then sheds in the form of our menstrual flow.
What Endometriosis is, is when this Endometriotic tissue actually grows somewhere else, in addition to inside the uterus. So, it can grow in the pelvis, on the outside of the uterus. It can grow in our Fallopian tubes. It can grow on the surface of the ovaries. In rare cases it can grow on the surface of our intestines, on our bladder. And in very care cases ectopic Endometrial tissue has been found in very distant organs like the lung, and even the brain.
So that is the condition, Endometriosis is the condition where Endometrial tissue is found outside of the uterus.
The basic problem with this condition is that this tissue responds to hormones. Most specifically I’m talking about estrogen and progesterone, those hormones are important in orchestrating ovulation and pregnancy. So every month, estrogen stimulates the lining of the uterus to grow. This is normal Read more…
Categories: Endometriosis, Infertility Tags: blocked fallopian tubes, Dr Liyun Li, endometriosis, infertility, low egg quality
What Are The Causes Of Blocked Tubes?
Have you ever wondered what caused blocked fallopian tubes, and whether blocked tubes was the reason behind your infertility? Did you also wonder whether there was any pain associated with blocked tubes, or whether they just silently sat in the background? We asked Dr John Gilliland these exact questions, and he explained it for us.
The big three things that are associated with infertility are problems with sperm, problems with eggs or problems with fallopian tubes. So, let’s talk about fallopian tubes.
As part of an early workup for infertility there is a test called a hysterosalpingogram, or abbreviated HSG, which is an x-ray test where a small catheter is placed in the cervix and dye is inject through the uterine cavity and out the fallopian tubes. The x-ray is able to see the dye so an x-ray is taken and so there is a photograph that basically shows the dye inside the uterus and going through the fallopian tubes. That is the most common way of assessing whether or not the tubes are open or blocked.
A lot of times a patient presents with infertility with no knowledge of whether or not their tubes are blocked. The only symptom frequently is just not getting pregnant, and so most of the time it doesn’t cause pain or other kinds of pain or symptoms. So often times it is not discovered until the patient present for evaluation with regards to their fertility and has a hysterosalpingogram.
There are situations where blocked fallopian tubes can actually fill up with fluid, and those are called hydrosalpinges. Hydro for water, salpinges for tubes. And those you can see by ultrasound but sometimes, actually many times tubal blockage cannot be seen by ultrasound.
Categories: Blocked Tubes, Infertility Tags: blocked fallopian tubes, blocked tubes, fertility, hysterosalpingogram, infertility