Ovulation Dysfunction and Infertility

IHR has extensive experience in treating women with all forms of ovulatory dysfunction.

Ovulatory Dysfunction is the single-most frequent cause of female infertility and denotes a problem with the monthly release of an egg (ovulation). When a woman is anovulatory, she can't get pregnant because there is no egg to be fertilized. If a woman has irregular ovulation, she has fewer chances to conceive, since she ovulates less frequently. Plus, it seems that late ovulation doesn't produce the best quality eggs, which may also make fertilization less likely. 

Also, it's important to remember that irregular ovulation means the hormones in the woman's body aren't quite right. These hormonal irregularities can sometimes lead to other issues, like lack of fertile cervical mucus, thinner or over thickening of the endometrium (where the fertilized egg needs to implant), abnormally low levels of progesterone, and a shorter luteal phase. 

Anovulation and ovulatory dysfunction can be caused by a number of factors. The most common cause of ovulatory dysfunction is polycystic ovarian syndrome, PCOS. Other potential causes of irregular or absent ovulation is obesity, too low body weight, extreme exercise, hyperprolactinemia, premature ovarian failure, advanced maternal age, thyroid dysfunction, stress. 

IHR has extensive experience in testing for ovulatory issues. We will reach a specific diagnosis of your condition after learning more about you by carrying out a physical examination and conducting a careful review of your medical records. To ensure we gather as much information as is necessary, other tests may sometimes be helpful, including: FSH Blood Level, Progesterone Blood Level, Ultrasound, Endometrial Biopsy. 

If you are not ovulating, your infertility specialist may prescribe a medication to stimulate your ovulation. If the treatment plan is to take medication to ovulate, your infertility specialist will want to monitor you carefully to see if and when you are ovulating. Monitoring usually involves: Ultrasound and Blood Tests.