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Conference turris::womannotes-v3

Title:Topics of Interest to Women
Notice:V3 is closed. TURRIS::WOMANNOTES-V5 is open.
Moderator:REGENT::BROOMHEAD
Created:Thu Jan 30 1986
Last Modified:Fri Jun 30 1995
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1078
Total number of notes:52352

271.0. "Not ovulating" by WMOIS::B_REINKE (treasures....most of them dreams) Thu Aug 02 1990 23:47

	The following message is being entered for a member of
	our community who wishes to remain anonymous. I will be
	more than glad to forward mail to her upon request.

	The author of the note is dealing with the problem that
	she is not ovulating.

	Bonnie J
	=wn= comod

	_______________________________________________________


    	I've just been told that the reason I'm not ovulating is most 
    likely because my level of testosterone is too high.  (Gee, and I 
    hadn't been feeling overly "masculine" lately... :-( )   I've been 
    referred to an endocrinologist to see what to do next (i.e. try and
    reduce the level).  This is likely not something new for me, but a 
    problem I've probably covered up for the last 7 years by being on 
    the pill (I was quite regular the whole time I was on the pill).  
    When we first discovered my irregularity years ago, the doctor tried 
    a couple things (including some hormone stimulant?), and when those
    didn't work, put me on the pill.  I ended up staying on it until just 
    recently (several months ago).

    	Anyone else out there have this problem?  My gynecologist
    mentioned something about cortisone treatment, but he said I really
    needed to talk to the endocrinologist.  For some reason I can't
    imagine just one treatment helping this problem, but rather an
    ongoing thing.  I'm already on medication daily for something
    else, and really don't want to add anything more (I've been trying
    to cut *down* on medications!).  

    	My main concern here is my overall hormonal balance and
    ovulating regularly.  At this point in time, I have no plans to 
    have children, so that's not a crucial issue.  (Though I suppose it
    may be something I'd reconsider down the road in a few years or 
    ten...and I guess it'd be nice to know how this would affect my
    fertility - there may not be a decision to make!)  Obviously I 
    have a number of questions that I plan on asking the doctor (like 
    if the solution is cortisone treatment(s), what the side effects 
    will be, what would happen if I just didn't do anything, etc.), but 
    if anyone else has gone through this, I'd really appreciate hearing 
    about it.


    	Thanks...

T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
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271.1LEZAH::BOBBITTwater, wind and stoneFri Aug 03 1990 10:3424
    
    You might want to think about cross-posting to the MEDICAL notesfile -
    contact the moderators there if you wish to post anonymously there
    also.
    
    I have a friend with a hormonal conflict, slightly different from
    yours.  His body seems to have some sort of objection to its own
    generally-higher-than-normal-level-of  testosterone (i.e. he is
    "allergic" to it to some degree) and in order to keep its reaction down
    he takes small amounts of estrogen.  The similarity is that he has
    counterbalanced the high testosterone level with estrogen.  I mean,
    being on the pill worked, so maybe that is still an alternative, or if
    it sustains the hormone level enough, the mini-pill (lower hormonal
    dose than the regular pill) might work...of course, if you want to
    conceive the endocrinologist may be able to tweak the quantity of
    female hormone so that you still ovulate, but it doesn't act as a
    contraceptive (as the pill did until recently).
    
    Cortisone is a pretty serious drug - perhaps if it was a one-shot deal
    it might be worth it, but ongoing use of cortisone carries its own
    negative side-effects....
    
    -Jody
    
271.2Also, see PARENTINGNOVA::WASSERMANDeb Wasserman, DTN 264-1863Fri Aug 03 1990 11:045
    Also, there are LOADS of notes on fertility/infertility in
    HELPME::PARENTING_V3 (also the older ones _V2 and _V1).  Do a
    dir/tit=fertil or dir/tit=pregnant and you'll find a lot.
    
    Good luck.
271.3AV8OR::TATISTCHEFFi look better in themFri Aug 03 1990 12:016
    one of my college friends had testosterone poisoning.  the treatment at
    the time was for her to go back on the pill.  the excess hair has faded
    and her breasts have returned, but i don't know what the final solution
    to the testosterone was.
    
    lee
271.4Non-ovulator too...OK4ME::PILOTTEMon Aug 06 1990 12:5821
    I too do not ovulate on my own.  I did not know that it was the cause
    of my irregular periods until I took my temperature every day for about
    a year.  The graphs were quite explicit about the non-ovulation, the
    temperature was about the same all the way thru the month.  I was on a
    drug called Clomid, a fertility drug. I would take it for three months,
    then I would go off for three months.  The doctor told me that I could
    have a difficult time becoming pregnant but until that time I would go
    on having irregular periods.  In other words I was fine medically.  I
    did not have a difficult time getting pregnant.  I had a child in 1980.
    After the birth, I went back to having irregular periods.  I went on
    the pill in 1986 and went off this past January.  My periods were
    regular for a couple of months, and now the time between them is
    getting longer.  I havent 'skipped' a month as I did before, but then
    again my breasts havent decreased in size yet either (I went from a B
    to a C cup while on the pill).
    
    What is the reason for the medication?  Just to make you 'regular'??  I
    took medication only to find out the cause for my irregularity.  After
    that I did not take any more.
    
    Hope this helps,  Judy
271.5too thin?57394::BARLOWTue Aug 07 1990 14:2113
    
    This may be totally off-base, but I know that ovulation stops if you
    don't have a certain percentage of body fat.  (I think its something
    like 10%.)  The reasoning behind this comes from evolution.  I guess
    your body figures it might go through a famine period and it wants to
    make sure that you've got enough fat to live for some time without
    proper amounts of food.  (So if your body doesn't believe that the
    chances are good to propagate your genes, it just wants to keep you
    alive, in hopes that you'll gain weight.)  Women runners and tennis
    players often run into this problem.
    
    Rachael
    
271.7DUGGAN::MAHONEYWed Aug 08 1990 11:368
    Extrene thinness is cause of not ovulating... the body needs a minimum
    of musscle to manufacture the amount of hormones that is needed to
    trigger ovulation, when there is not enough musscle to provide the
    minimum of hormones there is no ovulation.  My daughter went through
    that when she was 18, her doctor said that she was healthy, there was
    nothing wrong with her, but she needed 15 MORE pounds to have a regular
    period. He gave her no medicines, no treatment, only to gain weight.
    She did, she is dead regular now and has been for the last 3 years.
271.9Anorexia is unhealthy in generalCADSYS::HECTOR::RICHARDSONWed Aug 08 1990 13:3413
    My cousin (who is a year older than I am and is anorexic) had that
    problem also.  In fact, poor nutrition causes a lot of other problems
    as well (I could learn to love not having a period, believe me!); she
    has a fracture of the very top end of her thigh bone at the hip joint
    (a running injury) which is not healing properly, apparently because her
    nutritional reserves are so poor, and it is both painful and
    potentially crippling (she may have to have an artificial hip
    replacement - an operation that is seldom needed by someone my age).
    
    Having too LITTLE body fat is a problem I am unlikely to develop
    myself - I love food!                                              
    
    /Charlotte