No ovulation infertility advice ranges from simple lifestyle habits that will ensure the mother's overall health and ability to ovulate--and conceive--to taking medications that jump start ovulation. Speak with your doctor to determine which treatment is best for your condition and to determine the reason you do not ovulate regularly.
Finding Your Best No Ovulation Infertility Advice
Anovulation, or no regular ovulation, can be caused by many things. Discovering why you do not ovulate on a monthly schedule is the first step to deciding how you can start trying to conceive and become pregnant. This condition affects six to fifteen percent of women of childbearing age.
Some of the reasons are:
- Excessive exercise
- Grand fluctuations in weight, either loss or gain
- Extensive travel
- Intense stress
- Breastfeeding
These are often linked to hormonal imbalances in the body which cause the lack of ovulation. Other causes for a lack of ovulation include PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), thyroid problems, or problems with the pituitary gland.
How do you know if you aren't ovulating normally?
- The absence of your period or a very light or very heavy period
- Irregular basal body temperature
Lifestyle Changes
If your lifestyle is affecting your ability to ovulate, a few changes could be all you need. If you're constantly stressed out, exercise too much (resulting in a very light or nonexistent period), or don't eat enough, which can contribute to your infertility, you're in luck because changing these things may be all it takes to ovulate normally. Try managing stress, exercising less, eating a healthier diet, or all three. Talk with your doctor for tips, as well as to discuss whether this is likely to be the reason you are not ovulating.
There could be another underlying problem. Your doctor will be able to determine whether further testing is necessary along with the lifestyle changes. In some cases, blood tests, a pelvic exam, or an ultrasound is recommended in order to determine the reason for no ovulation.
Hormones for Jumpstarting Ovulation
If you do, in fact, have another reason for not ovulating outside of lifestyle changes you can make, you may need to jumpstart your ovulation with drugs.
Clomiphene
You may hear of this one as Clomid or Serophene. This is a popular choice for women who suffer from PCOS and is used for those women who do not ovulate at all or those who do not ovulate regularly. It serves to make sure ovulation occurs on a regular schedule so the likelihood of a pregnancy goes up.
If there is a problem with the pituitary gland, this is also a popular choice. It stimulates the pituitary gland, which in turn causes the production and release of eggs to become more successful. This is one of the least expensive fertility treatments. Forty to eighty percent of women will successfully ovulate with the drug, with roughly half of those conceiving within half a year of taking the drug.
Provera
Provera is sometimes rumored to jump start ovulation, but it does not. It can, however, be used to make women who do not menstruate begin to do so. If a woman begins to menstruate while taking Provera, the doctor will assume that her uterus can prepare for and sustain a pregnancy due to the obvious thickening and shedding of the uterine wall, and that the cervix and uterus are structured correctly.
Ovarian Failure
If you cannot ovulate regularly due to premature ovarian failure (before age 40), your chance for pregnancy is greatly diminished. While only you and your doctor can determine whether to try other modes of fertility treatment first, sometimes the best option is in vitro fertilization with donor eggs. Five to ten percent of women with premature ovarian failure actually do get pregnant without any fertility treatment.
A Final Word
If you're experiencing no ovulation, infertility advice will differ depending on the underlying cause of your lack of ovulation. Talk with your doctor to uncover the reasons for no ovulation and then choose the best path to pregnancy for your condition.
