By Which Hormone Infertility is Caused ?
If you have been looking for information about infertility, you have heard that hormones and infertility are connected. That is a fact and understanding how they are connected will also help you understand how the treatments work and why. Is there any hormone infertility causing or what is the deal with male and female hormonal levels?
A issue that affects both men and women, let us take a look at how the production of sperm works and the ovulation cycle , in a woman, as well.
Without frightening you too much with expensive words, there is an hormone infertility related, the one that is primarily responsible for regulating the hormone secretion and the development of both testicles and ovaries: those hormones are the gonadotropins. They help the testes produce sperm and the ovaries to produce and develop the ocytes ( eggs).
There are three main types of gonadotropins that can be the cause of hormone infertility cases, the hFSH, the hLH and the hCG. The first 2 are secreted by a brain gland, the pituitary one and their secretion is ruled by the hormone GnRH, which releases the gonadotropins The GnRH is, in its turn, produced by the hypothalamus.
The third, the human chorionic gonadotropins (hCG) is born in the placenta and is very important on you being able to hold the fetus long enough inside the womb. It its a major hormone that plays a big role in infertility. It is only produced after the implantation of the egg, but if the placenta does not produce it in enough amount, you will have a hard time maintaining a pregnancy.
Those female hormones control the menstrual cycle, thus controlling the entire process that leads to a successful pregnancy. During the three phases of a woman’s menstrual cycle- The Follicular phase:days 1 to 13, the Ovulation phase ,around day 14 and the Luteal phase, days 15 to 28. All this phases are controlled by the Oestrogen, the progesterone, the LH ( Luteinizing hormone and the FSH (Follicle stimulating hormone)
How it happens is the secretion of the FSH rises around two weeks before the ovulation occurs, thus allowing your follicles to grow , those will , in their turn, secrete oestrogen , allowing the process of thickening of the uterus or endometrium lining. This hormone also makes your cervical mucus change and become an optimal place for the sperm to swim and fertilize.
With the FSH levels high, only one of these follicles will grow and mature more than the others and it will set itself apart form the others. Before the evolution 8 (around 32 hours before) the estrogen secretion increases what causes the LH production to peek as well. With this, the egg will set it self free from the big follicle, being it s remained transformed in the so called corpus luteum – the progesterone secreting mass that will prepare the uterus to receive the fertilized egg.
You see that hormone infertility is not that unusual and when we say this, we mean the type of infertility that is caused by the lack or some of the other hormone. Knowing how hormones work will also help you understand why most infertility doctors prescribe hormones to fight infertility.
