Irregular Periods And Infertility In Women: Know All About Ovulation Disorders

When it comes to female infertility, 30 percent to 40 percent cases happen owing to the ovulation disorders. These kind of disorders cause many hindrances in the release of eggs from the ovaries, a main criteria to get pregnant. Irregular periods, no periods and at times abdominal bleeding are the indicators that you're not ovulating. This kind of condition is known as anovulation. This is a serious condition, but fret not this can be treated with the various fertility options. However, before starting any treatment procedure, the fertility expert does various other tests to rule out the possibilities such as thyroid conditions or abnormalities of the adrenal or pituitary glands.

Reasons behind irregular periods

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Periods can be termed as irregular if the time between each period varies, uneven blood flow and the number of days the periods stay. All these happen because changes in body's level of the hormones estrogen and progesterone. Other common causes of irregular periods include:

• Having an intrauterine device (IUD)
• Popping certain medication
• Too much exercise
• Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
• Pregnancy or breastfeeding
• Stress
• Overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism) or underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism)
• Thickening of uterine lining
• Uterine fibroids

PCOS is one of the leading causes of infertility in women
Photo Credit: iStock

Is it possible to get pregnant with ovulation disorders?

Fertility drugs can treat the ovulation disorders. But some drugs require strict monitoring of the egg growth or follicular monitoring is required to avoid Ovarian Hyper stimulation Syndrome. But, the efficacy of these drugs is quite high. Experts believe that almost 90% of women start ovulating with these drugs and between 20% and 60% become pregnant as well.

Also read: PCOS And Infertility: Here's What You Need To Know

Reversing infertility and getting pregnant

The biggest contributors of infertility are: hormone imbalance, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, an ovulatory cycles, physical blockage, inadequate hormone production, short luteal phase, and lack of luteinizing hormone, high levels of prolactin, and many others. Besides popping those fertility pills, change in lifestyle and nutrition can do wonders to your body and reproductive system.

Step 1: Nutrition

In today's time most of the women are undernourished despite being overweight. One should remember that if the body doesn't have the basic foundations to sustain a pregnancy, it won't allow conception or pregnancy to continue. Women generally have the tendency to turn to a low-fat and high-fiber diet in order to lose weight. But in this case of increasing fertility, the diet regime should be holistic by incorporating necessary proteins and fats necessary for hormone production. It has been seen that for some women, nutrition alone can be enough to support the body for fertility. Majorly, it has been seen that once the child is born, women tend to ignore their nutrition. It should be kept in mind that proper nutrition is vital for the growth of the unborn child and mom's body to recover from pregnancy.

Also read: Complications Of Hypothyroidism: Weight Gain, Infertility And More; Tips To Manage It

Step 2: Lifestyle factors

Lack of sleep, exposure to harmful chemicals, high stress levels and certain medications or supplements are the major lifestyle issues that are causing infertility. If we keep a check on all these factors and try to modify them diligently, half of the battle is won.

(Dr Aswati Nair is a Fertility Consultant at Nova IVF, New Delhi)

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