Ovarian Rejuvenation for Premature Ovarian Failure or Ovarian Ageing
Women are born with about 2 million eggs. About 11,000 of them are
lost EVERY MONTH prior to puberty. At puberty she is left with about
400,000 eggs. After this, every month a woman continues to lose about
1000 eggs. This loss is irrespective of medicines, oral contraceptives,
pregnancy, health issues, nutritional status etc. The number of eggs a
woman is born with will determine at what rate she loses her eggs.
Once eggs are depleted, menopause sets in. The initial number of eggs
and the rate of depletion will decide at what age menopause sets in. This
bit is partly genetically modulated and you will find that age of
menopause will be similar in sisters and will correlate with the age at
which their mother or maternal aunt achieved menopause.
Having said so, it is also true that over the last 20 years or so, we are
finding a rapid decline in the ovarian reserve. More and more women are
suffering from poor ovarian reserve (POR) at an earlier age. This could a
result of environmental pollution, toxic substances or fertilizers in our
food or maybe the stressful situations we live in. Whatever maybe the
reason, the fact remains that fertility is going down rapidly.
Do these pollutants or stress damage our body directly? Probably not
so. There is a growing concept of damage being done through the
medium of generating free oxygen radicals which in turn damage our
systems. These free oxygen radicals can be fought against with the help
of anti-oxidants. This thought has flooded our markets with every
conceivable form of anti-oxidants therapies for healing from within. The
various treatment options for ovarian rejuvenation in India are:
Anti Oxidant Therapy for Ovarian Rejuvenation:
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DHEA or De-Hydro Epiandrosterone Sulphate: It was sold as a
nutritional supplement across the counter when a woman who
had been told by her fertility expert that she had bad eggs and
couldn’t conceive with her own eggs, studied about DHEA and
decided to use it on herself. She further underwent 9 more cycles
of IVF with dramatically improving egg quality and finally
conceived at age 42yrs with her own eggs. Although it’s a male
hormone, DHEA helps to sensitize the ovary to the female
hormones thus making it more conducive to produce eggs.
Read Article - Ubiquinol: Touted as a very powerful anti-oxidant, it scavenges the free oxygen radicals and is seen as a powerful tool in improving the quality of the eggs. It is also seen a valuable agent in removing errors during the fertilization process thus reducing the genetic defects and consequently helps in reducing miscarriages.
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Melatonin: It is a hormone which is responsible for our sleep-
wake cycle. It is secreted in the dark and tells our brain that its
time for us to sleep. Its been used a lot for reducing jet lag.
Recent studies have however shown that Melatonin is also very
useful in improving the number and quality of eggs.
Read Article -
Vitamin D
- Vitamin D is said to have a role in the process of ovulation, implantation of embryos and good results after IVF/ICSI.
- It also has a role in preventing further metabolic and hormonal imbalances in PCOS patients. Vitamin D serum levels are inversely proportional to blood pressure, lipid levels, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome in PCOS.
- In primary ovarian failure it improves fertility activity by modulating androgen activity, increasing the sensitivity of follicles to FSH (direct effect on AMH level).
- A strong, positive correlation between the concentration of Vit-D and sperm motility and morphology was also found, especially due to its role in ion homeostasis.
- It was shown that the patients with proper VD levels have a four time higher chance for a successful procedure. Patients with clinical pregnancy have higher Vitamin D levels than one with spontaneous early abortions.
- This data strongly suggest that the effects of vitamin D may be mediated through the endometrium, not the follicle or oocyte. Read Article
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Myo-Inositol:
- The role of inositol in the streamlining of ovulatory process has been widely defined in patients with reduced sensitivity to insulin, as far as the inositol’s insulin sensitizing action.
- At ovarian level MI has been shown to be crucial for the FSH signalling and it is involved in oocyte maturation and embryo development.
- The fertilization rate, implantation rate, grade 1 embryos rate and pregnancy rate shows a positive trend in patients pre-treated with MI.
- MI therapy is associated to an increase in M2 oocytes retrieved number and in ovarian sensitivity to gonadotropins in poor responders.
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Folic Acid
- Folate, or its synthetic supplemental form folic acid, is part of the B vitamin group and is widely recommended for the prevention of birth defects.
- This nutrient plays a critical role in not only fetal health but also general reproductive health and ability for men and women.
- Folic acid is required by the body for many processes, including DNA production and cell division.
- Folic acid is also essential for controlling homocysteine, an amino acid that causes many health problems at high concentrations, which also causes early abortions.
- Prophylactic dose of 5mg daily of Folic acid (3 month pre conception) is highly recommended.
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Vitamin C
- Role of vitamin C in improving male semen parameters (especially motility) is well known.
- Basically, it’s thought that because vitamin C is an antioxidant, it helps to protect the sperm and it’s DNA from damage thereby increasing the sperm quality.
- Vitamin C helps to neutralize any chemicals or toxins found.
- Vitamin C is also helpful for women, particularly if progesterone is low.
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Vitamin E
- Without vitamin E the body cannot reproduce.
- vitamin E is essential in protecting and improving cellular health, including egg and sperm.
- A study published by Fertility and Sterility in April, 2010, showed that vitamin E supplementation may aid in increasing the thickness of the endometrium in women with thin uterine lining <8mm. Read Article
- Oxidative stress is a major concern for women who are trying to conceive and have either insulin resistant PCOS or diabetes. Vitamin E supplementation has been shown to improve insulin action.
- Vitamin E in amounts up to 600 IU per day (use only 50 IU if you have high blood pressure, heart disease, or diabetes) has been shown to help prevent miscarriage in women with a history of recurrent miscarriage.
PRP or Platelet Rich Plasma for Ovarian Rejuvenation:
This has been dealt with in a separate article and holds promise as a
simple and inexpensive method of reversing the age and environment
related damage to the ovaries.
Dr Rajeev Agarwal has introduced PRP therapy as treatment for Ovarian
Rejuvenation in Kolkata and the result have been good so far. Know
more about Ovarian rejuvenation with PRP Therapy in Kolkata at
Renew Health Care.
Read Article 1
Read Article 2
Stem Cell Therapy for Ovarian Rejuvenation:
Stem cells are cells that are so native and naïve that they can be
transformed into other cells of our body. Every type of stem cell
however does not have this power to differentiate into every other cell
and is only capable of producing certain type of cell line in our body.
The fat in our tummies contains Mesenchymal Stem Cells and it has
been found that it has regenerative properties when extracted,
processed and injected back into the ovaries. Since however the
process is more cumbersome, it has still not become the mainstay of
treatment and PRP still has an edge over it.
Read Article 1
Read Article 2
