24 years old had to ask for eggs to become a mother, the doctor warned that the rate of premature ovarian failure is increasing, caused by lifestyle

Married for a year but no children, H. (29 years old) went to Nam Hoc Hospital and rarely wanted to be examined in Hanoi. There, she was diagnosed with ovarian failure. The only way to have a baby is to ask for an egg and then do in vitro fertilization with the husband’s sperm.

This is one of many women with ovarian failure. Usually women in their 40s and 50s go through menopause and have ovarian failure.

However, as noted by fertility clinics, today, many women in their 30s, even more than 20 years old, have ovarian failure of unknown cause.

Illustrations

Most of them go to the hospital for a check-up because of menstrual disorders, have been married for a long time without children, or have had a child who wants to have a second child but cannot conceive. When they are diagnosed with premature ovarian failure, most of their reactions are shock, the solution is to stimulate eggs for IVF.

The case of LA (Hanoi) is a typical example. Only 24 years old, unmarried. Recently, the girl found that her period was irregular and then she lost her period. At first, she thought it was due to an endocrine disorder, then it might be post-Covid-19 but the status of the ‘red light’ flickering and then completely off made the girl worried.

She turned pale, could not believe her ears when the doctor diagnosed premature ovarian failure due to very low AMH test results, unresponsive ovulation. Similar to H., this girl who wants to have children must also ask for eggs to fertilize them.

Dr. CKI Ho Van Thang, major in Reproductive Support, Hanoi Hospital of Andrology and Infertility, said that the ovaries are the most important reproductive organs of women with two basic functions: endocrine to produce produce sex hormones, regulate sex characteristics – female physiology and exocrine to produce eggs for the reproductive process.

A properly functioning ovary helps a woman to have a normal sexual, physiological and reproductive life.

“For men, sperm is produced continuously since puberty, so a man’s reproductive life is very long, even to old age if he can still have sex. Then the woman is more disadvantaged when from about 20 weeks pregnant, the division and increase in the number of eggs in the two ovaries has stopped and each woman will give birth to about 1 to 2 million eggs.

This number will gradually decrease and when entering puberty, the number of eggs will be about 300,000 to 400,000 eggs. And according to the monthly menstrual cycle, the follicles will develop, ovulate or gradually degenerate, making the ovarian reserve gradually lower.

Usually after the age of 45, the amount of eggs decreases to the bottom and women will enter the perimenopause and menopause. At that time, a woman is no longer able to reproduce and the production of female sex hormones decreases, reducing female physiological activities.

However, premature ovarian failure is a phenomenon where the ovaries are aging before their age, stopping functioning in women after puberty and before the age of 40. This is a very common cause of infertility,” said Dr.

Signs of premature ovarian failure often have similar symptoms to women entering the perimenopause with typical signs: menstrual disorders, decreased sex drive, vaginal dryness, and menstrual cramps. hot flashes (hot flashes, night sweats), difficulty concentrating, agitation, etc.

Dr. Thang said that there are many cases of ovarian failure that come very slowly with no symptoms, patients only discovered during examination because of infertility.

Especially in recent times, there have been many cases of premature ovarian failure due to indiscriminate use of tobacco – herbs of unknown origin, due to abuse of ovarian stimulating drugs.

Currently, there is no treatment that can improve ovarian failure or stop the process of ovarian failure in women. Treatments are mainly aimed at resolving the symptoms of the disease and treating infertility.

According to Dr. Thang, if a woman only has mild ovarian insufficiency, the ovaries still have reserve follicles and the development and ovulation still take place, there is still a chance to get pregnant naturally.

However, because of poor ovarian function, irregular development and ovulation, the rate of natural pregnancy is low, only about 5-10% of patients get pregnant without any treatment.

“The rest need to rely on the intervention of assisted reproductive methods. Early intervention to support fertility will help increase the likelihood of pregnancy and reduce the cost of both treatment because the process of ovarian failure continues.

In cases of severe ovarian failure that no longer have a reserve follicle, and the ovary responds poorly to pregnancy, it is necessary to perform in vitro fertilization in combination with egg donation, “said Dr. Thang.

In order to provide the opportunity to realize the dream of fatherhood and motherhood for many couples as well as to empower families in their journey to find children’s laughter, from May 16, 2022, Nam Hoc Hospital and Infertility Hanoi will organize the “Golden Week – Nurturing Happiness” program in 2022.

Accordingly, the hospital will support 10 cases of in vitro fertilization (IVF) free of charge for infertile and infertile couples with extremely difficult circumstances.

From April 29, 2022, the Hospital will officially receive the application for free IVF approval for this year’s support program.

The time to receive the application for approval takes place within 1 month from the date of notification. The review results do not depend on the time of submission of the application and the results will be evaluated fairly by the Hospital’s professional committee.

N. Huyen