Pregnancy and Birth

The results of ovarian reserve testing are often viewed by patients as either good news or bad. The bad news is that, for patients with low ovarian reserve, implantation rates are generally poor and the possibility of successful pregnancy is very limited.

By Samuel S. Thatcher, M.D.

A Fact Sheet From The Center For Applied Reproductive Science

The polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a condition in which the ovaries accumulate tiny "cysts" (actually little follicles, two to five millimeters in diameter, each of which contains an egg)

To the doctors, it seemed more than coincidental that these women manifested absent menstrual periods, hirsutism (excess hair growth on the face, chest, abdomen, and thighs), and enlarged ovaries.

U.S. Surgeon General Michaela Smith announced today that a major health and reproductive problem afflicting millions of women for over a century has effectively been eradicated.

The Role of Practical Lifestyle Changes

Women with Chronic Inflammatory Disease are at a Higher Risk for Premature Ovarian Failure and Early Menopause.

Test your ob/gyn knowledge in our DailyDx.

Remember that PCOS cannot be diagnosed by symptoms alone. PCOS is a very complicated endocrine disorder.

Clomiphene Citrate (Clomid, Serophene) was introduced into clinical medicine for the treatment of anovulation in the 1960’s. Its introduction represented a major breakthrough in the medical management for ovulation induction.

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common hormonal diseases affecting reproductive-aged women. In actuality, PCOS includes a spectrum of disorders rather than a single, discrete disease.

Rachel is 16 years old and has been suffering for several years with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Our journey through this condition has been a difficult one, filled with moments of despair. She is undergoing treatment for it now and is “a work in progress.”

Research has shown that the soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase (sFlt-1)/placental growth factor (PlGF) ratio can be used to assess and identify women who develop preeclampsia.

As the use of assisted reproductive technologies has increased, so, too, has the concern over its effects on the female reproductive system. Specifically, the increased gonadotrophin levels in ovarian cancer pathogenesis coupled with the multiple ovarian punctures and repeated ovarian stimulation associated with in vitro fertilization have raised concerns that IVF may increase the risk of ovarian malignancies.

PCOS is a metabolic disorder that affects 5 – 7.5% of all women. It is the number one cause of infertility and if left untreated, can increase risk of endometrial cancer. In addition, women with PCOS are at a greater risk for heart disease and diabetes.

by Toni Weschler

by Diana Korte (The Harvard Common Press, 1997. PB: ISBN :1558321292, HB ISBN: 1558321284)

By John C. Jarrett, M.D. and Deidra T. Rausch, Ph.D.

One of the earliest uses of HRT was documented in an 1897 publication highlighting the use of desiccated ovarian extracts to alleviate vasomotor symptoms. As science evolved, publications emerged describing the extraction of hormones from pregnant female urine (Emmenin®) in 1934 and eventually pregnant mare urine (Premarin®) in 1937 for the therapeutic relief of menopausal symptoms.

One of the problems with sonography of the early pregnancy is the inability to clearly determine if the gestation sac is intrauterine or extrauterine (ectopic) in nature. This task is even more complicated by the controversies arising from whether the “sac” seen is a true sac or a pseudosac of ectopic pregnancy.

A lactation aid is a device which allows a breastfeeding mother to supplement her baby with expressed breastmilk, formula or glucose water with added colostrum (glucose water alone should only be used, in general, in the first day or two after birth) without using an artificial nipple.

Breastfeeding mothers frequently ask how to know their babies are getting enough milk. The breast is not the bottle, and it is not possible to hold the breast up to the light to see how many ounces or millilitres of milk the baby drank.

Colic is one of the mysteries of nature. Nobody knows what it really is, but everyone has an opinion. In the typical situation, the baby starts to have crying periods about two to three weeks after birth.

Nearly everyone agrees that breast milk is unmatched as the optimum source of nutrition for infants. Human milk not only provides the perfect balance of vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates and fat, it also contains valuable antibodies from the mother that have been proven helpful in preventing infection in infants.

by Anne Montgomery

by Judith Steinberg Turiel

by Mary Renfew, Chloe Fisher, and Suzanne ArmsCelestial Arts, 1990

by Joan Marie Butler, RNC,

Third Revised Editionby Kathleen Huggins,R.N., M.S.