Primary Ovarian Failure

Primary Ovarian Failure General Information

Primary Ovarian Failure (or POF) is a medical condition that affects the female reproductive system and can be also known as premature ovarian failure. Other terms used to describe this medical condition are ovarian hypofunction and primary ovarian insufficiency. This disorder occurs before 50 years old and represents the loss of normal function of one or both your ovaries. It is considered a rare disease because, for example, in the United States of America, only 2-5% of all women develop this medical problem (the total number is about 190.000). If a woman begins to miss periods, then she presents the first signs of POF; other later symptoms may suggest a natural menopause. Once your ovaries fail, the amounts of the estrogen hormone won’t be produced at the same normal levels, causing the appearance of infertility or other reproductive disorders. In the past years, Primary Ovarian Failure was also seen as a premature menopause, although these two medical conditions are obviously different. As an example, a woman who suffers from premature menopause stops having menstrual cycles, while a woman diagnosed with POF may experience rare periods for undetermined time and may even have children. The low levels of estrogen may trigger several complications (for example osteoporosis) and to avoid this, the health care provider must restore these estrogen levels as soon as the disorder is discovered. If a woman who suffers from Primary Ovarian Failure has problems conceiving a child, she is advised to explore others way of having a baby; the chances to get pregnant naturally are minimal.

Primary Ovarian Failure Symptoms

In this part of our presentation, we will try to make you familiar with the characteristics of Primary Ovarian Failure by presenting you the most common manifestations that are experienced by most women who suffer from this disorder. The list that we offer you may not contain all the possible symptoms and this is why we advise you to talk to your doctor about your health problem because he has the necessary training to give you the appropriate information. You must be very well informed in what concerns this medical condition in order to avoid the appearance of any further complications. Primary Ovarian Failure, as any other medical condition, presents some specific signs and symptoms that could also be similar to those of menopause. The most common sign of POF is amenorrhea (irregular or skipped periods). In some cases, erratic periods may be experienced for a couple of years. Other women may accuse skipped periods after discontinuing birth control pills or after a pregnancy. Irritability, night sweats, vaginal dryness, sleep disturbances, hot flashes, bladder problems, loss of energy difficulty concentrating, pain felt during sex, loss of sex drive and finally, infertility are considered manifestations of Primary Ovarian Failure that indicate a deficiency of estrogen and high levels of FSH. There are other more health problems that can result from the loss of ovary’s function, for example heart diseases present a high risk of occurring, as well as decreased bone density, osteoporosis, Addison’s disease, hypothyroidism (Hashimoto’s thyroiditis) and other more autoimmune deficiencies.

Primary Ovarian Failure Treatment

Primary Ovarian Failure can trigger several dangerous complications for the patient’s life. This is why we strongly advise you to seek medical advice as soon as you start experiencing any of the specific signs and symptoms that we have listed above. If you have skipped your periods for more than three months you should immediately call your health care provider to help determine the cause of these irregularities. Although you may skip some periods for several reasons, such as stress, pregnancy, changes in the regular diet or other habits, it is better to do a medical check whenever your menstrual period is changing to be sure you are healthy. The changes that occur in a menstrual cycle may suggest a problem of your reproductive system – such as Primary Ovarian Failure.

Finding out you suffer from this disorder may be a difficult result to cope with, particularly if you were planning to have children. You may need the help of a mental health professional if you begin to feel depressed or anxious. When seeing a doctor, you will be first asked about any signs and symptoms you are experiencing and about your personal and family medical history, if you have been exposed to radiation, toxins or chemotherapy. After informing your health care provider about these aspects, you will need to do some physical exams, for example a pelvic exam. Lab tests may be absolutely necessary to rule out other causes of your menstrual changes. The most common are the blood tests that will include: serum estradiol test, FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) test, karyotype, pregnancy test and LH (luteinizing hormone) test. After receiving the results of all these tests, the doctor can decide upon the right diagnosis. If you indeed suffer from Premature Ovarian Failure, your doctor will apply several treatments to correct the estrogen deficiency that caused this medical condition.

With the help of an estrogen therapy your health care provider will try to replace the estrogen that is normally produced by healthy ovaries. This treatment option is very important because it helps preventing osteoporosis and relieves the symptoms caused by Primary Ovarian Failure, for example hot flashes or vaginal dryness. The hormones may be taken as a pill or may be applied to the skin as a patch or a gel. This type of therapy must continue until the patient reaches 50-52 years old, the age when natural menopause occurs. Taking long-term hormone treatment may increase the risks of developing breast cancer or cardiovascular diseases in older women; the young women react very well to this treatment. The development of osteoporosis can also be minimized by administrating vitamin D and calcium supplements. There are several drugs with positive effects that the doctors use to treat Primary Ovarian Failure: Delestrogen, Enjuvia, Alora, Gynodiol, Ogen, Divigel, Premphase, Estring, Vivelle and Cenestin. The medication treatment must be followed strictly, without missing a dose or overdosing because severe side effects appear immediately. If infertility occurs, no treatment is available to cure it. In order to get pregnant, some women choose in vitro fertilization.