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Premature Ovarian Failure
Oct 3, 2008
Premature Ovarian Failure
You are considered to have Premature Ovarian Failure (POF) if you are 40 years old or younger and your ovaries no longer ovulate. About 250,000 to 1 million women in the U.S. have POF. It affects 1 in every 100 women between the ages of 30-39 and approximately 1 in every 1,000 between the ages of 15-29. You can get it at any age or time in your life, whether or not you have had children.
POF used to be called premature menopause, but it is not the same as menopause. Menopause is a natural occurrence; POF is not. If you have POF you might continue to get your period, even if it comes irregularly, and a small percentage of women with POF are able to conceive. Menopausal women stop having their periods completely and cannot get pregnant.
What Causes Premature Ovarian Failure?
Normally, follicles in the ovaries supply women with eggs until age 51, the average age of natural menopause, when the supply of eggs is used up. Follicles are also important because they release the hormone estrogen, which is crucial for a woman’s overall health and bone health.
Although researchers know the ovaries stop functioning normally in POF, in most cases they do not know exactly what causes it. It may be the follicles in your ovaries are not working properly. Or it may be that you have run out of follicles and there is no way to make more. In some cases, POF may be genetic and run in families.
How Does POF Affect Fertility?
Loss of ovarian function affects your fertility because you are not forming or releasing an oocyte. No treatment can restore the normal functioning of your ovaries. You should be aware that insufficient estrogen can also lead to serious health problems such as osteoporosis (decreased bone density) which can be successfully treated.
I have been working to fight my POF diagnosis for over a year now with some success. If you would like to see my journey I have kept a journal and have decided to post it on a blog. It is possible to get pregnant and I know I will. Good luck to everyone with a POF diagnosis. Together we can beat the odds
Please tell me where can I see your blog,
thanks
I've been blogging for 3 months about my journey to 40 and have only JUST started talking about my POF diagnosis (which happened a decade ago).
Today I wrote about my personal account of the 5 stages of grieving, and am asking all women with POF to leave their mark by sharing their thoughts, feelings and experiences.
Big love,
Grace xx
Here's the link:
http://projectgrace2010.blogspot.com/2010/05/5-sta...
So we have to pay more to our health start from now and try to avoid any disorder...
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Hi Grace,
I too was diagnosed some years back with POF, I just turned 41...Thankfully POF struck after the birth of my son.
Something inexplicable has been happenning to me the past couple of weeks. I was going through insane hormonally charged discomforts.
The usual symptoms this time including nausea and breast tenderness compounded with fatigue compelled me to hope for the impossible and get a home pregnancy test. I tested faintly positive, tested myself repeatedly throughout the week, same result.
Sadly today I have started to bleed. I made an appointment for a blood test next week to test my hcg levels. Nurse practitioner says that it is not necessarily a miscarriage, but bleeding is never a happy event during pregnancy.
In my case any spontaneous bleed is amazing, i have a bi-annual cycle :))
All that is to say, there is hope. I did I did have some kind of conception/fertilization/matured egg. I never thought it was possible, my FSH and other stats were terrible last physical, and even the donor egg option seemed daunting.
I am feeling more optimistic about my ability to concieve again, I would love nothing more.
Good luck
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