GynoFiles

PCOS: The Syndrome of Hormones, Hair and Havoc of menstrual cycles Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) The doctors Stein and Leventhatal in 1935 discovered why some women had big cysts on their ovaries, extra hair growth and troubles getting pregnant. Their original series of patients had 7 cases, ,they performed their now abandoned practice of ovarian wedge resection (their thought was to help eggs ovulate by allowing them to get to the surface of the ovary) on all 7. Out of these 7 women, all began to have regular cycles and 2 did become pregnant from the treatment. And though we recognize their work as the beginning, their name long left the condition of Polycystic Ovaries. After it was called Stein and Leventhal's disease this has been called a disease, a condition and now a syndrome. The definition has been changed so that almost 1/10 women can meet the definition and in fact many women with perfectly regular menstrual periods are surprised to learn upon visiting their g...

Aging decreases the number of eggs in the ovaries that a woman can ovulate and therefore the odds of of conceiving also decreases as one age. The 24 million eggs that are present in the ovaries of a female fetus only result in about a million follicles at birth, and we only ovulate about 400 times. As the number of reserve eggs decreases the rate of regular ovulation goes down and in order to conceive a woman may require help in ovulating. Although previously it was thought that a single follicle awakes from a group of eggs that are stimulated in the weeks before ovulation, always thought to occur in a cycle before the cycle in which we ovulate, there is evidence now that the process takes more like 3 months. The cycle is mostly controlled by the brain hormone FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) from the pituitary gland. FSH stimulates follicles, which are sacs of cells that contain an egg, to develop during those important last two weeks when rapid growth in a follicle occurs.. And ...

Testosterone testing is very useful for gynos, and you may want to gab with yours to see if you need this hormone checked. But getting the right test, and an accurate test is very important. The Testosterone Tests were Toppled in 2011. Laboratories changed the way they reported tests, and they had to change how they interpreted the results. Results of Testosterone Tests called into question by the endocrine society  and then the tests have been improved. All patients need to understand that all testing has flaws, but with hormones it's often difficult to get a test that your gyno can use. Times of day, part of the menstrual cycle, are just two of the obvious sources of error to testosterone testing. Then there is the fact that physicians have not been able to decide what level is a normal blood level of testosterone. It may not even be so simple as what is normal per decade of life, but may be what is normal for a certain ethnicity.  But there is more to it t...

Checking your calendar as to when to schedule date nite? Babysitter, check. Night off of work, check. Jeans shortened at cleaners, check. But how about when your sex drive will be peaking? This may vary from woman to woman. If you aren’t on pills you may notice that your sex drive is at the highest when your testosterone levels are peaking, that would be in the third week of the cycle. For women with PMS, well, about a third of you have sexual dysfunction anyway, maybe check with your gyno first and get some of that cleared up! And how about menopause, in the new position statement by the North American Menopause Society, issues March 2012, there is no medical evidence that systemic hormone therapy with estrogen affects sexual interest, arousal and orgasmic response, other than if it improves menopausal symptoms and thus improves the overall quality of life. However, local estrogen can improve sexuality by improving your lubrication, increasing your blood flow to make arousal easier...