Fertility and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Featuring Dr. Sabrina Gill, MD, MPH, FRCPC
Fertility and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
Duration: 1 minute, 52 seconds

In the normal menstrual cycle, there is a number of hormones that are involved in regulating your periods and your reproductive system.  

There is the gland called the pituitary gland in the brain that basically regulates everything and in particularly there are two hormones. There is a hormone called FSH which is follicle stimulating hormone and this basically tells the ovary to make eggs.  

And then there's the second hormone called LH or luteinizing hormone and this regulates the number of hormones that the ovary produces to help those eggs develop and proceed to a pregnancy. So when you have a defect in those hormones that can of course affect egg development.  

Then of the ovary, you've got follicles, little cysts that carry the egg and they help it towards development and release of the egg so that's normal and that hormone called FSH helps produce that and the follicles produces other hormones, the common one being estrogen that helps with egg development.  

In polycystic ovary syndrome, you have defects both in the pituitary gland as well as the ovary so you don't release that egg and you don't develop that egg as well and so that can lead to problems with infertility as well as make increase in male hormone production and that causes problems as well with a number of symptoms.  

The ovaries is the main source of male hormone production although there are other glands in the body such as the adrenal gland that make it and women produce male hormone. It's important for bone and muscle development as well as sexuality.  

But when you produce a little bit too much, this can cause some symptoms that can cause discomfort as well as difficulty with ovulation and therefore infertility. So if you have any of these symptoms, it's important to see your physician and get further evaluation.

Presenter: Dr. Sabrina Gill, Endocrinologist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Endocrinologist