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Treatment Options For Infertility: Use Of Medications

Treatment Options For Infertility: Use Of Medications

drugs

This will depend on many factors, including the age of the patient(s), how long they have been infertile, personal preferences, and their general state of health.
There are three main types of fertility treatment:
• Use of medications
Surgical procedures
Assisted conception

USE OF MEDICATIONS
Medicines often used to assist fertility are listed below. These are usually prescribed for women although, in some cases, they may also be prescribed for men.

  • Erectile dysfunction or premature ejaculation – medication and/or behavioural approaches can help men with general sexual problems, resulting in possibly improved fertility.
  • Ovulation disorders – if the woman has an ovulation disorder she will probably be prescribed fertility drugs which regulate or induce ovulation. These include:
  1. Clomifene (Clomid, Serophene) – this medication helps encourage ovulation in females who do not ovulate regularly, or who do not ovulate at all, because of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or some other disorder. It makes the pituitary gland release more FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) and LH (luteinizing hormone).
  2. Metformin (Glucophage) – women who have not responded to Clomifene may have to take this medication. It is especially effective for women with PCOS, especially when linked to insulin resistance.
  3. Human menopausal gonadotropin, or hMG, (Repronex) – this medication contains both FSH and LH. It is an injection and is used for patients who don’t ovulate on their own because of a fault in their pituitary gland.
  4. Follicle-stimulating hormone (Gonal-F, Bravelle) – this is a hormone produced by the pituitary gland that controls estrogen production by the ovaries. It stimulates the ovaries to mature egg follicles.
  5. Human chorionic gonadotropin (Ovidrel, Pregnyl) – this medication is used together with clomiphene, hMG and FSH. It stimulates the follicle to ovulate.