All You Need To Know About Ovulation Induction During Infertility Treatment

Ovulation induction has a success rate of 18% per cycle on average. It is a procedure assisted by fertility medication to induce regular ovulation in your ovaries when they fail to release eggs regularly. It also plays a major role in infertility treatments like in vitro fertilization (IVF). Here is everything you need to know about ovulation induction and how it can help.

Ovulation Induction Procedure

When one of your ovaries releases an egg, ovulation occurs. This happens once every month with normal menstrual cycles. However, if the follicles holding your eggs cannot mature regularly, ovulation may be rare, irregular or absent altogether. In such cases, infertility treatment with ovulation induction comes to the rescue. It stimulates regular ovulation using injectable or oral fertility drugs. You may take them when your menstrual cycle begins. Your body’s reaction will be monitored with ultrasound through your cycle. When it’s time to ovulate, insemination or intercourse will be recommended.

Candidates of Ovulation Induction

You can benefit from ovulation induction in the following cases:

• If your ovulation is infrequent or absent
• If you develop ovulation-disrupting conditions like PCOS
• For controlled ovarian hyperstimulation in association with IVF to stimulate the ovulation of multiple eggs, which are retrieved and used in laboratory fertilization with sperms

Fertility Medications Needed in Ovulation Induction

The fertility drugs and their dosages for ovulation induction will be based on your individual needs. The required medication usually include:

Clomiphene citrate (Clomid): It enables ovulation induction in women with irregular monthly changes of normal pituitary hormones.

Aromatase inhibitors or letrozole (Femara): This medication can benefit patients experiencing PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). It works like Clomid.

Gonadotropins: These include follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), generally produced by your pituitary gland, and injected to help stimulate egg development. But as their stimulation is powerful, their effects are more frequently monitored than letrozole and clomiphene citrate. You may have risks like ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) and multiple births.

Insulin-sensitizing agents (Metformin): These can benefit certain PCOS patients who also have signs of prediabetes or diabetes.

If you still undergo irregular ovulation after this procedure, your doctor may recommend ovarian superovulation. In this method, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is injected to induce the ovulation of mature eggs in your follicles.

Risks of Ovulation Induction

Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS): Fertility medication used for ovulation induction may rarely cause this syndrome. The condition may be mild or severe, but they generally go away within some weeks without treatment. They may include:

• Blurred vision
• Tenderness in your pelvic area
• Unexplained weight gain
• Hot flashes
• Loss of breath
• Headaches
• Nausea
• Bloating

Multiple births: If you undergo superovulation, your ovaries may release multiple eggs. This raises the chances of multiple births (due to several fertilized eggs) and, therefore, a high-risk pregnancy.

Discuss thoroughly with your infertility specialist, the benefits and side effects of ovulation induction before you go for it in your infertility treatment.