Can Women With Pcos Donate Eggs

Can Women With Pcos Donate Eggs. Have you ever tried to donate egg{s}? And what were the criteria used to determine if you are viable or not?

The primary purpose of Egg donation is to help women who are infertile or unable to get pregnant due to certain health conditions to have a baby.

But can women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome {PCOS} donate eggs?

The polycystic ovarian syndrome is an endocrine {Reproductive} hormonal imbalance or disorder.

PCOS is a significant cause of infertility, affecting about 21% of women of reproductive age.

Due to the reproductive hormonal imbalance experienced by PCOS patients, the eggs released may not be mature enough and are low in quality, making them not viable for fertilization.

Thus, many with PCOS conditions have been sidelined from donating eggs. Nevertheless, PCOS is also feared to be an inheritable genetic disorder passed down to the next generation.

Many women suffering from PCOS became aware of their condition late at puberty or early teenage age.

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Since PCOS is a health condition, it has some symptoms that some women have experienced but chooses to ignore them because they are assumed to be menstruation cycle symptoms. They include;

• Prolonged or shorter menstrual cycle along with heavy bleeding {irregular periods}.

• Enlarged polycystic ovaries with painful cramps {ovarian cyst}. The cramps are brought by the enlarged ovaries that are filled with multiple fluid-filled sacs around the eggs {cyst}.

• Facial hair growth {Hirsutism} due to elevated level of androgen hormone in the body, and it affects about 70% of women with PCOS. The decreased endocrine hormone triggers an increased level of androgen hormone, which enhances facial hair growth.

• Acne on the face, upper lumbar region, and chest.

• They have difficulty in losing weight; instead, they gain weight.

• Small excessive flaps of skin on areas of the neck and in the armpit.

• Darkening of the skin in the groin, underneath the breast, and along the neck creases.

• Male pattern baldness due to the thinning of hair or hair loss on the scalp.

• Failure to get pregnant for more than a year despite menstrual cycle timing and medication.

What are the causes of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome?

Can Women With Pcos Donate Eggs

Despite being feared to be an inheritable condition, there is still no real reason behind PCOS existence. However, research from experts claims that the following factors might bring it:

• Androgen level

Androgen is a male hormone responsible for controlling male traits such as baldness and beard growth.

Women also have androgen hormone but in small amounts compared to men.

However, suppose they produce high levels of androgen hormone.

In that case, it affects the menstrual cycle because it prevents ovulation {the release of an egg from the ovary down to the fallopian tube}.

Since androgen hormone is high, it will enhance facial hair, acne, or baldness.

• Insulin Resistance

Insulin resistance is also another factor that can cause Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.

Insulin is a digestive hormone that converts food into energy. When individual body cells do not usually respond to the insulin, it deprives the reproductive system of receiving sufficient energy to help in the physiological process, thereby interfering with the secretion of estrogen hormone.

Since your body cell does not utilize insulin, it will increase it, lead to obesity or overweight, type 2 diabetes, and trigger the secretion of more androgen hormone.

• Inflammation

Due to an increase in androgen hormone levels in the body, studies have linked the development of enlarged ovaries filled with multiple fluid-filled sacs around the eggs, leading to inflammation.

Thus, making the endometrium wall weak, leading to miscarriage or failure in fertilization.

• Fallopian Tube Blockage or Damage

It is challenging for an egg to travel through the fallopian tube, thus interfering with the menstruation cycle and even fertilization.

• Endometriosis

Endometriosis is a condition whereby the uterine muscles and tissues implant and grow outside of the uterus.

The impact of uterine wall overgrowth is that it interferes with the functions of ovaries, fallopian tubes, and uterus, leading to PCOS or infertility.

Why Women with PCOS are sidelined from donating Egg

The real intention is to give facts with an argument to prove why women with PCOS should donate eggs, but first, let’s focus on why their eggs are not considered.

Women with PCOS have been sidelined from donating eggs because of the following reasons;

• Both regular and women with PCOS conditions produce viable eggs. However, the difference between them is that women suffering from PCOS usually produce a disproportionate number of eggs.

When an egg is disproportionate, it means it is not fully developed, thereby making its quality to be poor. Poor quality eggs have many defects, making them have poor developmental potential leading to a miscarriage or prenatal birth.

• The offspring might also inherit the condition from the mother, thereby interfering with the next generation’s reproductive health.

What are the criteria used to determine if an individual is qualified for Egg Donation?

The criteria used to recruit a potential individual for egg donation are the rules and regulations formulated by the U.S Food and Drug Administration {FDA}.

The implemented laws guides on how to find appropriate viable and health egg with minimal vices for the benefit of delivering a healthy baby. According to the FDA, an egg donor should be:

• Free from Infectious diseases

Diseases like Hepatitis B and C, sexually transmitted diseases like HIV, Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and Syphilis, and West Nile Virus are infectious diseases that can hang the life of both the mother and infant.

Therefore, anyone who wants to donor an egg should be screened thoroughly to ensure they are free from such diseases before offering to donate her egg.

• Psychologically fit and free from genetic disease or disorder.

Some diseases or disorders can be genetically passed down from parents to infants, thereby affecting their future.

Thus, those who need egg they seek good qualities that will not compromise the infant future. To meet these criteria, an individual will be given a urine drug test to check whether she is a carrier for genetic disease and disorder and undergo a psychological evaluation.

• It depends on Contraception Choice.

The quality of an egg is also affected by choice of the contraceptive method you use for birth control. Most prolonged contraception choices like birth control injections and implants can disqualify an individual from donating an egg.

This is because the drug is still active, and the baby might be born with deformities, disorders, premature or stillbirth may happen.

• Free from substance abuse

Smoking tobacco, marijuana, and other substance abuse also disqualify an individual from being a potential donor because it also affects the quality of an egg.

• Age

According to the FDA rules and regulations, any individual who wants to donor an egg must be of sound mind, educated, and 21 years of age and above.

21 is the minimum age for well conversant personnel to decide without being influenced willingly. However, the maximum age for those who are donating eggs to others is between 30-33 years of age, unless you are culturing your egg for your needs.

Considering 33 years to be the maximum age is because some individuals reach menopause at a younger age, thereby producing low-quality eggs.

• Menstruation cycle

Suppose you have experienced the symptoms as mentioned earlier for PCOS, automatically you do not qualify for donating your egg because of the potential risks present in your condition.

Reliability and Commitment

The last criteria are not under the FDA rules and regulations, but it is a vital factor imposed by the egg bank or agency for successful results towards the person in need of an egg.

If you want to donor an egg, you have to be reliable and committed to attend the doctor’s appointment to maintain and track your menstrual cycle for you to donor a fully developed and healthy egg.

Failure to attend the doctor’s appointment automatically disqualifies you from donating an egg because it would be difficult to track the safest time to extract the egg.

It is worth noting that since you will undergo different health screenings, the process might take you a month before your doctor starts culturing you for egg donation.

Therefore, you need to be patient and start making appointments earlier to avoid inconvenience and schedule if you are a career woman.

Are Women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome Fertile

Suppose you are suffering from PCOS; there is no need to worry about your fertility. You are just an average person who can get pregnant like any other normal woman, but your condition inhibits you from reaching your dreams because of the following reasons;

• You experience an irregular menstrual cycle, making it hard to find the right timing for you to get pregnant.

• Despite the right timing, the egg might not be well developed, encouraging stillbirth, premature birth, or miscarriage.

Thus it would help if you were cultured appropriately for egg donation/extraction to ensure you get pregnant at the right time when your eggs have fully developed and to avoid the inconveniences mentioned above.

However, thanks to the improvement of treatment and medication technology that have been purposely designed to monitor and enhance the menstruation cycle to obtain healthy and mature eggs from women suffering from PCOS.

According to the research conducted with a comparison done between normal and those suffering from PCOS health conditions through IVF.

The basis of the experiment or research was conducted following the IVF stimulation protocol that is also individualized based on each woman’s health history and antral follicle count.

They found that women with PCOS condition had an increased number of eggs {oocystes} retrieved and presented decreased oocyte fertilization with the same pregnancy and live birth rates compared to regular patients without PCOS.

However, they found out that PCOS patients had an increasing number of days of stimulation for an egg to fully mature and be healthy through IVF compared to normal women who had shorter stimulation days.

In the same research, they also found out that PCOS patients who undergo IVF had a more excellent egg production {oocyte} and required less gonadotropin compared to normal women.

Gonadotropin is a hormone-induced in the body to stimulate follicles to secrete estrogen and progesterone hormone to enhance the menstrual cycle and egg development.

This is because PCOS patients have larger cohorts in terms of the number of follicles, increasing their sensitivity to gonadotropin, thereby reducing the cost of ovarian stimulation.

Meaning, PCOS patient is more likely to experience ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome and miscarriage.

Therefore, it would be significant to minimize the levels of gonadotropin hormone to minimize its impact.

According to the research, concluded that women with PCOS should not be excluded from egg donation programs.

This is because PCOS in donors does not affect the pregnancy rates or implant rate provided she is stimulated at the right time, and the extracted egg is well developed.

However, caution should be maximally applied when inducing gonadotropic hormone to prevent hyperstimulation syndrome. For more information,

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What are the Methods used for Stimulating Follicles to produce mature Oocyte/Egg?

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome does not hinder you from donating eggs or prevent you from giving birth to your offspring.

There are several ways your doctor may suggest to help with the problem.

These methods work based on their stimulating effects to enhance reproductive hormones towards oocytes development and menstrual cycle.

However, the decision depends on the individual’s preference based on its friendliness with your body and the cost. They include:

• In Vitro Fertilization Method

IVF is one of the methods that are popular and widely used to help in the extraction of fully developed oocysts {Egg} from PCOS patients or anyone.

Despite how expensive, time-consuming, and complex the procedure is, it is the most effective method to help with infertility, prevent genetic problems, and assist reproductive technology.

IVF works by inducing gonadotropin hormone through injection, which increases the sensitivity of the follicle {pituitary gland} to enhance the reproductive hormone like estrogen and progesterone hormone.

Both hormones are responsible for enhancing egg development and regulating the menstrual cycle in women.

The advantage of using IVF is that it does not use up more eggs than other methods, especially the non-medicated menstrual cycle.

It also rescues the eggs that would have died off, thereby allowing eggs to mature and be ready for extraction or retrieval. Moreover, it triggers ovulation after about 36 hours from the time of diagnosis.

• Aromatase Inhibitors

Some women experience PCOS due to hyperstimulation syndrome, which makes the pituitary gland produce more FSH.

Aromatase inhibitors are a combination of two medications that are; letrozole and anastrozole, which the FDA has also approved.

This method is a temporary solution; hence, you can only use this method when you are ready to donate an egg.

The treatment plan begins early in the cycle on the second to fifth day after your menstruation cycle begins.

When this method is incorporated with the superovulation IUI method, it stimulates more than one follicle; hence you can donate more eggs.

• Human Chorionic Gonadotropin {hCG}

The effectiveness of hCG is the same as gonadotropin since it triggers ovulation after 36 hours from the time of diagnosis application. hCG has a similar chemical structure and function to Luteinizing hormone {LH}; hence mimicking the LH surge, thereby causing the dominant follicle to release the egg and ovulate. However, the diagnosis of this method is applied only after the doctor has confirmed the levels of hCG to determine the right time to give hCG. Furthermore, it can be used along with gonadotropin or Clomiphene Citrate to induce ovulation.

• Bromocriptine and Cabergoline

If your PCOS condition is caused by an irregular menstrual cycle because of too much secretion of prolactin in the blood, this treatment method is suitable for you.

When prolactin is higher than normal in your blood, it triggers the secretion of Follicle Stimulating Hormone {FSH} and LH, thereby causing the dominant follicle to develop and ovulating.

Primarily this method is suitable if the pituitary gland does not trigger your irregular menstrual cycle but due to alcohol abuse, use of oral contraceptives, painkillers, tranquilizers, hallucinogens, and benign tumor that is composed of prolactin-secreting cells.

Bromocriptine and Cabergoline works by reducing prolactin level and release by 90%, and the treatment is discontinued immediately after the egg has been retrieved or once pregnancy is achieved

• Clomiphene Citrate {CC}

Clomiphene is also popular and most common diagnosis applied to stimulate ovulation utilizing ovulation induction drug, especially for women with infrequent ovulation and unwilling to pursue a more aggressive therapy treatment method.

Moreover, the other reason why it is widely used and preferred is that it stimulates more follicles to develop but only if it is incorporated with the Superovulation IUI method.

The Clomiphene Citrate diagnosis is given early in the cycle from the second to the fifth day after the onset of your menstrual cycle.

Conclusion

It would help if you did not worry about PCOS because there are treatment methods you may employ to help you through with this condition.

However, it is advisable to visit a doctor for further professional advice rather than concluding you are suffering from PCOS.

Furthermore, the significant reason for vising your gynecologist is that she might be able to determine the reason behind your condition and help you choose appropriate treatment therapy suitable for you with minimal side effects.