Getting Pregnant With Premature Menopause

Menopause, in short, is the end of the reproductive era in a woman's life. When this begins a woman's ovaries shut down, she stops having menstrual cycles, her estrogen levels drop, and she no longer is able to bear children. Menopause is considered normal when it occurs after the of 40, however some women experience this earlier, a condition known as premature menopause, or premature ovarian failure.

Prevalence and Causes

Premature menopause affects 1 in 1000 women under the age of 29 and 1 in every 100 women between 30 to 39. Experts believe that there are several possible reasons for this including chromosomal abnormalities, damage to ovaries due to surgery or radiation, and autoimmune disease. Right now there is no known treatment to reverse or treat this condition.

Premature Menopause and Pregnancy

Premature menopause significantly reduces a woman's ability to become pregnant. This is because a woman either doesn't ovulate at all, or if she does have an occasional ovulation, the eggs are typically not suitable for pregnancy. It is estimated that between 5 and 10 percent of women with this condition can become pregnant without fertility treatment. However, most will need to rely on some sort of assisted reproductive technology.

The most common recommendation from fertility physicians is that a woman uses a donor egg with an IVF treatment if she desires to become pregnant. This process involves selecting an egg donor, undergoing hormonal treatments, fertilizing the egg with the partner's sperm and implanting the embryos into the woman's uterus. Many clinics have reported great success in with this treatment for establishing successful pregnancies. However, this treatment is often very expensive and the resulting child will carry only the father's DNA.

Researchers are still looking for ways for women with premature menopause to become pregnant using their own eggs. Some women may be able to get pregnant using an IVF cycle and her own eggs, however success rates vary. There is also very promising research being conducted on the use of Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) treatment for improving ovarian function and egg quality in women with premature menopause. In one study published in the journal of Fertility and Sterility, 5 infertile women in premature menopause were given DHEA supplementation. Remarkably, all of these women became pregnant after treatment. The researchers believed that the DHEA protocols were successful because they treated the woman's eggs long before a pregnancy attempt in order to improve their quality and increase their chances of conception. Although this treatment is still being studied, it is possible for women to enroll in DEHA treatment programs as a part of clinical trials.