(If the blog radio program turns on, please go to my October 1st post & pause it! I will be keeping the show up for the month of Oct.)
Question:
I have started evaluation with a RE at the beginning of August. I have so far been diagnosed as having low progesterone and not ovulating properly. I am just turned 41 and had a miscarriage at age 38 at 9 weeks.
My Dr said if my problem is only hormonal, it is an easy fix. He had me on prometrium for 10 days and now I go back for another ultrasound at the end of my menstrual cycle. I know other people have been put on Clomid with the prometrium. I just wondered what would be his justification or reason behind only giving me prometrium. I asked the nurse and she the prometrium was to help me ovulate. I am curious, I think my doctor is fabulous. I just want another opinion. Thanks! M. from the U.S.
Answer:
Hello M. from the U.S.,
I am glad that you wrote to me because your case disturbs me. You may like your doctor but he is wasting your time. If what you say is correct, neither he nor his nurse know what they are doing and they are leading you in the wrong direction!
If you ovulate correctly, then the progesterone level should be in the normal range. When that does not occur, it is called a "luteal phase defect" and the progesterone is used to help the endometrial lining of the uterus to convert correctly and support implantation. It DOES NOT cause you to ovulate. However, if your ovulation is not correct i.e. you are not ovulating, which would also lead to a low progesterone, then the treatment is to use a fertility medication to get the ovaries to ovulate properly, thereby correcting the problem.
There is another very very large issue, however, and that is that you are 41 years old. Did your "RE" talk to you about the age effects on your fertility? Did he tell you that your chances of a spontaneous natural pregnancy are only 1% per month or slightly less than 10% per year? Did he tell you that you may be wasting your time and possibly losing your ability to have a genetic child if you don't proceed in a more aggressive manner?
If your "fabulous" doctor is indeed an RE, then he should be very concerned about the impact of your age on your fertility and time. He would not be wasting your time with fruitless treatments like prometrium. He would be doing a more aggressive treatments like IUI (intra uterine insemination) or in vitro fertilization, IVF (preferred). Also, if he is indeed an RE, he would be doing IVF in his clinic. Does he? If not, then he may not be an RE at all.
My recommendation would be for you to go see a real infertility specialist, preferably one that does IVF, so that you can be counseled appropriately. I recently had a consult with a patient who, like you, went to a doctor that said that she was a fertility specialist. She was with this doctor from 36 years old to 45 years old. She was never referred to see a real infertility specialist, and so now, her only option is to use donor eggs with IVF. If she would have come to me sooner, we might have been able to get her pregnant using her own eggs. Please don't make that mistake!
Good Luck and keep asking those questions!
Edward J. Ramirez, M.D., FACOG
Executive Medical Director
The Fertility and Gynecology Center
Monterey Bay IVF Program
Monterey, California, U.S.A.
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