For women who have trouble conceiving, a popular treatment is the fertility medication. These medications often work with female hormones to increase the chances of conception. A common side effect of fertility
medications is the multiple pregnancy and the eventual multiple birth.
If women are having more than one baby, they could have released more than one egg!
Getting Back to the Basics of Being a Woman
In order to understand the link between early menopause and fertility drugs, we must take a step back to better understand the female body. Women are born with a definitive number of eggs. These eggs are immature and should mature one at a time once the female body goes through puberty.
With each maturing egg comes a menstrual cycle, which means the female should release 12 eggs every year. Glitches in the female reproductive system could increase that number a bit, so let's use the number 24 as the number of eggs released per year.
The Power of the Fertility Drug to Cause Early Menopause
If the female reproductive system has a set number of eggs and the body matures 24 eggs a year, theoretically, the woman would start going through menopause near 50 years of age. (These egg numbers are a complete estimate.) If the fertility drug caused an increase in the number of eggs released, the years until menopause would shorten with every ovulation.
If the female body releases eight eggs per cycle (the Octomom), she will release 96 eggs per year. That is four times as many eggs as the unmedicated woman would have released in a year. Four times more eggs means three lost years, now the female will go through menopause at 47.
If the cycles are repeated during any years there after, or the drug changed to a different fertility medication that stimulates egg release, the female could get three years closer to menopause with every year of medication.
If women are having more than one baby, they could have released more than one egg!
Getting Back to the Basics of Being a Woman
In order to understand the link between early menopause and fertility drugs, we must take a step back to better understand the female body. Women are born with a definitive number of eggs. These eggs are immature and should mature one at a time once the female body goes through puberty.
With each maturing egg comes a menstrual cycle, which means the female should release 12 eggs every year. Glitches in the female reproductive system could increase that number a bit, so let's use the number 24 as the number of eggs released per year.
The Power of the Fertility Drug to Cause Early Menopause
If the female reproductive system has a set number of eggs and the body matures 24 eggs a year, theoretically, the woman would start going through menopause near 50 years of age. (These egg numbers are a complete estimate.) If the fertility drug caused an increase in the number of eggs released, the years until menopause would shorten with every ovulation.
If the female body releases eight eggs per cycle (the Octomom), she will release 96 eggs per year. That is four times as many eggs as the unmedicated woman would have released in a year. Four times more eggs means three lost years, now the female will go through menopause at 47.
If the cycles are repeated during any years there after, or the drug changed to a different fertility medication that stimulates egg release, the female could get three years closer to menopause with every year of medication.
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