Women have dreamed about ending menopause since time
began and thanks to science, technically it’s possible through three different
processes. While this may mean an end to hot flashes, it also means that
periods will also return.
Scientists have found a way to potentially restore
fertility to women previously thought to be infertile. And according to their
research, so far, it’s working. Hot flashes, night sweats, weight gain, and
menopausal-related bone loss will be a thing of the past. Instead, women will
have their periods restored and thus can continue on their child-bearing years
longer than before.
While this may not be a desire or need for many menopausal
women, for some women who encounter the onset of early menopause by their
mid-30s, it may offer a bit of hope for women looking to start a family later
in life.
When Menopause
Begins
Women entering the change early deal with the physical
side effects of menopause, in addition to the psychological side of it as well.
Women going through the change early begin to feel old and may experience
infertility, even if they’re only in their 30s.
When the change begins, egg quantity and quality
diminish. The ovaries overproduce the hormones estrogen and progesterone, which
drowns the pregnancy hormone. This hormone imbalance can have the effect of
irregular ovulation times.
What Have the
Studies Found?
Many studies are using different things to reverse early
menopause. One study that has shown results was done in Athens, Greece by the
fertility clinic Genesis. Doctors took blood samples from women and placed it
into a centrifuge to isolate certain portions of the blood. In this case, the
platelet-rich plasma (PRP) was extracted. It was then injected directly into a
woman’s ovary. Once injected, it uses the ovary’s stem cells to generate new
eggs, thus reversing the menopausal and infertile phase of a woman and
restoring ovulation and menstrual cycles. For women who underwent the procedure
early, fertility was able to be restored.
During the study, a team in Athens treated approximately
30 women, ages 46 to 49. Six months after being treated with this procedure, a
woman had her period after five years of menopause and another patient become
pregnant with twins.
While this concept sounds ground-breaking, this type of
work is not a new procedure. Doctors in sports medicine have been using
centrifuged blood for years. When applied to a sports injury, the plasma uses
the body’s own tissue to facilitate healing. The yellowish substance present in
healing wounds is the result of these platelets.
“It offers a window of hope that menopausal women will be
able to get pregnant using their own genetic material,” Konstantinos
Sfakianoudis, a gynecologist at Genesis, said.
The Science Behind
Platelet-Rich Plasma
Blood contains more than just red blood cells, it
contains iron, growth factors, platelets, white blood cells, stem cells,
healing proteins, as well as plasma and much more.
A centrifuge can be spun in a specific way depending on
what doctors and researchers want to separate from the blood. Generally, a tube
of blood separates by itself, with the red blood cells on the bottom. Next are
a layer of white blood cells, and on top is yellowish plasma.
Once the plasma with platelets is separated, and in this
case performed by a Harvard medical team, is injected into the woman’s ovary,
stem cells are activated. When stem cells are activated by the blood’s growth
factors, they can morph into any cells the body needs. In this case, they
change into ovarian stem cells. The woman’s own stem cells stimulate the
ovaries to produce new mature eggs.
Benefits of PRP
Injections
PRP is autologous, meaning it comes from the patient’s
body, so it is natural, and the injections carry few risks. If women don’t want
to become pregnant, but wish to reverse the signs of aging, PRP can help. Aging
adversely affects the skin, making it thin and susceptible to bruising. The
heart suffers from its own diseases. Add to that aging bones which become
brittle and delicate as we age.
With the use of PRP injections, there can be a reverse to
the effects of aging, plus women suffering from menopausal symptoms will
appreciate a decrease or alleviation altogether of hot flashes.
Questions?
While the new treatment looks promising, do we need to
say a word of caution? When Dr. Alisha H. Wilkes, DNP, CNM, ARNP, of Three
Moons Midwifery near Seattle, Washington, read the study’s communique, she
said, “For me this research raises more questions than it answers. Without
knowing how eggs and/or the endometrium are being stimulated there is no way to
measure the potential physiological side effects women may encounter, let alone
understand the quality of the eggs themselves. We know as eggs mature (women
have them from the time they are fetuses themselves) their genetic material
degrades; therefore, this type of fertility induction may increase the chances
of miscarriage, genetically abnormal fetuses, etc. Enhancing, preserving and
inducing belated fertility are all topics rife with ethical questions, as well.
I tend to lean toward trusting the inherent and natural wisdom of bodies, but
to address this topic in particular there is too much we still do not know.”
Trying to control women’s hormones at all of the stages
of life is not new. For decades, women have been given the Pill to prevent
conception, drugs and IVF to encourage conception and hormone replacement
therapy or bio-identical hormones to lessen the symptoms of menopause.
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