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| herbwormwood wrote:
> Has any Lupie here had this and if so what did you experience?
> I have read it is one of the things us lupies may have to put up with.
> Any personal stories/anecdotes from you all would be appreciated.
A friend of mine, who has Lupus, says there was evidence that her ovaries
had shrunk/ (almost disappeared) by her early 40's and she was in
menopause. It was no biggie, because she already had 2 kids.
<http://health.ivillage.com/gyno/gyn...0,,6hkg,00.html>
The immune system, which protects your body from infection, relies on a
feature called self-recognition -- the ability to distinguish the body's
own cells from foreign invaders. Occasionally the immune system is unable
to make this distinction, and it mistakenly attacks your own tissue. This
sort of autoimmune attack usually involves the production of antibodies
against your own cells. If the antibodies are directed against your
ovaries, you may develop ovarian inflammation and premature ovarian
failure. A blood test can reveal the presence of anti-ovarian antibodies.
These may appear in women who are experiencing premature ovarian failure,
younger women with elevated levels of the hormone FSH, and women who have
experienced a poor response to ovulation induction.
There are few published studies about treating patients who have these
antibodies. These early studies used high-dose steroids for a 16-day
treatment. Unfortunately, the initial research reports only a few cases
where treatment was successful and the women conceived. Sufficient numbers
of patients have not been treated to allow us predict the likelihood of
success. Also, no studies have been performed using randomized control
subjects, which is required to determine if a particular treatment really
makes a difference. If your anti-ovarian antibody level is positive, you
may wish to review the risks and benefits of steroid treatment with your
physician. For now, however, the gold standard of therapy is still to use
donated eggs and in vitro fertilization (IVF) to achieve a pregnancy.
http://www.repromedix.com/documents..._Antibodies.htm
Anti-Ovary Antibodies (AOA)
* Diagnostic for over 60% of POF cases
* Predicts low response to HMGinjections
* Important tool for managingOvarian Stimulation
* Independent of Inhibin B or FSH
Scientific Background
Premature Ovarian Failure (POF)
This disorder relates to the loss of reproductive function before the age
of 40 due to loss of ovarian function. It may by caused by chrom osom al
abnorm alities, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy, yet there have been many
“unexplained” cases. Earlier studies have shown that organs specific auto
antibodies are commonly found in most patients with autoimmune diseases.
POF is associated with unrelated autoimmune disorders of endocrine and
other tissues (e.g., myasthenia gravis, autoimmune thyroiditis, juvenile
rheumatoid arthritis and others) raised the hypothesis that in some of the
patients the cause for disease is autoimmune in nature. Indeed,
autoantibodies to ovarian tissue were shown both on sections from such
patients ovaries (1-3). And in serum (4) In this study, sera in 69% of POF
patients were found positive for ovary or egg specific antibodies. These
sera were much less reactive to liver, placenta or thyroid tissues (4%,
22%, and 1% respectively within the same study
In-Vitro Fertilization/Embryo Transfer
Ovarian stimulation protocols are routinely employed in order to induce
superovulation and maximize the recruitment of preovulatory oocytes which,
in turn, would increase the number of embryos produced and improve the
success rates. In another study on ovarian autoimmunity (5), research
focused on 51 patients admitted to the IVF/ET
program due to tubal or male factor infertility. Serum estradiol (E2)
levels were analyzed within this group in response to hMG, and patients
were divided to “low responders” (<300 ng E2/ml) and “good responders”
(>400 ng E2/ml). The AOA test was run in parallel on both subgroups. The
study revealed that 77% of the “low responders” had elevated or positive
anti-ovarian antibodies whereas none of the “good responders” showed any
detectable levels.
Unexplained Infertility: In addition, two other recent studies showed AOA
levels to have an impact on IVF failure. In the first study (7) it has
been shown that women with failed pregnancies had higher frequency of AOA
58%, compared to that in women who were pregnant (25%). In the other study
(8), 12.5% of 50 patients with >5 failed IVF cycles and 0% of 50 patients
who did conceive within the first 3 cycles had AOA. This study suggested
AOA is a possible marker for sub clinical autoimmune disease that cause
repeated IFV failure. One recent study (6) showed that AOA as a marker for
infertility, is independent from Inhibin B and FSH levels. This suggested
that AOA should be tested in addition to these markers, and its levels can
not be inferred based on levels of these hormones.
Clinical Significance
The anti-ovarian antibody test provides a quick and easy way to evaluate
the causes for POF, or the causes for failures or decreased performance in
the IVF procedures, it provides a tool for early assessment for whether
large enough number of eggs could be retrieved for subsequent IVF/ET in
patients admitted to IVF cycles, without actually starting the cycle. The
numbers of retrieved eggs in “low responders” was close to threefold lower
than that in “good responders”. The test outcome may be coupled to
specific treatments. This disorder may be partially or fully alleviated
for the critical period of time, by immunosuppressive treatment (see
above). Treatment may be employed prior to ovarian stimulation. The test
may also be used to monitor the effect of the treatment(s). <snip>
Note from me:
Seems to be all/other autoimmune disorders/diseases also.
This test seems to be useless since it's not diagnostic in 100% of cases.
So it seems to be a situation where one does not know if it is going to
happen to oneself and by the time it's happened it's too late.
Anyways, isn't it after 40, that there's more risks of having problematic
pregnancies/birth defects etc?
so maybe the message is have the babies from age before age 40?
J
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