Infertility | Fertility | Ovulation | Conception | Pregnancy

What Is Lupron And How Can It Help Address Fertility Issues

Lupron has been used commonly in fertility treatments to increase the number of eggs produced by women ...

Lupron belongs to a group of drugs called gonadotropin-releasing hormones agonists (GnRH).

The release of the hormones testosterone and estrogen in the body are affected by GnRH.

Lupron is prescribed to reduce the amount of testosterone or estrogen in the body. Since it is capable of reducing the production of both male and female hormones, it is used by medical specialists to treat some specific conditions in men, women and children.

Some of these conditions include prostrate cancer, endometriosis, uterine fibroids and early puberty i.e. before 8 years in females and 9 years in males.

Before Taking Lupron

Lupron belongs to the FDA pregnancy category X. It implies that it may have tendency to cause birth defects in an unborn baby. So, it must never be used by a woman who is pregnant or may get pregnant during the treatment. Since it is not yet known, whether Lupron passes into breast milk, women who are breast feeding a baby must consult their doctor before using the medication.

There are certain forms of Lupron that may contain the preservative benzyl alcohol. Thus, its use is not recommended if one has an allergy to benzyl alcohol.

As far as administration of Lupron is considered, it may be injected under the skin, into muscle or as a shot that is given at a physician’s clinic periodically. It must not be administered at home until and unless one is sure about all the details related to it.

Use of Lupron in Fertility Treatments

Contrary to its normal use for prostrate cancer and endometriosis, Lupron has been used commonly in fertility treatments to increase the number of eggs produced by women for the last few years.

It has been reported that women using Lupron are tend to suffer severe side effects such as joint pain, numbness, memory loss, suicidal depression, whole body swelling, hot flashes and headaches.

Lupron is used in most of the IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) treatments. The function of Lupron is to suppress the pituitary gland. This gland is generally considered responsible for causing ovulation. However, before suppression takes place, Lupron may lead to the brief stimulation of pituitary and thus causing an increase in the pituitary hormones.

Due to this reason, the gap of few weeks is given before starting other fertility medications. However, women who have been given Lupron in fertility treatment reportedly suffer from adverse side effects because of higher doses and longer treatments. These side effects include neurological symptoms like migraines, numbness, tingling, weakness and memory loss. Besides these, they also include ovarian enlargement, ovarian cysts, lupus, dizziness, coma and brain damage.

It is not only women; there have been reports of negative effects of Lupron on IVF babies. Babies exposed to Lupron are born with problems such as heart defects, anatomic anomalies development delays, ADD and seizures

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