Why ovary not produce eggs

This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here. Common Health Topics. Test your knowledge. Postpartum depression is a feeling of extreme sadness and related psychologic disturbances after delivery of a baby. Although it is common to feel sad or miserable within 3 days of delivery the baby blues , these feelings usually go away within 2 weeks.

Postpartum depression is a more serious mood change. Women in which of the following groups are at increased risk for this condition? More Content. Click here for the Professional Version. Blood tests to measure levels of certain hormones.

Those who are 35 or older. Current knowledge indicates that females are born with their entire lifetime supply of gametes. Females are not capable of making new eggs, and in fact, there is a continuous decline in the total number of eggs each month.

Over the next years of a female's reproductive life, the entire egg supply will be depleted. Although no one can know with absolute certainty the number of eggs remaining within the ovaries at any given time, most women begin to experience a significant decrease in fertility the ability to conceive a child around the age of At the time of menopause, virtually no eggs remain.

The large supplies of eggs within each ovary are immature, or primordial, and must undergo growth and maturation each month. The eggs are stored within follicles in the ovary. Within a woman's lifespan, large numbers of follicles and oocytes will be recruited to begin the growth and maturation process. If this happens earlier, before the age of 40, it is called premature ovarian failure or premature ovarian insufficiency.

In a polycystic ovary, the follicles mature to a certain stage, but then stop growing and fail to release an egg. These follicles appear as cysts in the ovaries on an ultrasound scan. Any abnormality that causes a loss of normal development of the ovaries, such as Turner syndrome , can result in the ovaries not functioning correctly and the loss of a woman's fertility.

The ovaries can be damaged by treatments for other conditions, particularly chemotherapy or radiotherapy for cancer treatment. If a woman stops having menstrual periods during her reproductive years, this condition is called amenorrhoea.

It can be caused by a number of factors. In these cases, fertility can be restored by reducing the intensity of exercise, weight gain and psychological interventions such as cognitive behavioural therapy.

Disorders of the pituitary gland can affect normal ovarian function because a lack of the hormones normally released from the pituitary gland will reduce the stimulation of hormone production and the development of follicles in the ovaries. Thyroid overactivity thyrotoxicosis can lead to amenorrhoea , as can any severe illness. About Contact Events News. Search Search. You and Your Hormones.

Students Teachers Patients Browse. Human body. These pills may also help reduce abnormal hair growth and acne if you take them for several months. Long acting methods of contraception hormones, such as the Mirena IUD, may help to stop irregular periods and the abnormal growth of the uterine lining. Other medicines that may be prescribed to help make your periods regular and help you get pregnant are:.

Effective methods of hair removal include electrolysis and laser hair removal. However, many treatments may be needed. Treatments are expensive and the results are often not permanent. A pelvic laparoscopy may be done to remove or alter an ovary to treat infertility. This improves the chances of releasing an egg. The effects are temporary. With treatment, women with PCOS are very often able to get pregnant. During pregnancy, there is an increased risk of:.

Bulun SE. Physiology and pathology of the female reproductive axis. Williams Textbook of Endocrinology. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; chap Catherino WH. Reproductive endocrinology and infertility.