For millions of women struggling to conceive, fertility drugs are the first step in treatment. These little pills and injections promote ovulation generally because, without ovulation, conception is not possible.
Medications are prescribed depending on the woman and the kind of trouble she’s having getting pregnant. For instance, women with the polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) generally respond well to clomiphene, but those who don’t may be given the insulin-sensitizing drug metformin to help them ovulate. Some women with PCOS respond well to a combination of metformin and clomiphene. Women with hyperprolactinemia have too much of the hormone prolactin in their blood, which interferes with ovulation. Women with this condition who want to conceive will most likely take bromocriptine or cabergoline to restore ovulation.
The most commonly prescribed drugs are Clomiphene (which works by stimulating the hormones in your brain that trigger an egg (or several) to develop and be released from your ovaries) and Gonadotropins (which works by stimulating your ovaries directly to produce an egg or several eggs). In some women, these drugs need to be combined with intrauterine insemination (IUI) or an assisted reproductive technology (ART) procedure, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF). Women undergoing IVF also take other types of fertility medications to prepare the lining of the uterus for pregnancy and to prevent the ovaries from releasing eggs early.
These drugs are often used along with other fertility methods, like assisted reproductive techniques or artificial insemination.
References
- Webmd. Fertility drugs. Accessed on October 2nd, 2018