Your mom experiences mood swings, sudden tears, hair loss and thinning, sudden feel of depression or any other signs of changes within her. What would probably be the cause?
You
and your husband are together for 20 years and longing for a child who does not
come along. What seems to be the problem?
These
are some questions people may encounter sometime of their lives and people tend
to be curious at some point and wanted to know the answer. When you get
curious, you do research. When you do research, you learn.
What did I learn?
The
cases may probably be obvious for you to know the answer. Your mom suffers from
these kinds of symptoms and you found out that she never had her period for 2
months. She is in the menopausal stage. Your 8-year old daughter has the same
issue with many youngsters so you concluded that it is fine to have her period
on a youthful age. As for the married couple, they can’t have a child because
one of them may be barren.
The
follow up questions will be what causes these circumstances? We conclude that it
is a hormone. It is a chemical substance that regulates and controls the
activities within the body. Specifically what hormone and what does it do to
you? It is a follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) which is secreted in the
anterior pituitary gland that is needed for gamete production during the
fertile phase of one’s life and gonadal development and maturation during
puberty.
FSH
is tested to determine if there are problems related to development, pubertal
maturation, growth, and reproductive processes of both male and female bodies.
It is determined by a blood test usually combined with other tests to diagnose
hormonal levels which may show any signs of problems.
In females,
follicle stimulating hormone stimulates the ovarian follicle development in the
ovary prior to the releasing of eggs during ovulation. It is normal for a
female’s FSH level to vary throughout the menstrual cycle. It increases during
menstruation. FSH stimulates the growth of ovarian follicles in the ovaries,
and the follicle cells around it causing release of estrogen. Estrogen is a
hormone that affects the female’s body, skin, breast, bone, and causes slight
thickening of endometrial lining. In FSH test for females, blood sample is
obtained on the 3rd day of menstrual period.
In men, FSH acts
on Sertoli cells of the testes to support sperm production and maturation.
Unlike females, males’ FSH level remain relatively constant.
In
kids, FSH levels are normally low. The brain produces gonadotrophin-releasing
hormone (GnRH) as soon as they reach puberty and begins to have changes toward
sexual maturity.
Low FSH levels
may indicate imbalance in the pituitary or hypothalamus while high FSH levels
may indicate an imbalance with the testes or ovary functions.
It is very
important that we know sufficient information about certain things. Learning is
fun knowing you can share your knowledge to others and who knows? You yourself
might use that knowledge you learned from the past to unlock your future.
References:
Tsilya
Gerasimova, Maria N. Thanasoula, Dimitrios Zattas, Emre Seli, Denny Sakkas, and
Maria D. Lalioti (2010). Endocrine Care. Identification and in Vitro
Characterization of Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) Receptor Variants Associated
with Abnormal Ovarian Response to FSH, 95(2), 529-530. Retrieved from: http://jcem.endojournals.org/
Manuela Simoni, Jorg Gromoll, and Eberhard
Nieschlag. (1997). The Follicle-Stimulating Hormone Receptor:Biochemistry,
Molecular Biology, Physiology, and Pathophysiology, Vol. 18, No. 6, 739-740.
Retrieved from: http://edrv.endojournals.org/
Qing R. Fan and Wayne A. Hendrickson. (2005).
Structure of human follicle-stimulating hormone in complex with its receptor.
Vol. 433, 269-270. Retrieved from: http://courses.washington.edu/
Serge A Jabbour, MD.
Follicle-Stimulating Hormone Abnormalities. Associate Professor, Department of
Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Thomas Jefferson University Aug 30, 2007
