- my iParenting
- quick clicks
- preconception articles
- preconception q&a
- message boards
- research baby names
- prepare a birth plan
- content channels
- ip channel rss feeds
- read birth stories
- read parenting stories
- recommended books
- e-newsletters
- safety recalls
- ip diaries
- ip store
- mom of the month
- dad of the month
- editor's letter
- letters to the editor
 |
- e-newsletters
- Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters
- award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
No More Periods
Premature Ovarian Failure
By Lisa Hurt Kozarovich
"Besides dealing with the fact that I'll probably never give birth to a child, the other difficulty is accepting that as a 32-year-old woman, my body is, in some ways, acting like it's 50," Beth Thomason says, adding that she worries about the long-term health effects of POF.
Initially, she wore a hormone replacement patch. However, frustrated with a lack of contact with her specialist and no clear understanding of HRT and what it meant to someone her age, she eventually stopped taking it.
"I know the long-term risks of not taking HRT," she says. "I guess I'm still in denial. It's like if I start taking hormone replacement therapy, I'm giving up on ever getting pregnant. I think part of why I stopped taking it was after the diagnosis, I barely saw my doctor again. It was all a matter of leaving voice mails and waiting for a nurse to call me back. I felt left out there on my own with no real guidance."
Not taking HRT can be a dangerous game, particularly for a young woman, Dr. Goodman says. "In the absence of estrogen, young women face very rapid bone loss and can develop osteoporosis very quickly," he says. "It may also put them at risk for heart disease early in life."
Other symptoms women face include night sweats, increased irritability, decreased interest in sex, poor concentration, painful sex and vaginal dryness.
Other than the occasional hot flashes, Beth Thomason hasn't suffered any other symptoms ... yet. But she knows she will eventually have some decisions to make about the use of HRT and becoming a mother.
She's currently trying to enroll in a National Institutes of Health study that will further investigate POF and treatment options for patients trying to get pregnant. "I want to learn more about what I have," she says. "Other than that, I don't know where we'll go down the road. We're considering adoption, but it's still very difficult to give up the idea of having our own child."
Want to see more?
Comments
There are no comments for this article yet.Be the first to 
|
Post As:
|
||
| Enter your comment below: | ||
| Title | ||
| Comment Text | ||
| CAPTCHA | ||
| Please note that any comments submitted become the property of Disney Family / iParenting and can be edited and posted at our discrection. | ||
