Fertility problems plague nearly one in every four women, regardless of age, health issues, and race. To help address this increasing issue, scientists have struggled to find the root of the problem of infertility as well as medical ways to assist women in their desire to have children. The idea of Femara and fertility use is one of the most hotly debated ideas in medical circles.



Femara and fertility treatments are constantly being revamped and reworked to increase a woman's chances of becoming pregnant. There are two different instances in which fertility drugs can be useful: one, women who are not able to ovulate on their own can be medically stimulated to create and release an egg, and two, women that are already ovulating can be stimulated to have an increased chance of pregnancy by the release of multiple eggs during an ovulation cycle.

However, this change in hormonal levels because of fertility treatments does not always have the desired effects. For one, some women can have multiple births as the result of taking medications like Gonal F and Follistim. And the increase in hormones can also be problematic for those women with a predisposition or a history of breast cancer. However, Femara and fertility treatments are not linked with increasing the hormonal levels, which makes the Femara a safer option for a larger group of women.

Women with breast cancer find that Femara and fertility concerns are congruent. Because Femara, also known as letrozole, is an aromatase inhibitor, it decreases the body's ability to produce the hormone estrogen, vital in the conception and pregnancy process. What Femara can do is work with traditional infertility treatments to regulate the amounts of estrogen that are in the body, allowing the woman to have an increased chance of pregnancy without the fear of too much estrogen in the body. Or it can be used by itself and naturally increase one's chances of becoming pregnant.

Other advantages to Femara and fertility is the quick metabolism of the chemical in the body, which allows it to work on the short term, rather than remaining in the body and affecting the subsequent pregnancy ? as some superovulation infertility treatment methods can do. In its methodology, Femara can help fertility by allowing the body to produce more of its own estrogen in a natural manner by the stimulation of the pituitary gland, rather than introducing additional estrogen in the treatment itself. When the enzyme in Femara suppresses the production of estrogen, rather than the estrogen receptors, this allows the pituitary gland to be activated.

There are some potential side effects to this reduction of estrogen, however, when using Femara and fertility treatments. Hot flashes, breast tenderness, and minor headaches have all been reported with the use of Femara. Some studies have also shown that there is a risk of birth defects in those that are taking Femara when they are already pregnant.

Femara and fertility treatments utilizing aromatase are shown to be significantly more effective in women who have already failed with the use of traditional treatments: Clomid and Serophene, for example. In scientific studies, patients using Femara were able to ovulate nine out of twelve months and of these twelve patients, three conceived while on the Femara.

Additional studies have shown that Femara and fertility are positively linked. When patients have used Femara, there was an increase in the thickening of the uterine wall, which allowed for firmer egg implantation once the egg was fertilized. This occurrence seems to allow for fewer miscarriages than the traditional fertility treatments. Treatment with Femara seems to be more effective in younger patients than in older women, however, the rates of success are high for those that have already failed with traditional treatments.

Copyright 2006 Helene Kvist