Infertility and Prolactin

Written by Blueheronclinic.com

What is Prolactin?

Prolactin is one of the hormones produced by the pituitary gland. Prolactin has many roles throughout the body but perhaps the most important role of prolactin is to stimulate milk production in women after they give birth. Prolactin levels normally increase during pregnancy which causes the mammary glands in a woman's breasts to enlarge as a preparation for breastfeeding.

During the first several months of breastfeeding, the higher levels of prolactin also serve to inhibit ovulation. This is the reason why women who are breastfeeding do not get their periods and therefore do not often become pregnant. As time passes, the prolactin levels reduce and the woman may begin to ovulate.

Prolactin as a cause of Infertility

High levels of prolactin may be a cause of infertility; this is referred to as hyperprolactinemia. Women who are not pregnant and are not breastfeeding should have normal levels of prolactin. If a non-pregnant woman has abnormally high levels of prolactin, it may cause her difficulty with fertility and getting pregnant.

Prolactin can result in infertility in several different ways. First, prolactin may inhibit ovulation. If this occurs, a woman's menstrual cycles will also stop and In less severe cases, high prolactin levels may only occasionally disrupt normal ovulation. This result's in intermittent ovulation or ovulation that takes a long time to occur. Women with this issue may experience infrequent or irregular periods and women with the mildest cases involving high prolactin levels may ovulate regularly but not produce enough progesterone hormone after ovulation. This is known as a luteal phase defect, inadequate amounts of progesterone produced after ovulation may result in a uterine lining that is less stable for embryo implantation.

Symptoms of high prolactin levels

As noted above, some women with high prolactin levels may have no periods or have irregular periods. Another possible symptom of high prolactin levels may be discharge from the breasts, this discharge is the result of prolactin trying to stimulate the breast to produce milk. The occurrence of a milky discharge from the breast in a woman who has not recently been pregnant is called galactorrhea. 

Causes of High Prolactin Levels

There are a number of possible causes of high prolactin levels (also known as hyperprolactinemia). Some common causes of high prolactin levels include:

• Pregnancy and breastfeeding
• Prolactinoma
• Certain medicines (such as trifluoperazine and haloperidol)
• Other pituitary tumors
• Hypothyroidism

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Treatment with Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine

Treating infertility and abnormally high prolactin levels with acupuncture may be a viable option for many women who want to get pregnant but are unable to conceive. As an integral part of Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM, your acupuncturist will firstly perform a full consultaton and diagnosis based on the diagnostic principles of TCM.  An acupoint perscription will then be formulated and needles inserted at specific acupuncture points on the body with the aim of regulatin hormone levels, reducing stress and harmonizing menstrual and ovulation function.

The Blue Heron Clinic uses Acupuncture to treat infertility in women.