Clinics are offering to reverse early menopause by injecting a woman’s ovaries with her blood products! One woman who has been opting for it hopes that it might help her conceive. But it is yet to pass the clinical trials.
Kristy (not her real name) had been experiencing the symptoms of menopause at the age of 38, which was earlier than an average woman would experience. Not only her, but her mother had also gone through early menopause at the age of 40. She consulted the fertility clinic. The doctor advised her to freeze her eggs immediately as she was running out of it.
At that time, Kristy was experiencing a disrupted menstrual cycle, low libido, and hot flushes. “But I wasn’t ready to go through the menopause yet,” she says. She went to Hugh Melnick’s fertility clinic in New York, which was offering ovarian rejuvenation treatment, and she was hopeful.
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She had her first treatment at the age of 41. They took her blood and centrifuge it. And about 15 to 20 minutes, they put her under anesthesia and injected that blood into her ovaries. The whole procedure is about 10 to 15 minutes long, which is shorter than many other options. After the procedure is completed, she has some cramping immediately.
Kristy says that she had started to see a difference within about a month or two. She has a better sleep at night, and her periods are back to normal. And her libido is higher than before. Even though she still has a few eggs on ice, she hopes that she will be able to conceive naturally next year.
This was an expensive procedure – which costs her around $2500. Even though it was is experimented, it hasn’t been put through clinical trials. But for Kristy, she is happy that it works for her perfectly, at least for some time. She had her second injection last year and the third injection a few months back. It is a boon for people who are suffering from early menopause, she says.
But when it comes to scientific evidence and full clinical trials, the jury is yet decided. ” I just feel young again,” Kristy says.
The original article was published in The Scientist
