Understanding how hormones impact your body can give you better insight into your fertility struggles. When certain hormone levels are too low or high, it can negatively affect your efforts to conceive. This includes the pregnancy-related hormone prolactin. While elevated levels of prolactin are expected in women who’ve just given birth, high levels can hinder your ability to get pregnant.
What is Prolactin?
The pituitary gland produces prolactin, which signals the woman’s body to produce milk after childbirth. It also has a lesser role in helping the body regulate metabolism, immune system, and reproductive processes. Both men and women have prolactin as a part of normal body functions.
Normal prolactin levels in women who aren’t pregnant are 4-23 ng/mL; these levels increase to 34-386 ng/mL for pregnant women. Normal prolactin levels in men range from 3-15 ng/mL. Prolactin levels in adults change based on their age, health, and even the time of day.
Your doctor or healthcare team will perform a serum prolactin blood test, preferably in the morning when prolactin levels are at their highest.
How Prolactin Affects Fertility
High levels of prolactin in women have a negative impact on reproductive hormones, making it harder to become pregnant. Women begin to produce lower levels of estrogen and progesterone that could lead to irregular ovulation, and may also experience irregular or skipped periods. For some women, their menstrual cycle could become shorter or longer than usual. These changes and inconsistencies make it harder to track fertility. If you aren’t ovulating regularly and can’t track your fertility, it makes conceiving more difficult.
In men, high prolactin levels can reduce testosterone. When this happens, men experience a decrease in their sexual drive or desire and sexual function, and may also experience erectile dysfunction. Even if men don’t experience these symptoms, high prolactin levels can lead to lower sperm production or a decline in sperm quality.
Causes of Elevated Prolactin Levels
There are several reasons why someone may have high levels of prolactin. It could be a natural function, the result of recently giving birth or breastfeeding. In other cases, medical conditions like hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid), chronic kidney disease, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and prolactinoma (benign pituitary tumor), can cause prolactin levels to elevate. Taking some medications also has the side effect of elevating prolactin levels. Speaking with your doctor can help you identify a medication that can elevate prolactin levels.
Lifestyle choices can also impact prolactin. Individuals who regularly participate in intense physical exercise can have higher levels, and poor nutrition and diet choices can lead to hormone imbalances. Also, those who regularly experience psychological stress can have higher prolactin levels.
Symptoms of High Prolactin Levels
Several symptoms can signal that you might have high prolactin levels. For women, the symptoms could be unexpected milk production, irregular periods, or breast tenderness. For men, symptoms could include erectile dysfunction, decline in libido, and growth of the breast tissue. Both men and women may experience mood swings, anxiety, or depression. Since many of these symptoms are common for other medical conditions, it’s important to have a qualified medical professional diagnose you.
Fertility Treatments for Couples with Elevated Prolactin
If you suspect that your prolactin levels are high, the first step is to speak with your medical care team who’ll perform the necessary tests. Your doctor will work with you to identify the cause of the issue, and recommend one or more treatment options depending on the facts.
Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART)
Some couples find it helpful to receive treatment from an IVF clinic to assist with conceiving. This could be In vitro fertilization (IVF), intrauterine insemination (IUI), or hormone therapy. Couples can work with an IVF clinic, like RISE Fertility, to find a solution that can increase the chance of pregnancy success.
Surgery
In some cases, medication isn’t effective and your doctor may recommend surgery. This could be the treatment if a tumor is the cause of increased prolactin production.
Manage Underlying Conditions
If underlying conditions like PCOS or hypothyroidism are causing your increased prolactin, your doctor will want to treat them with medication. By addressing the cause, prolactin levels should decrease to normal.
Lifestyle Changes
RISE Fertility recommends that couples make lifestyle changes in conjunction with other treatments, such as IVF treatment, to assist with lowering their prolactin levels. That way, they don’t make the problem worse with unhealthy lifestyle choices and can take steps to manage stress levels. They can change their diet to make healthier food choices and begin a regular moderate exercise routine.
Mental Health Support
For people who experience psychological symptoms, it may be helpful to seek mental health support or treatment to address feelings of anxiety or depression. If couples experience interpersonal relationship issues due to the overall stress of infertility or IVF treatment, counseling can also be helpful as part of a holistic approach.
Treat Your High Prolactin Levels
Struggling to conceive can feel hopeless at times. Finding the cause of, and treatment for, your struggles can be mentally reassuring. At RISE Fertility, we work with couples to find the cause of their infertility and create a customized treatment plan. And we’ll all celebrate with you when you experience the joy of adding to your family!
If you are experiencing infertility or looking for an Orange County fertility clinic, we encourage you to schedule a fertility consult with RISE Fertility today.
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