Ben Bikman: PCOS 1: the hormones FSH & LH play critical roles in female fertility

Dr Ben Bikman, with Dr Steve Coles and the InsulinIQ.com Youtube podcast June 29, 2021
The Metabolic Classroom
InsulinIQ.com

PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) is a metabolic problem...

-it is the most common type of infertility in women
-insulin resistance is the main problem of chronic disease
-these two problems are intimately connected

-literally every cell in the body responds to insulin
-different cells in the ovaries
respond to insulin differently

Dr Steve Coles: Female fertility relies on the sex hormones:
-FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone)
-LH (luteinizing hormone)

these come from the hypothalamus to the pituitary, then:
down to the ovary

Dr Steve Coles: Female fertility relies on the sex hormones:
These two hormones elicit a response from the ovary to:
-release estrogen
-release progesterone
-and testosterone

(these are androgens, critical for reproductive development)

FSH creates a rise in estrogen
LH creates a rise in progesterone
(progesterone: pro-gestation or pro-pregnancy)
-stays high if pregnancy occurs
(follicle turns into hormone secreting), or
-if no pregnancy, it drops

Ovulation: the ovary releasing the egg...

Some think: first the left ovary releases, the the right, but...

FSH(follicle stimulating hormone) creates follicles for these
eggs, where they are stored before birth...
-a few are then activated until one becomes dominant
-becomes the ovulatory follicle, stimulated by FSH
-then, ovulation is stimulated by LH surge
-the egg is released, down the fallopian tube
-into the uterus, ready for sperm to cause pregnancy