Infertility Medications 101

Infertility medications remain to be a partner of infertility treatments and the in vitro fertilization procedure for those struggling with infertility. For women, infertility medications are used to stimulate follicle development of the ovary. There are also infertility medications available for men to enhance reproductive fertility involving sperm count and sperm motility.

Types Of Infertility Medications

Common infertility medications include Clomid, Femara, and Gonadotropins including LH, FSH, and hCG, which will all be discussed in the list below.

Clomid is actually the leading infertility medication prescribed to both women and men suffering from infertility. This is normally the first drug to be used in the infertility treatment. This infertility medication is mostly prescribed for women and its main functions are to induce ovulation, regulate cycles, increase production of eggs and correct luteal phase deficiency.

Injectable hormones are infertility medications that prescribed in the event that Clomid does not yield successful results. Some of these are:

Human Chorionic Gonadotropin. This is used to assist the development of an egg in a woman’s ovary and stimulates the release of mature eggs. HCG is sold under the brand names of Novarel, Ovidrel, Pregnyl and Profasi.

Follicle Stimulating Hormone. This regulates the function of the ovaries and stimulates the development and growth of eggs in the ovaries. FSH is also known under the following brand names Bravelle, Follistim, and Gonal-F.

Human Menopausal Gonadotropin. This drug combines both FSH and LSH or luteinizing hormone. This type of infertility medication stimulates the ovaries to induce ovulation and assist in the production of one or more eggs. These are better known as Menopur, Pergonal and Repronex.

Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone or GnRH. This hormone stimulates the release of FSH and LH from the pituitary gland.

Other infertility medications include Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone Agonist (GnRH agonist) such as Synarel, Zoladex and Lupron as well as Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone Antagonist (GnRH antagonist) such as Antagon and Cetrotide.