The other night I was looking at some of the searches people had done that landed them on my little site here. I came across a question and I immediately felt my heart drop and knew I had to answer.
The question was, "i have turners syndrome and i got my period with hormone replacement will i be able to get pregnant"
I know how this girl feels. I know, because I was her a number of years ago.
I was a young girl around the age of 8 when I was diagnosed with Turner's Syndrome. I was told I would be abnormally short, and that I would most likely be unable to have children. I would need hormone replacement in my teenage years in order to "develop secondary sexual characteristics". How well do you think an 8 year old girl can process that? Yeah, let me tell you, that does not make much sense to such a young girl.
After that day, not one doctor I had talked to had ever really talked to me about fertility. In fact, nobody at all really talked to me about fertility, not even my family. I consider myself a fairly intelligent woman. I was in the Honor Society in High School, did quite well in college, and always aced any biology or genetics classes. Yet, I still questioned. I wanted it so bad I convinced myself that maybe it was still possible for me to have children. Maybe IVF? I already knew the answer, yet I sought out a reproductive endocrinologist to tell me the answer to the question above out loud. THEN it would be real.
If you get your period with hormone replacement, that is good. That's what's supposed to happen, anyway. I no longer take the hormones and therefore no longer get my period (yay!). Unfortunately, most women with Turner's Syndrome are infertile because they have severly underdeveloped ovaries. They don't function properly and do not produce viable eggs. You get your period which sheds the uteran lining (and helps prevent cancer?) but, sadly, it does not mean you are able to conceive. :( From one Turner Syndrome woman to another... I am truly sorry. I also encourage you to contact a reproductive endocrinologist to get a professional medical opinion, and to talk about possible options for you.
Also, please feel free to contact me if you have more questions or just want to talk with someone who at least has some idea of what you are going through. I wish you all the best.
