FSH is made by your pituitary gland, a small gland located underneath the brain. FSH plays an important role in sexual development and functioning. In women, FSH helps control the menstrual cycle and stimulates the growth of eggs in the ovaries.

The function of the ovaries is controlled by gonadotrophin-releasing hormone released from nerve cells in the hypothalamus which send their messages to the pituitary gland to produce luteinising hormone and follicle stimulating hormone. These are carried in the bloodstream to control the menstrual cycle.

These cells produce more gonadotrophin-releasing hormone, which in turn stimulates the pituitary gland to produce more follicle stimulating hormone and luteinising hormone, and release these into the bloodstream. The rise in follicle stimulating hormone stimulates the growth of the follicle in the ovary.

GnRH stimulates the pituitary gland to produce follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), the hormone responsible for starting follicle (egg) development and causing the level of estrogen, the primary female hormone, to rise.

Signs and symptoms

• Irregular periods or periods stopping – this is the most common reason for recognising that something is not right.
• Infertility.
• Hot flushes and night sweats.
• Insomnia/disrupted sleep.
• Palpitations.
• Weight gain (especially around waist and abdomen)
• Skin and hair changes (dryness, thinning)
• Headaches.

Now results published in The New England Journal of Medicine and Cell Metabolism have revealed the rise in FSH at the time of the menopause may be responsible for the waist-thickening weight gain. In studies of mice, it was found that blocking FSH increased the calories burned.

Practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), however, believe that there are things you can do to lower your FSH….These include:

1. dietary changes, such as cutting wheat products and cold foods out of your diet.
2. taking certain herbal supplements,
3. reducing stress, exercising,
4. acupuncture.

Weight loss results in significant but small increases in FSH among women not using estrogen therapy among overweight and obese, glucose-intolerant, postmenopausal women. These changes in FSH were associated with changes in E2 and potentially other factors.

The level of FSH in your blood typically correlates with the number of follicles (the tiny sacs in your ovaries that contain the eggs) you have left. As the number of follicles drops, the level of FSH increases. The most common reason for very high FSH levels is that you are beginning menopause.

FSH causes ovarian follicles to enlarge and produce estrogen. Over time, fewer and fewer follicles remain to be stimulated and thus estrogen levels decline as a woman ages. This decline in estrogen leads to an increase in FSH as there is not enough estrogen being produced to “turn off” the brain’s production of FSH.

As women get older, follicle stimulating hormone levels rise, until they reach a level of 40 mIU/mL or higher during menopause. This means that, for example, test results that are deemed high FSH levels for a woman in her mid-20s may be considered relatively low FSH levels for a woman in her mid-30s.

According to Mayo Medical Laboratories, the reference values (most typical values) for FSH are: Males older than age 18: 1.0-18.0 International Units Per Liter (IU/L) Postmenopausal women: 16.7-113.6 IU/L.

The researchers found that the temporary increase in FSH levels was still significant after they excluded eight women with low progesterone levels (10 nmol/l in luteal phase and 3.5 nmol/l in follicular phase) and adjusted for age (p = 0.015).

Using donor eggs for IVF is an extremely effective treatment for patients with high FSH levels, and it is much more common that you think. Babies conceived with donor eggs have brought untold joy to so many families who would otherwise never have been able to get pregnant.

The underlying causes of High FSH may include extreme stress, diminished blood flow to the ovaries, or lack of ovarian response to pituitary production of FSH.