[Amenorrhea due to weight loss]

The cessation of the normal menstrual cycle caused by rapid loss of weight was defined as amenorrhea due to weight loss. All patients developed secondary amenorrhea and 80% of 243 patients were young, unmarried women. More than half of the patients had consciously restricted food intake for cosmetic reasons. LH-RH test revealed that, at onset, the basal levels of LH were low and the LH responses were impaired. The basal and the stimulated levels of FSH were comparable to normal. As the amenorrhea improved, the basal and the stimulated levels of LH rose to the normal range while the FSH responses became greater than normal. There was no significant difference between the rate of weight loss and the responsiveness to LH-RH. The rate of induction of ovulation with clomiphene was 95% of 40 patients with 1st grade amenorrhea, while only 3.9% of 54 patients with 2nd grade amenorrhea ovulated following treatment clomiphene. 80 percent of 19 patients with 2nd grade amenorrhea ovulated following gonadotropin therapy. Within a year after LH-RH stimulation therapy, a resumption of the normal ovulatory cycle or a return to 1st grade amenorrhea was observed in 60%.