Advice with fertility

[Chloelouise92]

So I’m 28 and I had Endo excision surgery in December 2020. I came off the pill roughly 3 months before this and started trying to fall pregnant as I didn’t know how long it would be to have the op. Had the surgery in December and unfortunately now feel no better for it as of yet. However me and my partner quickly decided as soon as we could we would start trying again.

Found out during the surgery that my right Fallopian tube is completely blocked, so felt like we didn’t want to waste any time. Been actively trying now for around 5 months but no luck so far.

I know it’s really early on in the journey of fertility but just wondering if anybody had any advice. Anything I can take that may help? I’m taking folic acid at the moment as suggested by dr. Also does anybody know how long you have to be actively trying before you can see a fertility expert? Again I know it’s really early on but just feel like I want to have the best preparation possible.

Thanks 😊

[Hidden]

Hi Chloe,The NHS UK site suggests speaking to your GP about fertility after a year of trying for a pregnancy - or sooner if fertility issues are suspected, or if you're over 36.

In my case, my husband and I started trying for a pregnancy after we married, but I was already 37. Not getting pregnant, I asked my husband a number of times if we could check with a GP. However, he wasn't ready to ask until we had been trying for three years. Well, at that point, I was swept up in discovering I had endometriosis with trips to the A&E, while just a month earlier, I'd been hoping to be added to the waiting list for the fertility clinic. Now, pain management is at the top of my list, not fertility, and we're leaning toward adoption. Adoption would be more practical for us because the odds are not in our favour for pregnancy in terms of our age or the endo.

So, my suggestion to you, based on my experience, is to go ahead and ask your GP for a referral to the fertility clinic because you have endometriosis, and potentially, you might like information from the clinic to maximise your chances of pregnancy during a time window when you are not on hormonal treatment for endo. It's probably better to ask for advice sooner rather than later to avoid the window of opportunity closing.

[Chloelouise92 in reply to Hidden]

To be honest I’m finding the pain management/fertility priority a really difficult balance. I’m just concerned that the longer I leave it the less chance I will have of pregnancy. My pain is awful at the moment but the only treatment options suggested have been contraceptive options.

I asked about pain relief and they have prescribed nortriptyline or amitryptiline however neither of which is there enough research to know if it’s safe to take while pregnant or trying to conceive so don’t feel particularly comfortable taking it!

Thank you for the advice, I think this will be the next step. Hope the adoption route works out for you x

[Hidden in reply to Chloelouise92]

Hi Chloe,I think there might possibly be more options...

I read something recently - sometimes, when people are awaiting surgery for endometriosis, I think they sometimes have temporary hormonal treatment during that time. Some of these treatments could simply be contraceptive, others may be like inducing a temporary menopause. In other words, some people choose to temporarily pause their efforts for a pregnancy, and take some time (on the order of months, I think), to do a surgery and some hormonal treatment (before and/or after the surgery).

Once they have had the surgery and the hormonal treatment, they can choose to stop the hormonal treatment and try for a pregnancy. After the baby is born (or the couple chooses to stop trying for a pregnancy for a while - on the order of months), the woman can again start a hormonal treatment, aiming to slow down the endometriosis to help manage it (if she chooses).

[Chloelouise92 in reply to Hidden]

I was offered the temporary menopause injections but just felt like I didn’t want to waste any time in terms of pregnancy. Times precious isn’t it but I’m not getting any younger and although I’m not old I would hate to look back and think ‘what If’.

At least if we try now, we can’t regret leaving it too late!

Thank you for your reply, always helpful to hear other options and advice x

[kelsbels88 in reply to Chloelouise92]

Sorry just seen this reply I was the same they prescribed me amytriptaline but I too stopped taking it. Was also given the same ultimatum sadly for me I wanted my body to be in the best place for the ivf so that was why I went surgery first although it was tempting to go the other way I knew I wouldn’t forgive myself if I went ivf and it failed bcz of my endo problems hence why I wish I’d frozen my eggs beforehand. It’s hard but do what’s right for you xxx

[kelsbels88]

Hi Chloelouise92,

My first question is did they remove or clear your blocked tube?

We started trying in July 16 to have a baby just after we got married. We tried for a few months and then my pain started. By the November I was at the gps due to the pain I wasn’t taken seriously and told to keep trying. This went on for at least a yr. I didn’t have my first surgery until January 18. It was confirmed from that surgery that both tubes were blocked and that my left tube was attached to my bowel and ovary and then to the back of my uterus. I will spare you the details but let’s say I was close to fainting every time I had to open my bowels.

Sadly because of your age they will tell you to try for a yr first. They may take your endo into account and you can do it earlier but if everything is working and you had excision they may stick to the yr ttc before interventions.

When I had my January surgery they lasered (I was naive then to what that meant) and cleared one tube but wouldn’t touch my bowel telling me I needed a specialist.

Fast forward jan 2019 and I see a specialist he’s amazing and takes me seriously we do all the appropriate tests and discover just how bad we think my insides are. Long story short in August 2020 I was lucky enuf with all of f COVID to have my surgery and it was the best decision I ever made yes the wait was agony but I now am very fortunate not to have any endo pain what so ever. The casualty of this is that I lost a tube in the process and now only have one and have contacted the gynae team for a ivf/fertility referral as we are now 5months trying post surgery and still not pregnant my appt isnt until may so still time and by then will be 6-7months but it looks ever more likely that this is the road I will have to go down.

You can push and you can ask. You know your body good luck any questions please ask

Kelly xx

[Chloelouise92 in reply to kelsbels88]

It’s such a shame that they didn’t do the excision surgery for you sooner. Well as far as I know no they didn’t clear my tube. So I had a diagnostic lap in august but they said it was worse than anticipated so would need further surgery. Had the excision surgery in December and my consultant said that they’d done the dye test and nothing at all had passed through the right tube and it was totally blocked. He believes due to scar tissue. Nothing was mentioned about clearing the tube, just that if I did manage to conceive i would need to have early scan etc due to risks.

Wish you all the luck with ivf 🤞🏻 Hope everything works out for you.

Chloe x

[kelsbels88 in reply to Chloelouise92]

Hi Chloe,

Thank you for replying and sorry for the waffling on.

If it’s blocked that may work to your advantage as you have a restriction which limits your chances of conception. As you only have one working tube so that may benefit you if you wanted to go to your gp about the fertility side of things.

I know how hard it is each month when it doesn’t happen especially if you think it may have. Here if you need an ear.

It’s the one thing I wish we hadn’t been so traditional about sadly hindsight is amazing and I wish we had started trying sooner but that can’t be changed now so I do my best to focus on the now and the goal of a baby of our own in the future.

The one other thing I wish I had considered was freezing my eggs. If I had known then what I know now I would have done this I think to use later on especially as I now know my egg reserve is lower than it should be for my age.

Kelly xx

[Chloelouise92 in reply to kelsbels88]

Yeah it’s deflating. We haven’t got a house of our own yet and always said we would wait until we did, but sometimes plans change and there’s no way around it. I know I would regret it if we left it too late!

I’ve already thought about the possibility of freezing eggs just incase things didn’t work out.

Thank you, it always helps to speak to other women about it that have been or are in similar situations 😊

Chloe xx

[kelsbels88 in reply to Chloelouise92]

Your welcome and anytime

Keep going as hard as it can be there is always hope 🤞🏻

Kelly xx