Natural or IVF after excision surgery

[WJSM]

I'm after a bit of advice, maybe from someone who has been in similar shoes.I had excision surgery a few weeks back on my pelvis and bowels, after freeing up my ovaries and uterus. Adenomyosis was also found but ablated. Luckily my consultant believes this hasn't affected my fertility at the moment and said to try naturally for another year and then if nothing has happened, then go the IVF route.

My worry is, we have being trying for nearly 4 years and I know I'm only 31 but if in a year nothing has happened, god knows how long it could take to have a child the IVF route and it could have all grown back (hopefully not).

I would of liked 2 children, which by the time we're thinking of number 2, it might be so much harder and a further surgery might be needed.

I'm just not sure whether to follow the advice of the consultant, or to just jump right into IVF for the best possible chance.

Any advice would be helpful please 😊

[Pelvic_pain]

I had my child through IVF before endometriosis or adenomyosis caused me any problems. Saying that, waiting, surgery, treatment, trying, etc etc all took 3 and a half years before my little one arrived. I would have told anyone if they could afford it/it is an option, do it as early as possible. In your case, I believe you may be concerned about your chance to have a baby if you wait. For this reason, I would say try and get tested for any indicators that may help you decide if that is an option-ovarian reserve, etc.

[Rosiehannah1]

hi lovely. I’m 30 and have endo and adeno. I had surgery a year ago, we tried naturally and nothing has happened so are now on the waiting list for a fertility referral. I would get the ball rolling with a referral as that can take some time. Feel free to private message me and we can keep up to date with each others journey xx

[HT267]

Hey WJSM, I have endometriosis and adeno aswell and had my excision surgery feb 2023 then a further surgery due to complications from endo a few months ago. After 3 mths of trying I'm now pregnant I know I'm extremely lucky! We were planning to go down the fertility treatment route at the 6mth mark if nothing happened and I wonder if that helped me relax as it felt like the pressure was off. I think some nhs places if you have endo you can refer sooner especially if like you say you've already been trying for 4 years I can understand why a year seems too long. I wish you all the very best xx

[Endofitall]

With a diagnosis of endo you should be referred on NHS after trying for 6 months even below 35 years.

I got pregnant in the first month after excision after years of trying so it is possible (sadly ectopic pregnancy but still was pregnant). I think a year is too long but maybe saying 4-6 months then get referral in. I would definitely suggest checking AMH (ovarian reserve marker) in the meantime and your husband’s sperm analysis too. That way you know you’re not wasting time (eg if you find severe male factor) and also the AMH is important to know how much time you have to play with. My AMH was already low under age of 35 due to endometriosis. Which meant I didn’t qualify for NHS because of my AMH being too low. Which sucks big time.

You can get these tests done privately and even as postal kits these days to give you an idea.

[MD54999]

Hi there, I was told to go down the IVF route as soon as my endometriosis was discovered (aged 32) as it was severe across my ovaries, bowel and appendix. It took me 4 rounds of IVF and nearly 3 years to get pregnant through IVF. The fertility clinics are also very familiar with Endo, it might be worth having a consultation with a clinic also to get their view on how soon you should turn to IVF.

[HedgehogMad]

I'd get a referral for IVF and try naturally in the meantime. Reduces the pressure on yourselves. Even if you do IVF privately it will be a couple of months until you start treatment. Fingers crossed it works naturally for you! 🤞