unexplained is it really?

[sammejayne]

hi all, any ladies that have been diagnosed with 'unexplained' infertility, did you have further tests and find out something was actually wrong? if so what was it? please help x

[Hidden]

Hi sammejayne.

Ours was unexplained for nearly 6 years - till I had a laparoscopy which endometriosis was found and treated - I did fall afterwards but lost the baby.

I would always encourage other women to get a laparoscopy to rule out endometriosis- it doesn’t show up on ultrasound.

Good luck hope you get answers soon I found it much worse nog knowing the cause xoxo

[Poppy16]

Hi. Not sure if this is helpful or not, but my husband and I conceived our first born 4 years ago. We lost 2 babies prior to this. Over 2 years ago we decided to try again for a 2nd child. We experienced secondary infertility. Nothing happened. This went on for almost over a year. We eventually did conceived then lost last March. Both hubby and I underwent lots of tests. Hubby's SA was fine.I had lots of tests done too including a laparoscopy last June and a dye rinse. In the midst of ttc I suffered awful pains and had symptoms of endo which interestingly wasn't detected in laparoscopy. I did however have cysts in my ovaries. To cut a long story short we had been referred to a fertility clinic and were about to look into fertility treatment when I discovered I was pregnant in August. I am currently 30weeks pregnant. What I want to say is...there were no answers given to us, no explanations. I have my own feelings and suspicions as to why I wasn't getting pregnant but please never give up. I took Evening Primrose Oil (a nurse told me it can help aid conception) and also a high dose of folic acid (recommended by dr) I am not saying these helped but maybe worth a try. Have you been referred to a fertility clinic? We were in the unexplained category too which was not helpful at all and left us very frustrated. Keep fighting. Have you had a diagnostic laparoscopy? Sorry for all the questions... Xo

[Joanna1701]

Hi Sammejayne,

Yes! My "unexplained infertility" has just to be 100% diagnosed yet

(I'm waiting on this confirmation on my next appointment with my fertility specialist in May)

I just have to had a HSG test first which is proving elusive as every cycle I call Radiology there's never any staff to do my test!

I was told in my last appointment that if there are no blockages shown when I do have the HSG test that the next step is just IVF.

Which is quite frustrating as it'd mean there's no real "reason" why I'd have to go the IVF route!

[Hidden]

Also considered "unexplained". I got a second opinion privately and took that information to a third opinion with the NHS. I "knew" I had a luteal phase defect. I had physical symptoms that were being ignored by the NHS. Unfortunately it took a chemical pregnancy on a ridiculously pointless low dose of progesterone to prove my point, as if the pain of trying to get pregnant for nearly 2 years wasn't bad enough! When I finally got the right treatment it only took 2 months, incredibly frustrating. And even more so that the NHS would rather have put me through expensive IVF (and at the expense of someone who needed it more than me) rather than give me a cheap prescription.

If you "know" there is something wrong, keep pushing. If you have symptoms that are being ignored, it's worth the £200 to get a private opinion to take to another NHS opinion, they might be able to tell you what further tests you might need. As the other ladies have said, it's worth checking for endo, especially if you have painful ovulation and/or periods. I was advised that regular scans and blood tests would diagnose a luteal phase defect. Good luck, and keep pushing for the next step xx

[WeeJacs]

Unexplained for 5 years then finally diagnosed with severe Endo after a lap and 2 ivf mc's. Just because I didn't have any of the usual symptoms they didn't seem interested, how wrong they were x

[sammejayne in reply to WeeJacs]

I'm adamant something is wrong I been etc over two years with partner and the same with my first partner, have had all tests but lap so far and all "ok"x

[Cyantist]

I had every test they could do. Not only was nothing wrong but everything was apparently "perfect". I had a laparoscopy, was ovulating fine, and they simply couldn't find anything wrong at all. It's so frustrating as there should have been no need for us to have ivf but there must have been something wrong because ivf worked first go. But we still can't figure out what it was that was wrong!

[sammejayne in reply to Cyantist]

Have you managed to have a baby?x

[Cyantist in reply to sammejayne]

Yes. My little girl is ten months now. So even with unexplained infertility ivf can work wonders. And you seem like an ideal candidate for it working!

[sammejayne in reply to Cyantist]

Aww amazing, I just wonder if I will ever be a mum.. my sisters have kids my fiancé has a daughter I just wanto be a Mum xx

[Cyantist in reply to sammejayne]

I think it's all everyone here wants! And it does feel like everyone else has kids, some so easily it's frustrating. But everyone here is going through a similar thing and it does make you realise you're not alone. I'm sure you will be a mum, and you'll be a much more appreciative one because it's not been easy x

[Hidden]

Hi sammejayne. We've also been "diagnosed" as unexplanied; I've had all the hormonal tests, ultrasound, transvaginal scan, hsg...OH has had a SA. All ok. I don't think I have endo or a shortuteal phase but something's not working. I personally think it has something to do with my cervical mucus which I don't get much of these days. That said, I have tried pre-seed and that hasn't worked so who knows?! The only other explanation could be egg quality or the compatibility of my egg with my oh's sperm but we won't know that until we start IVF in a couple of weeks.

I know we're lucky that everything appears to be ok but I find it very frustrating as there is nothing to fix! I hope you some answers soon. Xx

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Just to add, I've also had my folate and vitimin B12 & D checked- all fine x

[sammejayne in reply to Hidden]

I’ve also had all that and nothin wrong, I also don’t get much cm, especially not this slippy stretchy stuff x

[Hidden in reply to sammejayne]

It's hard to really know what's going inside your body - it's a mystery. I don't get stretchy stuff either even though I drink lots of water, which Is supposed to help. As some of the others have said, if there is something not sitting right with you then get a second opinion.xx

[Aleelilook]

Unexplained, but despite all tests coming back tip top, and only being early 30s when we were tested, turns out my eggs are just a bit naff, despite having loads of the bloody things! Xx

[KateEdison]

Hey there guys! I know how not getting answers must feel like. If something goes wrong with you, everything must be wrong. That's how most of us would feel in a situation like this. But you should try to stay positive. Get more tests done. Try to find out the cause. Maybe they missed it by mistake or maybe because it is too little to be diagnosed. Give them the benefit of the doubt and keep searching for your answers. Stay strong.

[jenni_love]

hey there sammejayne.This must be hard for you.Coping up with fertility is really hard.You might be devastated at the moment.The pain is sometimes unbearable.I will share my story with you.I have been trying to conceive for last 10 years.For that in the start, i was completely normal.But there were no positive results.So we had to go for fertility tests.But the thing that came up was that my internal environment was not suitable for attachment of embryos to dwell.So we had to go for IVF.After many cycles, i was devastated and it did not work at all.I was so much breaking inside.But at the end now at the age of 40 doctors has told me that my eggs are n longer even healthy to fertilize.So you are better off an infertile.So i feel like i have wasted my whole life for this.I should have at least made a better decision before.Now i am about to go for surrogacy and i have much hope.o for you, i recommend taking action before it is too late.

[abcgirl]

We were unexplained and it was frustrating. After having a cyst and polyps removed where they also checked for endo and ‘every’ test came back normal, kept trying for a year and still nothing. As annoying as this is to hear, IVF is just as much diagnostic as it is a solution. In our first round despite normal semen parameters, we had zero fertilization with IVF. After grieving the devastating news, we did some research and one more test to find out my husband was missing a protein (something they usually only discover after a failed fertilization with Icsi). We would have never thought to research this before IVF and it affects a very very small percentage of men so it’s not routine. For our second round, things couldn’t be better just currently in my 2ww and hoping there’s nothing else ‘wrong’ with us. Seems we found the reason and have a solution. But I’m sure people just never know why. Really can’t make sense of any of it.

[abcgirl in reply to abcgirl]

Also it’s unexplained because science hasn’t fully understood the mechanics of conception. But Im sure there is always a reason we just won’t know it.l and may never. As much as we think we are so scientifically and technologically advanced there is still so much they don’t know about how the body works.

About 15 years ago, a couple with our specific problem would have been told to use donor egg (because they always assume it’s the egg) and when that wouldn’t have worked, they’d use donor sperm. Now, there’s an understanding and a solution and the ability to have our own biological children. So Who know what they will discover in the next 5, 10, 20+ years.

[Cyantist]

Random question sammiejayne: do you have bad circulation? Reynauds maybe?

I forgot to say there's now two things that I think may have been a factor. Vitamin D is really important for fertility and mine had never been checked in 10 years. When it was finally tested it was virtually non existent so I was put on a super high dose a few months before my cycle. Also my circulation has always been terrible and it stands to reason that the blood flow to my uterus may be rubbish if the flow to my extremities is crap. So I was put on blood thinners which helps improve flow and prevent clotting.

These sound like such small things but maybe that was the reason it never worked. It might be something similarly trivial for you. Or a collection of trivial things that on their own wouldn't cause infertility but all together make it really difficult to conceive.

X

[sammejayne in reply to Cyantist]

Hi, im not sure if my vit d has been checked ive had that many blood tests I don't know what they tested! one thing to mention and sounds v weird, year before last my tongue was tingling and had soreness i went to docs and had loads of blood tests one came back as being positive it was an auto immune antibody thing she said to me this wasn't her specialty so would send it to hospital and if they thought anything of it i would hear back (which I never did) it went away after a while so i left it.

Last year i was getting pins and needles oi my feet constantly, was so irritating, hated walking because it felt so weird... I went to docs they tested etc and said it was nothing.

I have seen on this site sometimes about antibody something or another can effect ttc, maybe i'm reading too much into it but maybe i'm not?

[Cyantist in reply to sammejayne]

Maybe you could go back to the doctors and ask them to recheck the autoimmune antibody results you got before.

Like you say it might be nothing to do with it, but you never know. If nothing else they may be able to give different treatments during IVF if they know there's a minor autoimmune condition.