Failed IVF cycle and endo

[Chotu5]

Hi Everyone , recently I had a FET and I took a pregnancy test today and it was negative and this is my first IVF cycle and last year I had excision surgery for endometriosis and I'm on Dienogest for 7months and came to India for FET and it failed and I'm afraid to go for another round of IVF because I have stage 4 endometriosis and adenomyosis and I don't have any frozen embryo and I'm afraid the IVF stimulation injection will make my endometriosis come back and I may need another surgery. Please suggest what are my possible options ?? Can I try naturally or IUI and I have one NHS funded cycle in Wales and I want to use that but I'm afraid what if my endo comes back I will need another surgery before embryo transfer and wait times for surgery is long and I'm already 32 yr and my amh is low.

[BlueEyedTabby]

Hi there, I'm sorry to hear your FET failed. Ours did too earlier this month, and I have stage 4 endo too. I had excision surgery in 2021 and went straight onto the waiting list for further surgery. I got to the top of the list when I knew we wanted to go for IVF (great timing!) so I've deferred my surgery. I asked my endo consultant if I should worry about the IVF meds making my endo worse and he said no. The meds can affect it but not by a huge amount. Seeing as you've recently had surgery, I wouldn't expect your endo to come back quickly and extensively. Full disclosure, I did have a flare up when I was taking progynova, which the clinic nurses told me was unlucky 🙃 Hope this helps. If you can speak to your endo consultant it's probably worth it to put your mind at ease xx

[Chotu5 in reply to BlueEyedTabby]

Thanks for the reply I will speak to my Dr.

[XXKKXX]

The thing with endo as you know is even after surgery it may grow back, even if you have another surgery I'd ask your gynae if there's any chance of scar tissue if you had another laproscopy to remove endo. What stage is your endo? Also regarding your age , I just had a baby 8 weeks ago via ivf and I'm 38. I have pcos and suspected endo

[HelzBelzUK]

I’ve had surgery recently for stage 3 endo and ovarian cysts. While endo can grow back I would be really reluctant to have more surgery.

Multiple surgeries can cause more problems such as adhesions and can impact the quality of your lining.

I done two months of down regulation with prostap before my FET. Oestrogen can aggravate endo but I thicken my lining with stims as I don’t respond to oestrogen. You could ask your consultant about prostap before you go into another FET? Good luck xx

[JellyPenguin]

I was diagnosed with stage 4 as well, although it's been hard to believe as luckily my symptoms have never been too bad. Since then I started fertility massage, who also advised me about castor oil treatment at home, as well as reflexology. Within a couple of months I got rid of all signs of endometrial cysts on the right, and the biggest one on the left was less than half the size. Since then I've had 3 more cycles and there's been no change to the size of the one that was left. I've usually been on norethisterone prior to cycles to help keep it quiet, and try to keep inflammation down by eating the right foods. I've never had surgery. There's quite a learning curve and loads of books and information online but it's worth it and worth finding out what works for you and what causes your body to react the most with inflammation.

I don't have or know much about adenomyosis but my reflexologist has successfully helped and treated people with this. She knows a lot about it and does affordable consultations - online if you're not close. (veritypaz.com)

Hopefully this gives you a bit of reassurance as I remember the same panic after my diagnosis and fear about future rounds, since I felt sure it was the IVF that set it off in the first place. I have a sigh of relief in every ultrasound when they tell me nothings changed.

(I've had 6 rounds of IVF and have just had my first successful (so far!) transfer at 6 weeks pregnant. Keep up the hope! xxx)