IUI, IVF AND ENDO

[anne72]

Hey ladies i posted this question on the fertility forum a while back and thought it might be better here. Has any one with endo had any sucess with iui or ivf? I'm feeling a little unsure and wanting some reassurance.

[Lea2001]

Yes, Anne, I am pleased to say I had success with IUI and some injectible feritlity drugs.   My husband and I prayed for 3 years for a baby.   I knew I had endo very early on, but my regular gynocoogist did not believe me.   When we couldn't get pregnant, he sent us to a fertility specialist.  I told her I thought I endo, and she initally didn't believe me.   I had to beg for her to take me seriously... when she did and they did the exploratory surgery they found a severe case and removed as much as they could.   That was Dec 13, 2006.  In January I was pregnant.   I lost that pregnancy in February and underwent another surgery to remove more endo (and to ensure the pregnancy was not ectopic).   I got pregnant in April and happily gave birth to a wonderful little boy three weeks ago.
We did the IUI with the fertility drug that came in a pen (I forget the name).    
He was worth the fight.   He was worth the discomfort and the journey we had to take to get pregnant.
Best of luck with this journey...

[anne72]

yay!!! I have a positive story!! Thank you

[juliesmom]

I wish I had a more positive story to tell you, but I don't.  I got pregnant in 1993, at 19, with my daughter...stangely enough I was taking bc pills at that time and still got pregnant.  After she was born I went back on them, I was too young to be getting pregnant again!  I took them for about 8 years and then my husband and I decided that we may want to start trying to have another baby sometime so I quit taking them...that's when the horrible pain started for me.  I'd always had really bad periods, ever since I was about 15 years old...sometimes so bad that I'd have to miss school and just lay in the bed all day.  I'd always gone to my family doctor for pap smears and they'd never listen to me when I'd tell them about the severity of my pain, they just said it was bad cramps.  I finally got fed up with it and talked to a nurse midwife friend and asked her what gyn she would recommend.  I made an appt and he told me right off that it was probably endo but without a surgical diagnosis he couldn't be 100% certain so I scheduled the surgery...it was endo and lots of it!  That was in 2002 and my husband and I have been trying to get pregnant ever since then with no luck.  Each month gets more and more depressing for me.  We had him tested and he's fine so I guess it's all my fault, talk about making you feel horrible.  The last lap I had was in November and a reproductive endocrinologist who specializes in fertility did it, as a matter of fact he founded a large fertility clinic about 60 miles away from where I live.  He told me that no amount of fertility drugs will help me and explained that as we know, endo is staged, much like cancer.  It's rated with points, stage IV being 30 to 40 points, mine was 140.  I had adhesions all throughout my abdomen, this time in places that I'd never had them before.  In the last 2 laps the doc removed a lot of endo, but mainly from around and behind my ovaries and uterus..this time it was on my colon and bladder as well as other places.  He said that the next 6 months will be our best chance to get pregnant on our own, I have 3 months left and it's not looking good.  The only other option is IVF, where they can completely bypass any endo that might be lurking around and get the sperm right where it needs to be to do the job.  Unfortunately that's not in my budget at the moment.  I certainly hope that you have wonderful luck with IVF or IUI and your dreams come true!

[anne72]

So sorry for your long painful journey:(  My story is a bit similar to yours, i always had very bad cramps too. Then when i hit my late 20s early 30s i also started to get really depressed and bitchy around af time. I went to a gyno she told me it was pms symptoms and to try to change my diet, but it didn't help. Then my dh and i had been ttcing for about 9 months and i decided to go to the gyno i told her we had been ttcing for a year( i know it was a lie) I did this because i knew there was something wrong, truth be told i always had a feeling i would have problems ttcing because of the problems i had with my period. So the gyno did a few tests  one was Hysterosalpingogram.She found one of my tubes were blocked and saw that my ovaries were covered with something. So she asked me if i had ever been diagnosed with endo. HELLO i had been going to her for years. Anyway she referred me to a r.e he did a lap surgery july 06 found that both ovaries were covered in endo, one of my tubes was filled with scar tissue and the tube was useless. So we did an iui with meds, nothing happened, then we did ivf. We got 9 embryos, on the fresh transfer we put 2 in then the 2st fet we put 2 in for the last fet we had intended in putting 3 in but had to thaw all 5 because two weren't really that strong:( So here i am almost 3 years later and thousands and thousands of dollars later. Millions and billions of tears and nothing to show for it. We registered with a new dr, did some test and decided to take a long break. I'm waiting for my next af so we can start meds to go through another iui. If the iui doesn't work it's back onto ivf. Then we have to be pregnant because we can no longer afford to do it again emotionally or financially. I also see a chinese dr that gives me herbs and acupuncture. That has helped me sooo much. My R.E has also said if i'm not pregant by june i should do another lap op, this might sound crazy but i think if the iui doesn't work i should do the lap before i go through another ivf. I think it might give us a better chance of sucess. I really hope you get your bfp soon. Fingers crossed:)
Also forgot to mention the new R.e also found that i ovulate too early, so another factor for infertility. Anyway good luck to you and me:)

[Lea2001]

OMG.. I hope so much for a BFP ASAP.   I also knew something wasn't right with my cycles... even though everyone just kep saying, "It's just PMS" or "It's just cramps"... well no one else complained about cramps and pain like I did... no one else missed work and school for PMS... why was I so different.  Did I just have a low threshhold for pain?

I thank God that I fought with my RE to do the surgery.  They did the HSG on me, but nothing was blocked (one tube was just slower).    Wherever the endo was, it was keeping me from getting pregnant.   It was probably the horomones that were generated from it.

We also went to a chiropractor who works with herbs and vitamins and things.  She specialized with infertile couples and I thought she was wonderful.   Whether what she gave us worked or not, I felt amazingly well months prior to getting pregnant and even after we lost the first pregnancy.

We were financially unable to do the IVF.    Thank goodness we didn't have to, but it really was not an option.  But from what I understand I think the IUI is a little less stressful.   I'll say a prayer for you and your husband... please keep us updated.

[jjammy]

Awesome...