Success with endo?

kramiemom

Hi ladies, I have pretty severe endo and am currently in my second round of iui. Basically the re told me I have a < 5% chance of it working due to the endo. I was wondering if any of you had success with iui with endo or if you were successful with IVF. I'm leaning towards jumping straight to IVF because I don't feel it's worth my time and $$ to keep doing something tat isn't going to work

anations

I had it pretty bad but still was able to get pregnant. Took about 5-6 months each time, but lost each one. We are now 26 weeks pregnant with twins after IVF. Good luck!

formerwigirl

I didn't have severe, I had stage 2. I've still heard of women who are able to get pregnant with Endo though. Good luck to you!

healz413

I don't want to scare you but I do want to share my experience because I wish I'd had more information.
I have severe stage 4 endo. I had to have both tubes removed so I never did an IUI.
My partner and I did partner IVF--my eggs and her uterus because she has diminished ovarian reserve and my AFC and AMH are good. Our IVF did not go as we our or RE expected. I went in with 4 endometriomas (chocolate cysts)-- three on the right and one on the left. They were stable and our RE wasn't worried about them. My first cycle was cancelled because I wasn't responding well enough to stims. Second cycle we did near max dose stims (see signature) and I was still responding slowly especially in terms of my E2. We went into ER with 16 mature follicles. Only 10 eggs were retrieved because many of the follicles turned out to be new endometriomas that were appearing clear (like follicles) on my ultrasounds. It turns out that the new endometriomas had been sucking up the stims. Only 3 of the 10 eggs fertilized. I have since done research and learned that endometriomas produce hormones (I believe testosterone but don't remember for sure) that can impact egg quality. My partner and I believe this is what happened with me. We haven't met with our RE yet to get her theory.
The good news in our case is that we did end up with three good eggs (my theory is that they were all from my less affected left ovary but I do not know this) and my partner is now pregnant from the transfer of two day 3 embryos.
Also when I was doing research, I found studies that women with endo have increased rates of having killer cells that can prevent pregnancy and cause miscarriage. My understanding is that this is pretty easy to test for and treat, though, if you know to look for it.
Again, I really don't want to scare you. And we did get pregnant and are really hoping it will stick. But we might have had a different plan (or managed our expectations) if we'd known.
Please let me know if youd like me to send you the info I found online.
I really hope that you find that your endo causes you much less of a problem!

kramiemom

Thanks for your help. I appreciate your feedback @healz413 if you could attach that article that would be great. I know about endo creating a toxic environment and making it hard for it to be fertilized but I was always under the impression that IVF is the best option because the uterus isn't as impacted from the endo

chrissy1013

I am currently pregnant with twins after being diagnosed with stage 4 endo 12 years ago. We did three rounds of IUI that were unsuccessful but we did them because our insurance would not approve IVF without those IUIs. I would recommend that you find an RE who is very experienced with endo. Our first RE insisted I did not need surgery since I had surgery 8 years prior. After the failed IUIs and 3 failed IVFs with that doc, we found another doc well known for dealing with endo. He was of the opinion that my endo was bad enough that I should have never done IVF. 2 more surgeries and 1 round of IVF later, we are expecting twin boys. It's a hard road but it absolutely can be done. For us, it was all about findings the right RE.

anations

To add to my previous post. I did have surgery to remove mine, but after my third loss we think it came back. I read somewhere that is actually best to do IVF than have the surgery for recurrent endo. The pregnancy will actually help the endo. Like I said I am pregnant 26 weeks with twins. Good luck it can happen

healz413

@angjohns99, here's an article about endo and egg quality and implantation issues that I mentioned previously:

https://haveababy.com/fertility-information/ivf-authority/case-study-poor-quality-eggsembryos-in_08/

Good luck!

ETA: changed excessive capitalization so as not to be misread as shouting.

amwenz

Even with stage 1 my RE said we had less than 4% naturally and I think around 8-12% w iui's. I couldn't stand the emotional roller coaster anymore do I went for it all with ivf and was successful. I also thought about my age 32 and if we wanted more kids. Plus, my mom was done with menopause by 42. So, age and genetics Aldo played a role in my decision. Gl!

4legsRbest

I have stage 2, but a good portion of it is on my tubes - my RE thinks the egg gets pretty damaged on the way out. It took me over a year and a half to get PG on my own and that was a missed m/c. After another year an no pregnancy I went to see an RE. Even though he wasn't in favor of doing an IUI, I did one anyway and it did not work. I then went to IVF and now have my DS from that cycle. I am also now pg from my second IVF cycle.

It is possible, but I don't know how long you are willing to try on your own and with IUIs I have heard that 3 is where diminishing returns kick in. If you are 100% OOP I would suggest looking into IVF.

Good luck to you!