IVF? scared to death...

MarrymeJuliet

Hi ladies -
Newbie here been lurking for a while. 

Just looking for your unbiased opinion...I'm 38 years old have been married for 6 - trying for about 3/4 years.  Underwent 2 unsuccessful IUI treatments with injectables in 2013.  Three months after my last failed treatment I began experiencing pain in my abdomen that shoots to my back - I have had chronic pain every single day since!  I now have neuropathy in my legs in addition to the pain in my chest wall that gets worse around my cycle.  I had a laproscopy last year which the dr was trying to investigate if I had endo in my diaphragm.  They only found very minimal endo and "spots" on my diaphragm that came back inconclusive.  Dr. says endo was Stage 1 and so minimal that he doesn't even think its causing our infertility. Long story short now that I've been living with the pain for the past 2.5 years and still no natural pregnancy we are at a crossroads on whether or not to "give up" and try IVF.  I've had tests, MRIs, Ct scan you name it to try and identify the pain. I'm terrified of injecting more hormones into my body  - especially with my pain.  Dr's say my pain could get worse from the meds.  I've been seeing an awesome acupuncturist for the last 3 months.  Doesn't seem to help too much with the pain but I do have more energy and less stress.  What do you think?  I already eat all organic foods, eliminated chemicals from our house years ago etc.  I just don't want to let my pain stop me from what may be our only chance at having a family on the other hand my gut is screaming at me saying are you crazy putting more hormones into your body which is obviously effected long term from that medicine I took 3 years ago.   Other than the chronic pain my overall numbers are good fertility wise.  I'd appreciate any advice! I literally am due to start my Lupron (which I'm terrified of) next week but both hubby and I are still not at peace with the idea especially since I'm in pain.  Do I just put my pain aside and have faith or hope that someday my body will cooperate?

AandDM2014

Oh boy. I am so sorry that you've gone through all of this. I think this is a very personal decision, based on how much you want to handle in order to try for a bio baby. I hope maybe some of the other ladies on here can offer you some insight.

cmm012

I concur that your decision is very difficult. Is mini IVF an option which uses lower doses of meds? Is embryo adoption a possibility? Have you looked into how pregnancy would affect your condition? Have you had an MRI at the source on your pain to check for anything else that could be causing the pain? I hope these questions give you ideas and I wish you the best!