XP: Polyps while Pregnant? (sorry, gross and graphic)

ClickMama

I posted this in the first trimester board, but thought more of you who have been through IUI/IVF may have experience with this.  

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I went in to see my OBGYN this morning for my 10 week/first appt.  I absolutely love my OB and the fact that he knows my RE made me feel even better. 

 Anyhow, I've had unexplained bleeding on and off basically since 5 days post Embryo Transfer (ET).  At first it was sporadic and it reminded me of spotting after a pap smear.  I've been on Endometrium (progesterone suppositories) and thought perhaps the spotting had to do with my cervix being irritated from the suppositories. 

Well, at the appointment we decided to go ahead and do a pap, while also taking a look at how things are progressing and he found a large polyp on my cervix, which explains the bleeding.  I almost passed out when I saw how large it was when he placed it in the specimen cup for the lab.

 Anyway, I'm not super concerned as I've read that most come back benign and its likely common due to the estrogen patches I used as part of my IVF regimen. 

My question is, have you had them?  Have they recurred for you?   Anything else that I may be missing? 

 tia!

DavezWife

I had one removed prior to one IVF (it's quite common to have them, actually) and then another one had come back when I was 10 weeks pregnant. Because of the placement of it ("in a corner up high away from the baby and cervix") they said they'll just watch it, and it should cause no problems. Plus I was on estrogen (FET) so I was "feeding it".  Well, the pregnancy didn't work out, (unrelated issues, they assure me) and now I'm having it removed next week. (it didn't shrink as we hoped it would).  I also had one back in 2008 when I was pregnant with my daughter, again, benign and ignored.

Point? I dunno. Yes they can be common, yes they seem to come back in some cases, and they often cause little or no problems. Obviously just keep an eye on things, and watch for more. (I don't know what they mean being on the cervix itself, I would suspect any regrowth there could be a concern for excess bleeding, esp during labor???)  Also, sometimes polyps on u/s can actually be fibroids, which CAN cause more trouble in pregnancy. When you're reading about those, please note that there is a VERY small minority of fibroids that are dangerous, and within the walls of the endo/ute... that is super rare, and not a reason to freak ;-)

ClickMama

Thanks for sharing your experience. 

Yes, it just appeared to be a polyp emanating from the cervix center, so he removed it (used silver nitrate).   I'm a bit perplexed because wouldn't it have been seen if it was there during the egg retrieval and embryo transfer?  He seemed to think the estrogen patches as part of the protocol I was on fed its growth. 

 Thanks for your advice!

itsmevkb

I had bleeding during one of my pregnancies and an internal exam revealed a ployp on my cervix.  My ob removed it and used silver nitrate and I haven't had any issues since.  I'm not sure where it came from as I don't have a history of ployps and I hadn't been on any fertility drugs for that cycle.

ardilla

I had recurrent spotting from 6w5d until a few days after I had a cervical polyp removed at about 11w. 

Each time I had a spotting episode, they brought me in for an exam and u/s.  Eventually my doctor decided that the cervical polyp had to go and removed it and used silver nitrate.   I was using progesterone suppositories at the time and she said they had fed the growth of the polyp as well as making my cervix "friable" or easy to bleed.  Once I healed up from the polyp removal, I didn't have any more spotting episodes (until I got to having an internal exam at almost 36w, so a different story entirely).  My OB did switch me to taking oral progesterone at that point and then had me stop taking it entirely at 13w.

I haven't had any recurring polyps since, and never had my RE, OB/GYN, etc mention seeing one before that.

Hope the rest of your pregnancy is uneventful!

ClickMama

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences.  Mine was removed with silver nitrate, not a huge deal.  I just wasn't expecting it.  I have 4 more days of progesterone suppositories to finish up, so my OB said to go ahead and finish it. 

Thanks again!