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Northern California Babies
If you dealt with IF/had HSG done - come in
A good friend of mine and her DH have been TTC for 10 months now. She had been off the pill for 1 year before that and they weren't preventing. No BFP at this point.
They have both had blood work done and he had SA done. Everything blood work wise looks fine and healthy.
Her doctor mentioned HSG as the next step for, but she is scared.
If you had HSG done, could you share your experience so I can pass it on to her? She has 3 sisters, all of whom have gotten PG easily. I think she doesn't really know who to talk to about this kind of stuff.
Thanks in advance!
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Re: If you dealt with IF/had HSG done - come in
I pulled this from my private blog....it's long but very honest. I'm not sure it's what she wants to hear though. I do know that others have had much better experiences than I did.
Going into this test, I was nervous....but I talked to Libby about it before hand and she told me to take some Ibuprofen and that it doesn't hurt too bad...that it is like a little bee sting and then it is OK....so I felt quite a bit better going in..
We got there at 12:45 and didn't get taken in until 1:30....so of course, my nerves were building the entire time. Aaron came in with me at the beginning and they explained what the exam would entail and what we would learn from it....after that he had to leave. =( So he went into the waiting room and the doctor started the exam at about 2:00.
They started by putting in the ever uncomfortable plastic vaginal opening thing that they use during pap smears...God I hate that thing! And then they stuck this (picture below) into my uterus.
The little blue tip at the top of the catheter thingy is a balloon like apparatus that the doctor filled once it was in my uterus....OH MY GOD...the pain! He filled the balloon the first time and it wouldn't lock into place, so he had to do it AGAIN! NO! It is seriously like the worst cramping EVER! EVER!!! While this was happening I was thinking...oh my goodness...I don't know about natural childbirth...epidural please!
Having the balloon in was the worst...they said I would get more cramping once they put in the dye to check the opening of my fallopian tubes, but it didn't make any difference.....I was already cramping like crazy.
What was cool was I got to watch the dye travel through my uterus and fallopian tubes...and my goodness....fallopian tubes are TINY!! Seriously, like the thickness of a strand of hair! The dye went through my fallopian tubes with no problem so there was no blockage! The doctor then had me lean to my side to see if the dye would leave the area, which it did on both sides...so all good! Everything looked great and he said that even though my tubes where not blocked that many times this procedure can help your chances in getting pregnant. In fact, he said back in the day, people use to blow air up through there to increase chance of pregnancy.
Anyhow...after the procedure was over, and I was in pain...huge pain....they had me go to the bathroom to change out of my gown and back into my clothes....when I was in there I sat down and felt horrible....I was cramping terribly and felt extremely nauseous...and it was the kind of sickness where you feel so helpless you want to cry....yeah...that is how I felt....I thought to myself, I will just suck it up, go to the waiting room and have Aaron take me home so I can lay down. I walked out of the bathroom, past the nurse and not even out of the door, and I got extremely faint...to the point where I thought I may pass out...the nurse stopped me as she could see how pale I was, and sat me down. The nurse and the doctor brought me back to the table to lay down so I could rest, as these were not normal symptoms (dizzy and nauseous) after this procedure. After laying down for a while, I felt better.....and instead of getting up from laying down, I sat up for a while before I got up to eliminate my chances of getting dizzy again. That did the trick! I think I got dizzy because of all the nervousness, my low blood pressure and getting up from laying down so quickly....But I am feeling much better now!
Now that this test is done, I am going to email my doctor to find out what the next step is...which is either an ultrasound or starting clomid. We can't start TTC again until next cycle since this HSG test doesn't allow you to have sex for 2 weeks....so we will be TTC in a few weeks and hopefully get our BFP very soon!
P.S.~ I am SOOOOOO glad that Libby lied to me!...I would have been so much more nervous and tense if she had told me the truth! I called her after the procedure and was like, you liar! LoL!....But thanks for lying to me! She said she didn't want to tell me the truth because she didn't want me to worry about it...that would have made it worse....and she said that the HSG was by far the most painful thing she endured in her infertility journey....so at least I got the worst over with!
I had my HSG back in May 2010 and I hate to say this but mine was painful. I almost passed out twice. I know I was given a warning I would get mild cramping but it was not the case. The nurses and my RE were there so they were wonderful to get me through the process. The total amount of time it took for the procedure was maybe 20-30 minutes.
There was pain after the procedure and I was bleeding/spotting for about 2 days, which is normal. We were to avoid sex for 48-72 hrs (I was told this before the procedure.
I know she is scared but it has to be done. I also know there is an SHG (saline) that may be less painful. I have heard from some ladies after their HSG, they become PG that next cycle.
I hope things work out for her.
Edit-what SportyMrs described was exactly the same experience I had. Only DH could not come in with me. :-(
The Blog | BirthbyKellyM
I had one done and I think what she is going to realize is that everyone has a totally different experience. Due to childcare issues, I had to go by myself and it was no big deal. I was SO nervous beforehand - like "I might throw up" kind of nervous. I was worried about the pain, that there wouldn't be any answers, etc.
For me it was uncomfortable but not painful. I had blockages on both sides and on one they had to apply a lot of pressure to get it to clear. That was uncomfortable - but nothing compared to things like contractions. It felt like a lot of "pressure". I have a good analogy but am too embarrassed to put it here...I'll message you if you want to know.
)
I think the thing to tell her is to remember to breathe. If you hold your breath, your muscles cramp up. It's just like breathing through a contraction.
With all that said, I had mine done after I gave birth to Ryan so who knows, maybe my cervix is/was more pliable or something? I was able to drive home and had no side effects what so ever. (Other than being more than pissed off at my fertility dr for wasting SIX months of b2b IUIs and all of our money. Assssshole)
ETA: Wow - mine was cake compared to the PPs. I mean, there was a lot of pressure and it wasn't comfortable and I did feel some pain but it wasn't a bad pain for me...totally manageable.
Also we didn't get PG the next cycle or the one after that...and that was with 2 b2b IUIs. I think it was about 4-5 cycles later...after giving up and throwing in the towel.
I think it depends on your friend. Libby knew I wouldn't be mad at her for lying to me about it...If I had known the truth, I would have been even more nervous,more tense and I think it just would have ended up being worse. But I don't know your friend...if she's like me, then yea, I'd lie.
I wouldn't say it's a piece of cake but I'd tell her just what Libby told me...just to take some ibuprofen beforehand and that it kind of feels like a bee sting. That way she's not expecting it to be totally painless but she also is not expecting it to be very painful.
I hope that the procedure is much easier for your friend...I know in the past people have posted about their HSG's and they weren't as bad of an experience as what Amy and I had.
The Blog | BirthbyKellyM
Mine was! Super duper easy and painless. Less uncomfortable than as pap smear. i know a lot of girls on the board had painful experiences, but many people i know irl had the same experience as me.
I use to work with assisting patients with the exam and I've gone through it as well.
First, it is like a pap but more invasive. There can be a lot of cramping. I've seen the whole range of women who say it is a piece of cake to women that I've held their hand and they were screaming. Everyone's body is different. You don't know what to expect until you are in the middle of it. For me, it was a lot of cramping.
What helped me get through the pain was to focus on a ceiling tile and also focus on my breathing, without hyperventilating. It doesn't take away all the pain but it helps get you through.
I'm glad that DH went with me because I was way too crampy to drive after. I went home and put a heating pad on it and fell asleep. So don't schedule anything after.
I had mine done in May 2009. It was one of the most painful things I've been through. I took the pain meds before hand and they didn't help.
I know some one say it doesn't bother them at all, but I got so hat from the dye, and then was expected to move around to get the dye into my left tube which seized up during or is blocked.
Thankfully I only felt awful for about an half an hour, maybe less. That's not to say I felt great the rest of the day but I was able to go out to dinner for a friends birthday about an hour or so after the test.
I had one and it sucked. Similar to Heather's. DH was with me. I cried and almost crawled off the table. But I had no blockages. Both sides spilled.
I had cramping and spotting afterwards and couldn't drive myself home. I sat on the couch for the rest of the afternoon.
I had a super quick, barely there, pregnancy 4 cycles later. And then nothing, despite drugs and IUIs, for 18 more months.
As for the SHG, the saline version, I had that too. It sucked too. But it is different. For the HSG, they use dye and an Xray machine (like the kind they use when you break an arm). For the SHG, they use saline and an ultrasound machine.
I hope your friend has the painless experience.
I am added to the painful column. It was one of the most painful experiences in my life and I have a high threshold for pain. I remember sitting on the floor of the changing room, after it was done, crying because if I couldn't do THAT, how could I do the rest of the IF treatment and go through a pregnancy.
I certainly couldn't drive afterward. Actually I couldn't even sit upright for a few hours.
I wish her the best!
Photo by Zemya Photography
I am glad Heather posted what she did...all true it was brutal...And all you hear is horror stories...As we all know if you are tight and stressed already going into it makes it worse.
The truth is it hurts, at least somewhat...Worse for some...BUT they can learn a ton from it and it ups immediate chances of getting BFP. And focus on the positive adn to NOT google. When I have friends going thru issues now I say I will google for them and filter info...Thats maybe something you could offer to do for her
Also I drove myself and it would have been nice to have had somebody drive me home..
And if she ever wanted to talk I actually really enjoy talking about it with people....So I am 100% open
br
PS never been stung by a bee I am such a bullshitter. But I think I told Aaron the truth that there was a good chance it could hurt like hell...but maybe not....
br
I had my HSG done in April 2010 and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was performed in an xray room and DH couldn't go with me in the actual room, but was allowed in the room/hall where I changed into the hospital gown to have the procedure done.
They inserted a speculum like during a pelvic exam, then put in a catheter with a balloon and blew air into the balloon...that was the most painful part and it just felt like a moderate/moderate-to-severe period cramp. They then put iodine based dye liquid into the uterus and then into the fallopian tubes. The actual dye part felt kind of cold rather than painful and the nurses were nice enough to prepare me by telling me what was happening step by step. I had some mild cramping after the procedure and throughout that day, but taking some ibuprofen would be a good idea. It's not horribly painful, just very uncomfortable.
I had one done last August. Like others said, its different for everyone. I had no problem, went by myself. NO cramping or anything. I also had no blockages or anything so that may have helped. IT was a piece of cake for me, no biggie at all.
Kristin