XP Endo girls - a few questions

lavril

Hi ladies.  I hope it's okay that I post this here.  I thought I might get a few more success stories this way.

A little background to my questions - I've been ttc since Aug10, DX w/ unexplained IF, and am having autoimmune issues. I was DX w/ Hasimoto's thyroiditis, and now just tested + for Rheumatoid Factor. I also have issues w/ gluten and plan to get the genetic test done for Celiac (blood testing was -).

In light of all this autoimmune sh*t, my RE is concerned about possible endo as they can be related. I don't have any symptoms (pain, heavy periods, etc), but I know that doesn't necessarily mean anything. So my questions:

1. How did you find out you had endo? Did you suspect it prior to a lap? Symptoms? How far into your fertility journey were you when you had the lap?

2. Do you have any autoimmune issues? If so, which ones and what stage is/was your endo?

3. What treatment did you pursue after your lap?  How long after your sugery/treatment did you conceive?

Thank you all in advance for your help!!

patchen30

I was dx with endo through a lap (that's really the only way to dx it).  I didn't have any symptoms except a LOT of spotting btwn AFs.  My RE did a lap b/c I'd already had 2 failed Clomid cycles, 4 failed IUIs and 2 failed IVFs.  I had stage II/III endo and it was removed, and then I got pg on my next cycle (but m/c).  I don't necessarily attribute the pg to the endo removal though, and my RE doesn't necessarily either.  I do have Hashimotos thyroid, HOWEVER, about 10% of the female population has a thyroid problem and 80% of those have Hashimotos...so don't read too much into that.  It couldn't hurt to rule things out, but no one really knows what causes endo.

LnR70707

1.  Found out via a Lap.   I did suspect it prior to my Lap as I had irregular cycles with a lot of pain around AF and O.   The lap was done just over the 1 year mark, as part of my infertility testing with my RE.

2. No AI issues.

3. We started from the beginning and worked up - 2 failed Clomid + TI cycles (one canceled from thin lining), 2 failed IUIs with injectibles.  Lap was in Oct 2009 and we went right to treatments, so took a break to consider IVF and cost in March.  I still charted and we tried on our own....got a surprise BFP in April that was a chemical pregnancy, but it gave us enough hope to push IVF back until Fall 2010.  Because of my messed up cycles, I only had 3 cycles before starting BCPs for IVF, which resulted in our BFP for DS.  It was a year exactly if you count from surgery date to retrieval and fertilization date.

lavril

Thank you ladies for sharing.  Because I don't have the classical symptoms, I never even considered this as a real possibility.   I know there isn't a direct causal link between AI issues and endo, but the correlation defn grabbed my attention. 

Thanks again!

queenbone

1) I didn't know anything about endo before my OB suggested that that might be my problem. He asked me a series of questions to which I responded yes, but meanwhile my DH was responding with emphatic yeses for me.  I guess I thought my period symptoms were 'normal' lol! I had a combo LAP/HSC my 16th cycle ttc. He removed what he describes as "a touch of" endo.

2) N/A

3) My OB gave me another prescription for clomid after my post op apt.  I didn't fill it and conceived the 2nd cycle after the surgery w/o meds.  The surgery was 10/06 and since then my symptoms haven't returned. (pain, mid cycle bleeding, etc.)

staycee

I did not suspect endo.  After 3 failed IUI's my RE suggested a Lap to look for endo saying "not getting pregnant is a symptom"... since I had no other symptoms.    We had the lap at about cycle18 of TTC

I have no known autoimmune issues.   Endo was stage 1.

I was pregnant via IUI#5 on the 2nd cycle after Lap.