Anyone with endometriosis?

mp6387

Hi ladies, I haven't posted on here for a while, but today I really need some input.

In October 2010, I had twin boys 15 weeks early. Tanner was vaginal, and Christian was a c-section. My c-section is still numb, but other than that I hadn't had any other complications. In January last year, I found out I was pregnant, and miscarried naturally very shortly after. In the next couple months I started getting serious pain on the right side of my abdomen, so bad that one month I thought my ovary was going to explode and ended up in the ER. I was referred to a general surgeon, and in October he diagnosed me with endometriosis on the outside of my uterus, on my c-section scar. I had surgery to remove it, but in December the pain started slowly coming back again.

I scheduled my surgery for this morning while I was on my period because that's when I tend to have the most pain. I was still pretty out of it when I got out of surgery, and I just remember the surgeon telling me that there was blood in the tissue, and he seemed pretty surprised.

I reached out to my BFF Google, and found that one of the causes of endometriosis outside of the uterus is called 'retrograde menstruation', where some of your menstrual blood ends up going up through your fallopian tubes. I have an appointment scheduled with a new OB because mine didn't seem concerned at all, but it's not until May 30th.

Does anyone have any experience with endo outside of the uterus and issues TTC? I'm wondering if this is what is causing out problems, since I didn't have issues until I started getting the pain.

Thanks  

nightcrawler8120

hi! very new to the forums, please bear with me. so do you mean endometriosis like in the ovaries? that's what I had removed last june 2012.. my DH and I have been actively TTC for almost 2 years. that's what my OB suspects the cause of our situation upto now.

annibes

I'm not sure how my endo has affected fertility yet. I had my laparoscopy on Friday and the doctor told me post-op that he found two spots of endo and drained two small cysts on my ovary. I was out of it and DH didn't take notes so I have to get more info at my post-op appointment next week (which ovary, where was the endo, etc). DH and I have been trying for our second for well over two years now and I have had pain increasing with time since DS was born so we opted for a lap to diagnose and remove the endo. 

 

CeCe8579

I have both endometriosis and retrograde menstruation. I've had several surgeries for it. 5 or 6, I think. I lost count after 4 but I could count my scars to be sure. I haven't had much problems with it since having my DD, almost 6 years ago, but I do have PMDD which my RE says can be linked to endometriosis. My RE has never shown much concern about it while I've been TTCing but has done some testing occasionally. I don't know how much of a role it plays in IF but the lack of concern from my RE makes me think it's not as much of a factor as other issues, at least in my cause. That or maybe my RE just doesn't care. I'm starting to think that might be the case. I hope you can work with your RE to get it under control and have success at getting a BFP very soon! I also hope it just goes away totally for you. Hugs and I'm sorry you are having to deal with it! HTH.

huskermama

After conceiving dd (who is now 5) naturally and extremely easily, we tried for 15 months before getting pg with #2 and miscarrying back in Dec of 2010. We were of course devastated and couldn't understand what the problem was. I finally switched from my regular OB to a fertility specialist in May of 2011 and was diagnosed with stage III endo last April during a exploratory lap.  After 3 rounds of lupron I had surgery to remove it last August.  Luckily my tubes were clear, but both ovaries were pretty bad and i also had a lot of scarring outside of the uterus and on my bladder and other places as well. I had SEVERE pain, especially right before and during my cycle.  I also had one scary episode that caused my legs to go numb and I literally thought I was becoming paralyzed (which I later leared was due to some scar tissue pinching some nerves) 

As I have read and been told, it is very hard to diagnose endo (and can't be done without the lap).  I fought for over a year with my doc b/c I knew something wans't right and I was in constant pain, but some women have it and don't know, and others may just have a mild case but still have pain.  Everyone's symptoms are so different.

I've also read they don't really "know" what causes it, but the most common hypothesis is the retrograde menstruation that you mentioned.

Before our daughter was born, I don't remember having this pain, so I've often wondered if having our first somehow flared it up, although my docs says I've likely had this all along and it is just getting prorgessively worse with age and eacy cycle (and I've never been on bc which could have helped control it).  Now, seeing your post, it seems we have something in common and I wonder if I'm not partially correct.

I also have hormonal issues and don't ovulate on my own, so not sure if that is part of the whole endo or just a separate issue. 

After our surgery we tried several rounds of clomid and are now currently taking injectable meds and prepping for IUI #2. 

Hopefully they can give you a good course of action...sounds like your end was somewhat mild so hopefully they caught it early!

Anway, sorry for the long post...endo sucks but just wanted you to know you are not alone and I hope you get a BFP soon!

kentcarrie

Even very mild endo has been proven to affect fertility.  I would get someone to check your CD3 FSH and AMH as soon as possible, to see if the endo has affected your ovarian reserve yet.