[theodora]

I'm looking for a bit more info on endo & fertility -- beyond the idea that it is bad!!

I have stage II/III endo w/adhesions & cysts + adenomyosis & adenomyomas + fibroids, but my tubes are good, my general uterine & ovarian appearance & function seems fine (none of the growths are blocking anything, the shape is good, etc). I don't seem to have a lot of bowel or other endo involvement. My main symptoms are terrible periods, pain in my left side with ovulation & bleeding of any kind. I had a LAP in October 2009, & I already have quite a build-up of stuff, & my left ovary is again pasted to the wall (but still works fine). I am EXTREMELY lucky to have only started having symptoms a few years ago, & I do not have such terible ones at that, so I am not complaining.

We are constrained to IVF with ICSI due to severe male factor. My eggs SEEM perfect, but we have never done genetic testing of embryos. We've done 2 fresh & 2 frozen transfers, & it hasn't taken so far (either 3-4 total failures or 1-3 chemicals, not sure as I was doing hCG injections afterwards so positive betas were unable to be believed). I am also 41, so even if things look good & AMH is fine, we know that there is less chance of OK eggs.

Before this last FET, I was put on continuous birth control for 3 months to "control the endo-induced inflammation." The drugs were not strong enough & I bled for 40 days before the doc finally doubled the dose. (Don't have a lot of choice of BCPs as I have some allergies to excipients.) This at least stopped bleeding, but I hated the side effects, & not sure if it worked to calm the endo, but whatever. I know that the more accepted treatment for endo is to do agonist injections for 3 months, but due to my age my doc didn't want to do it.

My lining is very slow-growing for a FET, altho it ends up fine. I also don't seem to metabolize hormonal supplements well -- we always have to up the doses of oral estrogen & change to mostly suppositories before my lining grows.

In preparation for my 4th WTF appt on 4th February, I am trying to get my head around what we may be doing wrong & right, what our chances are (we've NEVER been quoted chances, except that we've been told it is impossible to get pregnant without ICSI due to the MF), if my endometrium is just no good do we have to forget even about donor options, etc. etc.

Are there any recommendations for testing to be done? Treatments that are supposed to help? Chances of getting pregnant if you have endo? Things to avoid? How do you know when a failure might be due to endo? Is there a way of measuring the inflammation or other endo effects?

Any ideas would be fantastic...

 

[Martha Moo]

hi

Didnt want to read and run .............................

I havent experienced the issues you have, but i would be looking from some answers from my cons if i were in your shoes

those would be

Fibroids, where, what kind any impact on implantation as depending on where they are what kind they are they can impact on implantation

Endo where is it what impact does it have on my fertility

Lining issues do any exist

Level 1 tests (some of which your GP may be prepared to do)

quality of DH swimmers
quality of your eggs

A useful source of information is Agates FAQ on the immunology board its a sticky post at the top of the board

Look at L for Level 1 tests and also Lining
E for Endo
F for fibroid

Also there is an Endo Chat on the 19th if you want to join us for a natter and to chat more

Em

 

[theodora]

Fibroids, where, what kind any impact on implantation as depending on where they are what kind they are they can impact on implantation

Endo where is it what impact does it have on my fertility

Lining issues do any exist

Level 1 tests (some of which your GP may be prepared to do)

quality of DH swimmers
quality of your eggs

A useful source of information is Agates FAQ on the immunology board its a sticky post at the top of the board

Thanks for the quick reply!

Apparently there is no blocking of implantation from any of my numerous growths.

When asked about what my endo can do to interfere with implantation or pregnancy I've been told that this is mostly an inflammation problem but that they do not really know, just that it decreases chance.

I've done all the level 1&2 tests, and the only thing weird is ANA+ (so treating with steroids for that & for endo inflammation). And HLA sharing, but I have fine NK cells.

Husband sperm is bad (low count, low mobility, low motility, almost all abnormal morphology, fragmented).

My eggs apparently great, embryos that fertilize grow fine & look good, but we haven't done genetic testing -- they want to do it only if you get 10+ embryos, but with 50% fert rate due to sperm, I've never had more than 5-7 good embies for my 2 fresh cycles, so we've transferred 2-3 & frozen 2-3.