TTC Update

Thought I'd write a little update since it has been so long since I've done
one here. As you'll probably recall I had a reasonably early miscarriage
back in March last year and since then I've had quite a few suspected
chemical pregnancies.

The long and the short of it was that in November I finally got a referral
to a specialist and I have a preliminary diagnosis for endometriosis which
should be confirmed one way or the other on Wednesday. I do have endo
symptoms but it cannot be diagnosed for sure until a laparoscopy is done. I
am having the laparoscopy on Wednesday as well as a hysteroscopy and
hysterosalpinogram (dye test). I was feeling really nervous about going
under general anaesthetic and having surgery but the last few days the
anxiety just feels like it's gone (thanks rescue remedy) and I'm kind of
looking forward to the op and getting more information and hopefully moving
on from there. Unfortunately my surgery sounds like it will be a bit more
complicated than most laps as I have possible scar tissue from an umbilical
hernia op I had as a baby so it means additional and longer incisions as
well as an additional tube put down into my stomach. The surgeon is talking
4-5 incisions at this stage.

The preliminary endometriosis diagnosis makes a lot of sense and would
explain a huge amount of what I have been experiencing so I will be
surprised if it comes back negative but there are a number of ladies in my
January lap buddy group that surprisingly do not have endo despite having
symptoms. Since getting this diagnosis I have gone onto something called
the endometriosis diet and getting regular exercise. While the endo doesn't
seem to have improved I am feeling incredibly healthy. I have lost two full
dress sizes in the last year and I'm probably the same size as I was in my
early 20s and I've done it all by eating healthily, and just dropping out
the refined stuff.

In addition I have had a whole pile of blood tests over the last few months.
Most of them have come back clear but one of my antibody levels is a bit
higher than it should be. The levels should be below 5 and they know that
levels above 20 can be responsible for miscarriages. They do not have
enough information about levels between 5 and 20. Mine came back at 5 and 6
initially and when retested 6 weeks later they came back at 3 and 11.
Quite odd the way one dropped and the other rose.

So that's my update. Prayers for a successful outcome on Wednesday would be
appreciated. I know that the news could go either way at the moment and I'm
really hoping the news that comes back will be good news.

rangitotogirl wrote:
I have a preliminary diagnosis for endometriosis which
should be confirmed one way or the other on Wednesday. I do have endo
symptoms but it cannot be diagnosed for sure until a laparoscopy is done.

You do know that endometriosis is overdiagnosed, and that the relevance
of endometriosis to TTC problems is questionable?

I have some personal experience of this. For a decade I had extreme
"endometriosis" symptoms, and I was offered the same course you are
taking now. I researched "endometriosis" and decided to simply ignore
the diagnosis. Just as well, as the symptoms turned out to be in
direct proportion to some major stress in my life, and once the stress
was resolved the symptoms abated. Meanwhile, I found the anti-nausea
drug phenergan (commonly prescribed for severe morning sickness) to
very helpful. FWIW, in the year since resuming cycles after my first
baby, I have had no symptoms; this too is consistent with
"endometriosis".


In addition I have had a whole pile of blood tests over the last few months.
Most of them have come back clear but one of my antibody levels is a bit
higher than it should be.

Has anyone advised you yet that the more tests you get, the more likely
you are to find a significant result...that is false?

Good luck with your surgery!

BTW, this is one of my favorite books on the general topic of TTC:

How to get pregnant
Silber, Sherman J.
New York : Little, Brown and Co., 2005 (note the new 2005 edition)

You do know that endometriosis is overdiagnosed, and that the relevance
of endometriosis to TTC problems is questionable?

I have some personal experience of this. For a decade I had extreme
"endometriosis" symptoms, and I was offered the same course you are
taking now. I researched "endometriosis" and decided to simply ignore
the diagnosis. Just as well, as the symptoms turned out to be in
direct proportion to some major stress in my life, and once the stress
was resolved the symptoms abated.

Unfortunately the endo symptoms became apparent as soon as I came off BCP
and before I had the major stresses in my life and they are becoming more
obvious despite the stresses abating. I didn't believe I had endo for
several months, even though I know my naturopath suspected it. I just
didn't think I had the symptoms but once I received the preliminary
diagnosis and checked it out it became pretty obvious that I was
symptomatic. I get pelvic discomfort throughout the month, especially in my
luteal phase and I get pre AF spotting for several days which has proven to
be a real headache. I just don't have the heavy crampy AFs that often go
hand in hand with endo. Endo is one of those strange things though. You can
have masses of symptoms and not have it or have very low level endo, or you
can have very few symptoms and have severe endo but I'm sure you know this
already

In addition I have had a whole pile of blood tests over the last few
months.
Most of them have come back clear but one of my antibody levels is a bit
higher than it should be.

Has anyone advised you yet that the more tests you get, the more likely
you are to find a significant result...that is false?

What they have told me is that I am mostly very normal and that my egg
reserve is still good and on the whole I am very healthy. I apparently have
the reserves of someone 5 years my junior which I am pleased about of
course. The only thing that is a bit wonky is my anticardiolipin level and
it appears that it probably isn't wonky enough to cause any problems.
Anyway it would appear to be a minor thing in the whole scheme of things.


Good luck with your surgery!

Thanks, and congratulations to you too. Hope this pregnancy proves to be a
keeper.

I hope your surgery goes well. Do you get your results straight away?

I am assuming you're a kiwi with a name like "rangitotogirl" so we are
in the same time zone - I'll be thinking of you on Wednesday

All the best
Cam

rangitotogirl wrote:

So that's my update. Prayers for a successful outcome on Wednesday would be
appreciated. I know that the news could go either way at the moment and I'm
really hoping the news that comes back will be good news.

Good luck on Wednesday. I had emergency lap surgery a couple of years
ago for a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. It wasn't too bad, some bloating
in the belly and obviously some pain but all in all a fairly
straightforward recovery -- had it on a Friday and was back at work
Tuesday. My scars have now faded pretty much away except for the one in
my bellybutton which I think will remain a souvenir forever.

I have also had an HSG. Consider taking some advil or something
beforehand. It was hand-squeezingly uncomfortable but thankfully a
short procedure. Mileage seems to vary on this one though. The beauty
of it is that they can see right there on the monitor what is going on
so you get some immediate gratification in terms of the results.

I hope you get good news.
Elle

"camandshane" wrote in message
oups.com...
I hope your surgery goes well. Do you get your results straight away?

I am assuming you're a kiwi with a name like "rangitotogirl" so we are
in the same time zone - I'll be thinking of you on Wednesday

All the best
Cam

Thanks Cam, I don't know whether I'll get the results the same day or not
but I'm assuming I'll have them by Thursday. Yup, I'm a kiwi also so we're
definitely in the same time zone. My op is at 1.00 pm.

I'm still amazed at how calm I feel about this especially compared to how I
felt a week ago. I felt a wee bit anxious this morning about it. I went in
for blood tests and it sort of hit me how close it was while I was getting
the blood drawers so I'm pretty sure I will be more nervous on the day but
that only lasted a couple of hours. In the meantime I'm making the most of
feeling this chilled out.

"Elle" wrote in message
ups.com...
rangitotogirl wrote:

So that's my update. Prayers for a successful outcome on Wednesday would
be
appreciated. I know that the news could go either way at the moment and
I'm
really hoping the news that comes back will be good news.

Good luck on Wednesday. I had emergency lap surgery a couple of years
ago for a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. It wasn't too bad, some bloating
in the belly and obviously some pain but all in all a fairly
straightforward recovery -- had it on a Friday and was back at work
Tuesday. My scars have now faded pretty much away except for the one in
my bellybutton which I think will remain a souvenir forever.

I have also had an HSG. Consider taking some advil or something
beforehand. It was hand-squeezingly uncomfortable but thankfully a
short procedure. Mileage seems to vary on this one though. The beauty
of it is that they can see right there on the monitor what is going on
so you get some immediate gratification in terms of the results.

I hope you get good news.
Elle

Thanks Elle, The hsg is being done while I am still under general so I'm
guessing that part should be a relatively easy part of the procedure.
Unfortunately I won't get to see it but then I won't get to feel it either.
Anyway, I have no doubt that there will be plenty of opportunity for pain
relief if I need it afterwards, nil by mouth beforehand though.

I believe the lap is relatively straight forward and the recovery time seems
to vary a lot and also depends on how much endo they get rid of. The gas
pains sound yuck though.

Thought I'd write a little update since it has been so long since I've done
one here. As you'll probably recall I had a reasonably early miscarriage
back in March last year and since then I've had quite a few suspected
chemical pregnancies

All the best, it's good to hear that you're working towards a dx. I'll be
thinking of you on Wednesday.


--
Amy
Mum to Carlos born sleeping 20/11/02,
& Ana born screaming 30/06/04
http://www.freewebs.com/carlos2002/
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/ana%5Fj%5F2004/
My blog: http://spaces.msn.com/members/querer-hijo-querer-hija/

"Mum of Two" wrote in message
...
Thought I'd write a little update since it has been so long since I've
done one here. As you'll probably recall I had a reasonably early
miscarriage back in March last year and since then I've had quite a few
suspected chemical pregnancies

All the best, it's good to hear that you're working towards a dx. I'll be
thinking of you on Wednesday.

Thanks Amy, yes knowing what was potentially wrong has been helpful. It's
also stopped some of the dumb comments that I was getting from certain
overhelpful family members. Nothing like being told your work is stopping
you from getting pregnant and you might need to give up your job. Come on,
I sit in an office all day.....

"rangitotogirl" wrote in message
...

"Mum of Two" wrote in message
...
Thought I'd write a little update since it has been so long since I've
done one here. As you'll probably recall I had a reasonably early
miscarriage back in March last year and since then I've had quite a few
suspected chemical pregnancies

All the best, it's good to hear that you're working towards a dx. I'll be
thinking of you on Wednesday.

Thanks Amy, yes knowing what was potentially wrong has been helpful. It's
also stopped some of the dumb comments that I was getting from certain
overhelpful family members. Nothing like being told your work is stopping
you from getting pregnant and you might need to give up your job. Come
on, I sit in an office all day.....

I can't believe people are still that ignorant about human biology! Hmmm, my
great-grandmother worked pretty hard, on the farm milking cows, boiling the
copper etc but she managed to have 9. Nothing short of a miracle with the
work she did ;-)


--
Amy
Mum to Carlos born sleeping 20/11/02,
& Ana born screaming 30/06/04
http://www.freewebs.com/carlos2002/
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/ana%5Fj%5F2004/
My blog: http://spaces.msn.com/members/querer-hijo-querer-hija/