[Olivia2501]

I am new here & glad I found this board-long story short, had endo twice, 2 laps first being several years ago, 2nd was stage 4 endo 7/08. Been trying to conceive since surgery. RE did sugery said tubes were all fine, ovaries were fine, try 6 mths if not we will see you back. DH SA was great. Went to my OBGYN for annual 2 wks ago, he said u look great I bring up trying for 6 mths & he said dont worry it will happen(I LOVE THAT STATEMENT, if I had a dime well anyway).

I went to my RE this week & mind you I have been on no meds at all and he says I have 2 options, try IUI and then move on to IVF if it doesnt work. He said fertility meds have not been proven to work in women with endo. I just sat there, my insurance covers 0 towards fertility and he hands me a price sheet for IUI & all meds associated ranging from 5000 to 6000.. we dont have the money to do that and I am just shocked that he wont even try meds.

meanwhile I just sit & wonder how fast this endo is coming back, month by month that goes by...any thoughts, meds and endo experiences and trying to conceive? I am wondering if I should try another doctor??? I have done some reserach on my own and read about femara, my mom just happens to be on this post breast cancer. Please any stories??? I am thinking of going back to my OB since he is local and saying listen, I am 37 next week, have had endo twice and telling me to just wait it will happen does not work for me at this point or try another doctor??? My RE obviously has his mind made up & the next closest RE is over 3 1/2 hours away from me. I have never felt so helpless

[ladyki]

Originally Posted by Olivia2501

I am new here & glad I found this board-long story short, had endo twice, 2 laps first being several years ago, 2nd was stage 4 endo 7/08. Been trying to conceive since surgery. RE did sugery said tubes were all fine, ovaries were fine, try 6 mths if not we will see you back. DH SA was great. Went to my OBGYN for annual 2 wks ago, he said u look great I bring up trying for 6 mths & he said dont worry it will happen(I LOVE THAT STATEMENT, if I had a dime well anyway).

I went to my RE this week & mind you I have been on no meds at all and he says I have 2 options, try IUI and then move on to IVF if it doesnt work. He said fertility meds have not been proven to work in women with endo. I just sat there, my insurance covers 0 towards fertility and he hands me a price sheet for IUI & all meds associated ranging from 5000 to 6000.. we dont have the money to do that and I am just shocked that he wont even try meds.

meanwhile I just sit & wonder how fast this endo is coming back, month by month that goes by...any thoughts, meds and endo experiences and trying to conceive? I am wondering if I should try another doctor??? I have done some reserach on my own and read about femara, my mom just happens to be on this post breast cancer. Please any stories??? I am thinking of going back to my OB since he is local and saying listen, I am 37 next week, have had endo twice and telling me to just wait it will happen does not work for me at this point or try another doctor??? My RE obviously has his mind made up & the next closest RE is over 3 1/2 hours away from me. I have never felt so helpless

I am 28 years old, I never had any endo symptoms. Last October I was diagnosed with endo via surgery for a cyst that I was having removed. I was then referred to an RE which wanted to run some tests and also see my surgery pictures. When we went back to get the result he confirmed by looking at my picutes that it was Endo stage 4.

My fsh also came back elevated (he said I the FSH of a 37yr old) that with the endo, he recommneded for us to go straight for IVF.

The RE said that any other fertility treatment including IUI would only make my Endo worse. He said that the meds have alot of estrogen which is something that we, endo women, so not need any more off.

As of right now, my chances of conceiving naturall are very low, my best option is IVF. I am in the same boat as you, my insurance does not cover anything other than the testing. We just started saving and are hoping to do IVF either late this year or early next year.

The RE also mentioned that endo women have problems because the egg can't find a stable place to implant itself. Where with IVF, they would implant the egg where it needs to be.

[Tabitha]

Welcome Olivia & Ladyki!

Olivia - I am wondering why your doctor won't try fertility meds, if your tubes and ovaries are fine. We were advised against clomid because of severe scarring and adhesions, and the eggs just would not be able to get from point a to point b, so we went straight to IVF. Have you been to the Infertiltiy Treatments/Clomid support thread? There might be some ladies on there who have a similar medical history that could give you some advice. If you can get a second opinion, I would. Our RE was also about 2.5 hours away, and yes it was a pain, but a second opinion might give you the info you need to come back to your RE and say that you would like to try something else.

Ladyki - I don't know anything about IUI, but IVF also makes endo worse because the same drugs (estrogen) are used to stimulate egg production. I would say even more so, because with IVF, you try to produce more eggs. So I am not sure if that is a solid reason not to try IUI. Maybe the bigger issue is the FSH level, the reason your RE is suggesting IVF? I am also wondering what he meant by the embryo not finding a stable place to implant in the uterus. Endo is not inside the uterus, and any issues with the endometrial lining would be considered another problem, not endo. Is there another RE that you could get a second opinion from?

I wish you both the best. I know it was very hard for us to decide to go straight to IVF without trying something less costly first. We did two IVF cycles, with success on the second.

[alg76]

Hi ladies-
as you can see from my siggie DH and I have been through the gamate.... I have had 3 laps for endo since I was 18yo and was actually scheduled for my fourth on 3/9, but low and behold we got a BFP that morning. Needless to say this came after lots of heartache and money spent, we tried the cheaper ways first, my RE said start slow because we too did not have any fertility coverage, so we did a few rounds of clomid with IUI, then we tried for IVF but I was over suppressed and didn't produce enough follicles so that was converted to an IUI.
My RE said the biggest obstacle with Endo is that the egg and the sperm can't get together, but once they do everything should be fine.
If either of you are feeling jittery about anything your DRs have said then do get a second opinion, Both REs that I saw weren't interested in doing the surgery, but when I talked to my OBGYN (who I've seen for 17 yrs)he said lets do the works, LAP/D&C/check the tubes to make sure they are still clear and then start danazol for 6-12 mos, then try again naturally to concieve, after seeing fertility speacialists it seemed my plain old OBGYN knew what needed to be done, but someone else had a different plan for us. we have all our fingers and toes crossed that everything with our pregnancy will go well and soon we will be holding our dream in our arms! I hope both of you get the answer that you seek!

[Kellileanne]

Originally Posted by alg76

Hi ladies-
as you can see from my siggie DH and I have been through the gamate.... I have had 3 laps for endo since I was 18yo and was actually scheduled for my fourth on 3/9, but low and behold we got a BFP that morning. Needless to say this came after lots of heartache and money spent, we tried the cheaper ways first, my RE said start slow because we too did not have any fertility coverage, so we did a few rounds of clomid with IUI, then we tried for IVF but I was over suppressed and didn't produce enough follicles so that was converted to an IUI.
My RE said the biggest obstacle with Endo is that the egg and the sperm can't get together, but once they do everything should be fine.
If either of you are feeling jittery about anything your DRs have said then do get a second opinion, Both REs that I saw weren't interested in doing the surgery, but when I talked to my OBGYN (who I've seen for 17 yrs)he said lets do the works, LAP/D&C/check the tubes to make sure they are still clear and then start danazol for 6-12 mos, then try again naturally to concieve, after seeing fertility speacialists it seemed my plain old OBGYN knew what needed to be done, but someone else had a different plan for us. we have all our fingers and toes crossed that everything with our pregnancy will go well and soon we will be holding our dream in our arms! I hope both of you get the answer that you seek!

Just more evidence ladies that it can be done!!!!! (my 16 month old dd was concieved naturally!!!)