Trying to Conceive Forum

2 times · by **Emerald05** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 5:18 pm

Hello,

As a warning, some of this is gross.

I had my first appointment with my RE today, and she said that there was pretty big a chance I have tubal infertility as a result of a ruptured appendix and resulting infected abscess when I was 7.

I was in the hospital for 21 days, and I don't remember much except that there was tube coming out of my stomach to drain infection, and even after getting out of the hospital, I had to wear a bag to drain the infection.

Have any you ever heard of appendicitix affecting fertility? Dr. Google seems to confirm what my RE was saying, but I'd like some anecdotal stories if anyone has any!

The next steps are I need to do a ultrasound, HSG and lap all in the next month (HSG isn't enough since it doesn't tell you if you have adhesions apparently? I'm not really sure what that meant...)

Any advice or information any of you have would be great!

Thanks!

4 times · by **lisab** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 10:56 am

Ugh, that sounds like an awful experience! I'm glad you don't remember much of it.

What it sounds like is that you might have Endometriosis/scar tissue from your surgery. Your tubes might be fused to your uterus, which can prevent proper ovulation - but not always. You can still ovulate, but the tube needs to be able to move freely and receive blood flow to nourish the egg.

They might be able to see something with your HSG, but a Lap would be more thorough. My HSG didn't find my adhesions. I'm so glad I got the Lap. It's still good to run the dye through the tubes with the HSG though.

I can't say from personal knowledge specifically about Appendicitis, but I know from other ladies who had surgeries that ended up with scar tissue/Endo. It's weird, I never had surgery or an infection but I have adhesions and scar tissue all over.

I hope they get to the bottom of it and take care of it for you

It sounds like a promising reason as to why you haven't conceived yet...and it's fixable so that's awesome! I bet you'll be pregnant in no time! Still hoping for this cycle for you though. FX :luck:

2 times · by **Emerald05** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 10:49 pm

Thanks a lot for the reply Lisa! It really helps put things in perspective and gives me a lot of hope!

I was just kind of shellshocked from the appointment. I kind of just expected an "Oh you're probably fine you just haven't been trying long enough. Here's some clomid to make you O sooner." Not a "You could have tubal infertility".

I'm really happy to hear that if it is scar tissue and adhesions, it can be repaired. I just mildly freaked out because when explaining all of my treatment options she pretty much skipped IUI and went straight to IVF... I'm definitely willing to go that route if necessary, but it was a shock to hear it after only a year ttc!

But I'm still holding out hope that this is my cycle!

And I hope this cycle is your cycle too! As a note, it's nice to see some temps on your chart again! Gives me something to stalk!!! :jump:

for both of us!!! And some :sticky:

for good measure!

4 times · by **lisab** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 5:07 am

Oh man, doctors seem to do their best to scare people! I tell ya, I've had some really grim and glum doctors that made me feel like we didn't have a chance or we had to IVF immediately. They shouldn't say stuff until they know for sure what's going on. There's a very good chance that you just have minimal scarring that can be repaired. They won't know til they get in there and look around. I would think, since you're still young too that there hasn't been much damage done in there. I will be praying it's an easy fix. Mine was pretty bad and they fixed me

Thank you and good luck to you! :babydustb:

by **kanne** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 12:19 am

I agree with Lisa! My secondary infertility was caused by pelvic adhesions that I got after my c-section. Adhesions are a result of the body trying to heal itself and everyone gets them if they've had surgeries or trauma. I've heard of that being very common with appendectomies. When they went in during my laparoscopy (which they took video of) my entire abdominal cavity was full of strings of adhesions running like cobwebs throughout my organs! My ovaries were completely glued to the sidewall of my abdomen, NOwhere near the tube openings! My uterus was also stuck to my anterior (front) abdominal wall. It had been causing back pain for me that the drs kept dismissing as constipation! I swear! Once they removed the adhesions, I was probably able to conceive again, but I was now too old to try naturally, so we went ahead with our IVF plans. I didn't have time to try month after month since I was now 37 years old!

Good luck! I think there's a very good chance if adhesions are your problem and it's fixed, your fertility will be great!

2 times · by **Emerald05** » Fri Jun 29, 2012 10:37 pm

A fellow Washington stater!

Thanks for the info Kanne! I'm happy to hear fertility can be restored if this is the case. She did specifically mention tubes/ovaries/utuerus being adhered to each other, so I'm happy to hear they can fix it.

And I'm happy to hear the procedure and IVF worked for you! You're children are beautiful!!! :jump:

27 times · by **GennaTTC** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 10:01 am

Whitney,
My mom had her appendix rupture at 19 and the doctor ended up taking half of her right ovary. Following she needed a d and c to clean up scar tissue from the rupture. I'm sure that's probably what you're dealing with.

Best of luck!

2 times · by **Emerald05** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 4:16 pm

Genna, Im happy to hear that your mother had something similar. It makes me feel so much better knowing people who have had it as an issue were able to go on and have children.

Also, good luck with your IVF at the end of this month. I'll be praying that you get a strong healthy bean that will be your take home baby!

27 times · by **GennaTTC** » Wed Jul 04, 2012 3:58 pm

Hey Whitney....

Yes my mom had 2 kids....it took her a long time to have my brother but she or my dad were carriers of my chromosome issue that's making it hard for me to get pregnant. So....she isn't an apples to apples comparison. But that being said she did get pregnant. I'm sure you'll be fine!

Thanks for the well wishes!

by **Mypickles** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 6:12 am

It is highly likely that your appendicitis is causing your infertility. I had prior abdominal surgeries and had such a difficult time conceiving my first child. I needed a laparoscopy and they found a ton of scar tissue and adhesions that looked like Saran wrap surrounding my ovaries. They removed it, and a few months later, after a few clomid/IUI cycles, I got pregnant. Definitely push for the lap if you can! Seeing what's going own there will help you so much!!!!

1 time · by **Missclaire86** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:36 am

Hi at 15 my appendix also ruptured...and as a result my right tube kind of melted itself onto the side of my womb limiting what can get through.

Docs told me the only trouble I would really have is if anything happened to concieve on the blocked side there would be a very high risk of it being ectopic.

So you can concieve love you just need to be extra careful

X

2 times · by **Emerald05** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 5:13 pm

Thanks for all of the input! I figured I should reply with an update just in case anyone stumbles across this!

My appendicitis as a child ended up causing both of my tubes to be bad, with the right one actually turning into a hydrosalpinx (it was filled with a toxic fluid that would prevent implantation even if my tubes were working) while the left one had a large amount of damage.

I ended up having the lap at the beginning of August, and me RE removed the right tube entirely and tried to free up some of the scar tissue around my left tube to no avail. She said that while the tube was clear, there was a lot of scar tissue between it and the ovary and the tube was badly damaged and inflexible. As a result, she said it was very unlikely I would be able to conceive naturally, and if I did it would very likely end up being eptopic.

From there I went into my first (and hopefully only) round of ivf and everything seemed to go well! I am currently in the TWW from that!