TTC afer ectopic pregnancy and tube loss...please help!

[mamiemi]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum and hope to find some information and help.

 I just had surgery last friday. I am 38 years old, have one son who is 3.5 and really want another baby.I finally got a pos HPT, but was bleeding and spotting for 3 weeks afterwards and just didn't feel  good about it. I was being closely monitored, with HCG levels and US's. At 5 and 6 weeks I was told that there was a gestational sack in the uterus. When I went in at 7w1d, HCG was 10 000 and they found something in my right tube, nothing in the uterus. So I had to have surgery the same night and lost my right tube.

I am devastated...Not only have I lost my baby, but my chances of another one have decreased. I am currently on vacation, visiting my friend with my mom and son. My husband is not here, we are busy and I have not even had time to cry or grieve except when i was in the hospital that night.

I only bled afterwards for a couple of days. At my check up 6 days after surgery, my HCG was 250. I was told we can start TTC when it gets under 5.

What is your experience with that? How long did it take? I am also wondering if I should just ask for Clomid right away to increase my chances of ovulating on my "good" side?

I have my follow up with my regular OB back home on Sept 12th, can't wait to see what he has to say.

 

Hope to hear from someone who had a similar experience. THX!

[BellyBean]

First, I am so sorry you are having to go through this.  And without your DH too.  Having been through it myself, I completely understand the emotional toll it can take. 

Since they removed your tube and the baby, your levels will drop quickly.  From what I have read, when they use drugs to treat an ectopic it can take much longer.  I would guess it will only be a month, maybe 2, before you can try again.  Having been through LOTS of fertility treatments myself, I don't think clomid would be a good choice, unless you have irregular cycles.  By adding clomid you risk lining issues and the first couple times I took it it really messed with my ovulation.  The first month I didn't ovulate at all.  If you have normal cycles, the best thing to do would be try as usual.

Please dont look at my signature and worry too much about how long it will take.  We used IVF to concieve our first and have been trying FETs (including our ectopic) for a sibling.  We have long struggled with fertility and I have read many stories of people getting pregnant quickly after an ectopic...unfortunately we have other issues.

[mamiemi]

Thank you for the reply, BellyBean.

My cycles are very regular, at least until now. Normally 27-29 days, and I can always feel ovulation. As a matter of fact, i am very sure that I ovulated on my left side the last time, but the ectopic was on the right? I find it very strange...I have read some stories recently that the opposite tube can sometimes "grab" the egg from the opposite ovary?

My rationale about Clomid was that my chances would be greater if i release more then 1 egg, possibly from both sides,since I have only one tube. I am not sure if my ovulation alternates sides from month to month. I am concerned that I would maybe ovulate from the right ovary with no tube and then have 0 chances of getting pregnant that month....

I have an appt. with my OB next week, to discuss all these issues, but your post about Clomid made me a little thoughtful...don't want to mess up the one good thing i have going for me, which are my regular cycles.

Thanks so much again, and if you or anyone else have more tips for me, let me know please.

[BellyBean]

That's so great that you can feel ovulation!  My experience with Clomid (5 cycles) is that you normally only ovulate out of one side and to get more than 1 egg you would need to be on a higher dose.  With the higher dose comes a higher chance of thin lining (with repeated use) and "non-friendly" cervical mucus that can make it much harder for the sperm to get into the uterus.  Also, there is a 12 month maximum lifetime use of clomid but I doubt it will take you that long :)

I haven't tried it but, there is a lot of talk around here about Femera.  I think it works a lot like clomid but doesn't have as many side effects that can make it harder to concieve.  I think it is more expensive...I mean you can get clomid for $4 at Walmart.

Definitely talk with you OB, but I would be worried clomid would do more harm that good.  You should also check out the "clomid ladies" thread.  They probably have more advice since my experience is fairly limited. 

[Kyamo]

I'm sorry for your loss.

Originally Posted by BellyBean 

With the higher dose comes a higher chance of thin lining (with repeated use) and "non-friendly" cervical mucus that can make it much harder for the sperm to get into the uterus

I haven't had an ectopic, but I do have lots of experience with clomid and femara (due to PCOS), so I wanted to comment. I was on a low dose of clomid (50 mg I think?) and although I didn't realize it until much later, I had thin lining since the second cycle. So, it can have those effects even without a high dose or long-time use. Letrozole (femara) did fix my lining issue and I did get pregnant on it (still that everything goes well) but I never produced more than one follicle on it. So, I don't think there is any magic bullet. If you haven't had any fertility problems in the past, my opinion would be to just try as usual, accepting that it will probably take longer.

[mamiemi]

Thank you both for your replies...

I have been TTC since November 2010, however my husband is in the military, he has to travel a lot and is gone weeks at a time. It took us a while to get pregnant with our son. My OB finally did an HSG, everything was good, so he referred me to a specialist, but we ended up getting pregnant. I was convinced even then that it was the timing, as Dh was working 3 hrs away and was home weekends only.

My cycles are very regular. I have been using the Clear Blue easy monitor for the last couple months, and I always O.

i used it with my son, too and it worked great.

I am thinking about getting a HSG though, to make sure my one tube is still good.

Very anxious and nervous about the whole thing.I am 38 and feel like time is running out for me...

[mamiemi]

Hello,

so I finally saw my OB, he does not recommend Clomid. he said that because my cycles are very regular and i always ovulate, it would only mess them up. We agreed that I will TTc foe 4 cycles and if nothing happens, he will do an HSG to check my other tube. he said he is pretty sure I won't have any issues TTC....we will see about that.

I seem to have ovulated last week, had all the usual signs and we did BD, so now have to wait, plan on testing next week, Sunday.

BTW, my HCG was 6 on the day of the O.....is it possible?