Should I have laparoscopy before IVF?

[Jane37]

I have a blocked tube on the left side and it appears that I am only ovulating on this side. We have discussed options with the doctor today who says that I can have a laparoscopy to see whether the blockages can be repaired or unblocked but she says that the chance is small that they will find the blockage and that we will be able to conceive naturally. She has also given us the options to have insemination or IVF. I am not sure (and nor is she) whether insemination will work with blocked tubes. Has anybody been in this position? I don't know whether to decide to go straight to IVF or have the laparoscopy first. Will I gain anything from having the laparoscopy? If anyone has been in this situation and can give me some advice it would really help.
Thank you so much,
Jane

[Neeve]

Sorry I sent the email by mistake.... what I would suggest is to have the laproscopy so that they can see exactly how everything is and then if your doctors suggest I would go straight to IVF. So many years can be spent doing IUI with no result and then you have to start the long procedure of IVF. Anyway the very best of luck none of this is easy but dont forget that other women are getting pregnant so no reason that you dont.

Best of luck
Neeve

[Jane37]

Thanks Neeve,
I think that you are definitely right about doing IVF, I'm just not sure if it is worth doing the laparoscopy before if we are going to have IVF anyway. They have told me that the laparoscopy is just a day's surgery but I don't know whether that means it is a small op that I will recover quickly from or whether I will need time off work.
So many questions!!

[pallavi]

[quote="Jane37"]I have a blocked tube on the left side and it appears that I am only ovulating on this side. We have discussed options with the doctor today who says that I can have a laparoscopy to see whether the blockages can be repaired or unblocked but she says that the chance is small that they will find the blockage and that we will be able to conceive naturally. She has also given us the options to have insemination or IVF. I am not sure (and nor is she) whether insemination will work with blocked tubes. Has anybody been in this position? I don't know whether to decide to go straight to IVF or have the laparoscopy first. Will I gain anything from having the laparoscopy? If anyone has been in this situation and can give me some advice it would really help.
Thank you so much,

Jane[/quote]




hi

[L & C]

Hi Jane

I had a lap to open up my tubes back in Oct 2000. Then I actually got pregnant naturally in late July/early Aug of 2001, but it was ectopic (stuck in my tube) and they had to do another lap to take it out... nothing could be done to save the baby.

I've had 4 laps in my whole life (41 now) and it's not a totally invasive surgery, but I needed 2 or 3 days of rest before I went back to work. I had some abdominal pain, but it wasn't too bad. In my opinion, I wouldn't even mess with it if I were you.... I'd go straight to IVF.

Good luck to you ... Leslie

[shanny]

Jane,

I have been ttc for 6 years. I did IUI with clomid 3 times and it did not work. My dr's suggestion was a laporoscopy or IVF. I really didn't know if I'd ever do either of them. Why pay so much money when they can't guarantee positive results? So we adopted and have the most wonderful little boy. Then about a year ago we sold our house for a quite a bit of money and finally had the chance to do IVF. It was a bfp, but it ended up being ectopic. We were out of money , but we had met our detuctable and I have painful periods so we decided to have the laporoscopy done. My endo wasn't very severe, but it had plastered my right ovary to my uterus and I hadn't been ovulating. One month after my surgery I had the oppurtunity to do a clomid cycle of IVF that only cost $2,500. Usually I don't even produce one egg with clomid, this time I produced five. I am now 8 weeks along!

Now it's true that with IVf you bypass the tubes, so I didn't necessarily need the lap, but pregnancy or not it helped me feel better physically, it would have helped my period be not as painful, and like me you just never know what is going on until you're in there. I truely believe mine helped me do a much cheaper less invasive round of IVF. So I'm not saying do it first or even for sure, but if you have the money sometimes it's worth knowing what's going on. Who knows, I may have gotten pregnant naturally?
Shanny

[Jane37]

Hi pallavi, Leslie and Shanny,

Thanks for replying.

Leslie, I'm so sorry about your ectopic and that you have had so much surgery. Four times is tough. Hope that all works out well in the end.

Shanny, congratulations to you. Hope that everything goes well.

We have talked with my parents and sister and a couple of friends this weekend and they were all happy to listen but didn't know what to advise!! We have decided to go for the laparoscopy as IVF costs a lot and I would hate it to fail when there is a very small chance of them unblocking a tube or finding something that could mean we could try an IUI first. I don't like the idea of surgery but my health insurance covers that so we don't have to pay. So, we called this morning and they'll do it as soon as my next period is over.

I just got back from acupuncture and my Chinese doctor says that my body needs another six months of acupuncture before trying IVF. She says that IVF drugs are really strong and wants to work on my liver before we try anything. She says the laparoscopy is fine but I'm not sure I'll take her advice about IVF. The doctors at the fertility clinic say that my age is against me and we should move quickly. So, I'm feeling pretty demoralised about the whole thing now.

Anyway, thankyou all and have a good day,

Jane