Hi! I'm new too.......

[endo-freak]

I'm an emotional mess and am so thankful to have found this site.

My story:

I'm 31, married 10 yrs this past Dec., we have 3 children with 4 legs on each of them.

Was diagnosed with Stage 4 endo this past May. I had been diagnosed 'officially' over a year ago and then my GYN put me on Clomid since we were not getting pregnant and that threw my body into stage 4. It was quite mild with my first lap and my second one, whew, that was rough. It had taken over my insides like you wouldn't believe. She had to take my appendix out since it was covered in endo. A 2 hour surgery lasted 5 hours! I was a mess.

She let my body rest for 2 months then we dove into 2 cycles of IUI's - medicated. Nada. I had to wait a month after the first one due to an endometrioma that had formed and was rather large so she put me on the pill for a month to shrink it.

After the first IUI I thought my world had collapsed. I was so certain that it had taken due to all of the symptoms I was having that I never had before. But I was wrong. By the 2nd one I knew I couldn't do another one. So we talked and she put me back on the pill continuously due to my endo being so severe. Then of course last month I started having terrible pains on my left ovary, had to go in on a sunday and he found a cyst that was 5 cm!

My biggest one yet. And then another one next to it that was smaller. So I'm now doing my first month back on the pill and have started considering IVF.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would end up here. Never. Like I said earlier, I'm an emotional wreck. I am going to see a therapist this friday and hopefully she can start to get me back to 'normal'. Whatever that is. I can't believe how devestating this journey has been, I am defeated at this point in my life.

I really want that feeling to go away, fast. That is why I am here. I hope to find help/advice, support, encouragement on these boards and I will do so in return.

Sorry this is so long.

[loopie]

hey there endo freak!
welcome to the madness !
I'm sorry for all the rough stuff you've been through- this site is terrific - i laugh and cry while reading posts -sometimes at the same time!
i'm starting my 1st iVF next week. I skipped all of the IUI stuff as my fella's swimmers aren't quite right, it didnt' make sense for us to try IUI due to our ages
I am a pet parent, too
Take care of yourself - there's a lot to learn here - I know this site has kept me sane the last few weeks -and I've learned a lot - probably more than enough - saw some friends yesterday who are going through similar stuff, but being able to vent on this site has saved me- and DH for sure!
we're going to a spa tomorrow for a few days just to relax and prepare ourselves for the roller coaster to come -
take it easy and best of luck
loopie

[endo-freak]

Hey Loopie! Thanks for the welcome. I have been wondering if I should have skipped the IUI's too since the endo was so bad, but my doctor had me do it anyway. Of course I have not educated myself on the inner-workings of IVF so before we head down that bumpy road I'm taking in all the info I can get my hands on.

[IrishHope]

I am not very "versed" in these boards although I have read them alot!!

Starting our first IVF cycle soon and think having some online support from people experiencing the same will be sooo helpful!

Diagnosed w/ mild/moderate endo. at 21 - married 13 mos. TTC 12 mos.
had all the fertility work ups and we seem normal/had laparoscopyin November and he found nothing -

Starting Lupron I think on cycle day 21 which will be 1/31...hten Gonal F RFF pen at 150iu/twice a day (lucky me)...

have read that endo sufferers respond less to the fert. meds and produce less quality/quantity eggs...anyone out there agree/disagree?? Just nervous I'll start and nothing will happen...

me - 34
dh - 34

[kbat]

I have endo, and had my left tube removed. I am a poor responder--although don't know if it's because of my endo or my age. I've had 5 cycles. Although all of them failed, the last one #5 seemed to yeild the best result--got 2 really good quality embryos. Technically, I got pregnant--but it was etopic . Finally it seemed like I was getting somewhere, but in the end it just didn't want to stay in the right place.

One thing that I did differently for #5 was acupuncture. Don't really know if that helped, but I think it did. Even though I didn't get a lot of eggs still--they were the best quality I ever got up to this point. And even though I had an etopic pregnancy--it was the only time while doing these treatments that I even got this close. (Had one pregnancy naturally). When I mentioned to my RE that I had done acupuncture, she said definately continue doing it. So we will do exactly the same thing we did for #5 and hopefully we'll get good quality (quality over quantity) and maybe this time they will stay where they are supposed to stay.

[jen8675309]

Hi Girls ~

I, too, am new to this site! So nice to "chat" with others with similar issues right now!

Loopie- We are similar creatures! I am (hopefully) getting ready to start an IVF cycle in March if AF cooperates. My DH and I are skipping right to IVF as well due to male factor. Where are you at in the process? I am anxious to hear how you are doing. What kind of pets do you have?

I started a thread on the IVF board before I saw this one. I noticed someone on this thread was taking Follistim, how is that going? Hopefully I will be participating in a trial study that uses Follistim AQ and was wondering how that compared to other drugs. Any thoughts?

Good luck to all!!

[treatme]

Hi
I'm new to this, I've got endometroiosis stage 3, have been trying for 5 year with no luck. We would both love to have kids.

Been on the waiting list for nover 3 years, everytime I ring the clinic all I get is -could be this year can't tell you where you are on the list!! we can't afford to do it private so waiting for NHS to ring one day!

Would love to hear from anyone who is in the same boat.

Thanks
wendy




[quote="endo-freak"]I'm an emotional mess and am so thankful to have found this site.

My story:

I'm 31, married 10 yrs this past Dec., we have 3 children with 4 legs on each of them.

Was diagnosed with Stage 4 endo this past May. I had been diagnosed 'officially' over a year ago and then my GYN put me on Clomid since we were not getting pregnant and that threw my body into stage 4. It was quite mild with my first lap and my second one, whew, that was rough. It had taken over my insides like you wouldn't believe. She had to take my appendix out since it was covered in endo. A 2 hour surgery lasted 5 hours! I was a mess.

She let my body rest for 2 months then we dove into 2 cycles of IUI's - medicated. Nada. I had to wait a month after the first one due to an endometrioma that had formed and was rather large so she put me on the pill for a month to shrink it.

After the first IUI I thought my world had collapsed. I was so certain that it had taken due to all of the symptoms I was having that I never had before. But I was wrong. By the 2nd one I knew I couldn't do another one. So we talked and she put me back on the pill continuously due to my endo being so severe. Then of course last month I started having terrible pains on my left ovary, had to go in on a sunday and he found a cyst that was 5 cm!

My biggest one yet. And then another one next to it that was smaller. So I'm now doing my first month back on the pill and have started considering IVF.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would end up here. Never. Like I said earlier, I'm an emotional wreck. I am going to see a therapist this friday and hopefully she can start to get me back to 'normal'. Whatever that is. I can't believe how devestating this journey has been, I am defeated at this point in my life.

I really want that feeling to go away, fast. That is why I am here. I hope to find help/advice, support, encouragement on these boards and I will do so in return.

Sorry this is so long. [/quote]