HSG test and cervical stenosis
So finally I have to go back in to the gyno so they can do checkup before they renew my clomid prescription. While in the office, I burst into tears. (Have I mentioned that all this stuff is a wee bit stressful?)
So the doctor starts talking about next steps. There's only a few things she can do before she sends me off to a specialist.
Two weeks later I find myself in the hospital for an HSG test. This test is to see if the fallopian tubes are blocked. A catheter is inserted through the cervix into the uterus. They shoot dye up there while taking an xray. We all watch the little tv screen and see if the dye goes through the tubes. Easy enough, right? wrong.
First of all, inserting a catheter is never fun. Second, if a tube is blocked, that dye has no where to go and will hurt like hell.
For me, it turns out that I have a "stenotic cervix". Which means it's too small, too tight and too stiff. So they use a little metal dialtor to open it up. Think about that. Here's a muscle that doesn't want to move, so it gets moved by force. Think of the worst charly-horse you've ever had in your leg - the kind that wakes you up at night screaming and crying. Now think about that pain in your twat. Yeah. It was that fun.
So the doctor thinks that opening the cervix might help. And tells me we'll see what happens this cycle (HSG is done pre-ovulation), and then we'll decide what to do next if this cycle doesn't take.
It didn't take.
When I called the doctor back, she said to just wait and see... keep trying for 3 more months.
Oh hell no. 3 more months? Because the first 24 months were so gosh darn fun? Because I probably need to be medicated to get my emotions under control? I don't freaking think so. I've spent months crying my eyes out on a daily basis - sometimes several times per day. I don't think I could survive 3 more months of inaction.
So I called a specialist and ditched the gyno.
posted by Jena @ 11:55 AM
6 Comments:
I stumbled upon your blog while doing a search for stenotic cervix. My gyno suspects that's the case for me and I'm scheduled for a pelvic biopsy on Monday.
I am so sorry to hear about what you are going through. We just started trying for the past five months or so and I already get frustrated. 24 months and then they say 3 more months....your response of "oh hell no" is exactly what I thought when I read that.
Off to see if you posted more about the specialist...
Thanks for sharing and best of luck to you.
Jen
Just wondering how everything turned out. This is my story too.
I never had any more tests. But I did get pg by IUI... which did not hurt at all even though they are sticking something in my cervix.
And for follow up, I got pregnant again in 2010 by IUI and had a baby boy.
my wife and i have been trying to conceive now for over 5 years, and for the last 2 years have been receiving fertility treatment with the NHS (U.K.- National Health Service)- diagnosis- unexplained infertilty; all our systems seem to be functioning; now it seems to me, a layman, stenosis may be the cause
At every stage of procedings, to every specialist, we've mentioned that she had scarring of the cervix following removal of pre-cancerous cells 12 years ago.
Every investigation of my wife's uterus has caused her intense pain, meaning she has had to receive a general aneasthetic, due to this scarring, but the specialists have never even mentioned this condition (stenosis), which i've been researching today.
10 weeks ago we had one blastocyst implanted, again after emergency general aneasthesia due to the blockage- this sadly failed- she menstruated, tested negative, went to the hospital, who just sent her home, heartbroken, again.
2 weeks ago, a period was missed, she took a pregnancy test, which was positive- Hurrah...
we saw our GP, who sent us back to the clinic (if you're not from the U.K. you may not appreciate how compartmentalised our system is- our local hospital has had its funding cut so no longer offers fertility treatment so we have to travel hundreds of miles to the clinic), but when we went to the infertility clinic, the consultant was very cagey whilst looking at the ultrasound scan, and asked us to return the following week, having taken some base-line measurements of the developing egg and blood hormone levels.
we returned the following week- Misery. The 2 (yep, 2) eggs were dead, please come back tomorrow for, essentially a termination, to clear the womb.
they'll never admit this, but the circumstantial evidence alludes to it- when the IVF pregnancy failed, the egg wasn't cleared out by natural menstraution, and the hospital's apathetic/negligent attitude in sending us away to another department, left it in the womb. when 1 little sperm found its way through the blockage, found an egg and fertilised it, that egg was sharing the womb with it's unlucky IVF sibling, developed for a while, then failed.
obviously, again, we are heartbroken, and now furious that normal procedure following miscarriage (D.N.C. they call it- essentially clearing the womb) wasn't followed by our local hospital or the fertility clinic, and we've lost both our scientific and natural miracles.
this is just the latest in a whole stream of mistakes, errors, oversights and ****-ups we've experienced going through this nightmare of infertility; we all have to keep hoping, keep positive, but when faced with the cold hard facts of medical incompetance, its hard.
this missive isn't a cry for sympathy, isn't a call to abandon all hope, its a cry of frustration aimed at those who claim to be our betters- the medical profession, with all its jargon and serious renumeration, from some working class people who have hit the pit of dispair yet again
just out of curiosity did you get pg the first time of trying iui. i had an hsg done about a year ago and they told me my cervix was extremely narrow they couldnt get the catheter in so i had to go to my dr. she dialated me with a metal rod which hurt like hell. and am looking into iui. and was it very expensive? thanks for your help.
No, I did not get pg with the first IUIs (I did 2 back-to-back), but the 2nd round worked.
The IUI itself was not that expensive as fertility treatments go, it was $800 for one cycle. What was expensive was the injectible meds I had to take. But if you don't need that, then an unmedicated IUI is pretty reasonable.
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