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Endometriosis Symptoms & InfertilityFrom: anonymous (anonymous@obgyn.net)Thu Dec 14 01:13:34 2006
I feel all alone and here is my story... I met my husband 6 years ago. We had sex only 3 times in 6 months; using a condom each time. I soon felt I was educated on pregnancy through school education about it several years ago and decided we should have unprotected sex except on and around the days I would be ovulating. Here is the knowledge I gained from junior high school about puberty, sex, and pregnancy before we ever met: 1. Sperm can live in the vagina for 72 hours after ejaculation. 2. Sperm must meet an egg in the fallopian tubes to conceive a child. 3. Ovulation is the only time conception can occur. (accurate so far, but here's where I was wrong) 4. Ovulation occurs THREE DAYS before your period is due. So basically we were having unprotected sex nearly everyday of the month except for 3 days before I would get my period. Ovulation usually occurs 10-16 days before your period is expected. I WAS HAVING SEX DURING OVULATION EVERY MONTH!!! This went on for a little over a year. Had a period every month, never got pregnant (wasn't trying at this point). I took birthcontrol for almost 3 years after this. My husband and I decided to get married. 5 months after we were married he asked me if I would stop taking my birthcontrol so we could try to conceive. I never hesitated. After 3 months of no conception, I decided to educate myself on my menstrual cycle and conceiving. Here is where I learned of when ovulation takes place in the menstrual cycle. Still, I thought it had been fate that we did not conceive before. Several months pass of calculating my ovulation using basal body temperature, mucus secretions, cervical positioning, etc.... Nothing. So sexual positions, pre-natal vitamins, healthy diets, no caffine for me, plenty of caffine for him (it is proven to speed up sperms' motility), and other factors are taken very seriously and done with precision. Months of this and still nothing. We decided to stop trying and put it in God's hands. The opportunity was there, but all the charting and observations had to stop; it was stressing me out way too much! Here's where the endometriosis symptoms began to come into play... Each month, about a week or so before my period was due, I would begin having pregnancy symptoms. At first, they were just small like mood swings and sweet/salty cravings. Obviously just PMS. Every month though, a new pregnancy symptom would develop. Eventually, right before my period began, I was having cramps (never had them in my life!), swollen and tender breasts, sore nipples, bloating, extreme fatigue (sleeping all day and all night), frequent urination, food cravings, mood swings, increased libido (sexual drive), IBS, headaches, hot flashes, cold sweats, night sweats, and the list goes on. You can imagine how confusing this is when you are trying to conceive. About an hour before my period would come, I was having severe abdominal contractions (cramps) and unbareable pressure in my lower back. When my period would actually come, bending, walking, and especially sitting was damn near impossible! The cramps continued and the severity increased ten-fold. Trying to insert a *slim-fit* tampon was similar to trying to insert a watermelon in there! The pain was unbelieveable. When I would try to pee or have a bowel movement, it took an act of God to sit on the toilet, then a miracle to accomplish either one. I would just sit on the toilet and cry until it was over. I have an extremely high threshold for pain too; I had a fractured femur in my knee once and walked on it for 6 months with no pain meds or assistance before I had a correction surgery! Removing the tampon was just pure Hell as well. The contractions in my abdomen were sharp, hard, and constant. They never ceased for a moment. No position man could think of was comfortable to my agonizing body. The lower back pain wasn't sharp, but the pressure was enough to make you wanna jump off a ten-story building! I knew something was seriously wrong and all of a sudden I was extremely scared. I finally went to and OB/GYN. My pelvic exam and pap were normal so we did a lab (blood testing). All of my hormone levels came back normal. I had a low bilirubin count (byproduct of the liver) and a high calcium count. I have chronic UTIs (urinary tract infections). I get them at least 2-3 times a month and I do NOT take antibiotics to treat them due to a relapse I have had once before. A relapse UTI is where the infection does not respond to antibiotics and could be a cause of kidney problems. If I continued taking antibiotics, the infection in my body could possibly build an immunity to the antibiotics and cause the issue to be unable to be treated (something doctors fear very much for the future with the chronic use of antibiotics and anti-bacterial products). 80% of cases of kidney stones are calcium deposits built up in the kidneys from the body's overabsorption of calcium. Kidney stones are known to cause kidney infections and bladder infections WITH RELAPSES. Hmmmmm, I see a link, but no diagnosis... I began to discuss endometriosis with my OB/GYN and she was very understanding. She said I would need an ultrasound and probably exploratory laparoscopic surgery JUST TO DIAGNOSE endo. Fine with me, whatever it takes. Since I was trying to conceive, birthcontrol was not an option for me; I would need repairs, basically, during surgery. Once again, fine with me. But if my ovulation was irregular or I'm wasn't ovulating at all(maybe why I didn't get pregnant for so long, so many times...), I would need to try fertility drugs which pose a high risk at causing the endo to reoccur quickly ALONG WITH OVARIAN CYSTS. Okay, that part wasn't all that fine with me. So here I am, after 2 years of trying to conceive, with excrutiating pain every month, possible kidney stones, severe UTIs, 100's of questions, no diagnosis, no children, and no insurance at the time... I wasn't able to get any testing done b/c my husband changed jobs and we lost our insurnace. I'm so frustrated and I feel for so many of you who have went through this for years and have had surgery after surgery. My heart and all my blessings goes out to each and every one of you! So that is my story of how I can relate, even if it is on a much smaller scale that what many of you have went through. The pain I have is only the first day or two of my period though. The first day my flow is normal-heavy, then it is very light and short. My periods last 2-5 days and the last few days are nearly nothing. There is one odd thing about it though: Usually the 2nd or 3rd day (if it lasts that long) my period completely stops. I mean nothing; not a drop, a spot, NOTHING for a whole day, then it resumes the next day very light if any at all and tapers off... Has anyone else had these symptoms with endometriosis or anovulation? Pregnancy symptoms with endometriosis? Kidney stones/UTIs? IBS? Any of it?!?!? I'm afraid something much more serious is wrong <:|
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