Before doing anything please educate yourself regarding adhesions. Perhaps Helen can forward you the many sites that she has gathered where you can read and learn the many complications that this disease has. Then I suggest that you gather your surgical reports and send copies of them to Dr. Mathias Korell in Germany.....I think it is Duisburg. It is very possible that he can help you. What he does is goes in via laparascope and removes your adhesions...using very good technique....and then puts in Intergel to help prevent reformation of those adhesions. A week later he will go back....again laparscopically to have a second look and again remove any possible adhesions that may have reformed. Adhesions begin to form immediately after you have surgery...not weeks or months later. I would think that rather than go through invitro you might opt to deal with the adhesions first....number one to help get rid of the pain and number two if your adhesions may be causing all of your problems with fertility to begin with. So little is known about adhesions....particularly by physicians. I am not saying that the general public knows about them, but those of us who suffer with this disease I am sure know more than most physicians. So many of them still have the antiquated idea that they don't cause pain....nor do they recognize that maybe...just maybe ovaries entirely enveloped by adhesions might be the reason a person has infertility problems.
You speak of surgery being an option, but complicated and risky. I don't know what surgery you are speaking of but I think just about everyone on this list will tell you that their doctor's have told them that they are the worst case of adhesions they have ever seen. There are two very good doctors in the states that are just awesome when it comes to removing adhesions and preventing their reoccurence. Every person that has gone there...that I know of thru this group...had been told the same thing about not being able to do it laprascopically because the adhesions were so bad. Yet they have gone to these doctors and all of them had their adhesions removed via laprascope. The pain that they experience after recovery (this takes several months) is so minimal that they will tell you they are pain free. Ideally, I would recommend that you see these doctors, but given the distance and the money involved, your best option would be Dr. Korell.
Wouldn't you rather go through this procedure to get rid of your pain....and then find out if there is an infertility problem? Just dealing with your adhesions may solve the problem to begin with. The reason I say this is that I had adhesions wrapped around my bladder. The doctors discovered these when they went in to do a bladder augmentation because I was having problems with control and actually going to the bathroom. They went ahead and did the augmentation (everything got screwed up afterwards too and now I have NO bladder at all and lots of problems) when if they had just removed the adhesions which were constricting the bladder things would have gone back to normal.
Just wanted to pose some thoughts and ideas to you. God Bless.
-- Karla N> -----Original Message----- > From: Zoe <anonymous@medispecialty.com> > To: Multiple recipients of list ADHESIONS <adhesions@mail.medispecialty.com> > Date: Monday, September 25, 2000 5:45 AM > Subject: Fertility > > >Hi, > >I had a laparoscopy last week to see what has been the cause of my pain > >since an ovarian ectopic pregnancy in January. The news was bad. > >I have masses of adhesion which have stuck my bowel, appendix, uterus > >etc together. They could not even see either of my ovaries of tubes and > >the whole area is one solid mess - not even chewing gum like. > >I'm told that the chances for fertility are slim as both my tubes are > >probably blocked (although we will have tests later on to see what state > >they are in). It was suggested to me that IVF may be my best change of > >having a family. > >Surgery may be an option but would be very complicated and risky given > >the severity of the situation. And they chances of them all growing > >back was very high. They were very open and informed about barriers > >etc. > >What I want to know is has any one else had a similar situation where > >fertility is effected? And is pregancy dangerous i.e. might I tear an > >organ etc? > >Best wishes > >Zoe > > > >-- > >Zoe (UK) > > >