Monday, March 15, 2010

All's well with the nest

I had my very first saline sonogram on Friday to check out my insides. Turns out it isn't the most comfortable I've ever been although my RE did warn me that the saline was going to cause cramping.

Frankly, this was a lot less comfortable than the HSG, although everyone says that one is worse. My view: saline sonogram = bad, HSG = ok.

Initially, for those of you interested, it looked as if my entire uterine cavity was filled with some sort of mass, but with another pain-inducing squirt of saline it was gone and my insides were as clean as a whistle and looking just perfect. I understand that that second squirt saved me some unnecessary surgery, but it certainly didn't feel very good.

So while that's all good, I'm left thinking: if everything is checking out perfectly, then why aren't I pregnant/ a mother yet? I know that "unexplained" IF is often the diagnosis, but part of me really would like to be able to identify (read: blame) some cause or another. The "well, it's kind of a mystery" is really highly unsatisfactory.

So in my search to find a cause for all of this IF crap, I asked my RE about some of the tissue biopsy testing/ clotting issues. While she is certainly willing to run all of the bloodwork now, in her view there is nothing clinically pointing in that direction, as it's not like I am getting pregnant and then repeatedly miscarrying. So I am thinking I should let that rest until after this cycle.

I am, however, going to ask her to run a full thyroid panel, since I have had borderline thyroid function issues in the past. It just makes sense to me to be sure.

I'm really out of ideas of how to answer this "what's behind the IF" question, and am thinking that continuing to try is not really all that helpful. But it really would be more helpful to me than to just have generalized, unexplained IF.

Sigh.

3 comments:

  1. I have to say I agree with you 100%, the saline sonogram was by far the worst experience, worse than retrieval if that is possible. The HSG was NOTHING compared to the SS! My advice is to continue to challenge your doctors and be your own advocate. You never know what answer you will get when you push.

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  2. I never understand why doctors are reluctant to do those tests if you've never miscarried. Hello!? Those things can keep you from ever getting pregnant...why wouldn't they test them? Maybe you should just insist on it...the worse that could happen is that everything comes back okay and they just think you're too pushy. And is that so bad? :).

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  3. I am very frustrated with doctors not doing all the tests they should. Why is it up to the patient to decide which tests should be done? When I see an RE in a couple weeks, a full thyroid panel is going to be one of my requests as well. Best of luck to you!

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