When will it be my turn?
Feb 04 '00
My worst nightmare came true only 1year and 3months after I married the most wonderful man on earth. We could not conceive a child. I felt like such a failure. In January, 1998, we made the decision like almost every other couple to have a child together. We both wanted children, and just assumed we would be able to accomplish this feet with out the help of the medical field. We tried for 6 months "on our own". Unless you have gone through infertility yourself, you will never know the pain that is involved. When I first saw my gynecologist, she prescribed me a fertility drug called Clomid. This is pretty normal for most women. Clomid stimulates your ovaries to produce more follicles and stimulates you to ovulate.
I stayed with my gynecologist through 4 Clomid cycles with out any success. During this time, I was on an emotional roller coaster. Clomid makes you feel like you are a whole different person. Some of the side effects include hot flashes, dizziness, nausea, blurred vision and moodiness. Some people might think "Why would you put yourself through all of that?" The answer is very simple, I want to have a baby. For those of you who have children, imagine what your life would be like with out them. Just think of the void that would be there.
After my 4th unsuccessful cycle of Clomid, I went back to my gynecologist and she told me there was not anything else she could do for me. She referred my to a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE). She said he would be my only hope of ever having a child. I put off seeing the RE because I just knew that if I just relaxed and eliminated the stresses in my life like everyone was telling me to do, I would be able to get pregnant. Plus, like I said before, I felt like a failure. I thought if I "gave up" and went to an RE, I was admitting something was wrong with me. That is something nobody wants to do. Month after agonizing month went by with out any success. My husband and I finally made the decision to see the RE in August of 1999. It was the best decision we had made in a long time. I would suggest if you are hanging out there not knowing if seeing an RE is a good choice or not, go to one. It will be the best decision you can make.
On my first visit, my RE diagnosed me with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. This PCOS was causing me not to ovulate on my own. He also found a fibroid tumor on my cervix. These two things gave me a lot of answers. One of them being all the people that said to just relax were dead wrong. No amount of relaxing was going to help me achieve a pregnancy. Through the aide of trans vaginal ultrasounds, my RE determined I had a large cyst on my ovary that probably was not helping matters either. He decided to go ahead with Clomid, but monitor me with trans vaginal ultrasounds to see if the Clomid was stimulating me to produce follicles. He found with 100mg of Clomid, I will produce follicles, but I still do not ovulate on my own. He then prescribed me an HCG shot to stimulate ovulation. 36 hours after the HCG injection, he performs an intrauterine insemination, which is able to by pass cervical mucus by injecting the sperm directly into the uterus. Clomid has a tendency to dry up cervical mucus or make it very thick which is hard for the sperm to swim through. After 3 unsuccessful cycles of Clomid/iui, the RE performed an HSG test. This is a test where dye is injected into your uterus. If your fallopian tubes are clear, you will be able to see the dye flow out of the tubes on the monitor. With my test, the dye flowed freely out my right side, but nothing came out my left side until I was asked to roll from side to side and a small amount of dye trickled out of my left side. With a clear right fallopian tube and a partially blocked left one, my RE decided to continue on with the Clomid/iui for a couple of more cycles.
Although my RE has not been successful with this yet, I have faith in him. I am currently undergoing my 4th Clomid/iui cycle with my RE. There are other options with infertility treatment if the Clomid does not work for me. I could go onto injectable medicines. Some of which include Pergonal, Follistim, Gonal-F and others. The next step would be invetro fertilization, GIFT and then ICSI.
I am not going to glamorize infertility treatment one bit. Some people think it is neat to know someone who has to go through what I am. I don't think neat is the right word. Try humiliating, depressing, degrading, the list goes on. Infertility treatments are very costly especially if you do not have any insurance coverage. Just to give you an idea of some of the costs involved with my treatments. Every office visit is $25, I have at least 3 each cycle. Every transvaginal ultrasound is $44, I have at least 3 each cycle. The HSG runs $500. Clomid is approximately $25 depending on the dosage taken. If I have to have a laparoscopy, which is a test performed with a scope inserted through the belly button to take a look at my ovaries and uterus, it will run about $5,000. Nothing is cheap where infertility treatment is concerned, but if a pregnancy is achieved and I am able to have a baby, every penny spent will be worth it.
Infertility is very draining emotionally. I would suggest if you are suffering from infertility to find a support group in your area. Find someone what is going though the same thing as you are. You need to have someone you can relate to and lean on during the tough times. Believe me, there are plenty of tough times where infertility is concerned. Another suggestion is to educate, educate, educate. Ask questions and become involved in your treatment process. Find out what you can do to help. The only stupid question is the question not asked.
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
shyann
|
|
Location: Missouri
Reviews written: 20
Trusted by: 21 members
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.