For those that have had ERPC's/D&C's/Repeat Miscarriages and BFN

[CarinaP]

I'm trying to raise awareness www.ashermans.org/home/

My story is as follows so far...

On March 7th 2012 i had an ERPC as my baby stopped growing at 6 weeks but i didn't find out until 11.5 weeks. For the last 15 weeks i have literally been to hell and am still in it to an extent as my periods have failed to return. My DH have been trying to conceive again since 2 weeks after my erpc and normally i only have to blink to fall pregnant as with my DD who is 3 i feel on my 1st cycle and with this one that i've lost i also fell on my 1st cycle. I ovulated 2 weeks after my erpc and have been ovulating for the last 3 cycles without having a period. I know this based on CM and OPK sticks. So when i say we 'did it' before ovualtion and during the crucial time (stretchy cervical mucus sorry for tmi) my hubby thought it was christmas every month :winkwink: so i have been VERY confused as to why i keep getting :bfn:

So i went back to my doctor AGAIN and she agreed that my periods should of returned between 4&6 weeks after my erpc so she put me on Provera which is supposed to induce your period...which it hasn't! I was on it for 7 days and to say i was a bit physcotic is an understatment!!! It was literally horrific and i had been having horrible period type cramps but much worse, in fact i had been having these cramps for that last few months around when i should of been due my period. So after being a complete emmotional wreck and feeling that this 'can't' be right i decided to do some of my own research and thats when i came across Ashermans Syndrome. The main symptoms are as follows:

?Menstrual changes: sudden reduction in menstrual flow or absence of menstruation, a lot more brown blood/less red blood. Note: a few sufferers don't notice menstrual changes.
?Pain or cramping at the time of menstruation with little or no blood (pain resulting from outflow obstruction)
?Endometriosis: this could result from backflow of blood caused by AS.
?Unexplained infertility (primary or secondary)
?Repeated miscarriage which is unexplained.
?Invasive placenta (eg. Placenta accreta, placenta percreta, placenta increta) in a past pregnancy could possibly indicate AS.

If you have had the following uterine surgery then you could 'possible' have AS

?D&C (in the presence of absence of infection) for any reason including: ◦miscarriage (missed or incomplete)
◦retained postpartum placenta
◦postpartum hemorrhaging
◦elective abortion/termination of pregnancy
◦endometrial biopsy
◦fibroid removal
◦treatment of excessive uterine bleeding

?Hysteroscopic myomectomy
?C-section
?Uterine artery embolization
?Endometrial ablation (This is the intentional creation of Asherman's Syndrome to treat excessive uterine bleeding.)

After my recent discovery and me partially freaking out to the point of near on breakdown, i managed to calm down and call my doctor who by the way had never heard of AS :shrug:but as i've read more into this more and more people are going undiagnosed until it is 'too' late as this can cause infertility depending on the extent of the scaring. So i asked for a referral (my DH has private medical) and was seen that day by a gynea doctor who IMMEIDIATELY said i am at risk of AS based on my symptoms and was completley surprised when i told him i'd self diagnosed myself.

I now have a sonographer scan booked in for Monday to see if they can see any scarring but really the only way to properly see is by having Hysteroscopy or HSG which are very risky in terms of removing the scars/adeshions. I have convinced myself that this is what i have and the thought of potentially not being able to give my DD a sibling literally terrifies me and feels like my heart is being ripped out. I am praying and i am not normally a Godly person that i am wrong but my gut instint is telling me different :cry:

On one hand i am seriously angry as had i'd of know that my erpc could cause infertililty, i would of waited until my body 'decided' it was ready to let go. I'm angry because when i signed the declaration form there is nothing that pre-warns you about getting AS...please tell me if you knew this information before hand would you still go through with it????? I know i would definately not have taken that risk! On the other hand i am slightly relieved that i now know what might be wrong with me and then at least i can look at how to more forward.

I am sorry if i have freaked some of you out and that this has been a 'long' post but the reason why i am trying to raise awareness is that i read so many posts about some of you who are ttc especially after erpcs/d&c's and if i can at least help one of you out of this limbo then at least i know that my information as been put to good use as being in limbo, the waiting, the disappointment, the not knowing is my version of hell and i hate to think there are so many of us in the same place.

I'm not saying that this is what you have but if you match anything of what i have said above then please go and speak to your doctor.

I will be updating my journey so i'll keep you posted as to how my scan goes on Monday...fingers crossed!

[CarinaP]

UPDATE!!! I was right, I did develop Ashermans Syndrome because of ERPC!!

Ok so a lot has happened since my last post but everything i thought i had turned out to be correct! I have had a lot of scans and finally had a hysteroscopy on Wednesday and was told that my cervix was completley scarred shut! The surgeon, opened up my cervix and managed to scrape away the scarring on top. I have now been told to wait for my period which should happen in 2-3 weeks time if not then the scarring may have returned and i'll have to have another hysteroscopy again

If i hadn't of self diagnosed myself to my doctor (who had never heard of Ashermans ) and then got my referral for private medical i would still be a sitting duck and living in hell!!

So for those of you that have had routine operations such as D&C/ERPCs, and have since had light periods, period pains but no periods, doing everything right but still can't get pregnant, please bring this up to your doctor!

Its been hard enough to deal with the loss of my baby without everything else that i've had to deal with on top...I still feel that i cannot grieve properly until i have my 1st period, if that makes sense?

I'm trying to keep positive that my periods will now return and that possibly i may get my rainbow baby soon

My heart is with all of you that are going through this trauma and life changing battle but i believe there are reasons behind everthing that happens in life and this has made me less ignorant and a stronger person. xx

[TashaG0j1]

Hi @CarinaP

I appreciate this thread is from 2012 so you may not even see this, but I am going through a similar situation and just wanted to get in touch.

I am so sorry for your loss as well as the pain you went through to get diagnosed. We have been TTC for 4 years now and I have had two miscarriages and after the second have been trying for over a year with no luck. I knew something was wrong but GP not interested so I too had to self diagnose and then pay for private medical care to have the scarring removed. My cervix was also almost scarred shut. I have more details here on a thread I started to try and find anyone else who has been through this. My story

I just wanted to reply to you and thank you for sharing your story. I really hope you have had a happy ending.