New Member, anyone had a HSG x-ray??

[1Wish]

Hi,
I'm a new member and have been ttc for about 20 months, I had my first app today at the fertility clinic, and was told I'm not ovulating which I suspected. I'm booked in for a HSG x-ray next thursday and just wondering if anyone has any experience of one,
Thankyou very much and can I just say this is by far the best website for infertility issues I have come across, and I've read loads!!!!

Sorry for length of this!

I went to GP when first found that I was having no periods when I came off the pill. She said to wait and it took about 6 months for her to refer me to a consultant.

I was so impatient I saw him privately within a week and he diagnosed PCOS there and then with an internal ultrasound in the private hospital.

He then told me I would have to go for HSG and DH would have to have sperm count done to make sure there were no other reasons why we could not conceive. He wouldn't prescribe clomid til all that was done which took only a couple of months.

I, like you, was desperate to be on clomid and couldn't wait to have my HSG and I remember pleading with the hosp to fit me in for the SG that month which they eventually did.

I was on clomid for 4 cylces before I conceived but it was the first month at 100mg disage (they started me on 50mg doise at first). Also I hadn't realised that when you are on it you should BD as much as poss even when not technically in the "fertile" week (they will tell you all about that) and it turns out I was ovulating late each month - so when we BD after fertile week this is when we conceived. Hope this makes sense! When on clomid you will prob have blood tests each month to check that you are ovulating.

From diagnosis of PCOS to BFP was 7 months in total.

suejonez and others
If you have PCOS can you just have irregular periods as a symtom? I thought there was loads of others. I don't have any other symptoms of it at all, I thought it could make you gain weight, be more hairy etc (sorry if this is wrong)

yes you can be a "lean" PCos'er with no excess hair, thats one of the reaosns why it can be difficult to diagnose.

Theory (not proven) is that those who are fatter (like me) are insulin resistant whcih creates weight gain and is somehow linked to the PCOS gene. However you do not necessarily have both. Also your lifestyle can keep you lean eg if you exercise a lot (a lot more than average) or if you eat very little refined carbs you can keep your weight under control wihtout realising what you're doing.

Whether you have excess hair or not depends on your ethnicity. The hair is created by too much free testosterone in your blood (all women have it but PCOS'ers have more) being taken up by your skin and producing hair growth. Certain races have very few receptors in the skin to absorb the testostrone and create the hair eg celtic races (like me) and oreintal ones tend not to be hairy but scandinavian, indian, mediterranian races for example tend to be.

My only symptom was no periods at all.

doesn;t mean you do have PCOS but with irregular periods it is the first thing they will test as its the most comman cause of infertility in women (after the menopause of course!)

Daisyhun I'm so pleased it worked out for you.
I never took the pill but It must have been annoying knowing you'd been so careful with birth control and then you didn't need it.
Got to wait for my dp to get his arse into gear over a repeat semen test too, seriously what is it with men he has the same attitude to ttc as he does to putting up my kitchen shelves, i.e he's got all the time in the world!!

Thanks everyone again,
And don't hate me for saying this but I eat like a pig and do hardly any exercise, yet I'm not overweight. Also Im quite olive skinned with dark hair yet I have no hair on my arms at all (if that makes sense) I mentioned this to my GP regarding PCOS and she said it would be highly unlikely therefore I had PCOS, maybe thats why they haven't tested me, should i ask them anyway?

Also if its not PCOS thats causing my irregular periods do you think it will be more difficult to treat?

presume they will gove you an ultrasound as part of investiagtions and some blood tests so they wouldknow if you had PCOS anyway. HAve no idea if your iregular periods could be anything else. You could just be irregular, some people are. How irregular are you?

I know of people who have been treated with clomid wihtout PCOS, its just the most comman reason for taking it.

Anything from 25 days to about 55 days with no pattern at all. They did stop completly for about a year in 2005 and when they started up again they were shorter and slightly more regular (as above) as before they stopped I only had about 6 a year.
Thought this mite mean my fertility was back on track slightly but to no avail.

A couple of years ago I had a blood test that said I had the Hormone level for PCOS but then a scan showed nothing ( this was regarding my absent periods)

Then in november last year I had a scan because of pelvic pain, and the sonographer said there were cysts. When I went back to my GP she said she had no record of this being said, even though I know the sonographer said it.

Then when I got my blood tests back she said there was nothing to suggest PCOS and basically I was lying In that same blood test my results were perfect and I'd ovulated!

I demanded she refer me and do more blood tests cos I knew I wasn't ovulating.
At my fertility app yesterday the doctor said i wasn't ovulating but didn't mention PCOS.
Sorry if thats confusing, i'm very confused myself!!

HI 1wish, I'm sorry you're having problems. My experience of an HSG wasn't that brilliant I'm afraid. It was offered to me as part of routine tests to establish any causes of infertility (BTW I'd already had an internal scan to rule out PCOS, no reason, they just wanted to rule it out, again I guess it's down to the old postcode lottery!)

When I had my HSG there were 5 of us waiting, I was number 4. I was a bit nervous, but reassured when the first girl came out and said to the rest of us waiting "oh it's not so bad". Cue visible sigh of relief!!! The others went in and out in minutes. Then it came to my turn, initially it's not too bad, a bit like a smear, they put in a speculum and a canular (?) to introduce the dye (which is clear, don't know why I thought it would be a funny colour!)

I had taken some paracetomol beforehand, but the pain I had when they injected the dye was terrible. It took them about four goes to do one tube, I was in so much pain I yelled the place down (I felt awful for the poor girl waiting outside for her go!) They asked me if I'd rather do the other side another time as I was in so much pain, but I thought sod it, i'm here now, so gritted my teeth. That side was just as bad. I was so tearful, the nurses were really sweet, but they said it could indicated a blockage. I was really shaky and tearful afterwards, but no real pain, just a very slight af pain (and this from the chief wimp!) I felt sick every time I thought about the pain. I was terrified when I rang up the doctor for the results but they were totally normal, no blockages!!!!

When I asked the doc why I had been in so much pain, she said that some people do feel it more than others, sometimes your tubes spasm as the dye is being injected, and if you haven't had children, you uterus isn't used to be stretched like that.

I'm sorry if this scares you, I wish I'd been a bit more prepared for it, I was so shocked by how much it hurt. But nothing was worse than the horrendous fortnight waiting for the results, convinced I'd have a blocked tube. The most important thing to remember is if it hurts, it really doesn't mean anything bad, so try not to worry.

One good thing is that sometimes people can conceive very quickly afterwards, the nurse who was holding my hand the whole time leaned over and said "it's just like descaling your kettle, I bet you get pregnant really quickly!" Three months later I was.

I hope it all goes well, I'm sure you'll be much braver than me! xx

1wish - clomid is a treatment for not ovulating, not necessarily for PCOS.

But ovulating is the syptom of PCOS whch is treated with clomid, but I am sure clomid is used to help people ovulate wo don't have PCOS but do not ovulate for other reasons, IYSWIM.

1wish - lots of luck with the HSG. Everyone's HSG experience seems to be completely different.... I really wouldn't worry too much. I asked many people on here what it was like before I had mine done two weeks ago and most people told me they just got a bit of cramping afterwards and that was all. I did find it painful when they pushed the dye through, but this was more so than usual apparently as one of my tubes was a bit "sticky". The good thing is you usually get the results back there and then and to hear that my tubes weren't damaged/blocked after my ectopic was well worth the pain for me. I had mine done and then drove 200miles with work straight after so you may be ok for the exam. I did however get a lot of aching and pains in the evening and the following day but luckily had some co-codamol which helped. They may also give you antibipotic cover - I got 3days worth.

Lots of luck .... and remember everyone's experience is different

Hi 1wish,

I had a HSG at the beginning of February and the only thing I felt was af-like cramps 3 to 4 hours after the procedure. I didn?t fell a thing during it and for me it was the same as a smear test. I did take 2 Nurofen (total of 400 mg) and a single dose of antibiotic two hours before, as prescribed by the doctor.

Got the results straight away, tubes were clear. I started feeling mild cramps 10 days before my period was due and I thought this was connected to the HSG. To my surprise it wasn?t, I was actually pregnant!!!! I fell preg a week or so after the HSG.

I also have PCOS, Dh has very low sperm count, we?d been ttc for 14 months and we had just been told by the doc that we?d only be able to conceive using IVF/ICSI. He even told me I didn't need to have the HSG as it wouldn?t make a difference for the IVF but since it was already booked I decided to go ahead with it anyway.

Good luck

Your support has been brilliant and I feel much more prepared now

Luckyly my mums a radiographer so am gonna have a word with her and see what she says
She doesn't know i'm ttc, so it mite come as abit of a shock to her, she thinks I'm too young I bet

All your success stories have been great and have helped me feel alot more positive about it all

Thankyou so so much x

young is good when ttc - much more successful and more time for investigations.

Thats what I hoped, unfortunatly though I can't talk to people about it.
It seems fine for my friends to fall pregnant accidently but if i mention fertility treatment everyone's like whoa your too young.

Stupid thing is i'm 23 for gods sake!!!

Just worried i've got years and years of ttc ahead of me

my boyfriends just told me off for being on here again. Saying i'm completly obbssesed, he just doesn't understand that being on here helps me cope. MEN