ICSI and fibroids

[Hellsbells2017]

Hello , I wonder if anyone may have some advice.

I was advised by my fertility clinic that I had 2 intramural fibroids at my very first appointment. The clinic were not ever concerned about them impacting implantation or pregnancy and They did not advise me to seek advise from a gynaecologist before treatment began. I began treatment 11 months later.

After 1 failed ICSI implantation in January and 1 month ago I miscarried at 6 weeks I’ve Been left so deflated. It’s such an emotional journey. I had a scan at the early pregnancy unit at my local hospital to confirm the miscarriage. They altered to me to the possibility that the fibroids could have caused the miscarriage. They are either side of the uterus. They advised no more treatment until I had seen a gynaecologist.

I’m really frustrated, sad and cross that with advise or info about fibroids a year before I started ivf I could have given myself a better chance.

Has anyone been in a similar situation with fibroids? I am making a formal complaint to my clinic about the lack of information.
I’d really really appreciate any wise advice.

Thanks a lot x

Hi @Hellsbells2017. I am sorry for your loss

I have multiple fibroids which all along the top of my uterus in the wall. These were discovered last December when I had been ttc for 13 months as part of my GP fertility investigations. The GP wasn't concerned but we were referred to the fertility clinic for further investigation.

I then got pregnant in February and had a miscarriage, initially misdiagnosed as a blighted ovum but was a missed miscarriage as they later found a foetal pole and yolk sac. The epu blamed my fibroids for the miscarriage at my first scan as it looked like the sac was collapsing due to not having enough space.

On my second scan they said I had a heart shaped uterus and the pregnancy had implanted in the other horn which had been missed at the first scan.

I saw a community gynecologist who said it wasn't the fibroids that caused the miscarriage and she didn't want to intervene so discharged me. They are likely causing my heart shaped uterus.

Fast forward to now and I'm having a hysteroscopy under the fertility clinic which is a one stop treatment appointment, so they will remove any fibroids at that appointment.

Have you had a hysteroscopy?

I found it very frustrating that I was concerned about the fibroids (was initially told they were blocking my tubes) but the GP dismissed it. I'm not sure if the hysteroscopy is standard for my fertility clinic.

Is it an NHS clinic? Sorry this is so long. Hope you're OK. Miscarriage and infertilty is so awful ❤️💔 xx

In many cases, it's more harmful to remove intramural fibroids, as removal severely weakens the uterine walls and causes an increased risk of uterine rupture.

I've heard the figure bandied about that 1-2% of infertility is caused by fibroids as the sole cause...

Fibroids aren't well understood and I'd ignore a sonographer, nurse or midwife who said differently after the days (weeks? Months?) of research I've done on them, trying to blame my one 4cm (at last measure) fibroid on why we needed ivf to conceive...

Thanks venusstar for your message, sorry you’ve had a rough time too. Sounds like you’ve had conflicting info too which is so frustrating. Glad that you’ve got a procedure in place, I hope it goes well and the next journey is smoother. I’m not sure if my clinic does that procedure, but I’ll check although I’m not keen to receive any treatment from them right now. There post care is non existence and I feel like a financial transaction rather than a patient.

I expect that when I see my gynaecologist they will also not want to intervene either.

Thanks for your message physicskate, sounds like you’ve done your research, I found it all so conflicting.. when you have a miscarriage you want answers and reasons and when someone flags up a possible cause you hold onto it. So tricky.