TTC with one Fallopian tube

[Hannabanana2021]

Anyone here TTC after Ectopic surgery or with one Fallopian tube due to medical reasons that want to support each other? Or if anyone has any successful stories conceiving with one tube welcome to bring positivity to the post x

I lost my right tube to an ectopic pregnancy when I was 18. I was unbeknown 10 weeks pregnant and had to have emergency surgery. I'm now 30 with three beautiful children. I was told it would make no difference to my fertility as even if you ovulate on the side with the tube missing the other side can still collect your egg. Good Luck

@Hannabanana2021 yes, me! I lost my right tube to an ectopic and am now TTC again and struggling. I'm worried it's going to make things really difficult.

@alwayssomething1 thank you for sharing your story. It's very reassuring

Had my Right Tube removed due to ectopic in July, conceived again in January but unfortunately ended in MC.
I do have endometriosis though, so think it's my progress levels that are the issue not the one tube 🤞🏼
I find tracking bbt and OPKs really helpful as the few months after the operation my cycle was all over the place and I didn't ovulate every month.

[quote myrainbowjourney]@Hannabanana2021 yes, me! I lost my right tube to an ectopic and am now TTC again and struggling. I'm worried it's going to make things really difficult.

@alwayssomething1 thank you for sharing your story. It's very reassuring[/quote]
I know it's not the same for everyone and I am extremely lucky but I was misinformed by so many doctors. Firstly I was told I would have trouble conceiving and then was told it wouldn't matter if I only had one tube. I had endometriosis which had caused scarring in my tube which resulted in the ectopic pregnancy. I think it really depends on any other fertility issues you may have. But just having one tube doesn't mean you can't conceive if you ovulate from that side. I was amazed by this. Sending lots of baby dust to you xxx

I've had two kids with one tube, clearly the left one was a total slacker anyway

I lost a tube due to an ectopic as well - got myself so worked up on a regular basis thinking I wouldn't be able to get pregnant again. Surgery was end of August and I was pregnant again by the end of October!

Couple of things that I did - fertility acupuncture (no idea if it made a difference but it made me feel like I was 'doing something' and I enjoyed it). Weirdly, the acupuncturist told me that she knew that I would be pregnant before Christmas, which I thought was hilarious. But I was! With the worst morning sickness, haha.

After the surgery, I was also booked in to have my remaining tube flushed to check for any blockages (I think the technical term is a HSG procedure). It was fine, no problems, but the doctor pulled hubby and me aside afterwards and told us to get going because getting 'cleaned out' boosts your chances of getting pregnant quite significantly for a few weeks afterwards.

Hope that helps :)

Thank you to you everyone sharing positive outcomes. They say to heal emotionally before trying again but I don't think we can ever feel truly ready? There's always the anxiety and fear. The fear of your body is not ovulating properly afterwards and then the fear of reoccurrence.
I had a chemical before the Ectopic, and consultants can't tell me where that pregnancy was so they said it could've even been a self resolving Ectopic. I'll never know 😣

@myrainbowjourney have you been tracking ovulation at all? I'm sorry you've been through this now struggling. How long have you been trying for if you don't mind me asking.

The main worry at the moment is TTC. I get thoughts like what if I only ovulate from the tubeless side (left) and the remaining tube never moves to grab the egg :(

@FreckledMouse I have used the "Premom" app in the past but this was before I lost a tube. My pack of OPKs are arriving today along with a BBT thermometer 🌡 which I've never tried before. But I guess I want things more sure this time.

I'm current cycle day 7.

@thefurriesthen I'm glad everything went well for you afterwards. I've heard of the HSG tests. Although my right tube was checked from the outside and I was told it looked healthy. You still can't help but wonder if the inside also looks healthy. I don't know much about acupuncture. Does it hurt at all? And is it expensive?

I lost my left tube due to a ruptured ectopic,I conceived my daughter the following month,the doctor did say that the remaining tube can move to pick up a egg from the opposite side,
I’m not sure how accurate that is mind.

Another one who lost a tube to an exotic, and then easily conceived my 2 kids. Took 2 months with DS1, and just the one go with DS2.
That's not to say the 2 weeks between getting a positive and an early scan weren't stressful but they'd I'd have happy outcomes each time.

Have you found the chat boards on the Ectopic Pegnancy Trust pages? They were my saviour for accurate information.

When I was 21 I had my right ovary removed due to a tumour and was advised that due to scarring from surgery I would more than likely need intervention (ivf) to conceive.

Aged 35 I had an ectopic pregnancy that self-resolved, no surgery required and I didn't think to ask which tube the pregnancy had occurred in. 14 months later I had my second ectopic pregnancy, this was in my right fallopian tube. Fantastic surgeon removed my very damaged left fallopian tube and removed the pregnancy from the right tube. He told me that he had been as minimally invasive as possible but that scarring was inevitable in the remaining tube and that he would refer me for ivf for future pregnancies (both previous pregnancies had occurred naturally).

Fast forward another 14 months, with one ovary (left hand side) and only one (damaged) fallopian tube on the opposite side, with no intervention, I conceived my daughter - now a teenager.

Oh, I should add that during my pregnancy scans (I can't remember which one, early I think) they could tell that my left tube had actually picked up the egg from the right side, so it does happen! Isn't the body amazing?

With the HSG, the doctor said that even if your tube is fine, the flush just gives it a bit of a clean up, making it even easier for the egg to get through. I was living in NZ at the time so it was free and got automatically booked in after I was discharged from hospital. I don't know if you can get it on the NHS (if you're here in the UK) or if you have to pay. Worth looking into anyway, if you feel like you want to do something extra (though you'll see from the replies that plenty of people do get pregnant without it).

Again, the acupuncture was in NZ but I think it was around $40 a session (£20) and I had it done weekly until I got pregnant. It wasn't painful at all, I used to doze off and felt incredibly relaxed afterwards. I still don't entirely understand it but every week, she had more positive pregnancy tests to tell me about, many that had had issues TTC, so I'm going to say that there's something to it!

I had to have IVF for DD after 5 years TTC, as part of various fertility investigations I had my right tube removed due to a hydrosalapinx before they'd start IVF. 18 months after DD was born I had a spontaneous pregnancy so one tube clearly made no difference in DS case.

These positive stories are so lovely. Thank you all for sharing, and to @Hannabanana2021 for starting the thread.

@Hannabanana2021 my journey has been pretty torturous, but I'll keep it as short as possible.
I had 3 early miscarriages before the ectopic, starting March 20. Sadly, as with you, none of those pregnancies were confirmed in my uterus before I lost them so there is a question mark in my head over whether they were in my tubes or not. The hospital actually diagnosed another miscarriage so didn't confirm an ectopic, until I was rushed in for surgery after nearly collapsing at home. The ectopic was May 21.
We took a break to recover mentally and physically, and I had some tests done privately. I am now with a private consultant and have done some medicated cycles to try and get as many follicles as possible to increase chances, but it's still not happened yet. It's been 5 cycles. I'm telling myself this is still not that long and hoping it'll all come together soon.
I also had my tube checked during the surgery and they said it all looked good l, then had the tube 'flush' and the fluid came through, albeit slowly. I'm tempted by another just to see if I get the boost that @thefurriesthen mentioned.

It's so frustrating as it never took too long before to fall pregnant, now it feels like it's taking forever.

The thoughts you have are totally normal. Last cycle I knew my dominant follicle was on the left side and I just had a breakdown, it felt so hopeless. Although hearing it really can happen helps. But I totally have the same thoughts as you.

How long have you been trying?

I'm so pleased for everyone with positive outcomes in the ends, it gives me some hope but appears it could go either way. The ectopic and chemical pregnancies were both conceived first times of trying. I just can't seem to stay pregnant 😢 I'm giving it one last attempt before I ask for a referral to Tommys

Not one last attempt of trying I mean, one last attempt of sustaining a pregnancy if and when it happens 😥

@myrainbowjourney I'm so sorry to hear about your losses. This will be the first month actively trying, I didn't actively try last month as some was protected and some wasn't. But during ovulation I did have a day of bad pains in my tubeless side (left) so I'm assuming I just released an egg that side and the right tube didn't move this time. I do have a fear that my left side will release an egg every month now 🥺

After DC1 found out I had a blocked fallopean tube and consultant said he didn’t think I’d ever conceive, even with IVF I went on to have 2 more healthy babies. Then tube was removed as causing me some problems and then I had DC4 so it is possible. I also had Accupuncture and looked after myself/ate healthy etc. as well as DTD every other day after a period to give us the best chance. Good luck to you OP. X

@Hannabanana2021 keep positive. I've noticed there generally is a left side/right side switch each cycle. So hopefully this cycle will be the right ovary.
Or the tube will have realised it now needs to move and it'll float across.

Fingers so tightly crossed for you 🤞🏼🤞🏼

My friend suffered an ectopic with her second but later went on to have 4 more successful pregnancies. Her youngest is in year 6!

[quote myrainbowjourney]@Hannabanana2021 keep positive. I've noticed there generally is a left side/right side switch each cycle. So hopefully this cycle will be the right ovary.
Or the tube will have realised it now needs to move and it'll float across.

Fingers so tightly crossed for you 🤞🏼🤞🏼[/quote]
Are you still tracking ovulation now? I really hope you get your positive test soon and a healthy pregnancy 🤞

@Sunnysideup24 I'm pleased to hear about your outcome in the end ☺️ I've heard a lot about acupuncture now and I'm going to look into it I reckon. Hopefully there's someone available close by

Had an eptopic in 2012, lost a tube- years later conceived DD1 and DD2 the first month of trying for both - I was told I would probably never conceive naturally with one tube and scarring - very blessed !

@Hannabanana2021 I don't track as such at the moment, as the medicated cycles tells me pretty much when I will ovulate. I tried to track it last cycle and it was difficult to pinpoint, so I just go with what the clinic tells me.
If this next cycle doesn't work, I think we will go naturally for a while, so I'll be back to tracking properly then.

Thank you for the good wishes 🥰. Same to you x

So glad this thread started, thank you @Hannabanana2021! I just replied to you in another thread, I had a cp in February 21, followed by an ectopic in June 21 that resulted in the loss of my right tube. Nothing since. So I had no problems getting pregnant until the ectopic, and I'm wondering why I have problems now. Nothing else changed. I booked an appointment to do a hycosy or hsg, I don't know what they are doing, but I really want to know if my remaining tube is working as it is supposed to.
I think I ovulate mostly on the right side, and while I know that the left tube can take over an egg from the right side, I think mine is a bit confused when it comes to directions. I imagine my tube like one of those wind dancer thingies.