What approach should I take? Advice please!

[confuzzzzzled]

Going to try and make this sound as simple as I can! We’ve been TTC for a good few years now and we’ve decided it’s time to go to the doctors about our fertility. However, I also suspect I’ve got endo. Having been passed from pillar to post about it in the past I’ve decided to do a private referral to an endo specialist near me to get the ball rolling properly with this.

So, is there any point going to the doctors about my fertility until I’ve ruled out my endo problems? Don’t know if it makes sense to seek fertility help whilst also trying to sort my possible endo, which may (fingers crossed) help me conceive after a laparoscopy.

Yes there is because firstly your partner also needs to be checked. And secondly you should have some day 2-5 and day 21 bloods and probably a referral for a HSG or HyCoSy to check your tubes.

Even if you do have endometriosis it may not be the cause of your infertility and even if it is, a laparoscopy may not improve things. A laparoscopy might only improve things if you either have significant scar tissue blocking your tubes or on your ovaries and affecting ovulation, but a HSG or HyCoSy would tell you whether your tubes are blocked and the progesterone blood test would tell you whether you are ovulating.

I was referred for fertility tests after a year, and didn’t suspect endo at all. I was discharged last July and told to try for a further 6 months before being re-referred back to the clinic for ivf (would then be 2 years).

In this time, I began to suspect endo thanks to some advice from some ladies with similar subtle symptoms to me on here, and after thoroughly reading the results from a pelvic ultrasound the fertility clinic had done which showed a possible endometrioma on one of my ovaries. The clinic hadn’t mentioned this as an issue. I spoke to the GP who referred me to gynae. Last week I had a laparoscopy and have been confirmed as having endometriosis - my right ovary had endometriomas and was stuck to my pelvic wall, which is likely to have been having a detrimental effect on my fertility.

From my experience, and I am sure it will differ between NHS trusts, the fertility clinic is concerned with the end result (hopefully a baby) and don’t seem to concerned with reasons. I would almost treat them as 2 separate issues and request a fertility referral whilst investigating whether you possibly have endometriosis.

I would run both in parallel like others have said. Best to get Your blood tests done now and your partners SA completed so you know what you’re working with. From my experience that will all take (depending on trust) up to 6 months. At the same time you can look into the Endo.

I’ve had two lap’s for endo / cysts and they do say you are as ‘good as new’ afterwards and for 6-12 months you have a good chance if everything else looks good from your results. It’s also good to not leave IVF too long after a lap of you can so running. It’s together is a good idea, and hopefully you won’t need the IVF. Wishing you all the very best.

I agree with previous posters. In my case the endo suspicions got me referred slightly earlier purely for the endo. The gynae said what is your priority-reducing pain or achieving pregnancy? I said pregnancy so she referred me to fertility rather than performing the lap herself. Turned out my fertility consultant was actually better placed to treat the endo too so it worked well having them treated together (this was nhs). I am now starting ivf 8 months post laparoscopy, which is within the best time frame for success. A lot of women find the laparoscopy itself (with treatment) solves the fertility issue. From another perspective, the initial gp tests might show up a different,simpler issue that could avoid a lap altogether. I'd pursue both avenues. Good luck x

Thanks for advice all! Good to know I can streamline both issues.