Crohn's scarring and fertility issues

[Emmalou0607]

Struggling to find a thread to fit into and not sure if anyone is or has been in a similar boat (I know there will be just depends if those people are on here and read this!) but here we go.

TTC for first baby, just turned 33. Been trying around a year now with no luck. I have Crohn's disease and had quite extensive surgery around 10years ago to my lower bowel.

We both had some tests done a couple of weeks ago. DH sperm tests all in normal range except morphology at 3% and has been given a couple of supplements to take and told to cut down on alcohol which he's done straight away.

My blood tests again all look fine, and within normal ranges. The issue was when they did the ultrasound and it appears that one of my ovaries is stuck to the back on my womb. They are guessing due to scar tissue in the area from my surgeries.

I'm going back today for the specialist to do the ultrasound again to check but he said in our consultation that its likely I would need minimal access surgery to unstick it as it's currently unreachable if we do go down the ivf route.

He also advised that given the issues above he wouldn't recommend doing the HyCoSy test as it doesn't always work and given the issues I've got with the scaring it's even more unlikely they will be able to see anything however if I have the surgery they will be able to asses the tubes at that time.

I think I've pretty much convinced myself now the scaring in the area has probably F'd my tubes as well as sticking the ovary to my womb and that's why we aren't having any luck. At least if we know that then we have clear next steps to take but if they aren't then do we just carry on and wait and see?

Not exactly sure what I'm hoping to get from this thread but feeling quite isolated right now with it all.

Hi @Emmalou0607 I can't help with scarring as such because (luckily) immunosuppressants have meant I've managed to avoid surgery for my Crohn's but I also have endometriosis and when I had surgery for that they saw that one of my tubes is blocked.

When I went for fertility testing my AMH was only 3 which is extremely low for 34 years old. I was advised it wasn't worth checking the other tube again as I should move straight to IVF due to low AMH.

Do you know your AMH levels? On the positive side I was always worried that Crohn's would be a problem for pregnancy/getting pregnant and the consultant told me that in and of itself Crohn's has little to no impact as long as we aren't in a flare, obviously remission is the ideal but even with active disease it's possible.

Hope this helps. I'm currently 6 weeks pregnant after ICSI and waiting for my viability scan next week. 🤞 wishing you all the best 😊

Hi @Emmalou0607

I'm brand new on this site (like literally 5 seconds ago!)

Your post was like a flashing ⚡for me to read and I can't advise anything but just wanted to say you're not alone.

I'm 41, i was diagnosed with Crohns at 13 and had 4 surgeries by the time i was 20. Thankfully I've only had one more in 2019. My Crohns is really well managed otherwise and i don't take any other medications apart from additional vitamins and currently resting my bowel on a liquid diet.

We were struggling TC so i went for tests and they said that i had kissing ovaries, now a missing right ovary, severally blocked fallopian tubes and spiderwebs of adhesions which meant going in to unblock them wasn't an option. My OH's test came back fine so it was just me 😔

We are just starting our first IVF cycle to stop my period and i have my first lining scan on Monday followed by the first set of injections.

Our consultant has said our situation is probably going to have a low outcome as my age is a huge factor and the quality of eggs i've got left is low so they might not get to blast stage. If they get to implanting stage then the other risk is the stuff in my tubes is toxic and if it leaking then it just destroys the embryo.

We're hopefully but not putting to much pressure on ourselves at the minute other than bunkering down at home together and not really talking about it to everyone. We've had to have some pretty intense conversations to make sure we stick to our plan and not to get too carries away with family pressures to keep trying etc. We've planned if it's possible to try two cycles then we've agreed will go straight to adoption as an option as we recently fostered my nephew for 2 years so we've gone through the same process.

Congratulation @MsSandyToes and good luck with your scan

Wishing you all the very best with your cycle @tealover82. I know you've probably heard it over and over but it really does only take one. I had four fertilised eggs and only one made it to day 5 and fingers crossed so far so good. 🤞