HSG help please

[Lovemylittlebear]

I have one beautiful little girl. We started trying for our second baby a year and a half ago. I have since had one ectopic, one misscarriage and we thought we were third time lucky but unfortunately not - it's either another misscarriage or an ectopic again at six and half weeks...should no tomo. Im on waiting list for nhs gynaecology. I don't know whether to pay and go private for HSG or wait for appointment. I can imagine it's a long wait as won't have meeting with specialist till end if march and went on waiting list 4 months ago. Anyone else been in similar situation? Interested to hear stories. I'm based in South Wales x

Are you certain you need an HSG - i.e. has the dr recommended it? If not, I'd probably hold off until you have your appointment as it's a pretty invasive and painful (well, it was bloody agony for me, but that could be down to the ham fistedness of the radiology dept) procedure that you might not need

If you have been recommended one already, I would say the decision to go private or not depends on what the outcome is and what your course of action might be then. If you go private and your HSG shows there are blockages or scarring, what would be the next step - would you be likely to continue with private care to get it addressed or would you go back down the NHS route and be ok with possibly having to wait?

If it's the latter, you'll need to make sure that the NHS consultant will take the HSG scans - some clinics can be sniffy about films etc that aren't done as part of their check ups

Thanks for replying - I hadn't really thought about treatment after having it done really. Yes my gp has recommended it and referred me as we don't know why I had an ectopic and keep miscarrying (not sure if current one is ectopic or misscarriage again as all three have been early so no baby seen as of yet). To be honest I just thought maybe if they flush dye through my tubes they might not keep getting stuck but I need to look into this more I guess. Do you know if I do have scarred tubing what the treatment options would be? Thanks again for your advice x

Not the same situation but we tried for 2 years for our second. We were referred to fertility clinic (nhs) back in March. It took 8 months of waiting and appointments to finally have the hsg. It was painful but I didn't find it too invasive. They found a blockage and dye was slow to move through the other indicating damage.

We were told we'd need ivf but the month after the test I conceived and am now nearly 10 weeks so far so good. Hsg can help open the tubes and I've read some clinics advise having it after an ectopic. Once you know more about your situation and if it is another ectopic, you could discuss with both nhs docs and have an initial chat with a private clinic. I'm so sorry for your losses, must be devastating. I do understand how painful it is ttc without success, we became willing to try almost anything. Good luck on your journey.

Thank you cake in my face :) I just feel so gutted. I really thought this time would be our time, I literally feel like I must be doing something wrong but I have gotten fairly neurotic with trying to prevent it from happening lol - accupuncture, fertility supplements and hair tests, tried homeopathy but stopped that, exercise, fertility nutritionist. We are officially skint lol and no lovely bump to show for it. The only thing I could think of is the potential for dye to clear my tubes lol. If I will get an HSG quite soon after seeing specialist in march I will go through the NHS but if we need to wait yet another four months I think I'll take a loan out and go private. Xxx

love you're right in that quite a few women after having a HSG get pregnant; from my reading it's to do with the treatment flushing out the tubes where there's debris or minor blockages from stuff like excess uterine lining etc (supposedly the older you are the more stuff there can be kicking around - lovely!)

I think the best way to think about the procedure is that it's like an xray that checks for blockages, polyps, scarring in the pelvis / uterine wall, fibroids etc. The dye checks this as a) they track where the dye goes and where it gets stuck (if applicable) and b) the xrays show adhesions, scarring etc.

Its worth noting tho that if you have severe blockages in some cases the dye will not flush them out and will stop at a certain point. The next course of action for big polyps, adhesions, scarring etc would be some sort of medical procedure. For scarring, adhesions and endometriosis they usually recommend a laparoscopy either to diagnose or help with treatment www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/laparoscopy-16156

I would recommend going for the specialist appointment first, if you can wait that long as they might recommend something else first. If you do go down the private scan route, double check with them on the timing as it has to be done at a certain point in the cycle iirc

Thanks everyone this has been really helpful x