blocked tube - question

[CTs_Punkin]

I was just recently told that I "might" have a blocked left tube. During my HSG the dye went up the tube, but did not spill out into my abdominal cavity... which I guess a normal prognosis would do...

My question is this - If this happened to you, was your tube actually blocked, or did your tube spasm during the procedure causing the appearance of blockage?

If you had blockage - what did you do? What did your options?

Thanks for all your answers - I'm still a little shocked right now.

MMT

[bottleored]

I was diagnosed with a blocked tube by my OB/GYN in Oct '04. When I started with my RE in Jan '05 he suggested I get a 'tubal recanalization'. I know there was a consideration about where the tube was blocked (close to the uterus or close to the ovary) that was a bit of a determining factor. I think that the closer the blockage is to the ovary, the smaller the tube gets and it's harder to unblock.

I had the procedure in Feb '05 and it was successful. It was more painful than my HSG, but it didn't take very long to do (I was waiting in different rooms longer than the actual procedure).

The blockage, unfortunately, was not the end of my battles, but I'm happy to say that I'm due in June!

Best of luck!

[tigerest]

Sorry to hear about your results.

I have 2 blocked tubes. And they were discovered during the HSG as well. For me it was mostly from adhesions. (everything was stuck together causing them to be blocked.) I had a surgery to unblock them, which was succesful, however, within 3 months they were blocked again. :(

The recanalization is only for a blockage near the uterus. They don't usually reccomend surgery because there is a high rate of reclosure. But I was willing to risk it. (It was really hard to find a Dr willing to do it though.)

I am currently trying something called "Clear Passage" where they try to massage the adhesions away. I have another HSG in 3 weeks to see if this worked.

The good news is that your chances are still pretty good with one tube! Lots of people get PG with just one tube. I would talk to your Dr about your options. Good luck!

[Chris~n~Jen]

** bump **

I'd like to see more responses. I just found out that I have 1 blocked tube. My OB has referred me to a RE but I'm trying to do some research and find out what the next course of action might be.

[Jess71903]

Jen- I know you know my story, but I thought I would post it for others.

I was diagnosed with a blocked tube in August '06 when I had a lap. I wasn't told what kind of blockage, so I don't know if it was temporary or not, but she said that she tried several times and the dye would not go through. I was told that there was no need to do anything about it because the other one was working just fine and you can still get pg. with one tube...in fact, the picture of your anatomy that you usually see (the cow's head picture) isn't accurate. Your ovaries are actually closer together and behind your uterus a little, so even an egg O'd from the blocked side can travel to the good side.

As you can see in my sig, I am now pregnant, and that happened on a natural cycle (Got a BFP in pre-op on a Thurs...I was scheduled for an RE appt. the following Monday). It did take us longer to conceive and I am convinced having one functional tube is a big part of the reason.

[NotDesperate]

Just curious, what exactly is a blocked tube and how did you come to suspect you had one? Did you still O but weren't getting PG and then thought maybe something might be wrong? JW, I don't suspect I have one or anything, I just wanted to know more about this since I didn't really know it existed until recently... TIA :)

[laura]

Just curious, what exactly is a blocked tube and how did you come to suspect you had one? Did you still O but weren't getting PG and then thought maybe something might be wrong? JW, I don't suspect I have one or anything, I just wanted to know more about this since I didn't really know it existed until recently... TIA :)

A blocked tube means that one of your fallopian tubes is blocked, preventing an egg from releasing properly on that side (preventing egg to sperm connection, or preventing a fertilized egg from traveling to the uterus, depending on the severity of the blockage). Yes, you would typically find out wrt fertility testing, like HSG or lap, but you could also have a lap for other things not related to fertility specifically or you could have one to treat a fertility related condition but not be actively TTC. I guess you could also find out wrt a STD, if you had one, since they are sometimes related.

[Suzlywoozly]

Just curious, what exactly is a blocked tube and how did you come to suspect you had one? Did you still O but weren't getting PG and then thought maybe something might be wrong? JW, I don't suspect I have one or anything, I just wanted to know more about this since I didn't really know it existed until recently... TIA :)

My RE suspected that I had a blocked tube because I had 5 unsuccessful IUI's and 2 unsuccessful IVF cycles. During the many u/s during the IVF cycles there appeared to be fluid in my tubes. This was a red flag that my tubes were blocked. The only way to completely confirm it was to do a lap. At that time they removed both tubes because they were both blocked, covered in endometriosis and one of them had become completely stuck to my uterus.

[Jess71903]

I found out just because I wasn't getting pregnant. I didn't really suspect a blocked tube, but had a lap to find out what was going on in there.

[NotDesperate]

Wow I never heard of that, weird!

So if your tube is blocked, do you still have relatively normal cycles and still ovulate? And just not get PG because the egg and sperm can't reach eachother due to the blockage?

[Jess71903]

NotDesperate- that's exactly it. My cycles are textbook. One twist, though... the egg from your right ovary can come down your left tube and vice versa. In fact, there's a CCer who had one tube removed, due to monitoring knew she O'd from the other side, and got pregnant that cycle.

[sea74]

Wow I never heard of that, weird!

So if your tube is blocked, do you still have relatively normal cycles and still ovulate? And just not get PG because the egg and sperm can't reach eachother due to the blockage?

Yes, exactly that. I ovulate normally EVERY month, I have a regular period, etc. I had an HSG done last April and my right tube was blocked but my left tube was open. We've been trying 20 some cycles will well-timed/perfectly timed BDing, we've done injections, clomid, IUIs and STILL no baby.

A week ago today I met w/a new RE who said that he thinks the outside of both my tubes are blocked (you can read about it in the Still At It thread) so I'm going in for surgery to in Feb to get a better look and hopefully "unblock" both my tubes and clean up whatever is going on in there.

[Suzlywoozly]

Wow I never heard of that, weird!

So if your tube is blocked, do you still have relatively normal cycles and still ovulate? And just not get PG because the egg and sperm can't reach eachother due to the blockage?

Well in my case they said IVF didn't even work because fluid builds up in the tubes when they are blocked and that fluid leaks into the uterus killing the embryo. It is entirely possible to have one open tube where the sperm and egg meet but the embryo can't implant because of fluid leaking from the blocked tube.

Yes you can ovulate on your own and have perfect cycles yet have blocked tubes.

[sea74]

Suzylwoozyl

It is entirely possible to have one open tube where the sperm and egg meet but the embryo can't implant because of fluid leaking from the blocked tube. YIKES! That's not good. When you went in for you lap did you have any idea that losing your tubes was a possibility? I'm worried about waking up to really bad news.

And, if you don't mind my asking, did you have any frozen eggs set aside before the lap? If they were to determine my tubes need to be removed would they take them out right then, or would they close me up and then do an egg harvesting cycle so I could use my own egg? If this is too personal of a question, I understand.

[Scooter]

Sea, you can still do IVF if your tubes are removed. IUIs obviously won't work, but it doesn't really affect the IVF process and in some cases seems to increase the chances. So they wouldn't need to do a stim cycle and egg retrieval before removing the tubes, because you can do that afterwards.

[sea74]

Sea, you can still do IVF if your tubes are removed. IUIs obviously won't work, but it doesn't really affect the IVF process and in some cases seems to increase the chances. So they wouldn't need to do a stim cycle and egg retrieval before removing the tubes, because you can do that afterwards.

Oh, I guess I thought the the ovaries were attached to/and part of the tubes :o Pretty sad how little I know about my own anatomy! Thanks :)

[Suzlywoozly]

Suzylwoozyl

YIKES! That's not good. When you went in for you lap did you have any idea that losing your tubes was a possibility? I'm worried about waking up to really bad news.

And, if you don't mind my asking, did you have any frozen eggs set aside before the lap? If they were to determine my tubes need to be removed would they take them out right then, or would they close me up and then do an egg harvesting cycle so I could use my own egg? If this is too personal of a question, I understand.

When I went in for my lap they were not 100% sure my tubes were blocked. All they knew was that my left tube showed fluid in it on the u/s's. I talked to my OB beforehand and told him that I was okay with him removing both tubes if he felt it was necessary. This was just because I didn't want the other tube to be in question later on and then have to have another lap. I was actually relieved that after the surgery my OB said that there was no question that they needed to come out and they were the worst tubes he and the other OB had seen.

No I don't mind sharing! Like Scooter said, having your tubes removed doesn't prevent you from doing IVF. In fact it definitely increased my chances of having success from doing IVF. We did a FET 4 months after the lap which resulted in a chemical pregnancy. At that point we knew something probably was wrong with my embryos. We switched clinics and did a fresh cycle with PGD. We were successful on our first try. Let me know if you have anymore questions. You can PM me if you'd like. :)

[Scooter]

Sea, that's what I had always thought, too! Kinda sad we have to go through IF to learn the facts about our bodies. But the ovaries are not actually attached to the ends of the tubes.

The tubes are open on the ends (or should be) and at the end are these fringe-like things called fimbriae. When the mature egg bursts out of the follicle, the fimbria kind of scoops the egg in and funnels it into the tube so it can meet up with the sperm.

That's why it's possible to ovulate on one side and have it go in on the other. It's also why it's possible to ovulate and not even end up with the egg in the tubes at all. I believe (but never heard it from a doctor) that it also explains how ectopic pregnancies can happen, because the egg and sperm could meet outside of the tubes and try to implant out there.

[NotDesperate]

This is interesting stuff. I have learned a lot, ladies! Thank you for sharing.

[dancn226]

I want to bump this up...and also see who had had surgery to open up their tubes? If you did what did it consist of?

[sea74]

Dancn: I'm not sure if this is the same thing or not but tomorrow I'm having a lap and a tubal perfusion. They said the tubal perfusion would help open the tubes up. Again, not sure if it's the same thing or not but I'll probably have more to report after tomorrow.

Scooter and Suzlywoozly Thank you both for the really helpful information you posted!!!!!!! :)

[JJP]

Dancn I was diagnosed with blocked tubes, but chose to not have surgery to try to open them up. Some fluid seems to be able to get through my tubes, just not much, so I would have needed cannulization to make them bigger. The stats on cannulization weren't all that promising, however. We decided to go straight to IVF and it was successful on the first try. :)