“I’ll Take an All-Natural FET, Please”

What causes Adenomyosis? After we discussed how we plan to get rid of it, that was the next “big” question on my mind.

Here’s what we got:

• Damage to the uterine lining
• Excessive estrogen
• Pre-menopause
• Unknown reasons

Damage to the uterine lining is a possibility for us.  We have had d & c’s done, and every time you do, the lining of the uterus is scraped.  I have also had a history of thin lining which goes hand in hand with this.

Estrogen.  Too much freaking estrogen.  I have been taking synthetic estrogen for 8 out of the past 12 months (1 fresh and 2 frozen cycles).  And of course, since I have thin lining, I am prescribed even more estrogen than the average woman in an IVF cycle. This is because estrogen is what causes the uterine lining to thicken.  As you can see, it’s totally a catch 22 here. I need estrogen for a thick uterine lining, but excessive estrogen can not only cause Adenomyosis, but feed it.

The last FET we did my estrogen levels were through the roof.  I felt like I was on speed the week before the transfer.  It was horrible (don’t worry you can’t hyperstimulate like you would with levels like that on a fresh cycle).  During a FET, a woman’s estrogen levels are supposed to be close to that of a woman who conceives naturally…mine were quadrupled, but hey, I had my lining of an 11 or 12!  And, remember, at the time we didn’t know we were feeding a monster either. So, the question becomes how can we even consider pumping more estrogen into my body during a future cycle, now that we are aware of this new diagnosis? We have two options.  Do a “super quick” FET, with estrogen, supposedly not allowing much time for Adenomyoma growth, or do a natural FET with no hormones (aka non-medicated FET). We are all about the latter, therefore I brought it up to our RE.   She said she would be willing to try an all natural FET with us. No estrogen patches and pills, no shoving progesterone up my who-ha 3x a day.  Just taking our sweet little embryo and transferring into my uterus at the right time.  Amen! She warned us that pregnancy rates are not as good for a natural FET, and that a lot more monitoring (blood and ultras) is involved.  Pregnancy rates are not as good because your body is not as controlled (more specific details about how a natural FET works coming soon in another post).  She said she has had a “few” pregnancies result from a natural FET.  I didnt ask for a percentage, because I really dont care what it is anyway. Any success stories from my TTC sisters is welcomed here!!

Let me tell you, I will go in there everyday for an ultrasound and blood if I can stay away from all the damn hormones.  And again, we have gotten pregnant every single time we transfer, so the “pregnancy rates aren’t as good” part doesn’t necessarily apply to our situation.  We want to stay pregnant.

Another reason this sounds appealing is because I have never had an issue with my progesterone either, in fact, it is always high (ruled out as a cause for our RPL). As far as growing my lining, I feel it can happen without the synthetic estrogen, with God’s help of course (and some yoga, acupuncture, and super foods).

At this point, we just feel like it’s at least worth a shot.