I was wondering if there is any hope for me in trying to conceive. I had j-pouch surgery two years ago at the Cleveland Clinic with no complications. I have been doing great since, it was the best thing I ever did and I've been feeling wonderful ever since. My husband and I have been trying to get pregnant on our own for over a year and then just recently tried clomid with no such luck. My fallopian tubes are open... my husband was also checked and he is fine, too. Dr. Fazio at the Clinic wrapped my tubes with a special film to protect them from scar tissue so infertility wouldn't occur, but it seems like it has. Our next step is to try IUI. HELP!!! Has anyone else had a problem after j-pouch surgery?!?

I too had clear tubes and my husband was fine but we couldn't get pregnant on our own after 18 months of trying (I have a perm ileo after failed j-pouch).

We did fertility treatments and did 2 IUIs with oral chlomid. My drs were hesitant to let me do injectible chlomid iwth IUI because the risk of high multiples is much higher on the injectible drug. In MA, fertility treatments are covered by insurance as long as you do 3 IUIs with oral chlomid, then 3 with injectible, then you can do IVF. My drs petitioned the insurance company saying that with my history they felt IUI was less than 1% chance of working and we got to skip to IVF after the 2 IUIs.

We got pregnant our first fresh IVF cycle (Alex turned 2 in January). I tried to transfer our one frozen embryo in May of 07 and did get pregnant but miscarried. I did one more fresh cycle in November of 07 and am now 20 weeks pregnant with baby #2.

Based on our experience, my issue wasn't getting pregnant, it was getting the egg fertilized. ONce the embryo was transferred, I had no trouble implanting and carrying the baby (we think I miscarried because of the quality of the embryo- it was only a 7 cell, not anything to do with my body). So, don't panic yet.

Just know IUI success rates aren't great for people without our history - about 10%. And, be sure you get an ultrasound before the insemination, or else you could wind up with triplets or higher. My drs did not want me to carry more than twins with my history. You just can't control how many eggs will get fertilized with IUI.

With IVF, you control how many embryos you put back so the risk of high multiples is less. With our first IVF we transferred 2 day 3 embryos that were 8 cells each and one implanted. With our second, we did not want twins with a two year old so we were only going to transfer one. Then we ended up taking the embryos to blast (day 5 before transfer) and they have a higher implant rate, so we definitely only transferred one.

I know this is overwhelming, so let me know if you have questions. The moral of this post, though, is that even if you are having trouble now, it doesn't mean pregnancy is out.

Bugs,
You sound exactly like me!!! Although I just had my surgeries done in june and sept. Dr. Fazio did mine too and he wrapped my ovaries and like you, I have had no problems with the jpouch...but I cant get pregnant. I actually took a fertility test EVERYDAY this past month and never got a positive sign...which shows I am obviously not ovulating. I have an appt at the end of March to meet with my OB. I was hoping that she would just put me on Clomid and everything would be fine. (thanks for busting my bubble...jk) Where are you at in Cleveland? I hope everything works out for both of us! Feel free to PM me if you would like to talk more about it.

my dr. warned me about this. i have a 1yr. old son named chad. he was born 10 weeks early and i delivered him at home alone. it was before my colon was removed so i thought the labor was my us. goes to show how much uc hurts. he was 2 1/2 lbs. and was in nicu for 11 weeks. thankfully he is fine now. good luck i hope you are successful in the end.

HI Bugs,
I am having trouble too, but have just found out why. My obs. did an ultrasound and a Hy-Co-Sy where they pump liquid up through the fallopian tubes. She found that one of my tubes is competely blocked, and wants to remove it. Possibly due to scar tissue from the srugery. Apparently leaving an infected tube reduces chances of falling pregnant. Have you had a HyCoSy?

Thanks everyone for their helpful advice! I need to be patient and take things how they come! Wish me luck on my first IUI treatment this month!!!

Hi Bugs,

I've had a JPouch since I was 15 and overall have been doing well. Married when I was 28 and a couple years later my husband and I wanted to start a family. I knew we had to see a fertility dr as my periods stopped when I was 19.

We started with IUIs but they weren't working in our case. My tubes were clear at the time , but I didn't want the lapascopic surgery to further investigage due to my past surgeries and chance of damaging the Jpouch so we did ivf. Our first ivf worked and we have our wonderful son who is turning 3 soon. So it was never verified, but our dr suspected that scar tissue from the surgeries.

We've had 4 failed attempts last year and this time I have additional issues (blocked tube, endometriosis, infection). Don't know if these are related to the surgery or not.

But that's not to say that everyone wiht the JPouch must do ivf and has scar tissue. Good luck with your IUIs

HI LADIES...
i know how harrowing it can be to battle infertility... my husband and i tried for 3.5 years before we got pregnant (currently 25 weeks and a few days).. everything was normal with us, all my tests and bloodwork were normal, and his tests were also just fine.. i went through several bouts of anxiety and depression over the issue... i must recommend reading Unsung Lullabies if you are having emotional reactions to infertility.. i had finally decided to be happy with just our married life, and we decided to move to Nevada (from louisiana).. my husband left a week before i did, and on halloween night i took a test, and it was positive (we chalked it up to lots of lovin that we did before he left).. i don't know why things happen the way they do for our "j-pouch & ostomy family".. but never give up on your faith!!! i will say prayers for y'all tonight.. may God give each of you a blessing that our amazing medical staff has yet to do..