Partial Septum Uterus - Any advice from ladies who have one?

[bewdleygirl]

Here's my story in brief...I'm 36 soon and have been ttc for just over a year. I had a chemical pregnancy a year ago and then fell pregnant on my first round of clomid in march this year. Sadly I miscarried last week at 8 weeks pregnant.

It's turned my world upside down and I just wanted to try and find other women who have been in a similar situation and have a septum so that we can help support one another and get passed this pesky condition. I would love to hear your stories or any advice you may have.

Thanks so much for reading this.

xx

 

[bewdleygirl]

I just wanted to include Maybe Baby's reply here so that all of the info is here in one thread.

Hi Hun,

No worries I'm happy to help...

Sorry you're having a tough time TTC.

Where our stories are different is that I didn't know about my septum until I went private, I actually had 5 chemical pregnancies and the nhs docs told me I was just unlucky!!

After number 5 I decided after not getting listened to I would see a private doctor who decided a hysteroscopy would rule out anything stopping proper implantation and I had the hysteroscopy that showed the septum and some adhesions around it too, the septum looked different from the rest of my uterus which was pink and spongey, the septum looked like chicken.

The septum has limited to no blood flow which is why the pregnancies did not survive but is a good thing if you have it operated on as it's just cut away to reveal the normal uterus with out the need for stitches and a a quick recovery.

I'd had my op within 4 weeks of my first private appointment and could ttc straight away.

They say you can get pregnant with one, it's just harder, I wouldn't recommend putting yourself through the stress, I'd recommend the op.

I would say that it does take an experienced doctor to preform hysteroscopic surgery, if it's not done properly adhesions and other complications can occur.

It was expensive for the private treatment about 5-6k in total, but although I sometimes think I shouldn't have had to spend that money, I really wouldn't have trusted the nhs to do my operation.

How do you know about your septum? Mine was never seen on 3 ultrasounds!

My private doc has a special interest in uterine septums and recurrent miscarriage, he's in Manchester and London if you want to look at his website..
http://www.lucianonardo.com/

Any questions just let me know.

I wonder whether you can get a treated with private health insurance as a gynaecological problem instead of fertility as fertility wouldn't be covered.

Forgot to add that recurrent miscarriage told me that I had to have 3 miscarriages confirmed by ultrasound for further testing!! 

I never got as far as an ultrasound but I had a great gp that did all the recurrent miscarriage blood tests bar karyotyping which we were going to do before I got diagnosed with my septum.


Xx

 

[bewdleygirl]

Thank you so much hun for the info you've passed on...I'm so grateful

Goodness, it must have been so frustrating for you having 5 chemicals and just being told you were unlucky. I bet you're so glad you opted to get things investigated privately and chose the op route. Although it sounds expensive, I'm sure you can put no value on how the procedure has turned things around for you.

My septum was never picked up on ultrasounds but I had a laparoscopy in dec 11 as the hospital thought I had endometriosis. It turned out I didn't have endo but it was then that they discovered I have a small septum. At the time my consultant told me it *could* cause miscarriage but it was best to try and get pregnant and see what happens.He said that some women can have children with a septum and they often don't even find out until the baby is breech and they have to do a c-section. I'd also been told by another consultant that the septum can cause implantation issues and some women can't get pregnant at all (not even a chemical).....so the medical opinion does seem to differ massively doesn't it.....it's so frustrating!

I've seen photos from my op of my septum and it doesn't sound the same as what you've described. It looked pink and spongey like the rest of my womb but I do recall a few small little white dimples on the septum. When you mentioned chicken, did you mean dimpled like chicken skin or a different colour as well?

I've googled about a septum before and heard that the blood flow can be reduced to that of a normal womb.

I had 2 ultrasounds whilst I was pregnant as they offered me them because of wanting to monitor because of the septum. The baby hadn't implanted on my septum (which was their main concern) and the development/size didn't seem to be impaired it grew at the right rate in between scans. My consultant can't therefore say if my womb shape was to blame. He feels that it would be too higher risk for me to have the operation because of the scar tissue that can be left behind by removing the septum (which he said *could* prevent me from getting pregnant). He's advised me to carry on ttc but I am really scared that it could happen again. It took us such a long time to conceive that I think I'd find it really hard to handle another loss.

I wonder perhaps if your septum was slightly different to mine and therefore easier to remove as it sounds like yours was separate almost to your womb as you mentioned it's appearance looked very different?

Thank you so much for the contact details for your private doctor. I feel the same as you and if I decide to go down the route of the op I'd prefer to have it done privately by someone who specialises in that field. Do you mind me asking if your private consultant advised you on the success rate for the procedure? I realise that each case it probably very different and I'm going to give some thought to maybe having an initial consultation with your consultant to find out more about my chances if I leave things as they are compared to getting treated.

I'm still trying to get my head around things after my m/c so I'm still unsure what's the best thing to do is but I'm so so grateful for all your advice…it's given me hope that things could turn out ok for me.

I'll keep you posted hun and I'll be checking back to see how you're getting on. Thanks again & take care of yourself.

 

[effie]

Hi bewdleygirl,

I joined this forum today after reading your post above, from a google search for 'septate uterus & miscarriage'. I found out today that I have experienced yet another mmc. I should be 8wks but the embryo measured 3mm (>6wks), so I have to go back next week to confirm and then potentially I will need a d&c. This will be my 4th miscarriage, and all have been within the first trimester at around 6wks with the exception of my 3rd which was a natural miscarriage at 11.5wks.

They saw from my very first ultrasound last May (2011) that I had a septate uterus and as a consequence I went for consultation after the first miscarriage to find out a bit more about what I should do about it. The consensus of opinion was to do nothing and jsut continue trying due to the risks associated to the actual op, scar tissue and perforated uterus etc. So as this was just my first miscarriage I decided to take their advice and continue trying. Over a year on I have suffered another 3 miscarriages, and have had all the blood tests to confirm that with the exception of a slightly positive ANA test (for which I need to take low dose asprin) there is nothing wrong.

I've recently found out my septum is broad and approx one third of the uterine cavity in length. I am now thinking that I might need to bite the bullet and consider having the op. I have an appointment with a specialist to discuss this at the end of the month.

I just wondered what your situation was now? Have you found out anymore?

The information from maybebaby was very useful as I am now thinking very cautiously about the risks from the operation and that I would really like the person performing it to be very experienced in this area.

Hope all is well.

 

[bewdleygirl]

Hi effie,

Really sorry to hear you've suffered 4 miscarriages hun, hope you're ok.

I was told exactly the same, to keep on trying and they warned me off the operation to remove the septum because of the potential risks. It's so frustrating!!

My situation has taken quite a twist... basically I decided to see 'Maybe Baby's' private consultant as we decided to have my septum removed before trying again. He assured me that the risk of scarring during the procedure was very very low and he's never had a case where scarring has occurred because of the techniques he uses to prevent this. He said ladies travel from all over the country to see him with uterine abnormalities. After discussing my condition with him and showing him images and reports on mine (which was described as a partial septum by the nhs, taking up a third of my womb) he felt it wasn't characteristic of a septum. Basically I had a further scan with Mr Nardo and he confirmed my womb distortion was caused by a fibroid giving the illusion of a septum, so it wasn't something I was born with as I'd previously been told. I've since had a myomectomy to reomove the fibroid and my womb is now shaped normally so we're ready to try again.

I feel very angry with the nhs as they misdiagnosed me and also made me feel as though the op to remove it was risky when in fact when it's performed by a specialist in this field it's very successful. My condition was acting very similary to that of a septum as the fibroid was at the top of my womb taking blood away from where the embryo attaches.

I'm not sure where you're based hun but Mr Nardo has clinics in Manchester, Cheshire and London. We don't live that close by to any so we travelled up to Cheshire to see him.

If you want a second opinion or want to consider having the op privately I'd definitely go see him, he's helped us so much and hopefully we'll be able to go onto to have a successful pregnancy now.

If you want more info, please feel free to send me a private message.

Hope this helps xx

 

[effie]

Hi bewdleygirl,

Thanks so much for replying. I am really happy for you, that you found out what was actually causing the problem. It's really reassuring to get your recommendation on top of maybebaby's recommendation of Dr.Nardo. I live in Scotland but I am willing to travel anywhere to be seen by a specialist with experience in this area.

I have an appointment with a consultant at the end of the month and will then go ahead and try and make an appointment with Dr.Nardo.

Thanks again for your help and loads of luck for TTC!! I really hope I hear from you again with good news!

xx

 

[bewdleygirl]

No worries....I've just sent you a private message with more info hun.

Wishing you lots of luck...keep me posted xx