Endometriosis and In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

If this is your first time to hear about endometriosis, then it could be because you may be having a difficult time getting pregnant.

Endometriosis affects a woman’s reproductive system. It happens when the lining of the uterus starts to also grow in other areas outside of the uterus. It is not an uncommon condition. In fact, almost 5 million American women suffer from this disorder in varying degrees.

Doctors have established 4 stages of endometriosis. Stage 1 is a minimal form, stage 2 is a mild form, stage 3 is moderate, and stage 4 is severe.

One of the symptoms of endometriosis is difficulty in getting pregnant, and maybe this us why you are reading this article now. However, infertility is more associated with women in stage 4. Stage 1 is practically a non-existent form of endometriosis, and pregnancy is not even an issue at all.

When a woman is in stage 4, it usually means that her pelvic anatomy is abnormal from scarring, and this makes it hard for her to get pregnant.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a situation wherein the egg is removed from the womb and fertilized by the sperm outside of the womb before returning it to the womb to grow. There are now 2 schools of thought regarding IVF and women with endometriosis. Some doctors believe that women with stage 4 endometriosis will not be able to get pregnant because of her condition.

Other doctors believe otherwise and there are studies that show that even if an egg is exposed to the endometrial fluid, it will not be affected, and the eggs can still be fertilized. In other words, there was no problem caused by endometriosis as far as pregnancy was concerned.

Of course, it can also be a case to case basis because another study shows that after surgery to remove the endometrial tissues, IVF patients had less eggs to fertilize. As such, some doctors prefer to prioritize IVF over treatment for endometriosis.

In fact, one of the treatment used for endometriosis is giving the patient oral contraceptives. This is believed to lessen the effects of endometriosis because the oral contraceptives will cause menstruation to stop, and the body will think that the woman is pregnant, so it will slow down on the production of estrogen.

If you plan to get pregnant, you can try to IVF, and when the pregnancy becomes viable, your endometriosis will improve because you will cease to have menstruation, and thus, less unusual growth due to estrogen.