How to protect eggs w/ endometriosis? (supplement ?'s too)

iwanna

16 Posts
Reply How to protect eggs w/ endometriosis? (supplement ?'s too) Posted on: Dec 13, 2011 at 12:14am
What do you recommend to protect egg quality when dealing with endometriosis?

I was dx with stage 4 endo in Feb 2009 and lost my left ovary and left fallopian tube due to severe adhesions attaching to my bowel, and nothing but endometriomas consuming my entite left ovary. My 2nd lap in March 2011 revealed that things weren't near as bad, just a few endo spots and couple of minor adhesions - my right ovary and tube were still ok.

I've asked you other questions regarding immune issues in the past week or so, and I won't back track and repeat that info, but just wanted to remind you that we have had 11 chemical pregnancies since July 2006, 2 from IVF and the rest were from IUI or natural cycles, so we are conceiving without IVF - just can't keep them. We were recently dx'd with HLA DQa matching (husband has 4.1, 4.1, and I have 3.0, 4.1) and are saving up to have a phone consult with you!! We are interested in treatment with Neupogen...

During this wait time, I would like to know if you recommend that I take any certain supplements, or do anything extra that could benefit my case & protect my egg quality due to the endometriosis?


I was just reading about Maxi-Flavone....is this something you think I should be on?
Would this alter test results when checking Th1/TH2 cytokines or TNFa or anything else?


What do you think of what I'm already taking:

women's whole food multi vitamin x2
children's chewable multi vitamin x1 to boost iron levels (raised HGB to 12.7, but ferritin is still too low at 30)
10,000iu Vitamin D3 (vit D level was only 39)
1000mg L-Arginine
3mg Melatonin
2000mg Inositol (I was taking 4000mg, but heard it was not good when dealing with high Nka? Your thoughts?)
2400mcg folic acid (800mcg 3x daily)
3600mg fish oil
30-40 tablets of organic wheat grass tablets daily

This is just my current list - I've pretty much taken anything and everything I've ever heard that could help over the past 6 years. (like royal jelly & bee pollen, CoQ10, Red wine extract w/ Resveratrol, B vitamins, acidophilus, and probably more that I have forgoten about!!)

I also try to drink a glass of red wine every couple of days for the more potent benefit of Resveratrol, but I'm not a *drinker* and don't care for wine, so it's hard for me to do this regularly. But I heard it can really help...even if just to relax you. (I must say, it does help me to sleep better!!, lol)






Also, for other health issues, I take a couple of things as well, and wondered if you have any thoughts on them:

200mg Labetalol (100mg 2x daily) for recent dx of high blood pressure this past spring/summer
Levothyroxine - 75mcg 3x weekly and 50mcg 4x weekly (highest TSH was 3.35, we strive to keep it around 1)
Serevent diskus inhaler (a long-acting beta2-adrenergic agonist) 1 puff 2x daily, for well controlled asthma
Qvar inhaler (a corticosteroid) 1 puff 2x daily, for well controlled asthma
Unisom, 2 tabs about 1 hour before bed to help with sleep issues (Doxylamine succinate, 25 mg per tab)




I was also on antibiotics almost constantly since 1996 for cystic acne, but stopped this past June 2011 (amoxicillan, 500mg capsules 2x daily for TTC and pregnancy of course - but I have taken minocycline and doxycycline at other times) I am NOT happy with the condition of my skin being off of the meds, but I was wondering if my long term antibiotic use could have had anything to do with my infertility/RPL issues, and decided to give it up this past summer. The wheat grass has helped, and I did notice when off the wheat grass last month, it got a lot worse, so back on it I went for the overall health & fertility purposes AND to try to keep my skin as clear as possible. I am extremely embarrassed by the acne problem, and the large cystic outbreaks are quite painful - I've been dealing with it since my teens, but it got a lot worse in my early 20's and nothing helped except antibiotics - so, even though the wheat grass helps, it's not *enough* and I would love to go back on amoxicillan if you feel that I could safely take them while TTC with immune treatment - what do you think?



Thank you!!!

Dr. Braverman

2026 Posts
Re: How to protect eggs w/ endometriosis? (supplement ?'s to Posted on: Dec 13, 2011 at 2:35am
this is quite a bit , I think we need to save this for our consult.
Braverman Medical Team
Braverman Reproductive Immunology P.C.

iwanna

16 Posts
Reply Re: How to protect eggs w/ endometriosis? (supplement ?'s to Posted on: Dec 15, 2011 at 12:53am
I emailed earlier tonight to set up the consult...I hope that we can talk very soon!!!
Everyday that goes by seems like an eternity...

I would like to get the extra testing done right away though, I don't want to waste ANY time and would prefer to have that out of the way before our phone consult. Seeing as I've had almost everything else done already, from what I gather, I only need testing now for LAD, Reproductive Immunophenotyping, and TH1/TH2 Cytokine Ratio, and the *full* HLA Genotype Panel.


I'm not really on board for paying for the full HLA panel though, since we already have the DQa testing done and we know my DH and I share an absolute match. Because of my surrogacy involvement and how all of this presented AFTER carrying as surromom, I highly suspect HLA matching issues between myself and the dad of my last 2 surrobabes, but seeing as I'm trying to have a child with my husband, I'm not sure how that is relevant - aside from explaining how or why it just became an issue for me 6 years ago. You already said you've never seen a case like ours (more than 2 children together, prior to having RPL issues and an HLA matching dx) so wouldn't it be even more unlikely that my husband & I could have more matches than just the DQa? Of course, with my luck, maybe there are more matches between my husband & I. Leave it to me to be a medical mystery. Sigh...



Sincerely,
Holly

Dr. Braverman

2026 Posts
Re: How to protect eggs w/ endometriosis? (supplement ?'s to Posted on: Dec 15, 2011 at 5:32am
Hi Holly , Im afraid I can not order any tests until we have had a full consultation and you have officially become a patient of our center. Hopefully that will occur soon so you can expedite the testing phase.
Braverman Medical Team
Braverman Reproductive Immunology P.C.