Hi. I recently had a HSG test following my ectopic 6 months ago. I had this due to the pain I’ve been experiencing in the tube of the ectopic. The tube or at least the dye didn’t spill through which indicates it’s blocked. Does this mean that it will happen again if I ovulate down that tube? We want to start trying but wondering should we try some sort of procedure to unblock it or just start trying. I know you might not be able to answer this without knowing more but I guess what I’m asking is do women with blocked tubes have to wait or do I just try and get pregnant. Im not even up to speed on what the options would be for further investigation
Was it explained to you exactly what was viewed during the test? The test is not 100% accurate as the Fallopian tubes can go into spasm during the test and can appear blocked even though this is not the case. This can cause unnecessary anxiety if the Fallopian tube is affected by spasm but in face is actually working normally.
If it is blocked, I would advise discussing options with your doctor as it depends upon what is causing the blockage as too what can be done about it.
I’m sorry I cannot give you more precise information, but I would advise speaking to your medical team.
Sending much love,
Karen x
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Thanks Karen, she did actually say that it could be a muscle spasm too and explained without a laroscopy it’s hard to know. I’m way off that at the moment as I paid for this privately because I e been having so much pain in the tube I had the ectopic. The drs weren’t taking it seriously so went private. Although that’s as far as I can go financially. But am being referred now to the hospital fertility but wait might be many months.
I just replied to your other post but then I saw this.
If it is blocked (not spasm) then the test could have cleared it, but I’m assuming that didn’t happen as they would have noticed. There are surgeries to unblock tubes but my understanding is they are not often undertaken as they may risk damaging the tube further. Unfortunately further investigation would usually be a laparoscapy as it would be hard to find out more via imaging at this stage. You could wait a while and repeat the HSG to see if anything has cleared up (depending on how long it has been since your ectopic) but that might not be a worthwhile use of time.
Also it depends if a total blockage or not, sometimes if totally blocked then your chances of having another ectopic are actually lower than a partial blockage/damage, because nothing can get thorough the tube in the first place to have a fertilised egg etc.
If your other tube was clear you can try doing cycle monitoring to only attempt on months when you are ovulating on the side with the open tube. I have heard of people doing that. It’s not 100% that an egg from that side will travel down the same tube but it is more likely.
Thanks Miranda, so it was blocked at the end closest to my uterus. I asked the consultant if I could try ans her thinking was that technically if the tube is blocked to point that the egg and sperm couldn’t meet then as you have pointed out it’s less likely to happen in that tube.
So we wills start trying next cycle and just hope and pray for the best. She also said about survey cashing more issues potentially but I am speaking to the doctors next week about being referred to the fertility clinic if I need further help
Can I ask how do you know when you’re ovulating on a particular side? Just feel for pain? My pain always seems to be on the side of my ectopic.