Hi Charukarthik,
Unfortunately, I’m not medically qualified to comment on your specific situation. However, I wanted to share some guidance on ovulation which the Trust provides and which may be useful. We naturally assume that we will ovulate from alternative ovaries each month (left ovary, right ovary, left, right etc.) This is not true and varies from woman to woman. Some women will ovulate from the same side each month with occasional ovulation from the other side, while others will ovulate randomly from side to side.
Both ovaries compete each month to produce an egg and usually, the one that is ‘pulling ahead in the race’ continues while the other one gives up (but not always – sometimes women will ovulate from both ovaries in one cycle or twice from one ovary but these are rare events that explain how we get non-identical twins naturally). It depends on which ovary contains the egg that is at the right stage of development at the point in time where the woman is due to ovulate and is nothing to do with a set pattern.
The side we ovulate from does not strictly matter as an egg from one ovary can travel down the tube on the other side. The fallopian tubes and uterus are lined with little receptor cells that, at the point of ovulation, are sent a chemical signal that ‘switches’ them on and they emit a signal that attracts a similar receptor in the egg and in the sperm to come and meet in the same place, i.e. the fallopian tube. The fallopian tubes are not attached to the ovaries and, also at the point of ovulation, some very delicate structures called the fimbriae on the end of the fallopian tube to begin to move gently creating a slight vacuum to suck the egg toward the end of the tube it is nearest to (like lots of little fingers waving and drawing the egg towards it).
This means that, if you have only one fallopian tube, then there is only one set of receptors working and one set of fimbriae creating a vacuum and so the egg is much more likely to find its way to that tube, whichever ovary it is produced from.
Conservative estimates suggest that an egg produced on the tubeless side manages to descend the remaining tube around 15 to 20% of the time. This means that rather than your fertility being halved, it is more the case that the opportunity to conceive has been affected by around 30%. Or looking at it another way, it means we have around a 70% opportunity of conception with each menstrual cycle.
I hope that provides some guidance and some reassurance.
With good wishes,
Michele
The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust
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