While you may have never heard of it before, pelvic inflammatory disease causes blocked tubes which can cause infertility. That may be the sad diagnosis you receive when trying to figure out why you can't have a baby. If you haven't reached that point yet or want to alert other women, then learn what you can through this article and then seek out more information.
Let's start with some basic statistics. According to the CDC, about one million women a year come down with an acute case of pelvic inflammatory disease, or PID. That means their symptoms were bad enough that they sought out a doctor for treatment. However, not all women have symptoms that cause them to seek help. This means we don't really know the true numbers of women silently suffering this disease. It could easily be another million women or more a year. In fact they don't know till they find out they are infertile.
While we have no way to know the actual number of women who catch this disease each year, we do know it is more than the one million acute cases. A conservative figure of 12% is given as the amount of these women who end up with blocked tubes and infertility. Just using that on the one million acute cases number, you can see that 120,000 women end up infertile each year. Some authorities give the percentage as 20% which would mean at least 200,000 women. That doesn't count in all the silent sufferers and to do so would make those numbers very scary indeed. Add to this the infertility chances given to women who go through this for the third time, 50%, and it could make even the stoutest soul cry.
How do you get pelvic inflammatory disease? It's caused by bacteria that enters through the cervix and possibly IUDs. The bacteria can come from STIs introduced by a sexual partner or even douching pushing certain bacteria where they don't belong up in your uterus and the rest of the sexual organs. Women under 25 are considered most at risk possibly due to an immature cervix. Sometimes, even ob/gyn procedures and surgeries can be the cause.
Pelvic inflammatory disease leads to other problems besides infertility due to the scarring it causes. You are at greater risk for ectopic pregnancy as well as abscesses, adhesions and chronic pain. PID may not be easy to diagnose but it is fairly easy to treat. Antibiotics are used but you need to be sure all the bacteria are eradicated. Having the disease once also makes it easier for you to get it again. Regular check ups by your doctor are a very good idea besides taking other precautions to be sure you don't partake in the activities that increase your likelihood of getting it.
While all this information is good to know, what happens if you already are infertile due to blocked tubes caused by the PID? Your first course will most likely be checking in with a fertility specialist. His recommendation will most likely be to have IVF if you still want a child. However, there is another possibility that is less expensive and not as time consuming as IVF. That is to have tubal surgery and have the blocked tubes repaired.
In tubal surgery, the bad part of your fallopian tube will be removed. Then depending upon where it is the surgeon will sew together what is left or create a new fimbrial end. In PID many times the fimbrial end is what is scarred. Once the repairs are made and you recover, you can go on to have your child, or children, the natural way. If you research the topic, you will see that tubal surgery has better chance of succeeding than IVF
While you do want to do your best to avoid PID if you can, the second best thing is to catch it early and get treatment. If however you have discovered you are now infertile due to blocked tubes caused by pelvic inflammatory disease, then seek out a tubal surgeon for tubal surgery to remove the blockage. - 15683
Let's start with some basic statistics. According to the CDC, about one million women a year come down with an acute case of pelvic inflammatory disease, or PID. That means their symptoms were bad enough that they sought out a doctor for treatment. However, not all women have symptoms that cause them to seek help. This means we don't really know the true numbers of women silently suffering this disease. It could easily be another million women or more a year. In fact they don't know till they find out they are infertile.
While we have no way to know the actual number of women who catch this disease each year, we do know it is more than the one million acute cases. A conservative figure of 12% is given as the amount of these women who end up with blocked tubes and infertility. Just using that on the one million acute cases number, you can see that 120,000 women end up infertile each year. Some authorities give the percentage as 20% which would mean at least 200,000 women. That doesn't count in all the silent sufferers and to do so would make those numbers very scary indeed. Add to this the infertility chances given to women who go through this for the third time, 50%, and it could make even the stoutest soul cry.
How do you get pelvic inflammatory disease? It's caused by bacteria that enters through the cervix and possibly IUDs. The bacteria can come from STIs introduced by a sexual partner or even douching pushing certain bacteria where they don't belong up in your uterus and the rest of the sexual organs. Women under 25 are considered most at risk possibly due to an immature cervix. Sometimes, even ob/gyn procedures and surgeries can be the cause.
Pelvic inflammatory disease leads to other problems besides infertility due to the scarring it causes. You are at greater risk for ectopic pregnancy as well as abscesses, adhesions and chronic pain. PID may not be easy to diagnose but it is fairly easy to treat. Antibiotics are used but you need to be sure all the bacteria are eradicated. Having the disease once also makes it easier for you to get it again. Regular check ups by your doctor are a very good idea besides taking other precautions to be sure you don't partake in the activities that increase your likelihood of getting it.
While all this information is good to know, what happens if you already are infertile due to blocked tubes caused by the PID? Your first course will most likely be checking in with a fertility specialist. His recommendation will most likely be to have IVF if you still want a child. However, there is another possibility that is less expensive and not as time consuming as IVF. That is to have tubal surgery and have the blocked tubes repaired.
In tubal surgery, the bad part of your fallopian tube will be removed. Then depending upon where it is the surgeon will sew together what is left or create a new fimbrial end. In PID many times the fimbrial end is what is scarred. Once the repairs are made and you recover, you can go on to have your child, or children, the natural way. If you research the topic, you will see that tubal surgery has better chance of succeeding than IVF
While you do want to do your best to avoid PID if you can, the second best thing is to catch it early and get treatment. If however you have discovered you are now infertile due to blocked tubes caused by pelvic inflammatory disease, then seek out a tubal surgeon for tubal surgery to remove the blockage. - 15683
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