Just a quick introduction...

[Guest guest]

Hello Ladies,

I am a bit behind on sending my intro, but have had the pleasure of reading

your groups e-mails for the last week or so and have found them to be

something just sort of a lifeline at this point in as I migrate my way

through the life of Asherman's.

I am 41 years old and was diagnosed with AS on 11/15/01. My AS is a result

of a D & C done on 11/19/00, one month after the birth of my daughter. The D & C

was for the removal of retained placenta. I nursed my daughter until her

fourth month. I have not menstruated since the birth of my daughter. I was

put on a course of provera in May with no effect. I continued to talk to my

OB about my growing concern of my lack of menstruation. He checked for tumor

or premenopausal and all was negative. At that point, he quickly stated

there is something known as 'Asherman's Syndrome' and gave a rough

description of what it is. Yet, he said he felt I did not have it as he

would have been able to tell when I had the D & C. At that point I requested

testing and he said there was none. He said my hormones had just not

normalized since the pregnancy and this happens sometimes, but I was okay. I

requested to check/monitor my hormone levels to rule out Asherman's, to

which he said I really was okay and he didn't know how else to make me

understand, and was not going to do any further testing. He continued to

encourage me to take the wait-and-see approach and stay on my birth control

pills as it might not be a good idea if I got pregnant as my body might

miscarry.

Finally, when my daughter turned one year, my instincts and frustration with

his position got the best of me and I went for a second opinion. At that

point I was completely validated both in my correct assumptions of the AS

diagnosis and my feeling of betrayal by the prior physicians lackadaisical

attitude. (Oh, as well, I should mention the previous OB was well aware of

my desire for more children, sooner rather than later given my age and

history of miscarriage prior to successful implantation carried through

term.) The second OB explained AS very well, gave me my options for

diagnosis and strongly encouraged me to call a good OB friend of mine from

Hershey, PA. I called my friend and he did not hesitate to tell me

everything without the sugar coating.

At this point I have many questions, but certainly not as many as I had

after my diagnosis. I was not aware of all the many things we need to

consider with this diagnosis, i.e. severity, etc. But, as this point I think

it would be called severe. As I viewed the HSG during the procedure, I was

able to see that no dye could enter the uterus. There was not even the

faintest outline of a uterus. The dye actually ran through the catheter and

exited down the sides. My diagnosing OB says I would only correct this if I

was sure I wanted more kids or was suffering problems, i.e. pain from

endometriosis. He has been practicing 15 years and I am the fourth case he

has seen. He has corrected two; one resulting in a successful pregnancy, the

other has not. I questioned him on if I do not have corrective surgery, the

fact that I am now forced to give up the luxury of the early warning signs

of endometrium cancer. He seemed to feel through annual ultrasounds, they

could effectively detect endometrium cancer. As well, I am not in any of the

high risk categories for endometrium cancer. Yet, I still question at what

point an ultrasound could detect this versus the early warning symptoms of

trace bleeding. In theory, with early warning symptoms no woman should have

to die of this cancer, but at what stage would the ultrasound be detecting

the cancer. After reading the e-mails I haven't seen anyone question this,

so maybe I have no cause for concern, but I was curious if there have been

any studies or research on woman without treatment as it pertains to this?

In fact is AS a high risk in and of itself? A place where abnormal cells

could proliferate?

Also, ironically, the more I read, the more I feel as though I am not

willing to just end my research here. I do not know if it makes sense for me

to have more children, but given emotionally I wanted more, I feel as though

I need to have a more thorough diagnosis of my AS as it relates to severity,

location, lining, etc... The more I read, the more I see the necessity for

an experienced physician in these matters. Of course, the logistics of using

a physician outside of my area are tricky to say the least, but if it's the

difference between properly diagnosing and fixing the problem the first

time, I may need to review it more seriously. What are all of your opinions

and experiences on this subject?

Thanks to you all for letting my become a member of the group. I cannot tell

you how much your website and e-mails helped me in the very critical initial

phase of 'realization' of the diagnosis and how it affects you now and the

rest of you life. You are a wonderfully knowledgeable and articulate group

of woman that I feel very lucky to have found at this point in time.