new to site...looking into reversal
  Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 2:45 pm
Post subject: new to site...looking into reversal  Hi all
I am currently looking into getting my sterilisation reversed.. I had it dont 10 years ago am now 40 (next month) and I am remarried and hubby has no children we wouls really like to try for one of our own, I have 2 children by my precious marriage, a boy aged 20yrs and a girl aged 12yrs, I know I am blessed to have children already but to have one with OH would make our family complete. Because of my age I was worried that the reversal would be refused, But looking at posts already on the site many ladies were also 40 when they had thiers done! which is fantastic! It is nice also to see there have been babies born too, amazing stuff!! I would love infornmation on having the reversal done, info like how long from 1st consultation til the op, how many days stay in hospital, also I am quite overweight (about 4 stone overweight) and I was wondering if I could still have op? I do have loads of questions so any info would be fantastic. thanks for reading ann marie xx Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 3:20 pm
Post subject: Hiya Ann Marie
 , to be honest (which I feel I should be  ) not many of us over 40 Ladies have had success with our Op's 
In fact of the top of my head from the women I remember past and present (a lot of ladies drift away when they don't get pregnant after a while )who were over forty when they had their Op's me included I can't think of any who did get pregnant and actually carry on to have a baby
Not without IVF anyway
I'm sorry it might not be what you want to hear but honestly its the women who are younger who seem to do best with this Op
All of the most recent pregnancies have been women in their 30's
Some of the ladies who weren't successful after their reversals who were in their forties or close to forty have had more luck with IVF . If we hadn't wasted so much time (over 2 yrs) and spent so much just to get to a point of having it confirmed that my Op wasn't a success  I would consider IVF myself, it can be a good alternative even at forty , some clinics are very good at treating older Ladies as its getting more common for women to want IVF in their forties and some EU clinics are much cheaper and have good success rates, so I wouldn't dismiss it as an option
From what I've learnt from being on here its also not as stressful as I thought it would be and I can confirm trying to get pregnant after a reversal is very stressful
If you only have the money to do one or the other then I would weigh up the options very carefully as there are pro's and cons to both, with the reversal there the fact they might not be able to repair one or both tubes, and even if they can they can close up again or just not work anyway then there is the issue of the strain it puts on your relationship when you are trying to get pregnant and you feel like your sex life has become a chore  (I never even thought of that aspect of trying to get pregnant  ) Also the increased risk of ectopic pregnancy and the complications that go with that  Its a huge emotional roller coaster as everytime you're not pregnant you question why ? Has the Op not worked, have my tubes scarred over , are we not trying hard enough etc. etc.
At least with IVF you always know where you stand
But as you asked about the Op , from first consult it varies I've seen less than a week to 6-8 weeks, for me it was 6 weeks , how long in hospital varies depending on if its open or keyhole ,I had keyhole and was in one night, I could have gone home that afternoon but felt rough after the anaesthetic, for open it tends to be 2 nights on average With a longer recovery time as well . Weigh wise it would be down to the doc, but the cynic in me suspects that as you'd be paying then they would do the Op
I'd definately look at both options though a good reversal consultant should ask you to consider IVF as an option as it was designed for women with tubal issues, and may be a better option for women who have existing fertility issues or whose partners do xx Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 8:08 pm
Post subject: Hi,
Im a reversal & IVF mummy.... we had our reversal done all was good till we got pregnant, was in the wrong place but i MC early... still left me with very damaged tube & an infection, we went on to have 2 rounds of ivf both rounds worked with no issues and cost us about the same as the reversal.... i know what id rather do if i had my time again....all the best whatever you decide...x _________________ Thea-Our Darling Daughter with us for 2 special days ....always loved missed more ..... Xavier lifes pure joy  Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 8:33 pm
Post subject: Thank you both for your replies, its made me think now knowing that being 40+ makes such a difference... I have had IVF once before but really thought this time of trying would be better to get a reversal, now im not so sure, I suppose the best thing to do is to talk to hubby and get a consultation booked so we know what our options and chances are.
thank you both again for your replies Ann Marie xx Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 8:50 am
Post subject: Hi welcome to the site. I had my reversal done just 2 weeks ago on nhs. Im 31 and hubby is 29. I was told the reversal had gone well and both tubes were reattached. We have started ttc so hoping to have a bfp soon.
I hope what ever you choose to do works out for you hun and you also get a bfp xx Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 9:05 am
Post subject: I'd book seperate consultations with an IVF clinic and a reversal doc that you feel you can trust and get honest opinions from both as one may be more biased towards their specialty than another method
Its harder I think when its private sector as you always wonder if they just want your money and are going to over exaggerate the chances
I know some reversal docs have told Ladies the odds are 50/50 which I feel is far too high we have nowhere near a 50% success rate on here,sometimes there can be two or three Ladies who get BFP's soon after their Ops and then none for ages ?
The last amongst the regulars were over a year ago now and it does seem to vary a lot depending on age, time since sterilisation, method used, length of remaining tubes etc. so it can be hard to judge
Whereas with the IVF there are more stats kept so its easier for them to give you odds
If you do go for the reversal though, I'd say have it done at a point in your cycle where you are close to ovulating , at the end of your period would be good and try to get pregnant that month, as adhesions can form within 3 weeks and scarring will start soon after (if its going to happen ) so the first month could be the best time to try
I wish I'd known that and timed my Op better as by the time I first ovulated after the Op (about 26 days later) I had an adhesion which was in effect tethering my tube down and stopping it grabbing the egg I only found out I had it a good while after the reversal during a lap and dye but the doc told me they form quickly as part of the healing process ,in the first days and weeks and if they're still there 3 weeks or so after an Op they become permanent
So I was probably out before I started, but a few Ladies have got lucky trying within the first week or two after their ops xx Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 9:21 am
Post subject: Thank you for your reply. I am now beginning to wonder if the reversal is for me, I didnt even think about adehsions, I was more worried that where my tubes have been clipped that they would be flat so no egg would be able to get through!
I just feel that I will only be able to go for one cycle of IVF and the reversal would give me many trys, I know I wold not be able to afford more than one cycle of IVF, and taking the chance that it will work first time is such a massive gamble 
Im going to make an appointment with my gp and talk to them I think. thanks again for your reply xxxx Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 9:44 am
Post subject: I felt exactly the same about the reversal giving you more "trys" so its ironic that the reversal might not have given me even one try in the end
It was the thing that swayed me overall, as I just presumed if it worked on the day then that was that I was "fixed" and would get pregnant , I never even considered what could happen after the surgery
They trim back your tubes even if you've had clips , as the clips don't just flatten the tubes they actually cut off the blood supply to that bit of tube and it tends to die off and often the clips will fall off too, but the ends of the tubes left on each side will be scarred shut , so they trim the ends of each side and rejoin them and then put dye through from your uterus to see if it comes out of the end of the tube, as sometimes there can be blockages further up as well.
The two main problems with clips are, sometimes they're put on too close to the uterus and a lot of docs wont touch repairs at that point , or sometimes 2 are put on each tube , which can destroy a larger area of tube , if you get your Op report from your GP it should give you some clues
I also never thought about adhesions beforehand really , but up to 90% of women will have some sort of adhesions somewhere after abdominal surgery , and sometimes the tubes will already have adhesions after the sterilisation which can cause problems, I lost my right tube during the reversal because it was stuck together and stuck to my abdomen with adhesions and couldn't be saved, something which I'd also never considered , occassionally neither tube can be repaired and its not like they give you any money back
Your odds from just one cycle of IVF might be higher then your overall odds of actually having a baby after the reversal though and there's always frozen embryo's too If you have enough to freeze from your cycle , a FET is much cheaper especially an unmedicated cycle
Its not an easy choice to make and some women have both in the end
Another thing to remember is some docs will quote success as women who have free flow of dye after the Op ? Well I had that but no baby to show for it (so I personally don't count it as a success )
Or they might quote pregnancy rates, but again often once you take off miscarriages and ectopics its much lower, if someone is quoting you stats then you want the live birth rates ,preferably broken down by age , even the best places I've seen (which tend to be in the US as they've been doing the Op longer) only have a live birth rate of about 33% overall and then often most of those women are the ones in their 20's and 30's and the rates for over forties are more like 15%
If someone was asking me what I'd do, I think if I was in my thirties and could afford it I'd have the reversal, try for a bit and if it didn't work go on to IVF , but if I was in my forties I'd go straight to IVF xx Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 10:25 am
Post subject: Thanks DL05
Theres so much to think about now....im so confused! My head is saying IVF but theres a big part of me thats scared if it doesnt work first time that thats it for me, no more trys and then the other part of me is saying better one try with good odds than loads of trys with no chance
I suppose ill just have to spend a bit of time really thinking about what we should do, I havnt told hubby about the posts on here yet either I will have to talk to him about it.
oh boy, wish me luck!! xxx Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 11:01 am
Post subject: I know it is a minefield
and the worst bit with the reversal is the uncertainty At least with a vasectomy reversal you can have an SA done and know its worked with the reversal the only way to tell is to get pregnant
I had a quote from a czech clinic for IVF last summer (before we decided to wait and see what the other surgeries revealed) and that came in at about £2,800 even with ICSI and going to blast both of which are supposed to improve your chances, and are charged as extras over here , one of the reversal ladies who lost her tubes to ectopics had treatment there and has had twins first time . They also do other plans including one which was a bit of a 3 for 2 and some sort of guarantee , but I didn't look into it further as we decided against it at the time (i'm not supposed to mention names but it was reprofit if you google them they have a website and you can email them , the lady there speaks very good english )
Now the euro has dropped as well it would probably be cheaper
They seem to be very good at getting good responses from older Ladies, so the odds of having embryo's to freeze to use if it didn't work first time might be fairly good
Its a lot to think about though, and I know sometimes men seem a bit more reluctant to go down the IVF route xx Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 4:52 pm
Post subject: ickle there was 1 lovekly lady Janey on here who was 40 that had 2 children since her reversal, but she went through alot to get there.. for most of the ladies over 30 the op hasnt been a success.. xx_________________ Tubal Reversal 19/7/10 Angel Baby due 18/5/2011 (ectopic) Angel Baby due 25/1/2012 (m/c) Angel Baby due 21/6/2012 (m/c) All 3 much loved and wanted xx
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