Silent / asymptomatic endo

[u/SoupSilent4832]

Hiii everyone!
I have been trying for a second baby since 09/25. Me and my husband are 27, and we have a 2 year old who we got pregnant with on our first try. I had been pregnant one time before that when my birth control failed. We thought we’d have no trouble conceiving given our age and previous proven fertility, but clearly have been struggling.

All of my tests and his have came back well before my AMH being at a 1.7, which is low for my age. We started seeing an RE and after an unsuccessful round of IUI with clomid, I got pregnant my second round using letrozole. However this ended in a chemical (I wasn’t too surprised, my HCG was at a 7.44 at 14DPIUI).

I’ve obviously been doing a lot of research since getting our unexplained secondary infertility diagnosis, and have been reading more and more about silent or asymptomatic endo. I have some period and ovulation pain, and some pain during intercourse, but if it weren’t for the infertility, I don’t know that I would have known. I have a 3D ultrasound coming up whenever my period comes back to look for any markers. Looking to see if anyone has any experience with this! I have read that silent endometriosis potentially contributes up to fifty percent of unexplained infertility cases.

[u/BexclamationPoint]

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I had almost no endo symptoms when I was around your age. Over a few years, I slowly did start to get symptoms that couldn't be explained away as "oh that's just PMS" or "oh periods just suck and some pain is normal". Pain during sex was my first noticeable symptom as it was a very distinct, specific type of pain. Then I had pain during bowel movements while on my period, etc. I had also had a child already, many years ago, so thought as soon as I tried to get pregnant again, it would be quick. Wasn't the case and I got discouraged and would go back on BC every so often. I am now in my early 30s trying again and so had a workup and they did see signs of endo on my MRI (they didn't see any on ultrasound). I have been trying some lifestyle (diet, supplementing) changes that I think have decreased my symptoms, which makes me hopeful it could actually still happen.

All that to say, it could very well be silent endo which might progress to symptomatic endo, but its good you're looking into it and I hope you get reassurance or at least answers soon. Wishing you luck 🤞

[u/AB-1987]

I had also trouble conceiving the second, and it was endometriosis without many symptoms. I went to a first appointment with a fertility doctor and he did an ultrasound, poked around with the wand a bit and I squeaked. Thats were the endometriosis was. It wasn’t even blocking anything but the doctor said it might change the local hormones/environment enough to hinder conception, it isn’t too well-researched yet. Had an operation four weeks later and got pregnant a couple of months later. Of course we‘ll never truly know if that was the culprit, but I‘ll take it. I had some random pain throughout the cycle but never the huge bleeds and pains you read about. My AMH was also low for my age.

Feel a bit bad for the women with horrible symptoms who run from doctor to doctor for years suffering. I wasn’t even trying to get a diagnosis and got it fixed immediately.