Friday, March 21, 2014

And Then There Was Biaxin

Just a friendly heads up -- I'm going to mention both endometritis (infection of uterine lining) and endometriosis (uterine lining grows in the wrong places) in this post. I warn you because they're easy to misread if you don't look at the word closely enough. I do it all the time. Oops! So there you go. Now on to the good stuff...

We met with our NaPro doc earlier this week for another one of them follow-ups. We're at the point in our treatment where our doctor just tweaks a few things, then lets us go for several cycles to see if new tweaks have worked. If not (AKA if we don't get pregnant), we meet back with him in a few cycles to do more tweaking, then more waiting, until at some point we're either pregnant or we've adopted a newborn and don't even have time to think about fertility treatments anymore. Both sound nice to me!

At my appointment, Dr. G took a look at our charts and asked us if there was anything we were worried about. I mentioned that pesky infection (endometritis) we found a while back, before surgery. John and I both took a few rounds of antibiotics to treat the infection, but I never really felt it was gone. During my surgery, Dr. G found some micropolyps, which usually indicate endometritis, but when he scraped some off and sent the cells to the lab be tested, it came back negative for endometritis. So we just left it alone and didn't do another round of the antibiotics. Which of course left me thinking that we were ignoring quite a big issue. But Dr. G said not to worry about it, so I (mostly) didn't.

Now that it's been 6 months since surgery, and I've been on Clomid and HCG injections for several months, I felt it was appropriate to bring it up again. And when I did, Dr. G was very responsive. There's a test you can do to check for endometritis, which I've had done before, way early in our NaPro workup, but it involves you being fully awake while they scrape off some of the lining of your uterus with this evil tool, and we both agreed we'd rather avoid that. So, Dr. G recommended just assuming the infection's back and treating it with Biaxin.

Dr. Hilgers, founder of the Pope Paul VI institute and King of all things NaPro, tends to focus treatment on the things he can see. And endometritis is one of those annoying things that is, in many ways, invisible. As far as I can tell, it's not painful, it doesn't have many (or any) signs to indicate its existence, and no one really knows what effects it can have on infertility, as it hasn't really been studied properly. So compared to other diagnoses, like endometriosis or PCOS, it doesn't really stand out that much and therefore, often gets pushed aside, ignored. Though Dr. G did mention that Dr. Hilgers is just now starting to look into endometritis, its causes, its effects on infertility, and its best treatments. You hear that, friends with infection? There's hope!!

As of right now, one of the recommended NaPro treatments for endometritis is Biaxin, an antibiotic to be taken on CD8-14. Hopefully that little antibiotic will be just enough to clear up all the icky infected stuff and make room for a little, precious baby to implant. Very hopefully.

But if not, we'll be meeting with Dr. G again in three cycles to discuss the next tweak. Unless, of course, we are blessed with a baby through adoption in the meantime. Then the NaPro treatments will go on hold for quite some time, I'm sure. :)

During our appointment, I did also mention that I'm quite worried about the egg-sized fibroid sitting at the top of my uterus -- is it heavy enough to weigh things down and close off my tubes when I'm standing?? But Dr. G assured me that that was not happening and that removal was way more risky (5% chance of losing your whole uterus!) than keeping it there, especially since it's on the outside of the uterus, far away from the all-important lining.

So that's all for now. Biaxin it is! And Clomid and HCG and pursual of adoption will continue like normal. I'll most certainly give you another NaPro update when (optimistically: if) we meet with Dr. G again in three cycles.

Oh, and if you have no idea what I'm talking about with all this NaPro mumbo jumbo, check this out. If you're struggling with infertility, prepared to be wowed. It's all good stuff!


25 comments:

  1. Oh biaxin, I tried to take that for a few cycles and it was rough. Take your probiotics during and after. I hope this cycle plan yields results for you :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh no! Dr. G didn't say anything about bad side effects. If you don't mind me asking, what did you experience? And thanks for the heads up on the probiotics!!

      Delete
    2. It gave me a lot of digestive issues, nausea and just overall made me tired. I don't do well on antibiotics in general so I was probably more sensitive than most.

      Delete
  2. Praying for you. Antibiotics are no fun !

    ReplyDelete
  3. Infection is just a bewildering kind of thing. Hope this antibiotic helps! I don't do well on antibiotics and to be safe...take the probiotic. You do not want C-Diff...which I've heard is just horrible.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had to google C-Diff. Sounds horrible!! Definitely getting some probiotics. And so thankful all of you are helping me out with this little tips! :)

      Delete
  4. Feel free to ignore my question, but did you have any brown bleeding? (I usually have it pre and post AF.)

    I go back to my doctor on Tuesday for my surgery follow-up, and she took cultures during my surgery, so I'll find out about infection in general, I'm sure. But I was just wondering if BB was part of endometritis?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was always told BB is an indicator of either endometritis or low progesterone.

      Delete
    2. Yep - part of both. And endometriosis and I recently heard thyroid as well.

      All of which are a checklist for me.

      I hate brown bleeding. And that is putting it lightly.

      Delete
    3. YES! I also reeeeeeally despise brown bleeding. I usually get it the last 2-3 days of AF. Though it has been getting better since I started the HCG injections. Perhaps my hormones are getting better!!

      I've always linked the TEBB to my endometritis, especially because my TEBB has disappeared before while on antibiotics. And then once I go off the antibiotics, it's back. Grrrr. But I mentioned this to Dr. G and he said while the TEBB may be caused by the infection, it's not for certain. Endometritis -- so mysterious!

      Delete
  5. This is a very informative post about endometritis! You are such a teacher (even though I know you're a youth minister)! I am glad you did not subject yourself to that awful biopsy process again! I know some people have side effects with Biaxin like Kat did. I was fine while on it but got a lot of secondary infections (yeast). Probiotics weren't enough to prevent them for me and mine were always so mild... I now just take Diflucan on a regular basis (which may be bad somehow too but the docs claim it's not). Praying for you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did you know I used to be a math teacher? :)

      The last thing I want is a yeast infection -- yikes! I've never had one before, but I hear they're not fun. Sorry you had to experience them. :( But thank you for the Diflucan recommendation. I'll definitely be looking into it.

      Delete
  6. DH and I did 21 days of Biaxin after my surgery with PPVI. We were also told to take Biaxin from CD 1 -10 during TTC Cycles. I think we tried it for 2 cycles and left it at that. The metallic taste is horrible but you get used to it after a while. We also took probiotics every day while on Biaxin.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Icky! Dr. G mentioned the metallic taste. Glad to hear you get used to it. But I'm still hoping it's not super noticeable. I'll give it a go for a while, but if it gets unbearable, I'll probably call it quits, like you. While I'm willing to do lots of things to become a mommy, I'll only let the physical suffering go so far.

      Thanks for sharing your experience, Blessed! I really appreciate all this feedback!!

      Delete
  7. I'm so happy I posted about Biaxin! All of this is such great advice! And now I'll go into it knowing what to really expect. Mega helpful. Thank you, ladies!

    Anyone else have Biaxin advice?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh yeah, now I remember getting yeast infections and then UTIs from it like Infertile Minnesota said. Probiotic is good but make sure it's a strong one like ultimate flora 50billion or something like that. Also, eat super healthy while on it and reducing your sugar intake will help with keeping yeast infections at bay. Again, I am more sensitive than most so I hope it is not bad for you at all!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Kat! I really love the specific recommendation of ultimate flora 50billion for the probiotic... 'cause I would have had no clue about which one to buy, and I certainly want the one that's going to work the best! I'll try to cut back on sugar too!

      Delete
  9. Dr G sounds great. Hope the Biaxen helps.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I hope the Biaxin works for you! Somehow I was spared from taking it, so I can't give advice on it (except take a probiotic at least 2 hours from the antibiotic). But we have taken several other antibiotics to try to combat the tail-end brown bleeding (end of the period). We're taking an antibiotic every cycle day 1-10 like Blessed mentioned above. Antibiotics are the only thing that have ever cleared the tail-end brown bleeding (temporarily) for me.

    The ladies above started the list of possible causes of tail-end brown bleeding. There are six known causes: 1. Low progesterone and estradiol 2. Low endorphins 3. Diet (food intolerances) 4. Infection
    5. Endometriosis 6. Adrenal fatigue

    Dr. Hilgers has been studying endometritis/low grade infections for years. He spent time visiting the expert in the area (Dr. Toth in NYC) to learn his treatment approaches. When Dr. H can't cure an infection, he sometimes refers people to Dr. T. A few of the other bloggers have gone to see him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, antibiotics have been the only thing to clear up my TEBB too!! But it always comes right back after I stop the antibiotics. So that makes me think the endometritis is causing the TEBB, but we're just not sure. I also have low estradiol, so that could be it too.

      I've definitely looked into Dr. Toth's treatments before. I think I've decided not to go that route, though. The traveling, the expense, the antibiotic cocktail -- I just don't think I could do it. Perhaps if he starts training doctors and one happens to be near us and accepts our insurance, I'd reconsider. Until then, I'll just stick with the Biaxin, or other monthly antibiotics. But he sure does seem like he knows his stuff when it comes to endometritis/infection.

      Thanks, polkadot!

      Delete
  11. I am so glad so many gals have come to tell you about ole Biaxin. I was hesitant to share my experience...as I am sure it's unsual but just in case it helps you, here it goes:

    We began a 21-day regimen of biaxin after my surgery 1.5 years ago. Metal taste BIG time. I can live with that though. What got crazy was when I began passing out from severe hypoglycemia it would cause me to have. TAKE WITH FOOD. This happened when I would take the pill, go to mass, then come home to eat afterwards. Bad bad bad idea. Eat and then take it. Also, l could live with that, although it was scary. The last straw was 2 weeks into the 3 week course and I began having rapid and irregular heart-beats while feeling really flush. I stopped taking it at that point since I knew it just wasn't acting right with my body. As soon as I stopped taking it, all those symptoms stopped and haven't been back. Sometimes I wonder if I should try it again...Unfortunately it was the only antibitotic I have taken that ever did work.

    Here's to hoping your reaction is anything but mine! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for sharing! I will definitely be sure to take it with food! Don't want any passing out going on!! Sorry you had to experience that! If I experience any rapid and irregular heart-beats, you can bet I'd stop ASAP too!! All of this info is so helpful. I hope Biaxin is easy on me, but if it's not, at least I know it's capable of causing some trouble.

      Delete
  12. Endometritis? Don't worry! this website can help!

    http://www.period-pain.net/Endometritis.htm

    The products is natural herbal, no side effect, long term effect, can be your best choice for Endometritis.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...