Getting a Different Ovary to Ovulate

[Renaendel]

I don't think this is possible, but I figured I would ask.

I lost my right tube in Ectopic War 1 in January 2013. We have been trying medicated cycles since May of 2014 but I keep ovulating on the right. I HATE that this is my dominant follicle since I don't have a tube to transport it.

I was able to get pregnant once with a right side ovulation, somehow the other tube picked it up, of course I MCd. I don't know if I have much more luck in me.

The ultrasounds are confirming a left side ovulation maybe one out of every 3-4 cycles. My RE has me on Femara because of my age (35). Do you guys have any tips or tricks to help me ovulate on the left side for once.

My first thought is maybe it is blood flow related? I mean there has to be a reason why one follicle is more dominant than the other. Maybe ovarian massage or changing my sleeping position could have a small effect. Maybe I just need more ovary stimulating drugs to do something... I start this round of Femara in 3 days.

 

[Hatethewait85]

After LTTC (and going through IUI, IVF with no luck), I finally got my BFP this summer and it ended up ectopic. I lost my right tube, too. I've been seeing an acupuncturist and she referred me to a mayan abdominal massage therapist a couple of months ago to help with blood flow. It hasn't worked, yet... but I've just been ttc naturally up until now. So I have no idea what side I've ovulated on since trying after the ectopic 3-4 months ago. I just did my last massage this week - she only recommends trying it for 2-3 months and if no luck, then it's not the solution.

This is my first month taking drugs to stimulate my ovaries since the ectopic. My RE is pretty aggressive and has me taking 12.5mg of letrozole. I took this dose once for an IUI way back when and made 5 follicles. I go in on Tuesday (CD11) to check on things this time.

So, certainly the "easiest" solution would be to just up your femara dose to help wake up your left ovary. Have you ever considered acupuncture? It's really supposed to help with blood flow and is supposed to reduce the risk of ectopics significantly (although I did have my ectopic despite acupuncture!)

I'll be interested to see if any others have thoughts! Wishing you lots of luck.

 

[Renaendel]

I think I need to talk to her about upping the dose. I am on five mg and I had only one 16mm follicle on my day 12 ultrasound, on my right side of course. I am also interested in what others are saying about this.

 

[Briss]

I do not think you can make your body choose a different ovary for ovulation, as far as I know it's random and each cycle your body will choose the best egg and let that follicle become dominant. having said that i tend to ovulate on my left side most cycles but this is because I have more follicles on the left side. I was told it's most likely that my right ovary is running out of eggs which can explain my high FSH and low response to stimulation. I have several IVFs with different stim doses and the result is the same my left ovary will always have more follicles than the right so I guess that's why I naturally ovulate more often on left side- there are more eggs there.

I think since you have only one tube your body will adjust and move it to collect the eggs from both ovaries but it would be interesting to know if there is anything you can do to help your body with this.

 

[spiritbear]

Hi there, I agree that acupuncture may be worth a try. It has done wonders for me in regulating my cycles and symptoms and I know that the premise is to bring blood flow to different areas. Most insurance plans cover several visits a year (mine is 12).

best of luck to you and hopefully this part of the journey will be over for you soon

 

[Renaendel]

After reading, it looks like most women are right dominant. The theory is that due to our anatomy not being symmetric the left ovary doesn't drain as effeciently as the right. This means that if you get a cyst on the left and don't get pregnant that it won't resolve as fast so the right takes over again.

So just for the heck of it I am trying light ovary massage on the left once a night to hopefully increase blood flow to the area. I have an appointment with my RE on the fifth about possibly moving from femara to injectables. My ultrasound to check follicles is a week from tomorrow.

Spiritbear, I live in a pretty small town. I don't think we have an acupuncturist, let alone a fertility specialized one. I might have to drive a few hundred miles to the ivf center for that. Luckily my RE makes the commute here once a month so I'll get here take on things when I meet with her next.

 

[spiritbear]

After reading, it looks like most women are right dominant. The theory is that due to our anatomy not being symmetric the left ovary doesn't drain as effeciently as the right. This means that if you get a cyst on the left and don't get pregnant that it won't resolve as fast so the right takes over again.

So just for the heck of it I am trying light ovary massage on the left once a night to hopefully increase blood flow to the area. I have an appointment with my RE on the fifth about possibly moving from femara to injectables. My ultrasound to check follicles is a week from tomorrow.

Spiritbear, I live in a pretty small town. I don't think we have an acupuncturist, let alone a fertility specialized one. I might have to drive a few hundred miles to the ivf center for that. Luckily my RE makes the commute here once a month so I'll get here take on things when I meet with her next.

That is interesting because I've noticed that I seem to always ovulate on the right too. Good luck at your ultrasound, hopefully you have some ready follicles!! I am getting my first ultrasound to check follicles next Sunday and starting my first round of fermera as well.

Wow, that's awesome the RE comes into town once a month so you don't have to drive all that way- hopefully she has some good ideas!

 

[Renaendel]

Ohh cool, well let me know what side it is this month for you. Keeping my fingers crossed that we will both be in luck.

 

[spiritbear]

Thanks!! You too I was pleasantly surprised today that my insurance covered my fermera when I was expecting to pay out of pocket so I guess this cycle is already off to a good start ;-)

I hope the massage helps wake up the left ovary too. A while back I think I saw some youtube videos on massage to stimulate ovaries? I'll keep an eye out for anything else I see on stimulating a specific ovary.

 

[Hatethewait85]

That's really interesting about the right sided dominate. Bummer for us with the left tube then. Unfortunately for me even though I was on 12.5mg of femara this last cycle my right ovary still stole the show. I had 3 follicles on my R and 1 on my L. Unfortunately the 1 on my L was much smaller than the largest follicle on my R (15mm vs 22mm) so they pretty much told me it was a wasted cycle. Didn't make it any easier for me when AF arrived today though.

My doc did give me samples of follistim to use with the letrozole for my next cycle, unfortunately I won't be able to get my day 11 monitoring because I'll be on a long weekend trip on days 10-12. So I will have to wait another month. Oh well.

Hope you are all faring better!

 

[spiritbear]

How frustrating I'm sorry to hear that. I hope next month is the one for you.

 

[Renaendel]

Follitism samples you say?! Well I hadn't had my scan yet when I first posted this thread I just made an assumption that this month would suck given my history. Well I was correct. This month I had two 18mm follicles on the right. So it looks like I probably popped two eggs as neither was dominant. If they just would have been on that darn left ovary.

Ok, I wonder if she would be willing to do samples too. It looks so expensive, like 60-80 bucks a vial and you use 6 vials a day for like five days. That may be ivf protocol, but man no wonder it is so pricy.

 

[Hatethewait85]

You should definitely ask about samples. I never would've thought to ask, but they just offered them to me. I think they are starting to feel bad for me! I somehow had a miraculous 200+$ credit on my account and free samples? I'll take it though!

I did one hybrid IUI (follistim + letrozole) a year and a half ago and I think I bought 300 units of follistim and it was like 250$? I can't remember exactly. I do have some coverage of fertility meds though (surprisingly since I work for a catholic hospital...).

Sorry your left ovary was slacking again. This whole process is such a crap shoot isn't it?!

 

[Nv8203]

Hey Hun, my name is Victoria and I found you through simply googling my left ovary never ovulates. I am in the same boat as you, had an Ectopic, lost my right tube back in 2011, didn't even know I was pregnant for I was using condoms and birth control go figure anyways we have been trying since July 2014 and I have only ovulated one time in all that on my left so I feel your pain, frustration and impatience!!!! If you don't mind any updates since this post back in jan. 2015?! Wishing you all the best!!

 

[Renaendel]

We decided that with an ectopic in each tube that it was best to not ttc the standard way. I start stims for ivf in eleven weeks.

 

[lintu]

U can still get pregnant from your right even though u have no tube!! The ovaries arernt connected to ur tubes so it can travel to the left!

From the ectopic pregnancy trust website

Have I only got half of my fertility?
When a person has only one fallopian tube they are still able to get pregnant from an egg at the opposite ovary as an egg from one ovary can travel down the tube on the other side. Conservative estimates suggest that an egg produced on the tubeless side manages to descend the remaining tube around 15 to 20% of the time. This means that rather than your fertility being halved it has been affected by around 30% or, looking at it another way, it means we have around a 70% opportunity of conception with each menstrual (period) cycle.

 

[Renaendel]

Exactly, that was the problem lintu. I ovulated on the right, and my left tube picked it up. Then the egg got stuck in the only tube I had left. second ectopic from a cross ovary pickup. I was so lucky just to be so unlucky..

 

[bunyhuny]

Yeah, IVF sounds like a way better option. Still, make sure the doctor that does the transfer is reminded that you have had ectopics in the past so they can place the embryos slightly lower in your uterus. Ectopics can actually be from the egg getting to the uterus and then floating back up into your tubes. Some people's bodies just pull eggs into tubes more easily. (I had an IVF ectopic and lost my left tube.)

 

[Renaendel]

Fantastic suggestion. Luckily it was my RE who was managing my last ectopic. It was a monitored femara cycle. She will be doing my ivf as well. I will be sure to remind her.