Pregnancy after Chlamydia?

[smile7060]

Hello! I am new here, and I am slightly worried and scared... so I decided to seek out some others who may have had the same situation or who can reassure me that I will be ok... and that there is hope.

So here is my story: Five years ago, in 2010 I contracted chlamydia from an ex boyfriend who was sleeping with others. As soon as I found out about the cheating, I never spoke to him again, and simply moved on with my life. Three months later I had met a wonderful person, and was just starting to date again. I did not yet know that I had contracted chlamydia, and unfortunately passed it to my new partner. Shortly after dating we discovered that infact something was a little off. I went to the Dr. and was diagnosed, and we were both treated with a few rounds of antibiotics. This is something that realistically should not have been a big deal. In the scheme of things I had only had this STI for three months, and had it treated as quickly as possible as soon as I knew.

Side note: The silver lining in all of this is that I am still with my partner five years later, and he is still just as wonderful Even through it all, he was accepting, supportive and present.

You can imagine though that I was absolutely stressed to the max, and at this point not really sure where I stood with my body or with my new relationship... and so you could say I was literally sick with worry. About a week and a half after taking all of those antibiotics, I started to develop these weird symptoms of a bladder infection. It started gradually and then it hit me all at once. Of course, me already being out of my mind, I freaked some more, and went straight back to the Dr. He tested my urine and said " there is no bacteria". Ok, great (NOT) what the heck is going on. I told him my whole history of the STI and about the numerous rounds of antibiotics I was just previously on a week prior. He had no clue, and sent me home.

So I tried to remedy it myself, if there was no infection what the heck was happening to me? I tried to rest, drink lots of fluids etc... It continued to get worse, and I continued to go to the Dr. adamant that something was wrong. I desperately wanted them to find something. To make a long story short, I ended up in the hospital and had blood tests, pelvic exams, STI tests, UTI tests. Everything came back negative, including for Chlamydia at this point.

So again I was sent home still with these bladder symptoms similar to a UTI with out an infection present. At this point, I had understood that I had stressed myself out so badly that there was a good chance that it was significantly adding to my condition, so I decided to do some research and get down to the bottom of it. I changed my diet, and I was eventually tentatively diagnosed with a condition called Interstitial Cystitis. Which is a condition that has similar symptoms to a UTI but no bacteria. I was given medication to take, and after a couple months my medication was working quite well, I started to have a decrease in symptoms and went back to work.

Fast forward five years, I have been on this medication for almost 4.5 years, and generally I do not have any problems whatsoever with my bladder unless I eat something or drink something that makes it upset (kind of like irritable bowel syndrome). Alcohol and coffee especially.

So my concern: The last week my partner and I have actually discussed having kids next FALL. I am SO excited, as being a mum is the most important thing to me in the world...but I am now petrified that my previous issues could have damaged my fertility. I keep reading on the internet ( which I know isn't always good) that you can have scarring from an untreated chlamydia infection and sometimes can have "silent PID" or pelvic inflammatory disease. I have never had any of the symptoms of PID that are overt, like bleeding, severe abdominal pain, discharge, fever, etc. The overt symptoms when you think of a pelvic infection. I was also checked numerous times for PID back when I was having trouble with my bladder and told that " I would have known if I had PID". Well here I am now again, freaking out that I have still managed to have scarring that will prevent me from having my own family.

I think the reason why it bothers me so much is that I had SO much trouble with my bladder, that I think " perhaps THAT was PID?" Was my body trying to tell me this by having symptoms in my urinary tract rather than in my uterus, but still had an effect on my uterus? Did the Dr. miss it every single time? I like to think that is probably not likely.

I have been perfectly fine for almost five years and realistically have had no anxiety about any of it, just chalked it up to something that was unfortunate that happened, and I have been lucky enough to have a fairly normal life with a really great partner. It is only after our conversation about having a family that my mind started to do flips. Am I just over reacting?

Is there anyone who has had this STI and had successful pregnancies just fine?

 

[MindUtopia]

I haven't been in exactly your situation, but I just wanted to reassure you. I work in sexual health and chlamydia is such a common infection. So, so many women get it at some point in their lives and the fact that you discovered it and had it treated quickly and recovered completely (in the sense that you didn't continue to have re-infections from your new partner) is a very good thing. PID is usually something that develops after years and years of an undiagnosed STI and usually presents with lots of unpleasant symptoms. The fact you haven't had any of these and all your check-ups have been fine should be a really promising sign. I know it's incredibly hard not to worry though, because these sorts of things can be really stressful and unfortunately, until you try to get pregnant, you never actually know how easy it will be (that's the case for everyone, and for most people, it's pretty easy, even if they worry about it beforehand). But really, the good thing is that there isn't an obvious sign that anything has happened that would impact on your fertility. So that's really good news.

Like I said, I haven't been in your situation exactly, but before I had my daughter I did have several years of abnormal (potentially pre-cancerous) cells on my cervix. They popped up during a cervical smear test in my 20s and I was advised to have them biopsied. Unfortunately, I was living in the U.S. at the time and that month I lost my job and my health insurance, so I couldn't afford the $1000 for the biopsy out of pocket, so I couldn't get it done. It was another probably 2 years before I had health insurance again - so I literally sat around with potentially cancerous cells on my cervix for 2 years without having it dealt with. I finally was able to have them removed, which adds scar tissue to the cervix (something that can impact on fertility), and they were fine (abnormal, but not cancerous enough to worry too much about). That was about 6 years ago and they've not returned. Abnormal cervical changes are usually caused by the HPV virus, which is an STI like chlamydia, but which can't actually be treated. 80% of women in their 20s and 30s have had it at some point and in most people the body clears it out on its own within a few years, but not before it can sometimes cause these sorts of problems, including cervical cancer and PID. So most likely, I've had HPV at some point, though it never progressed to cervical cancer or PID, and it's been cleared out of my body at this point as I've not had any more problems. These sorts of things though are so incredibly common in women our age and since most of us have no trouble getting pregnant, they don't seem to cause any lasting problems (other than a lot of worry sometimes). Even after the biopsy and the scar tissue, I got pregnant easily (2nd month after I stopped my pills) and I had an easy, healthy pregnancy. So I know it's easy to worry, but the reality is you seem otherwise healthy - apart from the interstitial cystitis, which I know sucks, but I wouldn't really worry it's connected to anything fertility wise - and you haven't had any recurrent infections or other gyn problems, so I'd be very pleased about all that and feel confident that all will be fine. Sometimes it's easier said than done though, I know.

 

[smile7060]

Thank you so much for writing me back, it means SO much to me that you took the time to reassure me.

I have been able to calm down the last few days, and this message just confirms that I need to breathe and relax. I have never even actively tried to have a baby (although we only use the pull out and have for two years, of course this doesn't mean that I will get pregnant... we are quite careful.) so I do realize that I am most likely over analyzing the situation... although as you said it is easier said than done not to worry sometimes about something so significant.
I cried as a read what you wrote, it gave me a great deal of hope back, so I really appreciate it.

As for my bladder condition of IC, looking back on it now, it has been so long since I really even cared to think about it, as it no longer affects my life in a negative way. I did see a specialist way back when, and he actually told me that there was a very good chance that because of the massive shock to my body in relation to taking so many antibiotics that I was having a response reaction essentially. He explained that my bladder could have been in shock because of the toxicity of the medication all at once, coupled with the stress, and that eventually I may not need medication at all. As it just so happens I have actually been off my medication entirely for the last 2 months with out a single problem, so he could very well be right. This is generally the answer that I have satisfied myself with all these years, until I started over thinking it of course.

The reasoning behind so many antibiotics, was because I was re tested to soon for the STI (I think they suggest waiting 8 weeks? I was re tested after 10 DAYS, so of course I still came back positive.) I was given two packs of Zithromax, a week of Doxycycline and a week of penicillin in total. Looking back I realize this was probably not necessary. Ouch

I am so glad you were able to have your cells removed and have a healthy successful pregnancy. It must have been slightly terrifying to be walking around with potentially harmful cells on your cervix! I can only imagine you were quite worried as well.

Best wishes when you start trying again! Sounds like you will try slightly before me!

Thanks again.