Unexplained infertility is not unexplained

Just wanted to share my story in hopes that it could help someone else. My husband and I have been trying to conceive for 4 years. We tried 4 IUI cycles with letrozole and conceived on that 1st cycle but lost it at 5 weeks. In the 1st year I didn’t think there was anything wrong with me and I thought I was perfectly healthy and multiple doctors did multiple tests and came back with the answer of unexplained infertility. As time went on I began to question "well if everything is normal, I should be able to conceive." I got all the typical responses: just realx, just get drunk, just go on vacation, it'll happen when you least expect it. It wasn't until I went to an accupuncturist that I started to be able to put the pieces together. She encouraged me to talk about my monthly symptoms and chart them and boom-she helped me figure out a root cause! She suspected endometriosis because of my intense back pain during my periods (I had other minor symptoms but the back pain was the biggest one). From here I had to fight doctors to seriously look into endometriosis but I found the right doctor and 8 weeks ago had it surgically removed from 6 different places in my pelvis! I don't know yet if I'll be able to conceive naturally but that's the hope since my ovaries, tubes, uterus all looked good after the surgery. The endometriosis was my root cause all along and I'm thrilled to have that root cause addressed! Know that painful, heavy periods are not normal. If you have painful, heavy periods find a doctor that will listen to you and help you find the root cause. Do your own research and be your own advocate. Endometriosis is extremely common (it affects 1 in 9) and is a leading cause of infertility. Unfortunately a lot of OBGYNs aren't properly educated on identifying symptoms of endometriosis and the only official way to diagnose it is through surgery so often times it gets missed and takes women an average of 9 years to get a diagnosis. And if you do get surgery for it get excision surgery not ablation surgery. Ablation surgery only burns off the surface tissue and leaves much of it behind where excision involves removing the tissue fully and has shown to have much better pain reduction outcomes. Please speak up for yourself and find the right doctor if you think something is wrong!.