Do you/would you have beta testing done?

[AwesomeSauce]

A little history on me. Last may I was nearly 11 weeks pregnant when I began to spot. I went in for a first appointment and scan only to find I was pregnant with a blighted ovum. Two days later I wasn't spotting anymore, so I had a d&c done. A month and a half later I found myself pregnant again. At 5 weeks I had my midwife do beta testing. My numbers did not double, not even remotely close, but I didn't miscarry right away. Four days of hell waiting for the worst to happen or to find I had an ectopic, I had a scan and found a beautiful growing baby in a perfect spot with a heartbeat. Through out that oregnancy I had several scans, and each time the baby was growing perfectly on schedule. I carried my baby until almost seventeen weeks. That week I went in for a regular check up and found that he was dead.

At any rate, my question for those of you who beta test is why do you do it?

What would you do if the results were bad like mine were but you did not miscarry right away?

Would you attempt peace of mind via beta testing again in a subsequent pregnancy?

 

[Starry Night]

Hi, I am so sorry for your losses.

Personally, I would rather not get my betas done. I don't think I can get them done here unless I am having problems and I don't want problems! But even if I could request them I would not take them. I've had a loss, a pregnancy where I lost one twin but kept the other (my son) and then I've had another loss. My last pregnancy I had trouble with doubling hcg but that one dragged out to 12 weeks and ended up being a mmc (baby had slow growth and died about 7ish weeks). All those blood tests and obsessing over the numbers for over a month just made me a huge wreck!

This time DH and I are taking a "no news is good news" approach. But this is different from my other pregnancies. For those I NEEDED to know the numbers and wanted as many scans as possible. This time I want bare minimum and get only what a normal, healthy pregnancy requires. I guess I'm trying to recapture that innocence.

 

[Amsan]

My first dr with this pregnancy only checked my betas twice, once to get a number to compare to and then the second to make sure it had gone up, which it had. This was at 4-5 weeks I think.
I ended up leaving that OB to go to another because they missed very vital things with this pregnancy (subchorionic hematoma, cyst, and they didn't test progesterone levels AT ALL).
Now, I'm 11w3d and I got a call yesterday from my NEW ob telling me my betas had dropped significantly and they think I'm losing this baby also, but they wouldn't see me until Tuesday for my normal 12 week checkup.
I wasn't accepting that so I went to the ER last night to see if there was a heartbeat still, and there was, just as strong as it was the first day we found the heartbeat.
So, I think in the beginning, with MY body at least, it was a good thing. But now I don't know whats going on with this pregnancy. I hear that the betas drop significally between 10-12 weeks as the placenta finally takes over but I don't know, I'm no doctor. I'm going to be highly pissed if my OB made me have a melt down yesterday for no reason at all though.

 

[busybeaver]

Hi awsome, so sorry you have to go through this again!

In three of my mcs, the hcg did not go up as expected; my GP planned them as re-assuring and they ended up anything but!
Last one after starting treatment for my thyroid, however, hcg went up picture book like - still miscarried, though (#5), so they will never bring me peace of mind.
So this time round (also because I was surprised by the BFP), I checked them twice, 1 week apart to make sure they rise properly (thus more or less exclude ectopic) before I started Heparin injections.

My own experiences aside, I have read many stories about low or not-properly-rising hcg levels, which turned out fine. So it might be bad news, but it does not have to be the worst.

Again, with my first three mcs, I started spotting before I had an US check and started miscarrying just days after the US. The fourth was very early, and started bleeding right away without any prior spotting. The fifth was a missed mc; I waited nearly 4 weeks before I started to bleed, but I just wanted to take nature it's turn. I would not do that again, though, as it threw me in quite a bit of depression. I think with a missed mc it is better to end it quickly with a d&c. I hope you will never have to make this decision, but just in case: decide what is best for you - it is a good time to be egoistic!

Big

 

[Hope39]

Hi awsome, so sorry you have to go through this again!

In three of my mcs, the hcg did not go up as expected; my GP planned them as re-assuring and they ended up anything but!
Last one after starting treatment for my thyroid, however, hcg went up picture book like - still miscarried, though (#5), so they will never bring me peace of mind.
So this time round (also because I was surprised by the BFP), I checked them twice, 1 week apart to make sure they rise properly (thus more or less exclude ectopic) before I started Heparin injections.

My own experiences aside, I have read many stories about low or not-properly-rising hcg levels, which turned out fine. So it might be bad news, but it does not have to be the worst.

Again, with my first three mcs, I started spotting before I had an US check and started miscarrying just days after the US. The fourth was very early, and started bleeding right away without any prior spotting. The fifth was a missed mc; I waited nearly 4 weeks before I started to bleed, but I just wanted to take nature it's turn. I would not do that again, though, as it threw me in quite a bit of depression. I think with a missed mc it is better to end it quickly with a d&c. I hope you will never have to make this decision, but just in case: decide what is best for you - it is a good time to be egoistic!

Big

Hey BusyB

I have also had 5 mc and they were caused by my thyroid, I still haven't stabilized my tsh and I started thyroxine in Oct 2011, absolute nightmare

I am pregnant again though and have managed to get Prednisolone, Clexane, Progesterone and High Dose Folic

Have you been prescribed heparin as a 'just in case' or do you have clotting problems

Xx

 

[busybeaver]

Hi Hope,

I honestly think that my first three mcs were due to my thyroid, especially the first, the only one where we saw a heartbeat. They just were so exactly alike. Spotting started basically on the same day (7 + 2) for a week before I would miscarry. #4 I put down to bad luck, as it was so early and different from all the others and #5 - I don't know.

But what I have tried is to keep my Ft4 in the upper range of the reference range - around 20 and more or less disregard the TSH. If I keep my TSH anywhere reasonable, I get hypothyroid symptoms. I can't loose any weight, for example, if my thyroid is above 0.5 (even without chocolate and hitting the gym at least 3 times a week)
Keeping the Ft4 high means I should have a "deposit" for the early stages of the pregnancy until I get the BFP; endo said to increase immediately after the BFP by 25 µg and I found a nice treatment recommendation from the NHS in Newcastle that looks very reasonable to me and that my GP and I have agreed to follow.

I had all the tests done and they came back normal, but the doctor from the IVF clinic we went to last year said to throw everything at it that would not harm it; so I am talking progesterone, (low dose) prednisolon, heparin injections, vitD and high dose of folic acid - just in case.

Let's hope we make it and these are our sticky beans!

 

[Hope39]

We have pretty much same history, my first 3 were all missed mc, baby dies at 6w I found out at 12 or 9 weeks,we seen a heartbeat for No3. No4 never measured right, at 6w scan it measured 4 to5w then I bled at 7.5w. No5 had a heartbeat at 7w and stopped a few day later, I found out at 9w

My endo wants my tsh between 1-2, when I was first diagnosed in oct 2011tsh was 9, it then went up to 42 and slowly came back down by increasing thyroxine each month. In September 2012 last year it had dropped to 0.3, my endo made me wait 3 months for a blood test and it was then 0.05 so dropped my dose, next month 0.08 so dropped dose again and it gets re tested in 2 weeks but I am pregnant again.

Do you have thyroid antibodies? I do and I think they are attacking the baby as its classes as a foreign object due to it having half my partner DNA. Hopefully the prednisone will suppress them

I'm taking same meds as you although I've ran out of vit d

What's this new NHS thing you are doing with your gp, do you have a link

Xx

 

[busybeaver]

Yup, I have Antibodies, but they have not been measured in a while; my old GP (he retired recently) just did not see a point in testing them, so I only got them tested once a year when I visit my mum by the GP there who has known me since childhood.
They are also the reason why I wanted prednisolon so badly. I also think that they attack the baby as foreign tissue. However, I think for thyroid antibodies the dose doesn't have to be as high as for NK cells.

I found the file on the NHS procedure again, you can access it here: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...=a1bF_DtJKXw6M0CsDmFz5Q&bvm=bv.44770516,d.d2k

Appendix 5 on page 24 describes thyroid management during pregnancy. I don't think it is new, more a case of postcode lottery - and you are lucky if you are from around Newcastle; Hope it helps.

And I found that ASDA is doing a VitD supplement that consists only of D3 (which is the one we need); it is the one for kids (chewable one). That is the one I am using at the moment. It is a low dose (400 IU), but you can dose it to the level you need.

 

[Hope39]

I forgot to mention quite important, I did extensive research on how to reduce thyroid antibodies, all pointed back to a gluten free diet so I did it off and on throughtout 2012, had a blow out at christmas then been strict gluten free since jan 2013, then I srarted to reduce my dosage so I do believe gluten free helps. Next blood test will be interesting but I'm pregnant

Xx