Recurrent Miscarriage Thread

[Hope39]

I did a few out of the box things blue .

I had infection testing undertaken on my menstrual blood for infections in womb, I tested positive for 2 infections so my oh and I took a 25 day course antibiotics

I tested positive for thyroid antibodies so cut out gluten (been gluten free for a few years now)

I also did acupuncture from ovulation to 24w, weekly, them two weekly them three weekly, it becomes expensive!!

I did all of the above, separate surgery and took a load of meds and vits - I carried Isaac to 27w so all those little out the box things added up and helped IMO xx

 

[Milty]

Blue have you looked into immune therapy? Or had Immune testing done?

AF finally came today. It's a relief but sad all at the same time.

 

[Mrs Reineke]

Hello ladies. I read some of the posts on here and decided to tell you my story and ask for any advice or stories that may help me. I'm 31 and my husband is 33. We started TTC in February of this year and we got pregnant our 4th cycle trying which was wonderful! Sadly I miscarried at 5 1/2 weeks. I didn't have a D & C, just miscarried naturally. Then we waited a cycle and tried again. We got pregnant the 2nd month of trying after my miscarriage which was fantastic! But I miscarried again at 6 weeks. I'm devastated. I bothered the crap out of my doctor to do some test even though he normally doesn't do them until after 3 mcs. I had my Thyroid, FSH and Estradiol levels checked and they all came back normal. He also tested my AMH levels and he said they were in the normal range for my age, but on the lower half of the normal range at 1.79ng/ml. I'm freaking out because he then said I should go see a fertility specialist 2 hours away because he could explain what this means better for me. If I'm in the normal range and all of my other tests are normal, why would he think a fertility specialist is the way to go??????? I decided to get a second opinion and my new OB actually listened to me and told me that she didn't think it was necessary for me to have all the crazy tests that the fertility specialist would give me because my tests have been normal and just because I've had 2 miscarriages doesn't mean I have a fertility problem. My first OB wouldn't check my progesterone levels because he "didn't think it was necessary". I think that is ridiculous because progesterone is super important when it comes to getting pregnant and staying pregnant which is obviously where I'm having problems. I can get pregnant easily, just can't stay pregnant. My new OB is checking my progesterone on CD 21 which is on Monday. I want to know if any of you know much about normal levels for the AMH levels? Or if considering I'm technically supposedly in the "normal" range for my age if I should be freaking out like I am??? I'm literally scaring myself trying to Google it and figure it out myself. My new OB wasn't super familiar with it because it hasn't been a well known test for very long and said they normally check ovarian reserve through FSH and Estradiol which both those levels were normal for me. I really would love any advice or knowledge of this from you ladies. I also have Factor V Leiden which I have decided to take baby aspirin for. I don't normally have to take anything, but it can't hurt so I'm going to try it. Please help me with any info you all may have. Or success stories from women in similar situations. Thank you.

 

[blueblue]

Hope - thank you for your advice. Where did you have the menstrual blood testing done? I'm sorry you have had such a hard time x

Milty - thank you, I've had an auto-immune profile which came back clear, the doctor's don't seem to want to test anything else. I'm glad your AF is here, it is hard though, good luck x

Mrs Reineke - sorry you are having such a horrible time. RE: Factor V Leiden, has your doctor given you any advice apart from taking baby aspirin? Sometimes they use heparin for thrombophilias as they can cause problems in pregnancy, some of the ladies will know a lot more about it.

re: progestrone, I've had the same response from the doctor - they won't test it because I'm getting pregnant. I also have the same concerns as you, the levels may not be high enough to sustain a pregnancy. I'm glad your new doctor is more helpful. Maybe you could ask them to look at all your results together (not just the AMH on its own) and give you an idea of what it means?

 

[Hope39]

I sent a sample from UK over to Greece, i used Royal Mail

I used a company called Serum, they are in Athens

Xx

 

[Mrs Reineke]

Thank you for your advice blueblue. Yeah I think looking at all my results together is a good thing because everything has been normal, just the AMH was on the lower half of normal. Other than that everything looks great. I'm waiting to hear back from my new doctor as to whether I should worry about my AMH levels or not considering my other tests are normal. Hoping for some good news so I can stop freaking myself out.

 

[hopeful23456]

mrsm- I've had 4 early mc before my rainbows, I don't have anything that would warrant me taking anything at all (all testing was pretty normal ranges and no issues) but at my clinic here in MN they put girls on lovenox (like heparin), baby asp, progesterone and prednisone (steroid) for early, unexplained losses and it's helped me and so many girls at the clinic I went to. Especially if you have factor V I think you really need to be on lovenox at least
I also think there are unexplained immune issues that some of us may have that you can't test for, which is why lovenox (blood thinner) and prednisone help. I've read that the immune system can recognize the fertilized egg as a foreign substance and your body makes blood clots to get rid of it. This is theory though I suppose but who knows. that's why some clinics put IVF girls on lovenox and prednisone so their body doesn't reject the fertilized egg once it's implanted.
I had IUI but I did go to an IVF clinic to get info at the time. they said they hadn't really dealt with patients with many early unexplained losses and then went to IVF. almost if not all 50 people there had issues getting pregnant, not recurrent losses.

 

[Mrs Reineke]

Thank you for your advice hopeful23456. I really appreciate it.

 

[Tasha]

I absolutely agree with the blood thinners hun. You've got a clotting disorder which increases the risk of pregnancy loss (and unfortunately over complications in pregnancy), I think they need to be giving you them. The problem is many obs don't know enough about blood disorders, a haematologist maybe helpful in this case (not least because you also need to discuss about birth control, hrt, long haul flights etc).

 

[Mrs Reineke]

A hemotologist told me that because I have the hetero Leiden Factor that I don't need actual blood thinners, just baby aspirin.

 

[Tasha]

You know what I do would in that case? Ask for Xa level checking through pregnancy. I'm having that even with blood thinners so I don't think it is too much to ask for you and that will give them a better idea of if your blood gets too sticky

 

[petitpas]

Blue blue, that's rubbish. They can't test very early losses because they need a certain amount of tissue (sorry for being so crude) but I had my 8-weeker tested and I know of others who have had theirs, too. On the NHS they should offer karyotyping of a loss from your fourth mc (they prefer it to be a D&C, mind).
Also, it doesn't sound suspiciously like you are suffering from an immune issue. I would check your thyroid panel results as the fertility ranges are more strict than a GP's definition of normal. Also check that you have had the full panel tested. I can also recommend trying to see a doctor who specialises in immune therapy. If all the other tests have come back as normal then that is the next step.

 

[Mrs Reineke]

I'm waiting on results from a bunch of other tests regarding blood clotting problems right now Tasha. My doctor had me to go an actual hematologist and she took 7 viles to check for all of the other blood clotting disorders that I may have along with the Leiden Factor. She said she doesn't think I have another one along with that because I've never had a blood clot, but they wanted to check anyways just in case. Because if I do have a second one along with that, then I'd probably have to be treated with actual blood thinners verses just baby aspirin. So I'm hoping to hear the results of all of those real soon. I'm praying they all come back normal.

 

[hopeful23456]

mrsr: that hematologist obviously knows nothing about recurrent early losses

 

[Mrs Reineke]

Just heard back from the hematologist and with my Factor V Leiden that I already knew I had, all of my tests came back normal but one. It was only slightly abnormal and it is Anti-Cardiolipin Antibodies which from what the hematologist said can actually increase in pregnancy so as soon as I get pregnant again she wants to test those levels again and if they are increased then she said she would want to treat me with Lovenox during pregnancy. I of course panicked because I've already been worried about my AMH levels being in the lower half of normal and then this. I read online that Anti-Cardiolinpin Antibodies increase the chance of a blood clot as well on top of my Factor V and that it has been seen to cause recurrent miscarriages. Anyone else diagnosed with this one??? So now I have 2 blood clotting disorders, the new one may not be an issue unless my levels increase when I get pregnant again. So anyone knowing much about this or taking Lovenox I'd love to hear! Thanks ladies!!

 

[hopeful23456]

Glad they will put you on it! Demand it from bfp. I know of several that have factor V and a few with aCl,or apl, all with recurring losses who have rainbows now. All took lovenox should be some in here. I was also on babycenter rpl groups too.
Lovenox burns when injected but you just ice ahead of time and inject slowly.

 

[Mrs Reineke]

Oh hopeful23456 your name is how I'm feeling. I will take a shot that stings if it means I get my rainbow baby. I'm praying this has been the issue considering every single one of my other tests have been normal and I can get pregnant easily. This would be a true blessing if this was what was causing this and it's an easy fix. The doctor said to come in the get those levels checked for the ACL as soon as I find out I'm pregnant. Is that soon enough? I'm going to be taking baby aspirin, so I would hope if I didn't start the Lovenox until I found out I was pregnant I should be ok? I've lost both of my pregnancies early. (5 1/2 and 6 weeks).

 

[confuzion]

blueblue - agree with petpitas. They can most definitely test pregnancy tissue before 12 weeks. Don't let them tell you any different. 2 of my losses have now been tested and neither was a 12 week baby (though they passed around what would have been 12 weeks).

mrs reineke - really sounds like you do need a stronger blood thinner and hopefully lovenox will get you your rainbow.

-----

So ladies. Don't know if you remember my story. Had a vent about this on my journal so apologize to any ladies seeing it a second time. I got my pathology report from my supposed "partial molar pregnancy" which I was recently again told, no, actually it's a COMPLETE molar pregnancy. And based on my reading the original pathology report. Which, I will attach here, it seems I lost a normal pregnancy of a female. Am I wrong? Would appreciate someone taking a look.

The cells with the chromosome 9 inversion are mine, which we know from our fairly recent karyotype tests.

I am shocked, angry, disappointed with the team that was caring for me. Or really doing a good job of not really caring for me.

It kind of makes me feel better that my eggs might actually be ok and we CAN make chromosomally healthy babies. We just have to figure out what's happening to cause my losses.

From what I'm seeing in the report I can't for the life of me understand where they got the idea of a PMP. I don't think it was a complete molar either just based on the way it presented (there was never any real growth compared to the unhealthy rapid growth normally associated with a molar).

 

[dan-o]

Confuzion.

This was surely not a partial molar baby if it was diploid. Partail moles are triploid, 69 chromosomes, hence why the baby always dies at some point, usually first trimester, but can go longer. maybe it's a typo and they meant to say molars are usually triploid which would be their way of saying it's not molar. They can also test the placenta for signs of molar tissue (abnormal trophoblatic strictures) every miscarriage of mine gets tested.

If it were complete mole, there would be no baby or obvious gestational sac to show you on the scan, it's a mass with lots of tiny cysts, a bit like bubble wrap. Not that you feel any less pregnant of course, all hormones are the same or higher as are pregnancy symptoms.

Unless they are suggesting you have gestational trophoblastic disease alongside an other wise normal pregnancy?

All a bit cryptic, I hope you can get definite answers soon.

Here is a link to the Charing Cross molar pregnancy unit website explaining molar:

https://www.hmole-chorio.org.uk/patients_info_intro.html

 

[dan-o]

Also I will add that I was told the wrong information from every single gyne I saw after my partial mole and even the early pregnancy unit were misinformed at that stage. (They know a lot more now) I think molar stuff is so rare they don't come across if often.
The only people who knew what they were on about were the molar team in Charing cross themselves and for some unknown reason it took about 8 weeks of hell and heavy bleeding for me to get referred to them, from my local gyne, by which point I needed chemo! Could have potentially been avoided with a second D&C.
I think you can email Charing cross for advice if you are overseas and they will respond.