Recurrent Miscarriage Thread

[blueblue]

Mommadonna - sorry for your loss

Tasha - that is so much to go through, you must be very strong

Dairy - hope today is a better day for you. I know the 'desperate to be pregnant again' feeling after a loss, it's really tough. Facebook is particularly difficult as it only shows the happy side of other people's lives

Lynny - I'm glad everything has passed, sorry it was so traumatic

 

[sportysgirl]

Momma donna sorry for your loss.

Dairy, I hope your feeling a bit better today. I know what you mean especially after my last loss all I seem to see is pregnant ladies, babies and announcements of these. Its like rubbing in your face.

 

[LeeC]

Lynny, I don't post on here much these days but wanted to reassure. I was 39 when I conceived my son, a few months off 40 when I delivered him. I've since had further losses and at 41 am currently TTC one last time. I did wonder about egg quality and have taken Co Enzyme Q10 and soy iso's to see if this helped. It was part of my TTC regime when I got pregnant with my son.
I also took steroids, aspirin, progesterone and clexane with supplements while I was pregnant with him.
I'd had 10 losses before conceiving him.
This thread was a great source of comfort and support, the ladies on here are fab.

I'm sorry for your loss also for mommaDonna and dairy, hugs xxx.

 

[dairymomma]

Ugh. Had to log on to the evil Facebook for a bit today to check some messages from friends and literally the top half of my feed was Welcome NEW BABY So-and-SO!.... I can't just block these ladies because they are near and dear to me and honestly I can't blame them for wanting to share their news (nor do they know about any of my latest losses either) but it still hurts. I'm already finding myself thinking, "Okay, DH and I agreed on 6 months but if the naturopath says 3, then that means I could have my Spring baby next year and it'll still be before LO is 2 so I'll be good with age spacing." Argh! I do this every time! It's like I have this race with myself and I HAVE to have a baby before my youngest has another birthday. Seriously, this messes with my head and I KNOW at this point that having babies is not on my ideal timetable so it doesn't work to plan it in any way. Doesn't stop me from obsessing though.

 

[NDH]

I totally relate to you dairymomma. I so badly want 2 years or less between all my babies. My cycles took ages to return after my youngest was born and I basically gave up on expecting a 2 year gap. And then amazingly got pregnant with a due date less than 2 weeks after her birthday. When I lost that baby it became "well 2 1/2 isn't so bad. I can deal with that. As long as I'm pregnant by my would be due date"
Then with my latest pregnancy I was happy with 21/2 years between the baby and my youngest and my eldest wouldn't quite be 4.
Now my GP says I should wait 6 months to give my body a rest and my naturopath says she's inclined to agree (however I haven't seen her yet and she may say its not necessary or a shorter wait is fine) and it's looking like I won't even be pregnant on my youngest's birthday or my would be due date...

 

[Lynny77]

Thank you LeeC! That makes me feel better!

As for facebook the past couple of days I've been ruthless with the unfollow button. You don't unfriend them but their posts don't show up in your timeline. It's really nice going on facebook and not being inundated with baby/pregnancy posts.

As for timing it is pretty frustrating. Very sad I won't have my baby at christmas. I can only hope the next opportunity has a happy ending.

 

[hope1030]

Hoping you ladies can offer some advice. I am somewhat new to all this and trying my best to research but of course Google can just cause even more anxiety and conflicting info.

I went to my OB/Gyn for my two consecutive miscarriages, and as a few of you had mentioned, they are not recommending any testing at this point (no family history, under 35). My doctor did say that if I wanted to take progesterone supplements next time, she would write the prescription for me as soon as I get a BFP but that the choice was really up to me. According to her, there is no clear evidence on the progesterone supplementation and that it may or may not help and couldn't hurt. She also said testing my progesterone levels wasn't needed as there is no evidence-based level at which supplementation is recommended. For those of you on progesterone, did you take it because your levels tested low or just as a precaution? Any risks or side effects with taking? Should I ask to have my levels checked? And if so, is it better to test before TTC again or once I find out I am pregnant?

Same for baby aspirin, have any of you taken as a precaution or only if testing showed blood clotting issue?

Sorry for all the questions..I've always been the type that avoids taking medications unless necessary but of course want to do everything I can to support the next pregnancy.

 

[blueblue]

Hope 1030 - I have taken baby aspirin on my fourth pregnancy, but haven't tried progesterone. A lot of the other ladies have taken it and will know a lot more . The first consultant told me to take baby aspirin because of a family history of blood clotting (all my tests have come back negative), it didn't work that time and my RMC consultant told me not to take as there wasn't any evidence it would help. Conflicting advice so a bit confusing!

You would need to wait two cycles after a loss to test your progesterone levels to give your body a chance to get back to normal.

There was a clinical trial for progesterone called PROMISE, according to to this the results should be out March/April 2015: https://www.miscarriageassociation.org.uk/information/research/

One of the ladies on another thread said she took progesterone from ovulation onwards (and then stopped if the pregnancy test was negative) - this was to help the body only implant a viable egg. It worked for her and she has a 19 month old.

 

[eabwhab]

Hello ladies,

I have not posted here n a while. First of all sorry for all your losses to the ladies who have joined this thread.

I hope it is ok to jump in this thread with my story....
I have had 3 MC. I did extensive testing including NK activity, DQ-alpha....
A few things have come back abnormal. My fiancee and I have a partial DQ-alpha match and if the baby gets the same genetic bit from both of us, then this could trigger my immune system to attack the baby. So I will be on intralipids for that. They also found only one (out of the many they checked) AUTO-ANTIPHOSPHOLIPID ANTIBOY positive . Because of this, the reproductive immunologist wants to put me on HEPARIN, since these antibodies have been correlated with blood clotting. Finally, the RE who did my first IVF found a mildly low protein S activity and level. Activity was 57 (normal is 65-150%) and level is 43% (normal 65-150%). She told me to go see a vascular medicine specialist and that I would probably need HEPARIN. The cardiovascular specialist told me heparin is not necessary. I had the impression he did not deal much with women with RPL.... and he blamed it all on my age.... I am 39 now . I wanted to cry. I read you ladies were just talking about this. Now I dont know what to do....Heparin or not? I have to dcide soon as I am already on suppression medication for my next IVF cycle (sadly I also have issues with my tubes and don't want to get another tubal) Is there anybody here who was prescribed heparin? Any help, input, suggestion is really really appreciated. I feel so lost and don't know what to do
I am so sorry for such long post and for the rant. I just don't know who to talk to.... Sadly I have to do IVF and I cannot afford to just "try" if aspirin alone will work.... Again sorry for such a long post. Thanks for reading all the way to the end.

 

[dairymomma]

hope-I take progesterone because my levels have typically been on the lowest end of normal for my gestation and I tend to m/c around the same time (7-9.5 weeks) so my dr figured my progesterone is either too low to start with or it's dropping too much before the placenta can take over. However, he prescribed it without any testing done prior and just basing his reasoning off of when I was losing my babies. It worked for DS and my daughters. I also take a baby aspirin as my dr felt it was one of those 'it can't hurt' things and we didn't know if I had a clotting disorder. My tests came back negative but he said it's possible I have something that's not yet known to affect pg so I keep taking it. As of right now, I take progesterone and baby aspirin from bfp to 13-14 weeks before weaning off the progesterone and the baby aspirin become hit/miss if I take it. I've been told there's no risk in taking progesterone and it's not going to hurt to take it if you don't need it.

However, my recent losses have been so close and I'm unable to sustain the pg even if a heartbeat has been detected so we're looking into a diagnosis of hyper-fertility. Pretty much I think I'm catching eggs that normally wouldn't be caught because there's something wrong with it. If I am diagnosed, it looks like the most common treatment would be to take progesterone from ovulation to 13dpo, test and if bfp stay on the supplements, if bfn stop and wait for AF. I'm working with a naturopath though too and may try some different supplements for increasing egg quality.

 

[dairymomma]

eab-sorry, cross posted with you. First off, I'm sorry for your losses and your fertility troubles. I'm unable to help much with your questions but I can tell you that in a situation like this, I'd probably trust your gut. Llook at who is telling you NOT to take it-a cardio dr who you say isn't well versed in RMC and reproductive medicine and who is telling you take give it a try-the drs who deal with pregnancy and reproduction every day. But ultimately, I think it comes down to you and how you feel about it-do you feel like it would help you make it to term?

AFM-ugh. Post-m/c hormones suck sour apples and rotten eggs...I'm so sick of feeling pg and bleeding. I just want this over so I can move on. Tested yesterday AM and my lines are still fairly dark despite it being a week since the loss though I know to expect the usual 3 weeks before my lines disappear. Also, I got back what looks like the initial lab report from my tissue sample. I'm not sure if they are doing any further testing on it but the report says they did a visual microscopic exam and there's a gestational sac, clots, and....that's it. No fetal tissue found. So I'm not sure how I missed catching at least some part of one of the babies but whatever I guess...

 

[Squig34]

Eab - I would take the heparin - I think if you're positive for that antibody you have antiphospholipid syndrome? If that is correct, then here in the UK, Clexane (same as heparin) is prescribed for women with that condition. BrunetteBimbo had a rainbow a few months ago after being prescribed Clexane due to antiphospholipid syndrome. I don't know if she still checks this thread but you could pop to her parenting journal and ask her more.

Hope - progesterone is just part of the protocol here (NI/UK) for RM - I've had my progesterone levels checked (not while pg though) and they were fine. I have to take it from ov and then keep taking if I get a BFP; stop if not. Aspirin - less sure about. Some consultants here use it as a standard part of their protocol, some don't and I've been told by a couple that they don't recommend it because studies are now showing it's contra-indicated (can cause mc) unless the woman has a blood clotting disorder. I had it in my fifth pregnancy and lost it; I didn't have it in my sixth and got to 21 weeks (lost the baby then due to IUGR although I don't yet know why). I was on progesterone both those times, although I also had an endometrial scratch between my fifth and sixth pregnancies and I think that helped. Some women on here swear by taking baby aspirin so the jury is really out!

Dairy, that's happened to me twice. I also have no idea how the tissue I provided couldn't have had any fetal tissue, especially as one of them the sac came out intact though it then burst in my underwear, and I'd seen babies with heartbeats so I know they were there... It's really frustrating though because you're hoping for answers.

 

[NDH]

I saw the naturopath today. She says I need to get my thyroid checked as its definitely abnormal. Iron is low and zinc is really low and my gut health is not very good - I'm unable to digest my food well enough to absorb the nutrients I need. She really thinks my gut is the main issue all my other problems are stemming from so I need to focus on that primarily and increase my zinc and iron levels as well. She doesn't think I need to wait the six months my GP said I should wait, but did suggest at least two cycles to focus on my overall health before actively trying. I can live with that.

 

[Tasha]

Hope, I'm on 400mg of progesterone twice a day but have never had my progesterone tested. It has no side effects other than it can make pregnancy symptoms stronger, like breasts sorer etc. That's why in the UK many doctors will prescribe without seeing a low result as it can't hurt.

As for aspirin the same was said for that but that's not the case now, it's recommended you talk to a specialist as it can cause MC in women who've not got clotting disorders. I'm on aspirin but have clotting disorders.

Eab, you need to be on heparin, you are right. It's so important throughout pregnancy (not just first tri). I will find some research for you later.

 

[Tasha]

N, that actually sounds positive because it is fairly easy to fix.

 

[NDH]

I'm definitely feeling positive after my appointment. I will be seeing my Dr on Monday as well about getting blood work done as I can't get in to the gynecologist for a few months just to make sure there isn't anything else going on. But this naturopath specializes in fertility so I'm confident she would have identified if there were other issues going on.

 

[blueblue]

Eab - could you speak to the reproductive doctor again about any concerns? I also would take their advice more than the doctor without reproductive/rmc experience. Sorry things are so difficult, it must be very hard to go through IVF as well as RMC

Dairy - I'm so sorry you weren't able to get answers from the testing. Last time I passed the sac but couldn't see the baby in it

NDH - ask your naturopath but have you tried probiotics for your gut issues? I found higher dose (6 billion upwards, I take 20 billion now) really helped with bloating etc and hopefully with digestion. They also really helped reduce my sugar cravings. I'm glad the naturopath is helping

 

[eabwhab]

Ladies,
thank you all so very much for giving me your thoughts and suggestions. Reading your replies made me feel so much less lonely. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

I did followed your suggestions and called the reproductive immunologist. He said he feels very strongly about me taking heparin, so I guess problem solved
I am not sure whether I have antiphospholipid syndrome, because only one of the antibodies came back positive, but I guess I want to cover all basis, so I will take heparin. I hope it will not affect embryo quality.

Thank you again so very much!

Dairym, I am sorry you are dealing with this. It is so hard and frustrating. I was in the exact same situation with my last mc. I so badly wanted to know whether it was a genetic problem, but biopsy did not return results due to maternal contamination. I hope your body goes back to normal soon. What are your next steps?

Squig, Tasha, Blueblue thanks so much for your input. I hope I have not missed anybody.

NDH My Re also mentioned selenium as an important mineral

Hello to everybody else as well.

 

[NDH]

Blue, I do definitely need to work on probiotics (my preference is through fermented foods) but weirdly I don't have any bloating except during AF and no bowel issues either.

Eab she tested all my mineral levels and zinc was the only one that registered low. I love Brazil nuts and eat them regularly so my selenium is well covered 1 Brazil but has 100% of the RDI for selenium!

 

[blueblue]

Eabwhab - I'm really glad you are feeling better about things and that the immunologist put your mind at rest