Recurrent Miscarriage Thread

[petitpas]

Laynesmomma, who did that ultrasound? If it was me, I'd go back to my regular doctor and request an urgent rescan to confirm what is going on. They will probably also do bloods to check your hcg levels.

 

[dairymomma]

Kira-have you typically miscarried around a certain time? All but one of my m/c have been between 7-9 weeks so my dr immediately went to progesterone supplements and they've helped me get to term 3 times now. (In limbo with my current pg so it may be m/c #10 or it may be rainbow #4 but I won't know til Thursday most likely when they do my scan.) But early recurrent miscarriages can be due to low or dropping progesterone levels and simply supplementing may help. I've had a progesterone level drawn with my first beta for a few of my last pgs to see what's going on with it and it's helped confirm that I need the supplements. I've also had my rH factor checked, thryoid panel, anti-clotting disorders, Lupus testing, STD testing, and some sort of a sugar level check. The only thing my dr would consider testing anymore would be my uterine shape and my tubes using an hsg but he doesn't think I have any uterine anomalies and we obviously can't do it right now since I'm (maybe/maybe not) pregnant.

Laynesmomma- Sorry you feel so lonely. It's hard feeling like you are the only one who's been in position (I feel that way often too as there aren't many women in my community or family who have had as many losses as I have) but I think the best thing for you to do is call your doctor and see where you can go from here, what tests are available, ask how/why this could have happened. He/she may or may not be able to answer that question, but at least they are a bit more qualified and have better resources for finding out what's going on. I'd also recommend talking to a counselor or therapist because it's obvious you are struggling with this situation and talking to someone neutral can really help.

 

[blueblue]

Kira / Laynesmomma - I'm so sorry for your losses. Laynesmomma - it can be a very lonely experience, I'm sorry you are feeling so alone. There are lots of ladies on here who have been through recurrent loss and there's a great deal of support and knowledge here

Kira - I've had clotting tests inc. Factor V Leiden and Prothrombin gene and anti-cardiolipins for anti-phospholipid syndrome, karyotyping for genetic issues, thyroid screen inc. anti-thyroid antibodies, vitamin D just to check the levels.

Dairy - I really hope everything goes well for you tomorrow, sending lots of luck

 

[JaiParvati]

Dairymomma, thanks for that explanation of your experience and testing you've had done. I might be on my second loss right now, hcg levels rising slowly and only a very tiny sac at what should be 6 weeks, after a loss due to blighted ovum in Oct. I'm still hopeful that #1 this pg could turn out normal, or #2 they could just be bad luck and not something "wrong".

 

[dairymomma]

Jai-I hope this isn't your second loss but if it is, I hope your doctor is willing to do some testing. Feel free to ask any questions. I may not have the answer but I can at least try to help.

AFM-

Spoiler

Today's ultrasound showed a baby with a hb. I've never been so relieved in my life. However, there is a fluid filled sac next to the baby that they aren't sure of atm. It's either a pool of blood and the hematoma could explain the evening bleeds I've been having or it's a twin. If it's a twin, the dr said it's non-viable as there's nothing really visible inside of it and the sac is about half the size of the baby's sac. The nonviable twin thing could also explain the bleeds because my body would be trying to miscarry that pregnancy while maintaining the viable one. Another ultrasound in 3 weeks to see what's going on but the radiologist will likely say the sac is one or the other.

 

[JaiParvati]

Dairymomma, congrats! What a relief. I go back for a scan and recheck betas tomorrow, it will be 6wks3 LMP. Last scan the sac was 3-4 mm. Hoping that little guy has grown.

 

[sportysgirl]

Good news dairy momma have been thinking of you.

 

[gingajewel]

Hi ladies,

Tasha suggested I visit this thread, sorry if everything is a bit jumbled, I'm going through a miscarriage at the moment and my head is a mess.
Just a bit of background, I first had a miscarriage in 2008, I didn't know I was pregnant, I just had a really bad stomach ache, went to a and e and they made me do a pregnancy test which of course said pregnant. A while later I was scanned and I was having a miscarriage. The pain was so bad they gave me pethadine (sp) and I stayed in hospital overnight.
The second time I got pregnant I was 11 weeks and 4 days pregnant and was due my 12 week scan at 11 weeks and 6 days. I went to the toilet at work, stood up and collapsed. An ambulance took me too a and e and I was found to have had a mmc and the baby had stopped growing at 7 weeks.
Later on in 2009 I got pregnant again and had a little girl in 2010.
I have never been ready to have another child, the miscarriages frightened me so much, I couldn't go through the anxiety and stress again, my feelings were I had been lucky enough to have one child, I couldn't go through all the pain of perhaps having a mc again.
Fast forward four years and at the age of 35 my bil died. My sister was devastated and heartbroken and relied on my heavily to help get her through the past year. It made me realise I wanted a sibling for my lo, I didn't want her to be alone.
So in December I stopped using contraception and in Feb i found out I was pregnant. Last Thursday I started bleeding, an emergency scan on Friday showed a heartbeat, but the bleeding has got heavier and heavier and I know I have had a mc. I am still bleeding heavy and still cramping but I just cant go to hospital. The worst part of a mc for me is seeing nothing in my tummy, been told its empty and there is nothing there, I cant do it at the moment. I am hoping that the bleeding will stop soon and that will be the end of it. But how can I ever get pregnant again, I'm terrified, I dont think my anxiety will get through twelve weeks, I just cant do this again..
I am truly gutted, my oh said I need to have an ultrasound incase anything is left inside but I dont do I? Cant I just deal with this at home and then ring my doctor and tell him I've mc? Or should I ring the mw?
My head is well and truly wrecked, I have carried on going to work through it all as I didn't want work to know and I haven't had any time to just think and process what is going on, my poor baby, I saw a heartbeat, how can this happen?

 

[SweetV]

gingajewel - I'm so sorry for your losses. I'm not sure if it is totally necessary to have a scan to ensure that everything has passed. I do know from experience that sometimes it doesn't and can lead to a bad infection. I knew from a crazy amount of discharge that smelt horrible (sorry, gross I know). You do know that you can carry a pregnancy but there may be a very simple reason that you continue to miscarry. Are you willing to have some blood tests done to see if they can find a reason? Were you taking anything to support the pregnancy?
Huge hugs.

 

[dairymomma]

What I do when I have a m/c is use cheap hpt starting a week from the start of bleeding to track my hCG dropping. As your hcg goes down, the lines get lighter. It's hard to watch that happening but it's easier (and cheaper) for me to deal with than going for an ultrasound and blood tests. I'm so sorry for your losses and I know what you are going through well. I've had 9 m/c and I have bleeds in my first tri even with my successes so pg messes with my head big time. I found it really helped to find a therapist to talk to and an understanding dr who is willing to do any testing I want. Having a great support network is key to surviving recurrent miscarriage. And unfortunately, I've also experienced seeing a hb and then losing the baby soon after. In my case, it's because I don't have enough progesterone and my levels drop around 8-9 weeks without supplementing so I'd miscarry. It's gutwrenching to go through but I'm thinking of you and sending

 

[JaiParvati]

No growth and only slight hcg rise today. Doc is totally convinced the pg is not viable and so I took the methotrexate, hoping to just move on.

 

[blueblue]

Jai - I'm so sorry for your loss

Gina - I'm really sorry you are going through another loss. Can you speak to the hospital / midwife about whether you need an ultrasound? Sorry if this is upsetting, after an mmc and medical management the nurse told me that as long as the pregnancy sac passes, another ultrasound would not be required - on one of my losses I needed a follow-up ultrasound as the nurse wasn't sure the sac had passed. If you have any worries about infection etc, I'd speak to the hospital.

I've had two losses where there's been a heartbeat previously (the other two didn't get that far), it's very hard to deal with. Are there any friends or family you can talk to? There's a lot of support on here, it really helps to speak to ladies who have been through the same thing. I know it's not something to think about now, but the support is really great if you get pregnant again, as PARL is so stressful If you want to, later on you can ask for a referral to a recurrent miscarriage clinic after 3 losses. Take care x

Dairy - sorry to ask, does the low progesterone result in a natural miscarriage? I've often wondered if mine is low, but I've always had mmc's and not sure if that is usual? Hope everything is still going well

 

[dairymomma]

Jai-sorry to hear that it's another loss. Are you getting any sort of testing after this to see why it keeps happening? Thinking of you.

blue-Progesterone issues can indeed cause a miscarriage. You need it in order to not only ovulate but also to sustain the pregnancy and the corpus luteum cyst provides the extra progesterone needed until the placenta is able to take over progesterone production. If your levels are low to start with, it can result in a short luteal phase leaving less time for the baby to implant before AF comes. In my case, my levels have always been within the normal range but they've been borderline. With LO, my initial progesterone level done at 6 weeks was 9.8 and the lowest 'normal' level is 9.4. My dr feels that my levels are naturally on the low end of normal and what's happening is the corpus luteum cyst isn't making enough progesterone to keep the pregnancy going until the placenta can take over unless I'm supplementing. The only way to know what your progesterone is doing is to have a few blood tests done. I'd have your doctor check your progesterone levels at 7dpo to see what they are post-ovulation and then again in the first weeks of your next pregnancy to see what that number is doing. If it's too low, then supplementing may help. But I'm not sure if there's a correlation between mmc and low progesterone. My unmedicated losses always happened between 8-9.5 weeks and I'd seen a hb within the previous 4 days with baby measuring correctly. (And yes, things are still going well.)

 

[JaiParvati]

Dairymomma, so far the doc doesn't think I *need* any testing. I'm not having a problem getting pregnant, and my cycles are pretty regular within three or four days. But when I was doing bbt charting I was convinced something wasn't right, it didn't seem my patterns were "normal" and I was super concerned and started doing all sorts of things - taking supplements, progesterone cream, using preseed. I feel like I need a break from trying so hard. I worry that I messed something up, that I interfered and caused the ectopic. I'm hoping that once all this methotrexate hcg monitoring is over, I can try and relax and give nature a chance, and if I either don't get pregnant again, or have yet another loss, I'll seek out some answers. We'll see, easier said than done.

 

[claireanddaz]

Hi,
I dont know if my situation would be classed as recurrant miscarriages but i had a chemical pregnancy last may then an ectopic straight after and i am going through another chemical at the moment, i get the bfp and a few days later start to bleed. I have regular cycles and ovulate every month. Its took us six months after the ectopic to concieve. I have an appointment with the doctor tuesdsy will they offer any tests to find out what is happening? I generally have low temps during the month, in the 96 range before ovulation and in the 97 range after ovulation ive read that thats on the low side so i dont know if that makes a difference. I want to keep trying but cant face more bfp's just to lose it days later! Ive never been disnosed with anything but i am hoping the doctor can suggest something

 

[Hope39]

Hi Claire

Recurrent miscarriages is classed as 3 or more miscarriages, not sure if chemicals are classed as miscarriages too but I'm sure the girls won't mind if you stay here for advice

My temps were always very low and that was due to hypothyroidism.

You could ask your doctor for s thyroid function test but I'm not sure if he will undertake any recurrent miscarriage investigation tests, normally they would refer you to a miscarriage specialist for that which is normally a gynaecologist at your local hospital

Xx

 

[claireanddaz]

Thanks for replying, i'm looking in to hypothyroidism at the moment i have quite a few of the symptoms but never been diagnosed before, i dont want to feel like i'm self diagnosing but it does explain a lot. I will ask my doctor to test me for it

 

[Hope39]

Jaiparvati - your doctor is right at the moment, if this is your second loss then there is a likelihood that it is possibly just 'bad luck'. Here in the uk recurrent miscarriages is classed as 3 or more and we are not offered any testing until we have had 3 documented miscarriages in a row

I hope yours is just down to bad luck and you don't have to start the investigation processes

Xx

 

[Hope39]

I wasn't diagnosed until I had my 3rd loss, it was part of my investigation testing

In pregnancy it's the tsh that they look at (thyroid stimulating hormone). The problem you may have is GP are so out of date on thyroid and fertility. Your tsh needs to be below 2.5 all the time but GP stick to their range of 0.5-5 so if your results came in at 4 (for example) they won't prescribe you meds because you are within range.

I argue every 6w with the gp receptionist because all I get is no adjustments to meds are needed you are within range, I despair at them

I have a good endocrinologist who will do anything for me so that I can bring a baby home, my tsh was 2.6 on Friday and she upped my meds so that I can bring my tsh down

Xx

 

[gingajewel]

Thankyou ladies for all your kind words and advice, I really appreciate it.
I wasn't taking anything in the pregnancy and haven't really looked into if I should have been etc because I very naively thought that as my last pregnancy resulted in my daughter that everything would be ok this pregnancy. I no in hindsight this sounds really stupid but I just didn't think that a miscarriage would happen to me again???? Do you think if I get pregnant again I should see the doctor straight away and if I do what do I need to ask for?
Also as my miscarriages weren't three in a row (two miscarriages, my daughter and now another miscarriage) would I be able to request reaccurent miscarriage tests? I seriously have no idea about any of this, I think I have had my head in the sand quite a bit.
I am debating going to the hospital for a scan as I have been bleeding for 10 days now and it is still heavy and clotty. However this week is the Easter holidays here and I am off work this week with my daughter and I don't want her to have to see any of this. My oh doesn't get home till about six and my mom and dad are on holiday so it is going to be a struggle to go this week.its really strange as with my previous mc I was in so much pain and the bleeding was so heavy but with this mc the pain hasn't been bad and the bleeding, although heavy, isn't as bad as previous times. So I think that's why I an worrying that not everything has come away.
In myself i am feeling pretty awful, I am struggling to come to terms with another loss and feel totally out of my depth and overwhelmed in starting to ask for help. It all feels so......real at the moment.