Very early miscarriages/chemical pregnancies

[Beankeeper]

Hello, this is my first time posting in this board as I'm not really sure if this is the right place.
I've now had 4 very early miscarriages (or chemical pregnancies, but I hate that term :-/) and am struggling to get the doctor to take me seriously as I guess they're not full blown pregnancies. I suspect I'm not getting past the implantation stage & something in that process is going wrong. Doc is writing to the consultant to ask advice, but hasn't referred me because she thinks there's nothing wrong with me as I have managed to conceive & not all eggs are viable :-/
Does anyone have experience with this? I feel pretty alone & isolated by all this. I really don't know what to do.

 

[AJR14]

My pregnancies have lasted till 4,6 and 7 weeks but with my hcg never getting over 200. I'm going to try this ladies protocol next time. Also I'm sure her blog will help you feel less isolated. Gave me hope reading through it! Hope it helps.

https://recurrentearlymiscarriage.wordpress.com/my-success-after-recurrent-chemical-pregnancies/

 

[jezzle]

Hi, I'm really sorry to hear of your losses, I too had 4 early miscarriages (all between 4 and a half and 6 and a half weeks). I then went on to have a successful pregnancy in 2011 and am currently 17 weeks pregnant. It was a really long hard battle for me to be taken seriously by gps and consultants and I changed GPs once and hospitals twice, but I got there in the end! For me the cause of the miscarriages was hughes syndrome (aka antiphospholipid syndrome) and during my successful pregnancy I was on aspirin and heparin as soon as I got a bfp.
If you haven't already I think you should definitely get tested for hughes syndrome. There is still a lot of ignorance around this condition and some health professionals still think it only causes miscarriages around 10 weeks, or much later in pregnancy - but this is not the case! Also it's a simple blood test which I think costs around £10 and your gp can request it.

Good luck! Xx

 

[babylala]

Hi beankeeper, so sorry for your losses. I've had 3, 1 at 7 weeks and two chemical pregnancies (sorry, i know you hate that term!). My doctor thinks this is an implantation issue and that supplementing progesterone after ovulation isn't enough but that the lining needs to be nice and fluffy for the egg to implant. So, we're tying a cycle on 100mg of clomid for a stronger ovulation, IUI (too up our chances of egg and sperm meeting) and then progesterone after ovulation.

I've heard a lot of women have success with progesterone alone but that wasn't enough for me. Do you know how long your luteal phase is?

 

[KatO79]

Wow so sorry Beankeeper, I've only been through 1 very early miscarriage/chemical pregnancy (at 4w3d) back in April and found it to be pretty upsetting, I can't imagine going through 4 of them

I think you're entitled to be referred to a gynaechologist to be tested to see why it's happening when you've had 3 or more (it's called recurrent miscarriage). I don't understand why your GP won't refer you but I've recently tried having problems with my own GP (won't get into that here though) so I know what that's like

Maybe you could try insisting on it? If she won't budge, maybe talk to another GP and get a 2nd opinion? Don't know if you'd want to switch GPs if this one is being impossible. I don't dare switch mine out right now because he seems like the narcissitic type who'd bad mouth me and DH to the new GP and sabotage our chances of getting our referral to a fertility clinic in 3 months (after 12 months of trying) if I don't get my BFP before that.

So yeah, try telling her that this is a real problem and ask her exactly how many of these she feels you need to go through before getting a referral to a gynaechologist.

I've found a list on reasons for it happening in case you're interested: https://www.justmommies.com/articles/recurrent-miscarriage.shtml

I hope you soon get some help

 

[Beankeeper]

I don't know why I didn't get any notifications for this thread, but thank you all so much for your comments. I am now seeing a different doctor who is far more supportive. Still waiting on being referred to the consultant, but feeling hopeful for this cycle, with extra b6 & triple folic acid.

 

[staycb01]

I'm sorry for what you are going though - it's so frustrating I know!
I had 6 chemical pregnancies within the past year and a half. It wasn't until I saw a RE whoc prescribed me progesterone supplements to take after ovulation that I actually got pregnant and was able to carry to 9 weeks. We lost that baby unfortunately, but it had nothing to do with lack of progesterone.
My RE said that if your progesterone levels are low at the time of ovulation or shortly after - the uterus environment is not conducive for implantation and therefore you will have the chemical pregnancies.
Once I started the progesterone it worked! I will be using that going forward as well once we try again.
Best of luck to you hun!
Xx

 

[Beankeeper]

I'm sorry for what you are going though - it's so frustrating I know!
I had 6 chemical pregnancies within the past year and a half. It wasn't until I saw a RE whoc prescribed me progesterone supplements to take after ovulation that I actually got pregnant and was able to carry to 9 weeks. We lost that baby unfortunately, but it had nothing to do with lack of progesterone.
My RE said that if your progesterone levels are low at the time of ovulation or shortly after - the uterus environment is not conducive for implantation and therefore you will have the chemical pregnancies.
Once I started the progesterone it worked! I will be using that going forward as well once we try again.
Best of luck to you hun!
Xx

Thanks for the reply & really sorry for your loss xx

 

[DBZ34]

Hi beankeeper, so sorry for your losses. I've had 3, 1 at 7 weeks and two chemical pregnancies (sorry, i know you hate that term!). My doctor thinks this is an implantation issue and that supplementing progesterone after ovulation isn't enough but that the lining needs to be nice and fluffy for the egg to implant. So, we're tying a cycle on 100mg of clomid for a stronger ovulation, IUI (too up our chances of egg and sperm meeting) and then progesterone after ovulation.

I've heard a lot of women have success with progesterone alone but that wasn't enough for me. Do you know how long your luteal phase is?

Hiya!

Your story seems very similar to mine. I've had three m/c's (one at 6wks, twins at 5 weeks and one at 4w5d) and I was on progesterone for two of those pregnancies, so obviously, it's not enough.

Did you doctor say when the best time to take the progesterone was to get the lining fluffier for implantation? Is there something else he suggests instead of just progesterone?

 

[Ruz]

I was 4w3d but last saturday night I started bleeding and have been since today (wednesday). I got faint lines og home pregnancy tests so I knew something wasn't right... I've only had one other pregnancy and she is 6years old.

We are going to try and comceive this cycle.

Good luck to all of you

 

[Aurora CHK]

I've just had my third (well, am currently still having ) very early miscarriage in the last 12 months. All have started to fail at around 12-13dpo. I usually start bleeding at around 8-10dpo so have always presumed the chemicals were due to low progesterone but my specialist didn't seem to believe in luteal phase defects. We've just been through IVF/ICSI as they thought the issue may be DH's poor quality sperm, and also they give you lots of progesterone with that so I felt we might have a better shot. I got a BFP and was over the moon, but I still had a chemical at exactly the same time. The only difference is that this time I didn't start bleeding, I just had dropped temps and fading lines on my FRER to let me know that I had lost it again.

I have been wondering about Hughes Syndrome but I presumed it would have been picked up in my past. Must insist on testing for it!! Why on earth wouldn't they do such a cheap test before putting me through all that IVF if I was at risk? Thank goodness for this forum...

 

[Beankeeper]

Hugs Aurora, I'd push for the test. Are you in the UK or US? I've found the down side to the NHS here in the uk is that they won't do any tests/procedures/anything that costs money unless they have to, so you might have to really push for it.
I have become pregnant again this cycle, and have passed the point where most of the others have gone wrong, so I guess there may be hope after recurring miscarriages. I'm trying to remain hopeful.
Things I've done differently this month: 60 mg of B6 daily & triple doses of folic acid. Also, staying super hydrated.

Really hope you all get your sticky beans soon xxxx

 

[Aurora CHK]

Thanks so much and massive congrats on your BFP