3rd recurrent miscarriage since May 2021

[dom12922]

Hi everyone. I wonder if there is anyone on here who is in a similar situation so I can share some thoughts and advice.

Long story short: got pregnant in May and miscarried at 6 weeks, got pregnant again in August and miscarried 10 days after my missed period, then got pregnant again in September and miscarried 5 days after missed period.

A bit more detail: First pregnancy felt the most real and I went for all check ups once started spotting, i had sore breast that doubled in size but other than that i felt amazing but then developer trush like discharge (sorry) which turned into a miscarriage but apparently there was no trush or other infection on my swabs. 2nd and 3rd i hardly had sore breast, just had positive tests that were getting fainter each day. Every time i could feel implantation cramps and knew i was pregnant before missed period.

I have asked my gp for blood tests - she did thyroid, LH and progesterone - all fine, but i only had one so not sure how they can say it’s all fine from Progesterone perspective? She said it beyond GP scope to do further tests and sent me to gyno and that she doesn’t any see objections why not to try again… which is a bit beyond me because there must be something not right? She said ‘miscarriages are common’ - who has 3 miscarriages in 5 months? I got a letter today from gyno saying they will be in touch within 3 months to tell me when they might be able to see me.

I know it’s a bit of a read this message and everyone is different but is there anyone on here who’s in a similar position? Do you know any private clinics in north west where I should go try get to the bottom of the issue while waiting for nhs?

I have read about the baby aspirin but i am allergic to it so can’t try, and i am on vitamins.

Thanks for reading and i really appreciate any help as I don’t know what to do anymore.

Btw I have just turned 30.

Please ask your doctor to prescribe cyclogest. It is firmly in the can’t hurt, might help camp so they should be willing to.

I had three early miscarriages around the same stages as you, baby aspirin didn’t help, I got cyclogest after reading about it online and my next pregnancy was successful.

Best of luck x

Hi Dom, I am so sorry for your losses

I also had three miscarriages in a row in 2015. This should be the trigger for a referral to an Recurrent Miscarriage Clinic, but I know different NHS trusts use different terminology. You might want to call and check your GP is sending you to the right place, mine sent me to an IVF clinic who asked why I was there if I could get pregnant

You might want to repost in the pregnancy loss/miscarriage section - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/miscarriage
Everyone there was very helpful and supportive when I posted there.

I don't have any personal experience but didn't want to read and run. I'm very sorry for your losses. I have two friends who suffered from recurrent miscarriage; one now has three healthy children and the other has a healthy one year old. Friend 1: explains it that her body holds onto pregnancies that it should let go - one MMC, one semi-molar pregnancy, one mosaic tripoidic baby incompatible with life and TFMR. Friend 2 (sounds more like you): has some sort of chromosomal abnormality that doesn't affect her but does affect the embryos she conceives six consecutive losses in five pregnancies (one set of twins) all before nine weeks. Then a healthy one. It was "a numbers game" for both of them I believe. I hope this is helpful for you and wish you every success.

I too suffered 3 miscarriages in a row (this was a long time ago now, 2011). This triggered an automatic referral to the recurrent miscarriage clinic.

Both DP and I were given extensive blood tests to rule certain things out and the day before we went back for our results, I had a BFP That BFP is now nearly 9

As our bloods came back clear and as I was already pregnant they only prescribed a high dose of folic acid.

Definitely ask for a referral.

I was 31 at the time.

I'm sorry for your losses.

It's likely not to be the case but it's something that is often overlooked / not thought of but you may want to be tested (it's a blood test and if it's raised then another one 3 months later to see if it's still raised) for Antiphospholipid Syndrome. It causes recurrent miscarriages but it's not often diagnosed.

I had 4 losses and 2 daughters. I had all the tests and had progesterone and clexane as well as the aspirin. Gp might be willing to prescribe initially. My gp started me on progesterone and did full bloods and referral to EPAU.
Take care of yourself, its a horrible time.

I'm so sorry to hear of your losses.
I have also had several losses. I've had fertility treatment and have been prescribed progesterone after IVF and for some people this helps, however I was still having miscarriages.

I paid privately at a private clinic for blood tests. It cost £800 and the results were back within 2 weeks.
Something did show up in my blood as a possible explanation for the miscarriages. So now after fertility treatment I'll be on additional injections to help thin my blood as well as daily aspirin throughout the pregnancy (if I do get pregnant again).

You can have the tests through the NHS but I believe it's a long waiting list.

To add further - I went to Create in Wilmslow for the tests.
There is also Manchester fertility in Cheadle
And Care Fertility.
I imagine all of them will offer these additional tests. I think they do 9 blood tests.

I had three in a row within the space of about seven months.

My obstetrician prescribed progesterone and the result is DS.

This was 27 years ago.

Thank you everyone for replying. I really appreciate your advices and sharing your experiences. I will try and get back to my gp while waiting for my appointment and see if they would
give me progesterone. Unfortunately can’t try the baby aspirin due to a severe allergy and I don’t know of anything that does similar job but isn’t aspirin. @ElleStartingOver @mathanxiety you might not but can you remember any symptoms of low progesterone that you had?

My days of recurrent miscarriage are long ago but I do recall the Women’s Hospital in Liverpool being mentioned a lot. I had cyclogest as I was borderline deficient with progesterone. I also had acupuncture to keep my body temperature up in my last pregnancy which was a successful one. Fingers crossed for you xx

I never felt any morning sickness in any of the pregnancies that ended in miscarriage.

In my other pregnancies, morning sickness kicked in early and while horrible, it was reassuring.

With DS and the progesterone, the morning sickness was really awful. Two days after discontinuing it (per doctor's orders) the sickness disappeared.

I had 3 miscarriages in a row before being diagnosed with APS. I actually suspected I had this, as an immediate family member also has it (not that it’s genetic, I just had a feeling that turned out to be right). I was very lucky that I was seen at the recurrent miscarriage clinic very shortly after my third miscarriage - however I was already looking at getting private blood tests for APS - at the time it cost about £160 and can’t imagine it’s gone up much. Baby arrived 9 months after diagnosis and without diagnoses and treatment (daily aspirin and blood thinning injections) the likelihood of a successful pregnancy was less than 20%. If you can afford it, pay private to rule it out. So sorry for your losses and i wish you luck and success x

There is an alternative to aspirin in pregnancy, clopidogrel. It’s prescription only.

Again I didn’t have too many symptoms, boobs hurt a lot for a couple of days and then eased off.

All of the MCs were quite early, before or around d the 6 week mark which can also be a sign.

I took the cyclogest from 2dpo and just knew I was pregnant by 8dpo it was so strange, it felt so different x

Thanks everyone. Hope my gp can prescribe cyclogest. She seems very ‘let’s leave it to the gynaecologist’ but I don’t want to wait 3-6 months for my appointment. I want to try again but then I am worried about not doing anything and trying again and having the same outcome.

I have also tried to find somewhere to test for the blood clots but can’t find anywhere in my area. Any recommendations on clinic in the north west please let me know.

Hi Dom, I’ve had 3 miscarriages this year all around the 6 week mark. The NHS waitlist is painfully long so we’re with with Manchester Fertility. They’ve been amazing so far and would highly recommend. Wishing you all the best.

Didn't want to read and run. I haven't been through this myself, but I have a friend in a similar situation, two miscarriages within a week and two others. She's currently 36 weeks pregnant - other than and carrying a big baby, she's told everything's looking just as it should.

Thanks for your replies @Grey4 @ifonly4

grey4 - What sort of tests are you having done with Manchester fertility? I have been in touch with my GP yesterday and she said that I have to wait for the app as it’s out of her scope to prescribe me anything or send me for further tests… really annoying when others say their GPs were happy to do it. Hope all goes well for you, good luck!!

Ifonly4 - did your friend seek any medical advice / had anything done before her current pregnancy? That’s a great news!

I’m really fortunate that my GP is fab and ordered thorough blood tests. Manchester Fertility were impressed at how much they’d done already. The GP said they couldn’t do anything further so referred me to gynae.
Manchester Fertility tested for anti-cardiolipin, anti-nuclear antibodies, B2 glycoprotein antibodies and vitamin D levels. They would have done all the same blood tests as the GP if I hadn’t already had them. I also had an ultrasound to check my uterus and ovaries and a sperm analysis and testicular ultrasound for my partner.
I was hoping the tests would show us something so we could “fix” it but there was no “this is the cause” moment. We’re taking Proxeed Plus and 400mg of progesterone twice daily 2 days post ovulation. Staying cautiously optimistic. Thank you for your well wishes!

Hey @dom12922 - I'm Chantelle and I'm 31. I'm so sorry for your losses, it's awful isn't it? I just wanted to jump in as I could have written your post. I'm in the exact same position.

I've suffered three miscarriages in a row, one in April 21 at 7.5 weeks, one in September at 5 weeks and one this week at 6 weeks. It's exhausting isn't it? The only difference is that I have a 17 month old son who was conceived the first month we tried and I breezed through pregnancy so really confused as to what has changed?

With my most recent MC I was checked at the EPU and they have referred me directly to the recurrent miscarriage clinic

@dom12922

Sorry sent before I was finished then!

So yes- been referred to the recurrent miscarriage clinic but the wait time for an appointment is 8 weeks+ and that doesn't take into consideration Christmas 🙄 and then I don't know how long results will take?

I'm just really struggling with holding off TTC - I want to carry on but I'm scared if I do fall pregnant without doing something different that we'll just have the same outcome?

What did you ask your GP to test for? I'm thinking I might try and see my GP before I get my Clinic appt through and see what they say? Don't know if I'm being silly?

Gahhh it's such a head-scrambling situation.

How are you feeling about everything now? X

Hi Chantelle. I’m so sorry for your losses. Sending you lots of love and peace.
The wait time for our referral is 18 weeks! We were referred in July and haven’t had an appointment letter yet. We had money saved for a house move which we turned to private testing instead and the only test that didn’t come back normal is one that the NHS don’t test for. That’s DNA Fragmentation which ours came back as high. We’ve been advised to take Proxeed for 6 months and go for a second analysis to see if it’s improved anything.
I just wanted to let you know in case your NHS tests also come back clear.
Thyroid problems can be a cause of early recurrent miscarriages as well as minor blood conditions which your GP should hopefully be able to test for but might need a nudge.
Ask if they can prescribe progesterone. I know someone who had testing at the miscarriage clinic, everything was clear and was prescribed progesterone “just in case” and her next pregnancy was successful.
Take care of yourself x

@dom12922 I'm sorry for your losses. I had two miscarriages after conceiving naturally (although took us quite a long time to do so). When we were struggling to conceive for a 3rd time we went to an IVF clinic to discuss options but also to do some testing for miscarriages - nothing was found. We went ahead with IVF with a genetically tested embryo (which should reduce the risk of miscarriage) and we miscarried again - now our third. I asked IVF clinic about further testing but they suggested it was just bad luck. I wanted a second opinion and went to see Dr Shehata at the CRP clinic - he does appointments in Harley Street and his main clinic in Epsom. He did extensive testing (17 vials worth of blood) and he indicated that some of my immune cells were over active and he considered that to be my problem - I.e. my body was attacking the pregnancies. We did another IVF transfer together with his protocol of immunosuppressants and other meds and I'm currently 7 weeks pregnant - the furthest we have ever got. The testing is not cheap but more extensive than anything I was offered by anyone else and as well as immune conditions also includes testing for blood clotting disorders, thyroid, etc. Good luck x

www.crpclinic.co.uk/