Baby aspirin? ?

[wifey6]

Have just read that baby aspirin is good for fertility..especially if you've suffered a MC.
I suffered a MMC in April this year..& came across this info & was wondering if anyone knows anymore about it or has used it??
It says a tablet of 81mg per tablet per day while ttc...is that right?
Where can this be bought?

Hi,

I used baby aspirin (you can buy it in any pharmacy ... I got mine from Sainsburys). DH and I had ivf and I had read it could help implantation so I was keen to try anything that might help - I asked the drs at our clinic and they said there was no conclusive evidence that it did help but that "it won't do you any harm unless you have an issue with blood clotting."

The theory is it increases blood flow to the uterus making the lining more receptive to embryos.

If you do go ahead and use it, it's worth remembering you should stop using it long before you get to your EDD as it can increase the risk of PPH. I was told if I wantd to take it, I should keep going with it until about 18 / 20 weeks.

FWIW, our embryo did implant and is now our 14 week old DD!

Good luck!

ShortTether...thank you for the info. And a massive congratulations!!! I've started taking it a few days ago & have read so much about it..good & bad. But I did read it could help reduce MC by 50%...no sure how true that is..but it can't hurt to try x

Wifey have you told your doc?
I was reading about it and was also thinking of taking it but I'm scared of doing it "on the sly".
What are the risks and possible side effects? When do u start taking it?

i'm interested in this. I think a few months ago i did some research and found out it can be taken as soon as you've had your BFP but not before as it can interfere with implantation. So many contradictory things out there. That advice came from a poster n MN who had seen an NHS consultant at a recurrent MC clinic. Can anyone shed any more light on this?

Hello all,

I was definitely told that, if I wanted to take it, to take it before my embryo was transferred as it might help with implantation. I think the link to mc is that it increases blood flow to the uterus and makes the blood thinner so there is less chance of an implanted embryo failing through lack of blood supply.

I was also told it could stop an overreaction of the immune system against the embryo but I have no idea how that might work

However, I have read lots of different things about it ... That's just what I was told by the ACU consultant. Some ivf clinics recommend taking it throughout the cycle as the increased blood supply works for the ovaries too so it means more FSH gets to them - not sure if this is just an ivf thing though!

PS the main adverse side effects I was told about were to do with reduced blood clotting.

My doctors are useless & haven't given me much help since my MMC..so I guess I'm just using info from MN & online etc to gain info. I guess I feel I don't have much to lose if it doesn't work

Sorry you're not getting much support from the drs.

I found my ACU drs weren't great talking about things that were off their normal treatment schedule but they were pretty relaxed about me using baby aspirin as I didn't have a history of blood clotting problems.

Good luck!

I'm tempted to try it but also scared it might be too much for my brain and body!

I take aspirin during pregnancy, due to previous PE.

The advice I was given by hospital consultants, was to take a 75mg dose (baby aspirin, bought over the counter, very cheap) AFTER BFP as it may increase m/c risk if taken before.

HTH.

Thank you all for the info...feeling very confused now though

Given that I am the only person told to take aspirin before a bfp ... I would go with what the others said as I think our ivf treatment might have made me a special case!

Raj Rai at st mary's clinic (lesley regan clinic), said to me last year, that the most recent research (may have change since then!), showed that taking for those who have a clotting issue, gave improved pregnancy rates, but for those who took it with no clotting issue had a lower successful pregnancy rate than those who did not take it.

Therefore he recommended not taking it if you do not have a proven clotting issue.

It made no difference to me in that it did not stop my miscarriages occurring, but it did make me feel like I might be doing something.

I have since then had a test indicating minor clotting issues in me, and have been told to take two baby asprin a day from bfp. The "can impair implantation" reason was given to me to tell me not to take all through cycle, but not sure why.

I've had 3 miscarriages. I was on 75mg on the third.

I took 150mg from bfp to week 36 (as advised by consultant) and am currently nursing my lovely 7 month old DD.

I have had three different consultants answer this question from me- all three said I must not take it until I get my BFP as before this it will make it LESS likely for implantation to occur.

If there is a clotting problem 75mg aspirin a day after BFP has been proven to reduce MC risk.

If there is no clotting problem 75mg aspirin a day after BFP has shown a slight MC reduction in some small studies, and no reduction in other studies. Often it is recomended on a 'it can't hurt/might help basis' in cases where there is no clear cause of MC.

The higher 150mg dose sometimes prescribed in clotting problem cases has a very unclear sucess rate- some studies show a slight help, most show no difference between 75 and 150.

My current consultant told me that as of today (last week) when i saw them, there is no convincing evidence that 150 is more helpful than 75, and there is less data proving it is safe.

Having said that, they then put me on 150! In cases like mine, and hairytale, where 75 has not worked, i think they try 150 just in case it does make a difference.

You can get cheap 75mg aspiring over the counter from any chemist.

I think one of the main reasons it helps is there are so many women who don't know they have Hughes Syndrome and if you've had miscarriages in the past (especially more than 1) there's a 1 in 8 chance you have it so it will help your chances quite significantly - although it's so badly diagnosed that these figures could be a lot higher. Same as taking it through pregnancy.

Baby Aspirin is 75mg and make sure if you're taking it on long term basis make sure you take it EC as it can cause stomach ulcers if you don't.

I've never heard of stopping Aspirin before the birth, I've been on it permanently for 6.5 years and 4 babies and never been told to stop it. It's quite a small dose really if your blood isn't too thin so it shouldn't cause any problems.

And despite me having a clotting problem (I have suffered from TIAs since I was 13, I have Raynauds and a few other issues from sticky blood) I have only been on 75mg, in pregnancy I also take Clexane (Heparin).

Hairy, I would really ask about Hughes if you've had three miscarriages. It could be that Aspirin isn't enough for you and they need to add Clexane in.

I have taken it with ivf treatment and while pregnant sure to clotting issues. Just wanted to remind people not to take it while breastfeeding though.

Whiteshoes... I've been taking it 6.5 years, breastfeeding for 6 years. Why not when breastfeeding?

Can I ask if anyone knows if Hughes syndrome is something that can cause recurrent miscarriage even if you've had normal pregnancies in the past? I have a DS 19,DD1 13, DD2 8, all normal pregnancies apart from two brief episodes of bleeding with DD2 at 9 and 15wks .
I am now 44 but this year have miscarried at 10-11 wks in March, 6 wks in June and am now having my third miscarriage, baby died at 8w6d.
DH initially said it was time to stop trying, it is heartbreaking,but a few days later he saw an article on Hughes syndrome and thought we should check it out. I suffer from Raynauds and migraines which I think are sometimes linked. Does anyone know what tests are done for Hughes and how long it normally takes to go through a workup for recurrent MC? If we are going to try again time isn't on our side . We want to get some medical advice to decide if we should try again, if there is something we can do that might improve our chances we'd consider it .

Yes it can. Two things, firstly the risk of losing a baby because of it is about 80% so (despite what some doctors say) that means there is a chance you can carry, secondly although it's congenital it doesn't always show itself straight away. Migranes are a common symptom of it.

Testing for Hughes Syndrome will be checking your clotting levels, counting your Ig levels, LAC (Lupus Anticoagulant which is nothing to do with either of those words) screen, ANA (Anti-Nuclear Antibody) test, ACA (Anti-Cardiolipin Antibodies - nothing to do with the heart, they used to use cows hearts as part of the testing) and there may be others. You can show up on any of those, I have IgM ANA, you can also test negative, the symptoms are as important as the blood test. They should really do the tests 6 weeks apart so that they can compare the results. The tests are best done in hospital because they're testing clotting so need to get them processed as quickly as possible and they may even want them in a particular part of the hospital (I had to have it done in triage - the miscarriage MW who took it was very apologetic).

Look for the Hughes Syndrome Foundation website (run by Prof Hughes) for some good information. If you ask for testing, obstetricians/ gynaecologists will know about it, GPs can be hit and miss so always pays to go to a GP armed. They may also know it as Antiphospholipid Syndrome, APS, APLS or by one of the names of the tests - this is why there is a push to get people to call it "Hughes Sydrome" people need to be talking about the same thing.

Hi Irishmammybread, where abouts in the world are you?

St Mary's recurrent Miscarriage clinic in london is european wide centre for excellence (i don't know what your chances of getting a nhs referral (age?) but wondered if private was possible for you?)

Or St. Thomas' (also london) great for clotting probs- the professor 'hughes' from hughes syndrome was based there and a lot of research into clotting is done there as the hughes foundation give them money to do so.

There is another test called a TEG test, (i think you'd need to go to st mary's for this one even if you have everything else done on nhs elsewhere) where they often find clotting problems in cases where it is suspected but all tests eg for hughes syndrome have come back negative.

I think there current rate is something like 6 out of 10 women for whom clotting is suspected but has not been found on conventional tests test positive in this test. Its actualy tests whether blood clots in practice rather than looking for a specific clotting antibody. ( i think the idea being there may be clotting antibodies not yet identified and named that may be causing it).

Consultant advised me to take Aspirin whilst trying to conceive, apparantly to improve blood flow in my Uterus. Is normal Aspirin okay? Have you been advised to take 'Baby' Aspirin?

Baby aspirin is normal aspirin but in a 75mg dose ( a normal tablet has 300mg so would be too much)

Prof Hughes still works at St T's, he was a junior doctor when he discovered it (probably why a lot of doctors resent him) in the mid-80s so as doctors go he's still a pretty young man. If I wasn't at the QE in Birmingham (my prof has done a lot of research into it too, I love reading stuff then seeing her name on the end lol) I'd consider a referral there.

Captain, I wonder if that's the test I had then. It had to be done close to the lab so it could be done straight away.

A normal dose is 300mg, a single tablet is 150mg. Junior or baby Aspirin is the same as a half tablet. You can buy it OTC but as I said before ask for EC because it's not good for your stomach to take them on a regular basis otherwise - you'd be surprised how many drs I've had to tell that to and I don't just mean GPs!