TTC after miscarriage thread #4

[InsufficientlyCaffeinated]

Hello ladies. I noticed the last thread filled up, seemed to happen all of a sudden! Hoping you find your way here (prepares for tumbleweed)

For reference here's thread 3 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/2593041-TTC-after-miscarriage-lucky-thread-number-3

All those we are trying to conceive a child after miscarriage are welcome here, whether it's your first or you already have DC

Good luck ladies. Let's have some BFPs, we've earned it

Aw Mrs don't feel like that. There must be natural ways to help progesterone surely? It can't be as simple as saying low progesterone = no family. I don't believe that for a minute. The fact that you know what the issue is , is actually a step towards success.

You are probably doing all this already but an interesting read

naturalfertilityandwellness.com/symptoms-of-low-progesterone/

Yes I do think it's worth going back earlier. You won't get unless you try. And you have nothing to lose right? I agree with getting bloods done all throughout the cycle. How else can they tell that low progesterone is the issue?

Just over a year ago before we started to TTC, I used to suffer from vaginal dryness as well as the thrush and recurrent infections. I thought it was thrush but the gynaecologist tested it and said it wasn't. She thought the infections were causing irritation in that area and prescribed these pessaries called vagifem so I took a course of them. They then gave me replens which I use from time to time but generally it's lot better now. When I went to my GP to get a repeat prescription of replens she casually said in passing 'oh you have PCOS don't you' I was like what??!! Do I? She then left it in limbo and I got all stressed. My bloods had shown that I had high prolactin levels but everything else was ok. The prolactin had been raised both times they tested. I was in such a faff and saw another GP then who read the gynaecologists letter out to me which said 'I wonder if she has a mild form of pcos' that's quite different to a formal diagnosis! What im trying to say is don't lose hope, get as many tests done as you can and get a second opinion where possible. A lot of things are open to interpretation.

Mrs I was reading something about thyroid and how it can be really hard to diagnose and it can have quite an impact on hormones and how they behave. May be worth a quick look into that too. I know it is really difficult and it can be traumatic but sometimes we have to push against the system. If you don't feel right in yourself and you don't believe the Clomid is tackling the correct problem then please pursue it. Another thing I read was that every egg is precious and we have to do everything we can to figure out how to give them the best fighting chance we can.
It can be really tough - maybe worth writing key points down to take with you??
I know it must be very frustrating. Big hugs to you. N xx

Agree with Miami re thyroid. I read a book about thyroid once and all the things it links into and how an imbalance can cause lots of issues but thyroid just isn't regarded as anything serious and is fairly easily treated X

Hopeful hope you are ok xx

I have an underactive thyroid. Had it since birth so don't know what it's like to get it diagnosed as an adult but I really can feel it when it's out of whack. Sometimes a new GP will try to mess with the dosage because my blood tests will show medication is too high but then it goes too low and it takes ages to get right again. It does cause fertility problems and is associated with increased miscarriage risk

good luck...and i agree how hard it is getting a docs appointment x

Its possible to supplement with iodine (you can apply to your wrists and it will go through the skin) to help thyroid. Apparently even if we don't have thyroid issues our diets are so nutrient poor and iodine is hardly present in anything so it's a useful thing to supplement with from time to time. Just a random update for you guys!

My gran is going in the right direction so have decided to go for our night away. Just left the house. Need to get my bloods taken at 11 (hopefully HCG should be back to zero or negative now). Then we shall be on our way!

Hi everyone

How did the bloods go purple?

I had my scan this morning and it's all cleared out now and healthy looking apparently which is a relief. V heavy bleeding still though. I keep feeling the urge to sit on the loo and push. I suppose is my uterus contracting back to size. I want it to stop so we can get back on the love train!!

Bruce Springsteen tonight!! So excited!!

And good luck with doctors mrs. I can't offer any advice I'm afraid but hope you get answers v soon xx

Have fun Kate!

Mrs ask them for the exact results if you get your thyroid tested. Sometimes they say it's fine because it's in range but it might be at the top end of the range. My current GP will increase my dosage even in range if I'm at the top end which works well for me because I feel rough at the top end of the acceptable range. You can also get a full test done. Often they only do TSH but you get more accurate results from getting a full panel done www.thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testing/thyroid_blood_tests.html

Purple (I keep typing Cheeky then having to correct myself!) I've read in to supplementing with iodine too, haven't actually tried it though. Hope you enjoy your night away

My bloods came back under 5 so hormone has dropped glad to hear the scan went well hopeful. Enjoy your night tonight!!

Insufficiently I've had one bottle of iodine, about 4 years ago now. Might order one to just top up!

Thanks girls. Just about to jump into this bath with a book. Have given myself an indian head massage with some oil and put a body shop face mask on. Unfortunately the spa had no availability so had to improvise!! Got a book to read and if I don't get into it, I have my kindle. DH got the soaps on.

Good to hear Kate. Enjoy the evening.

Lovely Purple. Looks fantastic. Glad the bloods are down too.

Best of luck Mrs. I hope the Drs can do something.

I've spent the evening baking again. Lemon drizzle cake, rhubarb crumbles and I iced some choc chip cupcakes I made yesterday.

How close to Dundee do you live? I warn you now though that it is not good for the waistline. I am struggling with mine at the moment.

Oh Mrs I'm sorry you feel like that but can totally understand. I often read things about people who tried for years and then conceived when they gave up 'trying' so you never know. Wishing you all the very best.

I'm so sorry mrs. I can only imagine how painful it must be for you at this point. I hope things start to get better for you.

To answer your TSH question from earlier in case it is still of any use, you do need a full test doing. TSH only tells one part of the story. If you have a lot of TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) in your body, that tells drs that your thyroid is not functioning adequately hence your body being flooded with hormone to stimulate it. However your thyroid could be producing hormone which would result in less TSH but your body isn't properly converting it so you're still not getting what you need. I think that's right. I've had it since birth so for 31 years but because I saw specialists as a child I never really understood the explanations and have been in GP care ever since and it's a bit hit and miss whether they know much about it. Current one does so I can't ever move house away from the surgery catchment (unless she moves on then she'll have to take me with her!)

Anyway good luck mrs. Feel free to be here as much or as little as you need to.

Can anyone tell me their thoughts on this? Just got all excited to DH about being in the two week wait and he was all "No, you mean the three week wait". He wants me to wait until I'm a week late to test!!

I told him no way. I will agree to wait until my period is actually due but a whole week?

It's because of what happened last time, he doesn't want it to happen again. Last time I tested on 11dpo (approx, because I wasn't tracking) and got a negative. Tested again at 14dpo/period due date and got a squinter. Next day another squinter but strong symptoms. Was not until 1 week late that I got a strong positive, but this turned out to be an early miscarriage.

I was fine with all of the testing and just curious, in fact I would have liked to have done the testing every day to see a progression, but he wasn't happy with that and didn't want me to. As I was getting strong symptoms I decided I wouldn't test for a few more days because he was so antsy about it. But it hasn't put me off testing early! And I definitely want to test when AF is due. Especially since it will be my birthday He reckons I agreed to wait to test until I'm a week late but I don't remember agreeing to this, nor can I imagine myself doing so. He also cited the fact that my cycles vary by up to 5-7 days anyway. Which is true, but since I use an app which calculates the average, I'm only ever 3 days late according to the app anyway.

Hmm. I don't know what I think about it. Maybe he has a point? I feel like he's squashing all the fun out of TTC for me :( The charts and tests and stuff is exciting. I am a stats geek. And I also feel like the faint positives after they should have been darker was a useful hint that something wasn't quite right and helped temper my expectations whereas a strong positive at 7 days late wouldn't tell me anything like that. I feel like the fact I was aware of what was happening with my body really helped me to cope with my miscarriage.

The other thing I thought is I'm temping anyway, so I should have a good idea based on whether my temps drop at the end of this cycle or stay up, and I could maybe agree to test (or not) based on those? What do you think?

Oh and one last point - cheap tests are hard to find here and the internet ones I had were absolutely rubbish and really difficult to read so I ended up spending money on proper ones and even the own brand tests are about €5+ each with clearblue etc being €7+ and digitals over €10. So there is a bit of a feeling not to want to "waste" expensive tests by testing too early.