Immune/NK issues - aka Pred Thread no.20!

[harrietm87]

Hi all, thought I'd get the ball rolling on the new thread.

Welcome all with immune/natural killer cell issues.

It's been a while since a new thread so thought it might be helpful if we all added our stats:

I'm harriet, age 30, TTC#1.
3 mcs (2 at 5 weeks, 1 mmc at 9 weeks).
Hypothyroid and high NK cells.
Cycle 2 on pred!

Yes, hope the scan goes well, Sheepy and your get your results promptly x

Retained products, perhaps these Drs should listen to their patients a bit more am CD16 so over 2 weeks to wait to see if passes. Which is too long seeing as confirmed mc was 26/7 I am now waiting to be seen to discuss next steps. I don't think it will be anything other than a d&c as I have Lupus and Fibromyalgia

Sorry to hear that, yes they should listen more. Idiots. How do you feel about a d&c?

I will be glad for closure on the whole thing, what's annoying me more is I said last Monday when I was taken to hospital that it felt incomplete but was dismissed as being paranoid because the tests were normal.
I even asked the dr when we were told that there was nothing there

Sorry to hear that Sheepy. It's a horrible position to be in. I went through it in January and the process took three weeks. I did manage to avoid a D&C though. I had initial bleeding, then a few days later it increased and I thought I'd passed it, then I had a scan say it hadn't completed, then I took the pill and passed most of it, then I had bleeding again three days later, then the next day one more solid thing passed followed by a week of lighter bleeding. Tests continued to show pregnant for another week but the next scan confirmed it was all gone. I did have a lot of pelvic pain for a few weeks and heaps of antibiotics. I'm glad I opted for that management but I totally see why in many ways it's better to just deal with it surgically.

It makes me so mad that we have to go through this trauma, many women repeatedly, and that there is so little awareness and often so little advice and support on what to expect, from medical professionals.

In Chinese medicine, miscarriage is viewed as as draining on the body as childbirth. In western medicine it's often treated like a bad period.

REALLY feeling for you Hun x

Oh god Sheepy I'm so sorry. It's so irritating that they didn't listen to you and this trait is one of the frustrating things I've repeatedly found in the NHS. It's not fair you had to live with this when you sought help before. I really hope things go as smoothly as possible from here on :-(

Sheepy I'm so sorry, I had 2 natural MC's and then opted for a d&c on my last one. I'm guessing you've had this procedure before?
I really hope they get you in soon. I cried with relief as they wheeled me down to the operating room. It's usually a 15 minute procedure under general if I recall correctly.
After the procedure I was able to start the recovery process and hope it works the same for you.
I hope this hell is over for you soon so you are able to see the light at the end of the tunnel xxx

Sheepy I'm so sorry to read this. How frustrating that you knew all along. I definitively find some 'professionals' to be very dismissive of the whole process. I really hope you can get sone closure soon. I found my MMC very sad, as if my body wasn't ready to accept the loss when I was 'retaining products'. Big hugs to you x

CD11 for me and as suspected looking like an early ovulation. Got a positive opk today. The line wasn't there instantly, but it was definitely as strong as the control line within 5 mins. I'm expecting I'll ovulate tomorrow or early Saturday at the very latest (if I've just caught the beginning of the surge). Should I definitely start the pred tomorrow, or wait until Saturday??

Tee4me, if it was me I'd start now, it can't hurt, right? My endo told me to start immediately and I wasn't even in my fertile window when I saw him.

Then again, I've used Pred for other things in the past, like cycle regulation (haha, doesn't exactly have that effect at first though!)

Have been told to make a formal complaint. Off home for a hot bath some paper cutting and food..

Tee4me, I found it better when I took Pred after ovulation- that way I was sure it couldn't affect it happening. However, pred really messed with my cycle when I tried taking it before ovulation prior to that. I've always had a cycle that you could set your clock by, and even after DS it went straight back to how it was before. So it was very obvious to me when my cycle suddenly altered.

Sheepy I hope you can have a restful evening after such a disappointing day :-(

sheepy poor you, that is so terrible. Thank goodness you trusted your instincts. I had an MVA after my mmc and it actually wasn't bad - like an erpc but local rather than general anaesthetic - not sure if that's an option for you?

tee if you're on a bigger dose of pred like 25 or 40mg and only taking it for 10 days I'd agree with drttc and wait until after you've ovulated to start taking it. That way it's less likely to disrupt your cycle and should also be more certain of an accurate result when you test. I would definitely wait until Saturday.

Tee4me, having read what DrTTC and Harriet said, I think I actually agree with them. Pred disrupted my cycle for about 6-8 weeks so if you can get pregnant this cycle you can avoid the interruption!

Sheepy, you totally have grounds for a complaints if you feel up to it. Totally unacceptable. We may not be medical experts but we know our bodies and we know when something isn't right. Especially women who have been through so this so many times. You deserve to be listened to.

Tee, I agree with the others. Another thing to consider is I believe they limit our higher doses to 10 days per cycle (unless it's a BFP of course) as any more and they recommend tapering off to avoid withdrawals. Have you got your fancy pants ready for some action? Good luck with trying over the next few days 🍾

Thanks so much for the advice earlier Poppy, Seeking and Drttc, I value the opinions of the ladies in here so much, we all have this understanding of how our past experiences can effect us now. I'll leave the Doppler (may revisit in last trimester as my sticky blood can still effect baby until birth- 😬)

Seeking funny I actually apologised to my midwife that she had been lumbered with the high risker lol.
It seems the disconnected feeling could be self protection? Do you think this could be apply to you? Every time I start feeling connected I get pretty frightened and go through all the risks in my head again.
Do you remember a stage when you started feeling quite comfortable in your pregnancy with DC?

Xx

JustLa, I think the thing is, we want all the info we can get to give us more control in a situation we have such limited control over. We want to know right away to prepare for the worst, or to rule out concerns. It becomes a compulsion and we start to torture ourselves with it. But the question is, how much information are we actually getting from our informal checking, testing and monitoring? Is it accurate? And is it reassuring us for more than 57 seconds at a time? And is it worth the extra stress? Not that I blame anyone for doing it, I am sure I'm one of the worst and if I was still in my 2ww I'd probably be convincing myself it was helping xx

It's so true Poppy, the feeling of control is a total luxury in our situations and the want to obsess is very real! I'll try to stick to my over regular scans and just chill the heck out (not gonna happen btw haha)

xxx

God isn't it awful that we end up feeling stressed about the stress?! Anxious about the anxiety! I'd never suffered with any psychological issues in the past and always considered myself rational, reasonable and balanced, but this whole TTC malarkey has turned me into a nervous wreck! Just treated myself to an hours massage so feeling chilled... for the moment!

Thanks so much ladies. I was all tee'd up for taking my first dose in the morning, but I'll hold out until Saturday now. Makes sense to take it after ovulation... the body doesn't need to 'accept' a potential pregnancy until closer to implantation I guess? And that's exactly what I was worried about, if I took it before my body managed to pop the egg, and then it would stall it?! Feel so lucky to have you girls to bounce these things off 😘
Yes I'll be on 25mg. Have already DTD CD7,8 & 10. Will jump DH tonight, tomorrow & Saturday too! Irresistible 'you-better-not-bloody-turn-me-down' pants at the ready!! 👙

Justla- One thing I learned in the third trimester is that the Doppler no longer because the best indicator of the baby's health. Have you heard of 'Count the kicks'? Basically you'll be checking regularly that your baby does a certain amount of movements. This is a much better reassurance than heart beat because a reduction in movement happens before the baby's heart would stop as they would be trying to conserve their energy. So you'll be counting the kicks instead!

Tee4me- hahaha sounds like you're DTD schedule is very thorough ;-)

I know Tee, I've never been so irrational in my life! But I 'rationalise' it by thinking, I have every right to be bonkers right now (as do we all) and I'm hoping I regain sense when I have complete success, which I hope I'm on my way to.
You're all over the TTC situation! Get them fancy under crackers out 😂

Drttc, oh that's interesting! So I'll obsess over that instead hehe, did you have many scares with that technique or is the kicking quite continuous?

Xx

Evening All,

Sheepy, enjoy a long soak in the bath and drafting a complaints letter in your mind. Did you decide yet how to proceed? I had an ERPC, couldn't wait to get it over with after 9 weeks of thinking and 1 week of knowing the baby was gone. But I felt sick when I realised the baby had been shipped off for testing - I had suspected molar pregnancy... urg it's all so hideous - I feel for you Hun I really do 😢😢😢

Poppy what you said about the Chinese perspective on MC was sweet, and so true... why are we expected to just get on with it?? I went to work the day I started miscarrying my 2nd... stupid

Seeking, self preservation is the only way to get through this at the moment... you'll plug in and connect when the time is right... I think my 2nd MC hit me hardest as I was sooooo sure it would be ok (the Stats, the bloody effing Stats said so) that I told loads of friends I was pregnant and as I was due Boxing Day started planning Xmas. Idiot. Was in pieces when it ended. So I suspect I'll be just like you - until I feel safe, which you hopefully will be closer to feeling in 6 days ❤️

Drttc you are doing so well!! Hardcore mutha! Hang in there girl 🙏

And I was like you Tee, ready to start boshing my Pred, like on day 3 of AF 😂😂 - Amazing the girls put us right!! I too will wait until flashy ovulation face before I chug the roid down!!

I never used a Doppler tee, but I did frantically count the kicks - my DS was a lazy little monkey and I was sure he barely moved, and had no routine! So towards the end of my pregnancy I was on the Ward every day checking his heartbeat... They induced me at 39 weeks (to get me the hell out of their hair I suspect)... I had a horrifically painful Labour due to all that intervention and wished I'd chilled out more (although I'd prob do the same again lol)

My period pains have been delivered from Satan himself... hot water bottle and a wooden spoon between my teeth for me tonight 😘

Also Tee, get in my son 🤣😝😜😏😏😏 👉

(Doh, Doppler para was for just 🙄😝)

Definitely agree with Drttc re movement. By 22-24 weeks your baby will have a recognisable pattern of movement that is individual for you and it. If at any point that changes you call triage and they get you in. I went in once for reduced movement and as soon as they strapped me up she started moving loads! They are really hot on it.

I think with Tallulah I had a gut instinct that it was going to work out. I'd been on 6 months of DHEA and COQ10 & ovulated at day 14, so felt confident I had a decent egg, just needed the meds to do their thing. This time I ov'd on day 21 ( so paranoid the egg would have started to degrade by then) and had only been taking DHEA for about a month. I trust the drugs I'm on to work, I don't trust that my body has supplied a a decent egg and I feel like that'll be why I miscarry again. I'm so sure next week will be bad news, I feel like I'm awaiting the inevitable. Obviously I hope and pray that I'm wrong... even writing that feels weird. Like I'm getting my hopes up.

Sheepy, I'm sorry you've been so let down by the NHS. My friend had retained products after her first baby was born and after her miscarriage. Ended up back in surgery for both! Horrendous! She suffered pain for ages. I really hope they get you sorted quickly and you can start to let your body heal. Sending a big hug your way.