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!

PS. Also an excellent point about the drugs building up and having a cumulative effect over time. I definitely want/need to see how my TSH has been affected by the Thyroxine too before I consider anything else!

I think letrozole gives less of a chance of twins than clomid, which is why I think MrS uses it. Drs generally don't like to encourage twins because of the associated risks. Although I personally would have liked them too! Lol!

Ah I see. I'm a twin myself, they run down my Maternal line (Grandmother also had twins), so my Mum's always said 'we're poly-ovulators!') so hoping nature will be on my side for once ☺️ x

Yes definitely give SO a try before IUI. seeking is right about letrozole and less chance of twins, though I think Mr S does like you to produce 2 eggs on it (I guess in case one doesn't fertilise). I was on the lowest dose (2.5mg) and there was only 1 egg, and he said if it didn't work he would increase the dose to 5mg so we could get 2. Fraternal twins run in my family (my siblings are twins) so actually always thought I might have them, before I knew about this NK cell shit obvs!

You inject yourself with the shot (because you want to be able to time it perfectly so prob won't be in the clinic) but they show you how and it's honestly really fine. I usually faint with blood tests but with this I didn't even feel it go in! It goes in your tummy. Hardest bit was making myself stick it in, then couldn't believe I'd even worried about it.

I feel enormous pressure to fall pregnant ASAP, but I am really going to do my best to chill out and delete everything that happened before - this is my month 1, and from now any wee one that's conceived will have the best chance to make it 🤞

Yes absolutely Harriet, fraternal twins are the ones that run in families in females. Identical twins happen completely randomly (when egg splits into 2) My Mum is a sibling to fraternal twins. If you have sibling twins you are just as likely to have twins as they are themselves. They are also more prevalent the older you get (something about our bodies going into panic mode and chucking out extra eggs). Me and my twin sister were my Mum's last pregnancy (we have older siblings). We actually weren't planned, so what a shock we must have been! Something very special about twins. As an adult I feel very fortunate to have one x

Luna totally!! Let's press ctr-alt-delete on this TTC business!! I'm so excited about what the future holds. 🎄👶🏼 still on the wish list though! x

I love twins!

Yes totally want 👶🏼🎄 too.... But am totally chilled obvs 🙄😝

Hi everyone

Tee - when I saw Dr S for my initial appointment it had been 13 months since my last pregnancy so I asked if there was anything I could do to help and he suggested SO, as other people have said, you take letrozole for 3-4 days at beginning of cycle, then have a scan to see how big follicles are and then they tell you when to do the trigger shot (its more like a pen than a proper needle so not too bad, and i am crap with injection i even cry before having a blood test!). When I did it Dr s was working out of harley street/private hospital in epsom rather than his own clinic so i was able to go for a follicle scan locally and send results - not sure if he does that now.

I think he said you can do SO for a a maximum of 6 months and if it doesn't work its unlikely to work. Also i think the medication builds up in your system so months 4-6 are those where most people get pregnant. I got pregnant on cycle 5 of SO but sadly had a mc (and thats when hydroxy was added to my treatment plan)

Also I think 6 months is the max for the pred too before having a break. When i has the mc on the treatment we decided to come off all med (apart from hydroxy which takes 10 weeks to work its way in to your system and be effective) and give ourselves a small break before going again. Ironically I fell pregnant in that break, and just went back on all the meds once i got the bfp!

Hope that helps a bit.

Thanks Sunny, that's really helpful. I think it's something I'll discuss with him at my follow up at the end of September. I've always assumed that I ovulate perfectly, because my cycles are like clockwork, but no ones ever actually looked at my follicles, so the SO process is definitely of interest. I just like the idea of extra factors stacking up in my favour, obviously. I need to keep my expectations in check. I would be delighted to fall again the in next 6 months. Sorry you had a rough time achieving your bfp, wonderful how you got there in the end though!! x

it's definitely worth asking about, although obviously its more £££!!

@Tee, I didn't get pregnant last cycle but I had a blood test to check I did ovulate and it came back superbly positive. Not getting pregnant doesn't mean you didn't ovulate, so many other moving parts! I understand you wanting to uncover every stone though! My endo warned about high expectations among women who are used to getting pregnant so easily. That is totally me.

I also remember our dear @harrietm87 in June being extremely indignant about her first ever non-pregnant cycle 😉😂And look at her now 😍

Have I really just learned how to tag people?!

Nice poppy 😚

Ha ha @PoppyJ1!!!! I know! To be fair my cycle was so messed up the first time on pred, also was really ill and stressed and felt like I'd broken myself! High expectations is right.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm used to being really driven and perfectionist in other areas of my life - if I decide I want something I work really hard until I can get it - and this ttc thing is like the first time I realised how little control we have over our bodies. It's scary.

How are you poppy? Where is your holiday to?

Totally agree with that @harrietm87. It's extremely frustrating not having control over the situation. I suppose that's what leads us to obsessing about the details whenever we get a nugget of information or opportunity.

Off to Australia for a couple of weeks in mid December 👍 will be in the wine region trying not to drink too much in case I get a BFP when I get home! I have a few days before O day that should be safe.

How are you feeling generally at the mo?

Yup! Another Mrs super organised everything-has-to-be-perfect control freak over here 🙋🏼
Hit the nail on the head, it's so tough having such little control, so the limited things we can control (taking the supplements/meds, timing DTD etc) end up being put under the microscope! Most people I know who have fallen recently only DTD once or twice during FW! I think I'd like to try little and often throughout the month this cycle, rather than cram a million bonks into FW! Ultimately I don't think it really matters, but always fun to try new tactics 😜

I have deleted Fertility Friend! Quite liberating really. All I really care about is the OPKs, which I swear by, but beyond that the FF app is simply going to be collating borderline symptoms and that is not helpful! Back to good old OPK and diary.

Uuurrrrggghhh all the boinking has left me with cystitis! It's not getting better on its own, the GP is closed for the long weekend!

And - to top it off... I've just read it can cause miscarriage??

😩😩😩 anyone know what I should do?

Noooooo luna!!!! This happened to me on cycle1 on pred. In hindsight probs because it also lowers your immune system

Get to your out of hours GP service asap - mine was at my local hospital, I came down with it on a Saturday night! - and get antibiotics. I told them I may be pregnant and they gave me nitrofurantoin which is safe in pregnancy and worked a treat! Poor you, it's so horrible.

Ps the sooner you go the better. You need to stop it developing into a full blown uti - it won't get better in its own so get those drugs!

@LunaB just tagging you so you def see my posts! Though you prob know this stuff anyway.

Oh damn! I was worried I'd have to do that! But yes you're right, it's only going to get worse! I feel that my bladder is going to drop out from under me!

I lost 3 babies whilst randomly taking amoxicillin for different things over the last 5 years... so I made a promise not to take any antibiotics again when I'm trying to get into the safe zone... but I'm being silly... it's just superstition - will get to GP tomorrow

Thank you!! Xx

Can you not go tonight? Need to nip it in the bud! And I googled obsessively and nitrofurantoin is totally fine in pregnancy - utis are common apparently and they always give you that. Poor Luna!

I'm actually feeling too rough to drive and I just need to get to bed and deal with it tomorrow... I used to be susceptible to it since having a couple of nasty kidney infections at uni, but haven't had one in years (must be the Pred?)... 😩😩 it's a killer isn't it!!

Thanks for the reassurance re the antibiotics! Xxx

DH has intervened after finding me in ball on sofa using puppy as hot water bottle... called 111 and have an appointment with a GP at my local hospital @ 10pm!

Hopefully the antibiotics will sort this little bugger out ASAP!