IVF with PGD following recurrent miscarriage

PS pink

DHEA is only for women with low ovarian reserve and low androgens. If you don't have DOR (diminished ovarian reserve) it could raise your testosterone to levels that are detrimental, and do more harm than good. Unless you have low AMH / high FSH or are in your 40s, then I wouldn't take it

Inositol is for women with too high levels of testosterone - ie women with PCOS

So the 2 are for different ends of the spectrum - I wouldn't take them together. Inositol won't do any harm, but the DHEA isn't advisable unless you're likely to benefit xx

PS here are the basic RM tests that it's worth having if you haven't already
Thyroid function ( TSH, FT3, FT4)

thrombophilia screen – anticardiolipin antibodies (IgG and IgM), antithrombin 111, factor V Leiden, factor II prothrombin gene, PAIP polymorphism, activated protein C resistance, Protein C/Protein S, lupus anticoagulant, MTHFR

autoimmune antibodies ( inc. anti-nuclear antibodies, thyroid peroxidase and anti-mitochondrial antibodies)

Could also consider the sperm aneuploidy test

www.igenomix.com/tests/sperm-aneuploidy-test-sat/

Hi ladies

Sorry for not replying, been lying low while waiting for feedback from the cancer clinic about my investigations following a dodgy smear.

The latest research from the Coventry clinic shows more about hyper fertility in women with RM, and why women do often eventually get there with persistence - because they hit a month where their uNK cells are low

www.newscientist.com/article/2121182-timing-when-you-get-pregnant-could-prevent-a-miscarriage/

Well worth an appt to see the Profs, I'd say

The male embryos thing sounds like absolute bollocks to me BTW. I'd ask to see evidence because what he's suggesting sounds like total horseshit.....

In answer to your question I'm just plodding on. I'm devastated that we may never have a child and never become part of the parents club. I'm absolutely terrified of the next cycle succeeding - and then miscarrying again. Just to get pregnant is such an ordeal - I've been doing 5 months of injections and scans and painful biopsies just to get to a point where we can try another embryo transfer

I'm hoping the cancer clinic will sign me off as having had a wonky result and just a horrible 2 months of hell, now my repeat smear has come back normal.

This month we're doing a mock FET cycle, a dummy run for the real thing, to see how my lining responds (and so we can do the ERA test). If they goes well then we'll potentially FET next month

Shitting it

Yes surrogacy is the next step for us

However at £100,000 - 150,000 for gestational surrogacy in the US it's not exactly a small undertaking 😓

Surrogacy law in the UK offers no protection to either surrogates or intended parents - surrogacy arrangements are legally unenforceable. Commercial surrogacy is illegal so it's altruistic surrogacy for expenses (around £15,000) only. The UK agencies are closed to new intended parents, most UK surros prefer to go indy (independent) via secret FB groups. Which again has no legal protection.

Unless you have a friend or family member to surro for you, UK surrogacy is incredibly challenging. And the alternative in the US is cripplingly expensive.

But if I can't successfully sustain a pregnancy then we won't really have any choice if we ever want to have a baby

I've been doing fertility treatment since Sept 15

Since then I've done 4 rounds of IVF with egg collection, 1 cancelled IVF cycle, 2 cancelled frozen cycles, 2 embryo transfers, 2 pregnancies, 2 miscarriages, 1 ERPC, 2 hysteroscopies, then since my last hysto I've done 2 HRT cycles and 3 ovulation induction cycles with injectables while I've had a copper IUD.

Had my IUD out on Weds and am doing another ovulation induction cycle with injectables as a mock FET cycle with endometrial biopsies.

In theory could be doing the real thing next month, but that depends on a lot of things. I have to do an ovulation induction FET as I don't respond to HRT so can't do a normal medicated FET (and I don't have natural cycles due to PCOS so the only way to get my lining to grow is through ovarian stimulation)

I know you think IVF would be a quick fix but it really, really isn't. It's the most emotionally harrowing experience of my life.

The Coventry clinic are now moving away from steroids after ovulation even in women with high uNK cells, because if the levels cycle from high to low, then taking pred in a low month can do more harm than good. You need a certain level of inflammation to support implantation, so taking pred if it's not needed can over suppress you and prevent implantation from taking place

So hence why they recommend repeat biopsies and trying to identify the pattern of uNK

Also worth noting what Prof Brosens says in the New scientist article about women with RM in his research often being hyper fertile and falling pregnant very easily.

Sorry to hear what you have been through

Have you been tested for autoimmune disease as a cause of your miscarriages? I had several rounds of IVF which resulted in miscarriage, some around 5 weeks and one at 12 weeks. The clinic didn't really count the 5 week ones as pregnancy as it was before the scan, so it delayed investigation. It was only after I lost a couple of naturally conceived pregnancies as well that I was referred to the recurrent miscarriage centre, and was diagnosed with Antiphospholipid Syndrome. The fertility clinic missed it completely

Sorry for your losses Mewling

Yes I had all the thrombophilia tests before we did my first embryo transfer, to rule out any clotting disorders like APS up front.

I'm negative for all thrombophilia (anticardiolipin antibodies (IgG and IgM), antithrombin 111, factor V Leiden, factor II prothrombin gene, PAIP polymorphism, activated protein C resistance, Protein C/Protein S, lupus anticoagulant, MTHFR, autoimmune antibodies ( inc. anti-nuclear antibodies, thyroid peroxidase and anti-mitochondrial antibodies) - however my first miscarriage was such sudden foetal demise that we can't rule out compromised placenta blood flow (although doppler always showed great uterine artery blood flow on ultrasound)

So we're treating with clexane and aspirin post ET.

I'm sorry you had to go through so much to get your APS diagnosed

Surrogacy in Georgia and Ukraine is cheaper at around £30-40,000, but is pretty shady - you aren't allowed to even meet the surrogate until after 12 weeks, and it's basically rife for exploitation of desperate women. You also have to move out there while you wait for the baby to get a British passport - accounts from posters on FF show being out in Georgia or Ukraine for 3 months is quite normal.

My cousin offered but unfortunately she has a complicated obstetric history, and another pregnancy could be very dangerous for both her and a baby, so that's not a viable option

We have 5 potential people on ice, so once the next cycle fails / I miscarry again, we will have 4 PGS tested embryos. Obvs we wouldn't be greedy enough to think we could ever be lucky enough to have more than one child, so the question becomes how many embryos we burn through in my body before we try and turn one into a person in someone else's body.

I haven't seen that group, thanks for the tip. I'm member of some other FB groups for women with quite complicated reproductive issues, which are very helpful as the women are so knowledgeable. For example, I want to speak to my consultant about trying Neupogen injections this time, and the advice from women on the various reproductive immunology related and PGS groups has been invaluable.

It's helpful to be amongst other women who have issues getting as well as staying pregnant, because most RM stuff is for women who are TTC naturally (and many already have 1 or more children) - which is really depressing as it makes me feel even more barren!!