Passing clots and still in pain

[elsaesmeralda]

Hi

Don't know if anyone can put me out of my misery and explain what on earth is wrong with my uterus !
I had a fet last Thursday, on days 3 and 4pt I started spotting, it cleared up after clinic upped my progesterone. On 7dpt I started properly bleeding, panicked and did a test (cheap internet one) that shown the faintest line you've ever seen, couple of hours later I started passing lots of clots, they were really dark and big, it was pretty obvious to me it was my lining coming away. I had no cramps at all.
Got up this morning and tested and it was very negative. The bleeding stopped abruptly last night a couple of hours after it started. I only got cramps early hours of this morning after bleeding, the pain was centralised around my hip/ovary area. Since then my uterus hurts, it's not like period pains it just aches ! It feels really tender when I move around, bend over etc, almost like it's bruised.
Does anyone know what might be causing this? Is it normal to get pains after the bleeding/clots has finished. It just doesn't seem right to me, I also thought the bleeding would have carried on like a normal period but it's totally gone

Sorry to ramble my heads 🤯

Can anyone advise ?

Hi @elsaesmeralda I didn’t want to read and run and I’m hoping someone with more knowledge/a similar past experience will come by.

It sounds like maybe you’ve had a chemical to me, they will probably say keep taking the meds and test OTD still, which I’m guessing hasn’t coming around as yet.

I remember speaking about embryos with you in the past, I think you got 9, and that you’ve had issues with your lining. What’s your background, have you ever had surgery before? I’m being investigated for Ashermans syndrome at the moment, I’ve never had surgery but this is usually the case. I saw a specialist last week, he said if I do have it, it is likely due to a low grade infection. I think in people that get such good outcomes from egg collection they should bring forward investigations especially if there are clearly lining issues. He is doing a HSG on me which will provide more information, I also had a ERA EMMA ALICE, which will say if there are issues with bad bacteria and will indicate how long I need to be on progesterone for.

This is an article with a quote from the specialist towards the bottom www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1303613/Me-operation-How-procedure-using-micro-scissors-ended-miscarriage-misery.html

Some bits that jumped out for me
“Astonishingly, most fertility clinics don't check for [adhesions] at the outset, even though they are a significant cause of infertility. The ultrasound scans they do flag up only severe adhesions rather than the mild-to-moderate ones”

“We often see women who have not only wasted thousands of pounds on pointless IVF treatments, but they've also lost one or two years.”

It’s £250 for an initial consultation and £505 for the HSG. Might be worth pursuing in your case.

I meant that previous surgery is felt to usually be the cause of Ashermans syndrome, but there’s lost of women who developed it after the IUD (I had this) and also endometritis (infections) can cause it. Lots of women are found to have too many bad bacteria in their flora.

Thank you so much for replying @Gardenlady543 I've been in a panic the last couple of days as I just don't know what's been going on. I did speak to the clinic and yes I have to still test on the 28th and carry on the meds. It's clear that the embryo is gone though with the amount of clots lost.
I was worrying purely because the pain afterwards, but lack of bleeding. I'm still sore now but not as bad, had tiny spotting again earlier but again it's stopped. So confusing. I thought I'd just have a full on period now but it seems my body can't decide what it wants to do.

I've never had any pelvic surgery, only back surgery. Yes I got 9 embryos on my egg collection, I have pcos also. It's funny you mention adhesions as I was meant to have a lap to look for endo and have ovarian drilling but it got cancelled due to covid, hence pushing through with ivf instead.

I do also wonder if my pcos could be playing a part in the lining issue too. When I suggested this to the consultant he just shrugged it off and didn't see it as a concern. Even on 12mg of estradiol and patches I still only got to 8.04mm. I don't know. But I'm worried about going through this possibly another 8 times.
I did have an hsg with the nhs and it all came back fine 🤷🏼‍♀️

@elsaesmeralda ah that’s reassuring about the HSG, there is some variability in them though depending on who does it. I’m having mine the interventional radiology department in hammersmith and they are very thorough there. I wonder if it’s worth you seeing if you can have the tests they were looking at if this does end up to be a negative.

In both my fresh and frozen transfer I had significant pelvic pain radiating to my lower back. I felt it could be the embryo trying to implant but my lining wasn’t good enough, who knows I guess.

One of my friends had 2x chemical/early miscarriage and she described it as a heavy period that only lasted 1 day.

If it is negative OTD then it could just be bad luck, it could be an abnormal embryo. Am I right in thinking this is your first transfer having not been able to have one in the fresh and first FET attempt? It’s great if it works first time but sadly it seems to take most people 3-4 attempts

When I had failed transfers I found the "period" was much heavier due to the progesterone - it's also possible that you can pass the uterine lining in one go hence large clots

@Gardenlady543 my clinic does freeze all so would have been no option for a fresh. Yes first fet, my lining didn't respond on the first go. It only got to 8mm this time but clinic policy is 8mm and over, it had triple layer and appeared healthy so they was happy to transfer. I did argue maybe I've got a naturally thin endometrium as I've had a child before, I have carried a pregnancy. They agreed with this. It's like my body tried to fight the drugs! Last time they said my bodies natural progesterone started rising hence my lining not thickening up.
All I can do is keep going.
The embryo was hatching and top graded, but I'm starting to realise the grades don't mean much

Yes I agree my lining could have come away in one go.