Starting ivf because of recurrent early misscarriges !

[Sadgirl28]

I have had 5 early misscarriges at 5-6 weeks and my doctor suggested ivf , my worry is that how would ivf help me carry pregnancy when I keep miscarrying anyways ? Doctor thinks it’s chromosome faults but I can’t get my head around it , how can 5 pregnancy’s be chromosome faulty at age mid 20’s. I have had all the recurrent misscarrige blood tests done and uterus scan and blood work is fine but I have heart shaped uterus which doctor said is nothing serious it’s quite normal . So am I wasting my time doing ivf when I can get pregnant myself but just can’t carry after 6 weeks any advice ? I am funded by nhs which I’m so grateful for but I don’t think they will be testing the embryos before egg transfer . It will be fresh transfer . I haven’t started ivf yet so I don’t know my plan yet but I’m just guessing they won’t test the embryos…

Hi @Sadgirl28, I agree with you that IVF isn’t much use if you can get pregnant naturally. Recurrent miscarriage is a separate issue. That said if you have an NHS funded round I’d be inclined to take it as you may get some clues into egg and sperm health by seeing how many fertilise and make blastocyst etc.

Have you had any recurrent miscarriage testing done privately? That is more in depth than NHS testing but there’s debate around how effective it is. Private doctors will often prescribe things like blood thinners, steroids, progesterone depending on what testing shows.

Hi @Sadgirl28 I have recurrent losses too. I did additional tests before our nhs free round (we got one fresh cycle). We knew that at least one of our losses was genetically normal, but all my recurrent mc tests were normal. I had immune tests privately and was found to have an overactive immune system essentially attacking the pregnancies (never seen a heartbeat all babies stop growing around 6 weeks). So I have an immune protocol to follow.

The ivf was helpful as we actually got 3 blastocysts (one 5AA, top quality, 2x 3AA good quality). Sadly I had my 5th loss after my transfer - but my clinic and my recurrent mc specialist believe it is a lining / implantation issue this time. So I'm doing further tests to look at my implantation window and for inflammation and infections in my uterus before we transfer one of my frozen embryos.

I agree, just doing ivf with no additional changes might not be that helpful. But it would give you an idea if there's anything else going on with your eggs and sperm. Xx

@CP26 hey , yes I have had recurrent misscarrige tests done and all came back fine , so I am struggling to keep positive that ivf will ever work

I'm following someone on Twitter who had many miscarriages and was advised to do IVF. She had an egg collection but then had to freeze everything because of Covid. Then her FET was delayed by Covid. While waiting she became pregnant again and suffered another loss. Then the FET worked on the first round and she had a beautiful baby 9 months later. She had a standard treatment with no PGS testing. I know this is hearsay but I read your post and thought of her story. You are clearly not the only one who has been advised to do IVF for miscarriages. Your clinic will explain- I'm sure! Good luck! Xxx

Thank you girls for replying I hope it works out for me I know I need to be positive but it’s so hard to .

Being positive when you have been through 5 miscarriages seems impossible to me. I've been through two so far and they've been absolutely horrific. I've been through IVF and I don't think positivity is very helpful at all. What is important though is that you remain realistic and also recognise that it may work, that you will fall pregnant again and carry a baby to full term. In terms of your age and the fact that they haven't found any problems- it is more likely you will have a baby then not. This is not very likely to be relevant for you but I'll mention it just in case: some women have found that the reason for recurrent miscarriages was due to the quality of sperm of their partners (even when the regular sperm parameters are normal). Something called sperm fragmentation is new and not quite understood by science but some women have found that when their partner makes life style changes such as stopping smoking, drinking, wearing tight trousers, hot bath combined with taking vitamins, healthy eating and exercises has helped them in their journey of getting pregnant. Hang in there! Xx

Hi i also have had 5 miscarriages, the furthest I got was 9weeks but my body carried on thinking it was pregnant didn’t find out until our 12 week dating scan that the baby had died a few weeks ago, we had that tested and came back to be chromosomal abnormalities, it’s only now after 5 that we have been referred to a top specialist through the NHS, had all testing before and all came back fine apart from I have a slight blood clotting problem but nothing of concern so was put in baby aspirin and progesterone suppositories but unfortunately still didn’t help! Since being referred they are actually testing my husband this time both sperm count and bloods, just had our appointment come through for end of September so won’t get any results until then, but they have said possibly IVF too x

@Matilda128 thank you so much for your lovely positive words to me ! I am so sorry about your losses it’s the worst thing ever to experience , to lose a baby even if it’s early pregnancy . And about the sperm fragementation , I do belive that this is not the case for me because I had 4 losses with my now ex partner who didn’t have a child at the time but now has a child to someone else first time , and the losses carried on with my new partner , just 1 loss , but I can see there is a pattern of losing pregnancy at 6 weeks so I think it’s not the partners at all . But thank you for advice lovely I will listen to any advice I get from anyone xxx

@Knighty25 aww I am so very sorry for what you have been through ! I have been through the same exact and I know how much it hurts ! It hurts me soo much because I don’t have a child yet ! And I hope your testing for your partner goes well ! At least you doing something positive to get closer to your goal to have a baby or at least get maybe some answers weather it’s good or bad , at least you’ll know . My partner already had sperm testing done and all was above avarage so really good results the doctor said . I hope it goes well for you too lovely ! I also had all testing done and all was fine so it’s soo bloody confusing why it’s not happening . I have not tried a single medicine or treatment while pregnanct with any of my pregnancy’s so I will never know if aspirin or progesterone would have helped ! Hopefully in my ivf cycle I’ll get some different medicines to try ! Sending you lots of hugs ! Stay strong

I know it’s so hard isn’t it I think you have to be strong as there is not much we can do about it! No we don’t have any children either yet! So have you been referred to see a fertility specialist? That’s so good that your partners sperm count was good! I just hope it’s something easily treated! Sending hugs right back 🥰

@Knighty25 , thank you and yes I have been referred to ivf clinic now I will start my ivf next month ! So exiting ! But like I said , at the same time I don’t feel positive because I don’t see how it will help me when I can get pregnant myself . Hopefully they will prescribe me some aspirin and progesterone so who knows, that might be what has always been missing and just what I need.! I just have to be hopeful that it works with some medicines. I am so very thankful I will get 2 cycles of IVF nhs funded and also a 3rd but have to apply for it so very very hopeful that one cycle works ! It’s been a rough journey for me to get to IVF stage , lots of paperwork and appointments and testing , but I got there at the end

@Knighty25 if you don’t mind me asking ,how did you cope with your pregnancy losses? What keeps you going and trying again and again ? And also how old are you if you don’t mind me Asking ? I am 28 xx

Fingers crossed for you! Keep me updated!! My friend had IVF and fell pregnant with twins they are nearly 3 now :), we’ve stopped trying now until we have our appointment the last one was last September and that was it that one seemed to effect me more as we had seen a healthy heartbeat at 6weeks never seen a heartbeat before so that made it much harder! But each time I got a positive test I was like here we go again! What about you how have you felt? X

Sorry I’m 31 so not getting any younger! We live in Worcestershire but our appointments are Gloucestershire as our GP surgery is in Gloucestershire xx

I thought it may not be relevant or you may be aware of it already- but you never know. During IVF you have a more controlled situation so it may answer some questions. But I also found you have to fight to get answers. I've always had a problem with progesterone but nobody ever wanted to listen until I started doing private progesterone tests and proving it was simply too low. Not had any success yet but I can't become pregnant without IVF so I don't get many chances. Xxx

@Knighty25 I swear I could write your story myself haha I also lost one at 6 weeks 4 days along and also also saw heart beat at 6.4 weeks but Stopped growing on the same day as the scan but found out later on at about 9 weeks that it was missed misscarrige . But my last loss was in February and also that one affected me the most ever because it’s first one with my current Partner of 5 years and I thought maybe it’s different result because it’s new pregnancy and new partner . Also I just feel the same when I get pregnant I think here we go again , I always Know that I’ll lose it and I always do so I always go to shop and buy lots of painkillers and pads for when I start miscarrying ! I know it’s so sad that I do that but I prepare myself as I always know when and how it’s going to end and It’s always being the case . It’s more like a routine for me which is so sad . It’s like waiting for a ticking time bomb to explode . But what keeps me going is the thought of IVF and being on progesterone next time and aspirin as I have never tried anything while pregnant . So never know it might help . Also did you stop trying for now because you don’t want to get pregnant and lose another one just in case until you find some answers ? I know for sure if I was you i would still try as I am so desperate , because Testing says nothing wrong with me so I just hope for a miracle

@Matilda128 I understand that when I start my ivf they will automatically put you on progesterone anyways after egg transfer right ? So if it’s my progesterone , would this sort out my problem or yours even ? Xx

Haha that’s what I thought when I read your story! Don’t worry I do exactly the same get prepared ready for the miscarriage! I know we’re so desperate but I’m scared to be pregnant again I had to have a d&c last time because I was too far along to have medical management, Whenever I get that positive test I’m like constantly checking if I have every pregnancy symptom every hour too or if symptoms are fading and it does my anxiety no good whatsoever 🙈.
Yeah my friend who had IVF had to have progesterone and I think blood thinning injections too xx