ERA/EMMA/ALICE Testing Thread 3

[Janefx40]

Hello all,

This is a continuation of the ERA/EMMA/ALICE Testing thread.

New posters are welcome. On here you will find a group of women who are either doing these tests or have done them already and are further on the journey

This is the friendliest and most supportive group so feel free to join and post

Xxx

@seven201 wow. A positive test! deep breaths. I know you've been here before and things haven't been easy. But ultimately we're all here because we want a baby and the first step to that is a positive pregnancy test.

This is a long hard journey we are on and we all just have to live out each stage of it which can be agonising. This could be the start of something good or maybe another twist in the road. I'm really really hoping it's something good 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼

Sending you lots of love and keep talking to us anytime x

Good luck today @Janefx40 we are all rooting for you.

OMG @seven201 another surprise bfp. Ultimately it has to be seen as good news as you are conceiving and you seem to be doing so pretty consistently. But I can see why you would feel cautious, overwhelmed, not that positive, etc. I remember from before that your clinic were v unhelpful with a natural pregnancy, which is so annoying. I wonder if there's someone else you could see. I had some appts with dr tozer in London who does believe in all the immunes type treatment and give antiphospholipids and blood thinners etc although she's not a big name like Gorgy, Shehata etc. She was able to see me quickly. Just a thought but you may prefer to just wait and see this time.

Keeping my fingers crossed tightly for you @seven201

Good luck today @Janefx40

Thank you all. At my last ivf consultation I did manage to get them to include on the letter what meds to take if I conceive naturally. I need to find the letter. I think I'll see how this goes but if unsuccessful find a specialist.

I had covid when we conceived. I didn't want to delay by a month but now realising that was probably really stupid!

@seven201 yes dig out that letter. ARGC will support a natural pregnancy btw

How much to drink?! The nurse said 1.5 to 2 litres. I've drink half a litre and already in agony. It's my first transfer at this clinic so don't want to cause an issue. My other clinics just said half full but this one said VERY FULL in capital letters. If I drank 2 litres I would be rolling around the floor in agony (tried it once for my very first ever scan!)

Thank you @Janefx40

Oh gosh. Mine aways just said a comfortably full bladder, which is hard, especially if they're running late! I don't think I could drink that much either. I think you should go for drinking as much as you comfortably can? If necessary (you're about the burst) you could always go and have a tiny wee, but I know it's not easy to stop!

Thanks @seven201 am usually quite good at letting out a small amount but went a bit far before my era/NK biopsy and she said it was empty 😬

Going to just keep sipping but not down too much.

How are you feeling now the dust has settled a bit?

@seven201 sending you big hugs and good wishes! 🍀

@seven201 don't worry, I have an unscientific theory that covid can help people who have had recurrent miscarriages. Has happened to 2 friends who had numerous losses and then post covid one stuck. Maybe coz the immune system has something else to concentrate on?! Can you tell I'm not a doctor... sure @Gardenlady543 will be rolling her eyes at me, 😂

@Janefx40 I've had complete variety of bladders and transfers still gone the same. I think keeping sipping sounds the best plan. You must be basically about to go in now, go well little embryo

@Yuliaaa thank you!

That sounds a good plan @Janefx40. What time is the transfer?

I'm alright I think. Found the Dr letter so that's good. Still sinking in. Do we think it's ok that I had covid when we conceived? Agh. I was tripple jabbed (booster just under 2 weeks before). I just felt like I had a bad cold and had no energy/motivation. I feel really stupid for doing that. It was a syringe and cup job!

@Janefx40 how did it go?

Thanks everyone. Just got back to our neck of the woods post transfer. All done and went well. They scanned me to check my bladder was full so lucky it was. I had drunk around 850 ml so that will be my go to for the future. Embryo defrosted fine and is on board. Feeling quite relaxed. Off to acupuncture now.

@seven201 glad you found the doctor's letter. I'm sure that having Covid won't have been an issue at all. There are very few illnesses that are an issue at conception and the embryo wasn't even dependent on your bloodstream at that point anyway.

Thanks for all your support today x

Well done @Janefx40 . So pleased all went smoothly for you. Enjoy the acupuncture.

You're probably right about covid, I shouldn't have googled "trying to get pregnant with covid" this morning!

@Janefx40 congrats on being PUPO I'm glad it went well today.

@seven201 that's great news, well done for thinking ahead and getting the recommended medications in the letter. I think you're in a great position, hopefully this will go well, in case it doesn't you have a plan for Ivf with euploid embryos.

@whatcangowrong I don't think the evidence for any of the immune stuff is strong, but it seems to work for some people. So who knows.

I do love @whatcangowrong 's theory!

Thank you @Gardenlady543 . How are you doing?

I may be overthinking this but I'm yet to hear if I need a full or empty bladder for EMMA&ALICE tests this week. Does anyone know? I couldn't find the answer on Google x

@StillTrying10000 I was told to have a full bladder for mine which was 4 in 1: Emma, Alice, ERA and NK biopsies. I actually "let out" too much just before and my bladder wasn't full but it was fine anyway!

When are your tests?

@Janefx40 thank you! I hope you're having a good week even with blue Monday.
That's good to know. I've had the stress with my transfers of it being too full, then too empty so I'm apprehensive to get it right. I'm in first thing Friday x

@StillTrying10000 what is blue Monday? Good luck for Friday x

I did another pregnancy test this morning and the line is much lighter so I think this one hasn't stuck. Same brand. Will do a blood test and send off I think.

What should I do now? See a repeat miscarriage person (it's been 3 in a row, but the first was 4 years ago)? Or try with one of my euploids? Don't want to waste it though. I've not had any NK testing.

@Janefx40 the Monday of this week is meant to be the most depressing day of the year for people, at least it only gets better from here.
@seven201 I'm sorry it's not looking positive. It does sound very similar to what happens to me with NK cells. it's a tricky decision but personally I think it could be worth investigating now. You can either speak to your GP to see if they will refer you to an NHS miscarriage clinic (they tend to after 3 losses no matter how far apparat they are) or just go private. I was referred to NHS but to be honest there's so few tests and drugs they can prescribe you, if you can afford private it will save you time going directly down that route. Some of the private clinics do have waiting lists, it was 2 months to see Dr S so you can always get your name down with a clinic now whilst you are thinking. I think it's £100 deposit. Sending lots of hugs your way xxx

@seven201 sorry to hear this is happening again. I think it sounds like a good idea to make an appointment with the GP although you'd need to go in knowing what you want as most GPs are pretty useless on fertility stuff.

Would your clinic test NK cells? Whereabouts are you based?

Thanks both. My GP is indeed pretty useless on this stuff and it's near impossible to get an appointment with one anyway. I think I'll go for private as I can't handle all the waiting. I'm in west Kent so can easily get to london. My clinic have said I could go to their london clinic for a NK blood test but perhaps I should see a proper specialist. So there's dr sheta and I think someone else is often recommended?

@seven201 there's Dr Shehata in Surrey and Dr Gorgy in town. They are quite extensive in their treatment (and expensive as a result) so it might be worth starting with tests at a clinic to see where you are up to.

I've only done immune stuff within IVF clinic. I'm currently at CRGH and they do NK bloods and biopsies and then offer steroids, Intralipids or IVIG depending on the results but they are relatively cautious. This time I did intralipids because my blood levels showed raised NK and cytokines but my uterine biopsy was normal.

I was previously at ARGC who just do blood tests and treat most people with IVIG and steroids.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this helps some women. I've cycled with women who'd had 7+ miscarriages and then had successful pregnancies with immunes support.

Having said that, I was told in my first ARGC consultation that they don't know if most healthy women (in the general population) would also test positive for having immune system issues but most have successful pregnancies. So my feeling was that the blood tests aren't that useful as a diagnostic tool - they tend to over diagnose and the ARGC tend to treat everyone with these therapies that are very expensive and not needed for most as a result. Of course though the alternative is to not treat until a round has failed which isn't ideal either.

Whilst the science for most of this is inconclusive, there is really even less evidence for the more extreme treatments like LIT offered by Dr Gorgy but then you could argue that lots of treatment started off as experimental.

Best of luck with what you decide xxx