Recurrent Miscarriage - Advice Scotland

[thehurtingheart]

Hi folks,

I am currently awaiting confirmation of my third loss.

The EPU have said they will refer us to recurrent miscarriage clinic but the wait is likely about 4 months, I believe there will be more waiting for test results too etc - I am struggling with the idea of things taking this long.

Does anyone have experience in doing this private and would they recommend over NHS?

Particularly interested to hear experiences from Edinburgh and Lothians area!

Thanks!

@thehurtingheart I’m so sorry for your losses and sending lots of love as you navigate the coming days. It can be so isolating. Make sure you give yourself some TLC and time to process.

I’m Edinburgh-based and have also experienced multiple miscarriages. My first was in the second trimester so I had tests straight away, which is the NHS protocol with late miscarriages.

It’s likely that I would have gone private with a wait of four months as I understand how important it is - emotionally and mentally - to have answers. I like to have a plan and know what’s next so I’m going to tell you how I’d have done it with hindsight.

1. Thyroid function, thrombophilia and progesterone tests. You can pay for these privately. Sometimes a thyroid or clotting issue can be easily treated with medication. And I believe that you can now request aspirin for blood thinning and progesterone as standard after experiencing recurrent loss, but someone may be along to correct me. I’d personally rather know I needed treatment for these things but some people do take aspirin and progesterone without any testing and have success.

1. Basic semen analysis (sometimes a supportive GP will arrange that but perhaps not if you’re awaiting referral) or, if you can fork it out, a SpermComet test (£400ish) to rule out DNA fragmentation. Very often the male partner is overlooked but my partner had issues that went undetected for two years because the focus was on me.

1. You could also have an ultrasound to assess your womb and rule out septate uterus or anything else that may be interfering with progress.

GCRM in Glasgow (IVF clinic) may be able to help with some or all of these. We went there for karyotyping once as we wanted to rule out challenges with genetics. They were okay. Not a specialist in recurrent miscarriage but there’s not much private support for this in Scotland, to be honest. I’ve found more success in England where there are more private consultants dealing with recurrent loss.

My history is complex and deeper than the majority of recurrent miscarriage cases so please don’t assume that you will have to stretch to this. You might get the answers you need with testing in Scotland. Most do!

Happy to answer any questions you might have. Take care

@MyEasterEggs thank you so much for your kind and thorough reply - I really appreciate! Sending love and positive vibes your way - I hope that you have had some success or are getting closer to success!

I am sorry for everything you're going through, how are you now?

I'm here because I share your pain.

@IsabelHerna I am still struggling. I am waiting on the appointment to come through from NHS as apparently some of the testing can only be done 12 weeks after a miscarriage and this was the length of the wait anyway. It's torture though and the time is really dragging. Thanks for asking!

@Pluckedblueberry I am sorry that you share this pain!

Funny you just posted this. Right now I'm home waiting for another miscarriage to start as I had some spotting yesterday and the doctor told me it was a miscarriage. This might take a few days or weeks. No pregnancy symptoms at all and just light spotting for now. If it doesn't happen by the end of this week I will ask to get misoprostol and get this over quickly.