Professor Brosens / sitagliptin

[BewilderedBee]

Is there anyone on here that's been treated with sitagliptin? Also anyone had the digital endometrium function test with professor brosens? I have an initial consultation Monday and then my biopsy next Friday

Thanks in advance

@Rose1411 so pleased for you that something came up and this has validated your suspicions 🙏🏼
That is interesting - my thyroid antibodies showed that they were slightly above normal range when I last had them checked (around 4 weeks after my last miscarriage). Professor Quenby said all I would need to do is monitor my thyroid function levels in pregnancy so sounds similar!
Did professor Brosens suggest you have this autoimmune disorder?
xx

Hi @SJ88xx my thyroid antibodies were something like 1300 vs a normal range of up to 115 so massively off the scale. Proff quenby didnt seem concerned by this in terms of causing the miscarriage directly. However ive read elsewhere that high antibodies can be linked to thyroid autoimmune disorders, which in turn are linked to natural killer cells and miscarriage.

My mom also has issues with her thyroid so i took a full panel thyroid blood test which i had to go private for and was £300! However it indicates that although my thyroid function is ok, both sets of antibodies are off the scale and therefore i have hashimotos but a thyroid that functions normally outside of pregnancy.

Hi Everyone, I came across this thread when looking at immunes. Just a background history…

got pregnant naturally in 2018 and had my son 2019. In 2020 got pregnant again with his little sister - lost her at 18 weeks due to Covid. This was Feb 2021.

Started to try again but noticed a change in my periods in terms of texture but thought maybe it’s all regulating as we had a late loss. July 2021 I had my Covid vaccine as I felt like I had to with having a loss to Covid and TTC again. This month I started with brown spotting for 7 days before my period actually started. Again thought maybe things would settle. They didn’t. This carried on every single cycle like clockwork. Brown before and after period and periods clotty! I used to have textbook periods before all this.

we visited a fertility clinic and had tests - nothing showed. Had a hytercsopy etc. did 6 months medicated cycles and nothing although the cyclogest did stop the brown spotting. Started IVF process as a last ditch attempt in Oct 2022. They then decided to tell me after paying that I have signs of adenomyosis!

• fresh transfer jan 2023 - failed
• 2 months down reg - depot lupron - second transfer failed.
• third transfer added clexane and pred - chemical.
• fourth transfer did the same and added intralipids and had a MMC at 13,5 weeks. Baby stopped growing at 9.5 weeks just after our last scan,

im at a loss. I saw on the thread about missing out on life over the years in the pursuit of trying for a sibling and missing out on what I actually do have and it’s been a very tough 3.5 years.

I recently had another hyterscopy and lap and no endo found but he tried to shave down some of the adeno which is pushing into the endo cavity.

I’ve just started on hydroxycloriquine and I’ve been reading about the sitaglipin. I have an appointment with prof Heazell At Tommys Manchester at the end of the month but just unsure what to do and my worse fear was another loss and having to return to IVF and that’s what’s happened. The loss was in January and I’m just trying to move forward with acceptance but some days the desperation is still there hence reading all the threads and being on the immune groups etc. I just don’t know what to do and feel like I’m chasing something which won’t happen but last transfer was the furthest we’ve got in a long time although still miles away from the finish line.

is it worth me having the DEFT test?

I do have chronic inflammation linked to the adeno and my NLR is crazy high! High neutrophilis and low lymps. Anything else I can do apart from pred and hydroxy and intralipids. I couldn’t afford IVIG.

is sitaglipin likely to help with a natural conception or not?

sorry it’s long and thank you!

Oh bless, so sorry you've been through this.
My understanding is that the deft and sitagliptin treatment really looks for issues with implantation, which if you are getting to 9 weeks+ doesn't seem to be what is going on with you. I may be wrong though. Have you had karyotyping?

@Rose1411 ahh thank you for explaining. My antibodies were definitely not that high, so maybe I can’t assume that is my issue. I am interested to see if my results show high NK cells as I’ve read that this can be linked to endometriosis.

Wishing you all the best with your next pregnancy now you will have medication to control the NK cells! Xx

@Loz2467 I’m sorry you’ve had to go through such a tough journey. Can I ask why they thought you had adenomyosis? Was it just because of the texture of your periods? Mine is short but thick/clotty and I have always wondered how it can be so short xx

Slightly strange question, but have any of you ever had flu like symptoms with your miscarriages? My last two losses AND after my 2 failed IVFs I've had insane sweats (Im not a sweater usually), been achey and had terrible insomnia. It almost feels like my body is "fighting" the babies that I so long for. I'm going for all the diagnostics at Serum in Greece, but I'm also thinking about doing the dEFT test, too, potentially. I've done 12 years of this stuff (with one 8 year old miracle currently snoring next to me) and time is running out and I still have no answers :(

It's so wonderful to see all of your successes!!

@Cariadxx I’m so sorry I didn’t realise I didn’t reply to this. I’m thinking it says it helps recurrent miscarriage which I’ve had and I saw something about it reducing the inflammation for when the placenta develops. I maybe had an issue with my placenta as the baby slowed in growth slightly before we lost it. Only by a couple of days. I just feel lost. We took the summer off but all of a sudden I’m feeling consumed by it all again! I’m so scared of implantation failure again. Or loss :(

@Gemberry I’m so sorry it’s really hard isn’t it. I get night sweats in the second half of my cycle. I did get headaches and flu ish in January when we lost our baby but it was a missed miscarriage and had already passed at this point so I wouldn’t say it’s related to when I lost if that makes sense. Xx

Does anyone know if this drug is mainly taken for low NK cells or if it can be taken when your uterine lining breaks down too easily.

sometimes when I’m spotting I still have good progesterone results which either means my adeno is making me prog resistant or my lining is just breaking down too early anyway hence why I’m interested in taking the sitagliptin. It would be our 5th transfer at this point and I’ve had secondary infertility since 2021 due to adenomyosis.

Last transfer I took steroids and intralipids like I mentioned above and still lost at 9.5 weeks so I’m wondering if the sitagliptin would help or hinder?

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all doing well. I hope you don’t mind me jumping on this thread. I have an appointment with Professor Brosens in February. He must be fully booked until then.

I am currently with NHS and have had 4 failed embryo transfers and never been pregnant. I am reading about Professor Brosens tests which I will hopefully be having next year. My question is, does Professor Brosen look at the endometria and look at what day you are best suited to have a transfer? I feel like his notes imply this on the leaflet but haven’t read anyone talk about this?
ive paid privately for some tests with a private consultant who is suggesting an ERA which would indicate to me when my endometria is most receptive but this is £1500 alone and wondered if Professor Brosen can also advise on this based on the biopsy?

thanks in advance.
xx

Hi new to thread wondering if anyone with abnormal DEFT test did you spot with your miscarriages? Awaiting Dr Brosen appointment never spotted with mines always been missed and progesterone always fine

@sd8809 I often wondered this too as all mine have been missed miscarriages too with no spotting or bleeding. I do have adenomyosis which is a nightmare. I’ve never had the DEFT test and I’ve tried to look on the IVF groups for similar stories etc but because it’s so new I’m not finding alot. I’m also worried if it affects NK cells.

Out of 6 mc, only one was missed. The others all had spotting and cramps at 5-6 weeks. The mmc i started to spot at 8 weeks but baby had stopped at about 6 weeks. My deft was abnormal.

Yeah my thinking was if I am not spotting with the miscarriage then I would think my endometrium isn’t breaking, but that me just trying to understand it and not sure if that’s correct

So sorry for your losses. Just trying to make sense of what is happening to me. Iv never spotted and that makes me think my endometrium isn’t breaking down but I’m not sure if that’s medically correct just me trying to make sense of it

Bear in mind that the deft can be abnormal in different ways, low or high so in asking for people with abnormal defts you will get a mixture of these who obviously have different underlying issues, and it's probably way more complicated than anyone really understands. There might be a subgroup of people who never spot who all gave the same issue but it's not quite as simple as that i would guess.

Thanks for this. Wonder what you make of my journey. Two normal pregnancies in 2020 and 2021, both conceived on first cycle of trying. October last started trying for third and again got pregnant first month trying, fast wards Jan 2024 to booking scan which showed missed miscarriage. I underwent d&c for that, unfortunately after this I had abormal bleeding and persistent positive pregnancy tests and was really fobbed off by my EPU till eventually 9 weeks later I got to see a consultant who confirmed retained products ( this was missed on two scans performed before). I then had to have another d&c which confirmed retained products and evidence of chronic endometritis secondary to products being there so long. Since this I have had light periods and had two chemicals (may and august) and just have gone through a missed miscarriage at 8 weeks ( scanned at 6 weeks which showed normal fetal pole and heartbeat and then follow up scan for reassurance no heartbeat). I took medical management for this but three weeks down line and again my tests are not negative- waiting EPU appointment on Thursday. I think the first miscarriage in October was just and luck but the two chemicals and now this I can’t help but worry soemthing is really wrong. EPU not giving me any advice and not advising anything. I’m worried there is ongoing inflammation or immune mediated response which is rejecting the embryos. I’m hoping dr brosen is the man to see. So fed up and disheartened and even terrified to try again

Sorry I'm not a gynaecologist so I'm not qualified to give any thoughts on this and I really wouldn't go second guessing something that even the world experts aren't 100% sure on. I would say though that I would avoid using the term chemical pregnancy as it's very blasé and misleading and hated by a lot of people because it implies that it was never an actual pregnancy whereas it is in reality a very very early loss. Good luck in Coventry.

@sd8809 I’m so sorry for everything you’ve been through. I’m similar and experiencing secondary Infertility for last 4 years. I got pregnant first try for my son in 2018 he was born 2019. When he was 15 months old we TTC again and got pregnant and we lost her at 18 weeks :( it was devastating. Then to make matters worse we couldn’t concieve after this. I started getting brown spotting for a whole week before my period so nothing would have ever “stuck” and now I’m 20k and 2 years into IVF and so consumed. It’s just heartbreaking. I don’t know much about Brosens but I think it’s a good place to start for you as he does the endometrial biopsy. Another would be dr gorgy in London - again I’ve never seen an immunologist so I can’t really say.

i was wondering if you can use sitagliptin whilst down regulating and wondered if it mattered if you had high NK cells. There isn’t much in the Facebook immune pages but it does say that it can be used for high or low Nk cells as it’s affecting the stem cells but I still don’t know if that will have an impact on current state of NK cells if that makes sense.

Hello - you may not have had your appointment yet, but just wondering on what info you needed to have prepped for your consultation? I have mine coming up in May. Best of luck with yours!

Hi,
I hope you are doing okay. I had my consultation Friday and have just come out of my biopsy. The consultation I just had all of my IVF information, how many egg collections etc. He just wanted to know all our background information really which most of it I knew without needing to look at my records infront of me. Happy to answer any other questions, Professor Brosen is really lovely and down to earth. He is also so knowledgable.
xx

Hey. I chatted on here quite a while ago. But wanted to give an update. I’m just in the process of having an eighth pregnancy loss since the birth of my daughter 6 years ago. Professor Brosens has been brilliant - very supportive and gone out of his way to help, but we stil remain in a place of loss. I have low cytokine cells and low natural killer cells, and have had sitagliptin on and off for quite a while now. I’m unsure whether now is the time to give up? I just feel so hopeless and like we’re missing out of my beautiful 6yo through all of this pain. X

Hi @Ezzyar I'm so so sorry for your loss. I was wondering if it was a natural or ivf conception and whether you've had the miscarriage tissue tested for chromosomal abnormalities? I had 3 miscarriages after my 6yo was born and then went on to have 2 unsuccessful ivf attempts (didn't conceive despite "good" quality eggs), however I discovered a year after the d&c of my third miscarriage that the embryo had chromosomal abnormalities so that information helped me to process a little better (testing was done straight after the d&c but took a while to get results back). Some other things to think about for you -
Would it help you to set yourself a date of when you will stop actively trying? Have you had some counselling as it's an awful lot you've been through.
Please don't feel guilty about your 6yo, if anything you're probably holding them that little bit closer and appreciating them that little bit more 🧡
I went on to have my rainbow baby after my course of sitagliptin from Pro brosens and so i do believe it works but I also think eggs can be so hit and miss and sometimes you just get a really good one. I also took CoQ10 for about 3 months prior to successfully conceiving alongside the sitagliptin, to try to help improve my egg quality...no idea if that did help. Hopefully that has given you some hope but I had set myself a date of when I was going to stop actively trying because it felt a lot to be going through.
Xx

Thanks lovely for your message. All natural conceptions. I’m 35, and have slightly raised AMH but not PCOS, so I am beginning to wonder if egg quality is an issue. I take a lot of supplements (it starts with an egg recommended) including COq10. Two babies sent off for karotyping so far (we’ve had four chemicals, 4 miscarriages) one was perfectly healthy and the other was found to be partial molar so there was a whole host of issues but they were attributed to the completely random occurrence of the partial molar rather than genetic issues. We will be having this pregnancy karotyped, which Brosens is keen to know the results for.
we’d agreed that 2025 would be our final year, which does give me some peace, but already after this pregnancy (we get pregnant every 3 months or thereabouts when trying) I just don’t have any hope left. We’re going to chat to Rachel sheriff at the fertility suite to get some further tests done, to see if there’s any autoimmune issues or anything too that’s swinging the odds against us. It just feels as though it works out for everybody else - but just not for us, so even hearing positive stories is hard because it’s never been what we’ve experienced. It’s so hard!

Sorry meant to say - I took sitagliptin for 4 months but only saw marginal improvement at a second biopsy. Then took another 6 months, then had 6 months not taking it and then another three months prior to this pregnancy.