Thyroid Antibodies - what worked?

[Sunflower360]

Hi

Another one from me....as in the title, any success stories of those with thryoid antibodies? If so, what worked in your FETs/IVF transfers? I'm on 10mg Prednisolone and baby aspirin a day, 2nd FET is possibly a BFN and I'm wondering if the TPOab is what's causing the problems. All other tests are clear.

Admittedly I am 38 so could be abnormal embryos too but in the space of 6 months 3 embryos were created (including a natural chemical) of which have not got passed a chemical/implantation stage so I am beginning to think its more than abnormal embryos.

Advice would be appreciated!!!!

I also had TPO antibodies and am currently pregnant. My TSH was normal until one rogue reading of 3.3 so they put me on thyroxine. I saw an endocrinologist who said that loads of women have TPO Ab and have no problem conceiving. Most of the data available shows that women who miscarried had TPO antibodies, but that doesn’t tell you whether those who didn’t miscarry also had them if that makes sense?

i have had 2 x MMC and 3 chemical pregnancies before so feel your frustration and sadness. I am currently 8 weeks + 3 pregnant and everything is going well so far. For this transfer I was on 20mg Prednisolone (weaning from week 8, stopping at 10), 40mg Inhixa, 75mg Aspirin and cyclogest x 3. Truth be told, I think the main thing that made a difference was that we transferred a genetically normal embryo. I started IVF at 37 and am now 40 and I do think that all of these other findings (including TPO) were incidental and it’s all about the genetics of the embryo. This maybe isn’t what you want to hear but should reassure you that it’s more of a numbers game rather than related to your TPO antibodies, because I spent months convinced my body wouldn’t allow me to get pregnant. I would recommended PGT if that is an option for you - it is quite pricy but after miscarriage, the peace of mind is priceless.

Good luck, I know how draining miscarriages are and you just desperately want to fix whatever is causing the problem. All of the drugs above are routine in pregnancy (most prescribed by miscarriage clinic) and so there’s no harm in trying and throwing the book at your next FET. xx

@GB844 thank you for replying and congratulations on your pregnancy! Have to say I do agree with you on the genetic element of the embryo and wondering how much is actually to do with thyroid antibodies-ironically I got a positive, albeit it ended in a chemical, with my natural pregnancy with no Prednisolone but BFNs with the FETs whilst on Prednisolone.

I've been on Prednisolone for 2 months now so Dr is wanting to keep me on the lower dose as it would be supressing my immune response already as its been a while I've been on them and in all honesty I have noticed it as my Hayfever allergy is non existent right now...a higher dose could inevitably lead to side effects so its balancing the benefit over the risk I suppose.

I was considering genetic testing but embryos are already frozen and I'm worried about the freeze/thaw/test/freeze/thaw process...in hindsight would have tested whilst fresh and will likely do that if we need another EC. I'm looking to do a double transfer in this 3rd FET to work through the embryos and establish genetic quality that way.

Were your previous mmc's and chemicals attributed to embryo quality then?

I know it’s a difficult thing to think about thaw and re freeze - the geneticist told us if they’re good embryos it won’t be harmful. I think a double embryo transfer sounds good though. we did PGT with a fresh cycle (long story but had to discard previous 5 embryos due to problem with sperm donor so we were forced into new cycle rather than testing frozen).

Pred does no harm and if you’re a bit inflammatory anyways (allergies etc) I know a lot of ladies go down that route.

Our 2 x MMC were almost certainly down to genetics due to some features seen early on the scans (small for gestational age, very dilated yolk sac) but the genetic testing of the miscarriage couldn’t tell us as they hadn’t sent enough sample off so can’t say 100%. The chemical pregnancies it’s hard to say. One was close to my miscarriage and after the other 2 I had an EMMA test that showed my good bacteria was low so I took Canesflor and never had an issue with a chemical after that…so it could have been my biome became out of whack from the miscarriage. Using vaginal probiotics was something I did before this transfer too just to be sure. There’s no harm in it according to my clinci. Not sure why they don’t recommend it as standard…the EMMA test was very expensive test to tell me I just needed some Canesflor from Boots! The miscarriage clinic also told me that chemical pregnancies are super common, but if you’re not doing IVF it’s unlikely you would know as you wouldn’t test so early.

Wishing you the best of luck with it all! There’s so much to think about but sounds like your clinic are really on it

@GB844 thank you! Sorry for another question at what stage was Prednisolone added for you? Did you still experience mmc and chemicals on Prednisolone?

No that’s ok 😀 Prednisolone 20mg from day of transfer, didn’t take beforehand. Had one MMC on pred but implanted fine and lost at 11 weeks due to likely genetic issues. Haven’t had a chemical on it

@GB844 thanks! With your probiotics did you take them during your FET cycle? I was considering it as more precautionary but not sure if its too late as I may transfer this cycle which has already started, albeit transfer may not be for a couple of weeks yet

I did yes, didn’t finish the whole 6 weeks as didn’t start in time but managed the 6 days and maybe 2 more the following weeks. The nurse said I was ok to take them up to transfer 😃