Slow rising HCG - anyone had successful pregnancy ?

[hopefullsosbry]

Hi

After getting a postive pregnancy test following our round of ICSI, my Beta HCG blood tests have came back very low and doubling at 4.1 days rather than 48-72 hours .. on Thursday last week (4+3) beta HCG was 106 and on Tuesday (5+1) beta was 241.so only a 36.8% percent rise ever 48 hour.
Has anyone had experience with low and slow rising beta hcg and had success ? Or will this either be an ectopic or blighted ovum ? Thanks 🙏

I'm sorry you are going through this. It is so stressful. I had a six week loss and my beta was slow rising and then started to decline. It wasn't ectopic or blighted ovum, just non- viable.

I will look at the positive side that at least yours is increasing. Your level is low but it's still within the range, so I will not lose hope. The doubling time is more worrying but it's possible it will pick up. I would say hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

What did your clinic say? I guess the only way to know is to keep monitoring until the first scan when you will have a clearer picture. Best wishes 🍀

Hi , thanks for the reply, so sorry for your loss at 6 weeks ! It’s a horrible thing to through, I hope you are ok. Yeh it’s the doubling that I feel it’s not quite enough , I have another beta blood draw on Saturday so I won’t know until the results come back from that on Monday, if they are still low and worrying me the early pregnancy clinic said they would scan me next week .. I’ll be 6 weeks on Monday .. but I have heard you can’t see much on ultrasound till your levels reach around 1500beta ? So I might not see anything and have to go back a week later. Ahh it’s just a waiting game 🤷🏼‍♀️😵‍💫

@hopefullsosbry When I had low hcg it also didn’t rise and got a very clear answer by 1 week after OTD that it was a chemical pregnancy. Like above poster it’s good it’s still going up, but I’d be concerned that levels look quite low. What was your level on OTD? I know my clinic look for at least 75 at 10dt5dt for s viable pregnancy. Hopefully next beta and scan will give you some answers. Scan should at least be able to say where your pregnancy is, and hopefully confirm if there is a yolk sac etc though 6 weeks may very well be too early to see a heartbeat even if all is well

Thanks @2mumlife i never had a beta taken at OTD so I am not too sure. Hopefully it’s keeps steadily increasing and will be ok, 🤷🏼‍♀️I guess I just need to hope and wait until I can get the scan next week. Thanks for sharing your experience of low beta , sorry you had a go through a chemical .. I have had 3 chemicals and two missed miscarriage.. it’s not nice to go through 😔💖

@hopefullsosbry I’m so sorry to hear you’ve experienced so many loses. It must be absolutely devastating to have gone through this uncertainty several times before. Keeping fingers crossed for a positive outcome for you x

@hopefullsosbry So sorry to hear about your multiple losses. It must be terrifying to face uncertainty again. Did your clinic do any investigations for recurrent miscarriages? Hope everything works out for you this time.

@Serendipity24 yeh we have had lots of testing , have male factor 35% sperm DNA factor and my age(41 now but 36 when 1st lost) that’s all we can find ?! We did do ICSI but we really should have had PGT testing .. if we do another round we will get PGT testing .. thanks 🙏

@2mumlife thank you for the well wishes 🥰✨🤞🏽🙏

Just updating the thread , had blood results come back from Saturday- which was only 344 beta hcg .. so only increased by 26.6 % in just under 4 days, have to get more blood and a scan to see what is happening .. doesn’t look too good.
I’ll keep the thread updated for anyone reading that may be in similar situation and wants to know the outcome.

beta so far:
4w+3 - Beta 106
5+1 - Beta 241
5+5 Beta 344

Have they offered you a scan to see if they can confirm location, presence of a fetal pole etc? From 6 weeks there is a chance they will be able to detect a heartbeat

EPU have to take bloods (today and Friday) 48 hours apart then they will decide from there :. Because I was getting bloods from a private clinic they can’t take them as valid or something which I totally understand.. so if not picked up by Friday they might want me in Saturday for a scan. ? 🤷🏼‍♀️

Hi OP, I'm sorry you're in this position. I've had two losses after IVF, and it's awful.

Unfortunately 344 at 21 days past transfer is lower than has ever been known to be viable (ignore anything online about 'hcg ranges', they don't match actual studies, and will be from natural conceptions where women have mistimed ovulation).

Do you have the scan booked in? Obviously with rises like that, ectopic is a real risk, which they should be taking seriously.

They have to have the 48 hour blood and then they will scan I assume if bloods still low and slow rising, she said if ectopic is suspected they will intervene before my 1st scan at 7+1 with fertility clinic. So maybes Saturday they will scan ? 🤷🏼‍♀️

As PP I would be really pushing EPU for a scan at this stage to try to locate the pregnancy if you've not had a scan yet. I'm not sure more hcg tests are going to tell you much more than your hcg isn't rising as much as expected, so a scan is really what you need at this stage to start figuring out what's going on

Have you asked your fertility clinic to give you an earlier scan? I know my clinic did when I had a massive bleed with my DD

Yeh for sure, but because the bloods were done private .. the NHS need to do blood as they can’t take the private bloods as valid incase they are not regulated the same or something .. so I just have to wait .. thanks for your kind message and support everyone I really appreciate it .. big love to you all 💖

Yeh I called them last week and they said to hang off till the original scan date, unless I am in pain or get bleeding they said they will not scan early🤷🏼‍♀️that’s why I contacted EPU

That's really frustrating. Hopefully EPU will give you a scan on Saturday as its really unfair clinic and EPU leaving you in limbo x

Yeh I was hoping they would just scan today to be honest .. still having to take the progesterone injections but I might just stop ? They are starting to hurt .. might all just come away naturally then if I just stop progesterone ?

Update - result back already !! Speedy .. anyway unfortunately it was only 215 from today (6+2), so it’s actually decreased, just wondering does that rule out ectopic, and it’s just a ‘normal’ non viable miscarriage happening rather than eptopic ? Or will numbers decrease with ectopic also ? 🤔

I'm not an expert at all about ectopic pregnancies. Would I would suggest though is keep doing the progesterone until you are told to stop (just in case the pregnancy is continuing). Also, I've seen others before who have had numbers that fluctuate. In some ways its a much easier process for you and simpler answers if your hcg levels just keep falling (would suggest the pregnancy has stopped thriving). See what your bloods are on Friday - if they have reduced again I would assume at that point that your clinic might advice stopping progesterone and letting things progress naturally. You'll probably find they want to monitor your hcg levels to make sure they return to baseline and that you bleed. So sorry you're going through this x