Recurrent Miscarriage Support - tests, treatment, trying again - thread 9

[bakingtins]

Welcome everyone - pull up a chair! A thread for anyone who has suffered multiple miscarriages and is in need of information, moral support, tea or sympathy. Newbies very welcome.

Can we start the thread with a recap of where we are all up to again, please?

Tiny - yes it can take some time for regulation AF to arrive, I guess my lucky thing is that I seem to have a good 6 months in between each ( if there is an up note to be had :-) so I am usually back in function about 8 weeks after mc

Baking - that's music to my ears as a) I have Mondays off and b) if all dates go to plan which they rarely alter should have my results back well and truly before my august holiday which maybe will give me a holiday success? If on medication that is?

I have never been offered medication will this be something dr Q will maybe prescribe?

X

Dildoos, prof Q may prescribe progesterone on the day 21-28 regime before you have results. That seems pretty routine at her clinic. Good luck!

Just- that's nice to know so feel a positive new thing to try.

May I ask if any of you have been blessed with a non angel child yet? The reason I ask is I have a DD aged 6 with ex husband and my pregnancy with her the hospital consultants always prepared us for a non viable pregnancy as I bled really heavily for the entire pregnancy and she ended up very small for dates. I wondered if I maybe had high NK cells and that she was just even more of a miracle than I realised?

It took 3 years to concieve her however I wasn't obsessed with testing, charting, researching as I am now, maybe an age thing? I was almost 28 when I was blessed with my miracle x

dildoos I had 3 mcs, the tests at St Mary's came back normal and then I had my DD (she is 2y2m) - I was 38

I am now 40... and had 2mc after having her... So NK cells is the last hope...

Tiny - FX for you that here holds your answer.

We have had series of tests and they have said 5mc's are just bad luck- I am not convinced this is what brings me to NK cells testing. However DP has lows perm count and low motility of the ones that do survive and we have been told pointless paying for IVF as we are getting pregnant it's just not staying so problem lies with me? Again not too convinced. I did see an Indian medicine doctor who was a qualified dr then went and researched natural medicine and he said I can't treat you as it's clear what is happening you are killing your babies ( in those words!) you need medicine to suppress your immune system, so I dared suggest this to the mc clinic and to gp and gynaecologist and they rolled their eyes. I however really do think he knew what he was talking about as he could have taken a lot of money from me and refused . His clinic is called east meets west he runs them all over uk.
X

dildoos I have 2 boys. My first pregnancy was straightforward, then I had my first MC in 2009, then a complicated pregnancy in 2010 in which I bled for weeks 8-14, son was lower than expected birthweight, placenta abnormal and required surgery after his birth, then 3 miscarriages at 8-9 weeks.
As I understand it immune conditions have some sort of trigger and then tend to get worse with every successive pregnancy. I personally think my first MC triggered off the problem (or possibly first pregnancy?) that DS2 was a bit of a miracle and then the problems really kicked in. None of it is clear cut - Prof Q said my chances without treatment were very low, but they are never nil, and I don't know what my levels were in 2010.

"killing your babies" is pretty emotive language, but I'd say that's about right really, or at least starving them out
In my 4th MC after NHS tests normal I was having additional scans and I pretty much watched the baby being starved of nutrients, getting a bit further behind dates at every scan, heartbeat faltering, until I finally miscarried at 9+ weeks (baby was later tested as genetically perfect) The worst of it was by the end I was willing it to die so they'd actually do something rather than leaving me in limbo without giving me any hope.

Oh baking, that made me well up. I can identify with all of that. Seeing my last sac looking all spiky round the edges, it looked starved and shrunken.

My news is that I've got another blood test booked to check for arthritis indicators. I'm also on cd1, af arrived bang on time, giving me a textbook 28 day cycle with a 14 day luteal phase. I really think my acupuncture sessions have helped.

Baking tins- so sorry to hear of your losses too, I know what you mean when you wish for pregnancy to end as seems easier than the limbo 24/7!
I often wonder if these consultants/specialists have ever been through some of this awful awful stuff xxx

Tanny is it a relaxing treatment acupuncture? X

So, Prof Q says cyclogest days 21-28 or carry on if bfp, and heparin once pg confirmed in uterine so 5 wk scan. She seems very positive that I have a good chance of success, so I know what I need to do now

That sounds positive just That was my protocol, (plus the pred for the NK cells) so hope it works for you. Get to it, woman!

tanny fascinated to hear that your acupuncture is working. I've used it on my own dog who had a brain tumour and facial nerve neuralgia that painkillers didn't seem to help and am hoping to go on some courses when I go back to work to learn more about it.
Many animals that have it, it seems to have a sedative/relaxing effect, even without the darkened room and whale music....
Hope your joints settle down. Have you considered asking about acupuncture for that too?

Just- very pleased you have a programme of treatment I bet that feels really positive.
Today's update the sun is shining :)
Hope you all have a good day.

Baking, yes indeed
I've also been having acupuncture since august and I think it has really helped. Last year I was only managing 2.2mm of lining but when I was scanned recently I was getting an average of 6ish mm. Still thinish but better. The relaxation element is great, too.

Hi there.

Apologies for parachuting down in to your thread asking for help but am in a bit of a stressful situation and need some perspective!

I had two miscarriages last year and went for testing privately (because of that lovely 'you have to have three to interest us' rule). This identified lupus anticoagulant and the Consultant advised that I would need to be on aspirin and clexane from a positive pregnancy test. I got a BFP last Friday at 14 dpo (yay/fear). I went to my GP on Monday but he would not prescribe me this medication for the following reasons 1) he wasn't sure when I should start aspirin (now or later in pregnancy); 2) he wasn't sure of the correct dose of clexane; and 3) neither he nor haematology can find my blood results on the system. He has said they can't prescribe until they have my blood test results, despite having the consultants letter confirming this as the treatment plan (without the dose). He has contacted my Consultant who is unfortunately on leave; but he is refusing to shift until we have these results. I'm stressing massively, because Consultant was clear clexane needed to be from BFP. I guess I just want some reassurance that a week isn't going to make much difference (I see others start clexane at hb on monitor for example) and/or some advice on how to proceed. I've just got this 90% miscarriage rate without treatment stat ringing in my head.

So sorry to be me me me.

mint does the consultant have a secretary who can forward results? Also, you could just buy the aspirin over the counter but maybe go for a low dose? Good luck.

I bought some aspirin with the intention of doing that but then the GP scared me by saying he wasn't sure if that would interfere with implantation at this stage. I think I'm now going to take it anyway as I'm sure that's what Consultant said to do. Just wish I had a sense of someone looking after me if that makes sense.

to confirm - it was low dose aspirin.

I've left a couple of messages with the secretary, as has my GP, but we're not having any luck as yet. Its only been a couple of days. I probably just need to chill.

fair enough. I've also been warned off aspirin but my diagnosis is different to yours. could your GP order more blood tests? I think the herapin is started after a 5 week scan shows the pg is in the right place, so maybe don't panic yet.

heparin*

Welcome mint and congratulations! I can totally identify with the panic when you get a BFP and want to be on everything that could possibly help yesterday
"Low dose aspirin" is usually either 75mg or 150mg. I think I'd be tempted to start on 75mg if it's been prescribed from BFP until you get an answer. You can get 'baby aspirin' over the counter. My clexane dose was 20mg once a day, but it does depend on your bodyweight and on the condition being treated (I have no clotting issues, was on it because it's cytoprotective) and I started after first scan showing pregnancy was in the uterus at 5+4.

I think I'd be taking it up with the consultant though, a referral report that doesn't give a very clear protocol is not much use to anyone! Presumably if doses, timescales etc were black and white the Gp would be much happier to comply?

I was warned off aspirin by my consultant but it is useful in specific circumstances, she was just saying it shouldn't be used as a "just in case" treatment. I've often seen people self-prescribing it on miscarriage threads.....

Hey there

Thanks guys. They were the kind of reassuring responses I needed to hear. I probably was a little hard on my gp, albeit in a hysterical/polite way as opposed to a rude way. He showed me the consultants letter and it was fairly useless in terms of guidance. Although it did say with treatment he anticipated an excellent prognosis which cheered me up. As you say Tins - I just want to have everything in place yesterday. All I want to do is inject myself in the tummy - Is that too much to ask?!