Recurrent Miscarriage Support - tests, treatment, trying again - thread 11

[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?

Finns. I have wondered about that too as there are no boys at all on my mum's side. The evidence of it being a real possibility is scant, but I would quite like it as an explanation as I could live with keeping trying till I get another girl.

cat adoption is a lovely thing. I still think you will get your own dc but I am glad you have a positive plan. My mum had 35 as her cut off too and then found she was pregnant (with me) when she went to the gp to ask about long term contraception after her 35th birthday. So now she thinks it's just a case of me relaxing and it'll happen. which is obviously really easy to do!

My goodness, I've never known the thread so busy! Welcome everyone!

I've been rushed off my feet getting ready for our annual camping trip tomorrow, and have actually hit a brick wall. Fucking knackered, and DH has added "sex" to our to do list, so no rest for the wicked

As a quick "hello", I'm currently 10+5 weeks after 5 MCs at around the 6 week mark. I have 2 DSs, who were prior to my MCs, and I'm 42 (gulp). Nothing has ever been found diagnosable, but I do have super-fertility, and my DH has a chromosomal issue, which we have yet to have details of. Personally, I think I'm just an old bird and probably had loads of duffers, but my current support has also helped me get this far, and the advice on here helped get me to this stage.

I'm on the Coventry protocol, although I have cheated and come off progesterone early as I hated it so much. All these drugs really screw with your natural systems, so although I have no idea how far I would have got without them, I can't wait to be doing this on my own. I have a week and a half till I'm off prednisolone and heparin too.

I started progesterone on CD 19 as I have a short cycle, and was taking 400mg cyclogest twice a day.

I thought of Coventry as my last chance, and exhausted all the RMC tests I could have locally before going there, but I'm glad I did..

As discussed a couple of weeks ago, I do have bad survivors guilt. It is so hard to see people I care about going through so much pain and heartache. It is total shitbuckets.

This is very much my last go, whatever the outcome, I'm out of energy and a bit of an emotional and physical wreak.

I'll be offline for a week from tomorrow, and will miss you (sad isn't it?)

Hi Tanny, and congratulations!!!

longest it did make me wonder. My DH has a big family, two brothers, 15 cousins and only one girl in the whole lot. My MIL had miscarriages between her boys and is convinced she just couldn't carry girls. Like you say, if there is a reason, I could live with that as odds are if we keep tying a boy will come along eventually x

Can I ask what the Coventry protocol is?

Have a lovely holiday Tanny. We will miss you too. Where are you going? Hope you have good weather. Xx

Coventry is where there is a specialist RMC clinic which tests for NK cells, Finns, led by Professors Brosens and Quenby. Their protocol would be what they normally prescribe for RMC. If you have raised Nk cells (an autoimmune response) then I think it is progesterone, steroids and presumably the other drugs Tanny mentions. But NK cell testing isn't done on the nhs, or approved by st Mary's, so it's been a bit of a case of different specialists with competing egos arguing over treatments for our friends on the thread.

I suppose it's something to think about of everything else comes back normal. I just noticed my progesterone supplements are 400mg once a day, is this about right? Not using them now but going to use them if I get another BFP x

I'm doing 200 morning and 200 evening

Longest, I couldn't put it better! Big egos!

Finn, thank you! Coventry run an implantation clinic, as they believe many problems women have are related to the decidualising of the lining. Certainly in a couple of my MCs my lining was very thin indeed. This is helped by progesterone, and I think heparin plays a part too. If you have high nk cells, they prescribe prednisolone, a steroid. I didn't have high nk cells, but was pg before I got my results, so they started me in case I did.

400mg a day sounds fine, we seem to have a mixture of doses amongst us.

I'm off to Eweleaze campsite near Weymouth. It's my 8th year there! Love it! A whole load of us go, and have a great time cooking, hanging and going to the beach. Yay!

Have a lovely holiday tanny when you're back you'll be at 12 weeks!!! X

Thanks cat, I'll also be ready for my next scan, as the nerves will probably kick in as soon as we get back! How are you feeling, lovely?

Have a lovely time!

Have a great time, tanny! Hope the weather improves a bit for you.

Well, as suspected after my dipping temp this morning, AF has now made an appearance. That combined with an increasingly sore throat is making me feel thoroughly sorry for myself And at the same time, I'm almost a little bit relieved .

Hello, thread 11 had taken off - difficult to keep up!

Hello to those new. Am 39, 1ds (thanks the stars) aged 5, 3 mc since then the last in March. Rmc tests inc scan fine. Currently hopeful and TTC.

Wishing comfort for those just going through horribleness and hoping for BFPs soon for all of us TTC.

hello everyone from prev thread. Tanny wonderful news! Enjoy the hol.

The other day a mum I hardly know was toiling with 2 pre-schoolers in the local supermarket and said to me "I envy your being child-free"- she didn't mean anything by it, just that she wished she wasn't trying to shop with 2 tearaways... but I was a bit snappy back and muttered something a bit off - not really my character. Oh well. Months on the dark thoughts still lurk, don't they? I'll have to be extra nice next time I see her or she'll think I'm an agressive weirdo

goodnight all x

Welcome Betty - hope this is your month!! I also have a 5 yr old and 3 mcs since and thank my lucky stars for him!

Tanny - enjoy your holiday

Cloud - oh no the witch has arrived along with the sore throat. The weather is also horrible so it can't lift the spirits much. Hope you have something nice planned for the weekend.

This thread is moving too fast for me to keep up - have only read the recent posts, need to scroll back.

Off to have my erpc this afternoon and then it's back to TTC I guess!

Hope your op is ok triple, heart goes out to you today. I will think of you all day.

Tanny I'm an emotional wreck. These tablets have me up and down like a rollercoaster haha. I am sure your next scan will be fine and then hopefully you can start to enjoy it. Oh and you get to tell everyone you're duffed hehe!!!

Cloud boo to AF. Let's hope for next month. Waiting for
BFP is stressful enough without mc!

Welcome Betty. So sorry to hear about your 3mcs, this is all so hard. I know exactly what you mean about other people. I've been told how I'm lucky to have no DC because I can have a "lie in". Meh!

XxX

Same here cloud, feeling a bit teary.

Good luck Triple. I hope all goes well and provides a form of relief. Boo cloud. AF plus feeling grotty is a grim combination.

Hello again Betty. Sorry you're finding the week hardgoing.

Hmm, am still panicking. At 33 I am finding it difficult to believe that I have just been unlucky with chromosomes unless there is a factor affecting my egg quality such as late ovulation. I don't ovulate until day 28 or so, and then have my 2ww. If you Google late ovulation and egg quality there are all sorts of threads talking about the link but not much from anything official looking. Does anyone know?

I was also interested to read what Tanny said about thin womb lining. How can you tell if you have that? Am starting to wonder if my relatively quick and painless mcs might indicate I have that too, and am wondering about a trip to Coventry after all, if it's not just nk cells they test for. Could someone remind me how long their tests take and how long post mc you have to be? Does £360 pay for everything?

Oh and so sorry Aoife. Crossed posts. I really hate ttc and know how you feel.

I can't keep away from this thread! I hope nobody minds I just feel like there's such a lack of support and information anywhere else.

lurker I don't know much about longer cycles and late ovulation, I did a quick google and it seems like clomid is sometimes prescribed to shorten cycles, has anyone suggested that to you? I know progesterone taken from a couple of days past OV helps thicken the lining ready for implantation. I'm convinced that I have a thin lining, I have almost no clotting when I mc and I don't bleed heavily either. My doctor would only give me progesterone when I got my BFP but a lot of the posts I've read suggest this is too late x

Oh bless you Cat, you poor sausage! Hormones are real bastards, and don't let them rule you. Even knowing what you want and that you have to do this to get there, doesn't make it any easier...

Cloud and Aoife, so sorry you're both down too. Hope you're getting some TLC and cuddles...

Triple will be thinking of you today, and really hope this is the last time you have to go through this. After such a long wait, in a way you must be looking forward to it, so you can return to normality. Will you have a break for a bit?

Longest, sounds possible. I had a scan mid cycle which showed a low end of average lining, but I wasn't pg then. A couple of my pgs, it's been very thin, about 5mm, and I've only bled for 3 days. Progesterone helps I think, as does the "scratch", and yes they refer to it as an implantation clinic. They can send you some info about what they do, and if you google the profs, you can find their research.

Right, definitely signing off now, see you in a week x

£360 pays for all (and I got tickets from London for £6 each way then £10 can to the hospital each way), i had to wait 2 cycles after the mc

They also told me my lining was very thin actually... they were wondering if there was going to be enough for the tests (there was)

they had initially said the test results would take 4 weeks but for me took 8...

--
So sorry for all that got their AF... enjoy the excuse to wallow in a cloud of chocolate and then back on the saddle...

triple hope all goes well today

betty don't worry about the other mum... maybe tell her about mcs next time

triple good luck today, take care of yourself over the weekend, hope you have next week off as well xx

Finns. Please keep posting. I am a serial poster too, especially when in a tizzy, and it helps to have someone to break up my monologue!

Mr Rai wouldn't prescribe Clomid for me as he said that the trade off would be thinner womb lining which wouldn't be worth it for me as I do ovulate. He also wouldn't prescribe metformin because my insulin levels are ok, or progesterone because the results of his trial aren't back, but I am wondering about a second opinion on those two.

Thanks Tanny and Baking. I emailed Kerri but she is away till next week. Am wondering about making an appointment and cancelling if I get pregnant in the meantime. Dh won't be keen. He thinks we should trust the nhs, but I have a chance of getting my insurance to cough up the £360 if it is before my funding authorisation runs out in December and if I don't get pregnant this cycle then I would be two periods post mc by the time the appointment comes round. Will mull it over anyway.

triple Thinking of you today, I hope it all goes smoothly. Look after yourself and take it easy!

aoife Upwards and onwards... I shall treat myself to some this weekend (if my throat lets me enjoy anything!).
I have just ordered another box of Clearblue fertility monitor test sticks, sigh.

longest Are your periods normally more light or heavy? I don't know much about womb lining, but when I had one of my post-mc scans, the sonographer told me that she could see the womb lining already starting to build up again, so this is something they can look at, too. Have you had your hormone levels tested (progesterone, FSH)? And did your DH get the karyotype testing? It's easy to look to ourselves, trying to find what is 'wrong', but it takes two...
I know how you feel, this panic is not nice. You just want to do something...

cat It's a long and hard road, but there is always hope... It's a rollercoaster for sure. Sounds to me as if you need some tlc, have you got anything nice planned for the weekend? Treat yourself!

charli I have always had about 2 weeks off work after each of my mcs, so don't push yourself going back to work too soon.

I feel rubbish! My throat is so sore, and I can tell that I will be down with this cold over the weekend, grrrr. Wanted to do some nice things with DS, but they might have to get changed to watching a DVD or doing some baking at home, rather than trips to the seaside or the Natural History Museum. Hmph.