Recurrent Miscarriage Support Thread 23 - tests, treatment, trying again.

[bythesea82]

Buckle up, the threads move like lightening! Tea, sympathy, information, support and combined wisdom to guide you through the maze of testing and treatment for recurrent miscarriage. Newbies always most welcome.

Please start with the traditional recap of your stats.

Hmmm well I did another frer. Still appears to be a bfn. I still can't work out whether there is a slight shadow but is that also wishful thinking? Am I trying to see something that is not there?

Have decided that will take my 2 x progesterone today (last day) and buy a Clearblue digi on way home tonight for tomorrow.

Even I can't argue with "not pregnant"

I'm feeling a bit disheartened as I really felt I had symptoms.

I suspect I'm trying to see a line where there isn't one so preparing myself for a bfn tomorrow

Anniversary of mc 1 today

When I put the torch behind the test I can see something but DP says surely that's the line that has the chemical in which waits to react so there will always be something there.

I'm searching for a zebra when it's a bloody Shetland pony

Oh brummie it's so hard isn't it? Such a headfuck. Stick with it, test again tomorrow.

Wadsy hope it all goes smoothly today.

just, baking and tanny lovely hearing your updates.

blessings that all sounds positive - I feel very similar to you re: the scans, two missed miscarriages mean I am very happy to have early scans because at least that will catch it early rather than having to wait for weeks.

minnie the scratch did the same to my cycle, but then the next one was back to usual, so maybe it will only be a one-off weirdy one for you too.

Brummie, once, in a moment of craziness, I dismantled a hpt because I wanted to do a torch test, hold it up to the light etc, and I thought that the plastic covering the window might reflect the light and stop me swing the line. In my experience, even a evap line goes once its been in the bin a while. I don't know what your outcome will be, but I'm thinking of you. Those days are tough. Fx its something and not nothing. xxx

Has anyone got to the crazy stage of double dipping? When you get tweezers and remove the ink bit from one hpt to put into another, in theory making twice as much dye so more chance of showing a line? Just me then... I know, I know...

brummie hugs for today and March well done getting through yesterday.

wadsy thinking of you today .

Fell asleep reading the thread last night and now trying to post quickly on my phone at work before starting at 7.30, so apologies for brevity!

Back away from the test brummie**...it's doing your napper in! Test tom? I really feel your frustration, we are all hoping for you xxx

brummie

Good luck wadsy

barking you win the prize for HPT related madness - that is, well, barking

Wadsy**, indeed! And waiting in the fridge no less!!! Have no symptoms, and a slice-of-heaven 22 month old ds. But i can think of 2 old scumbag boyfriends that were like trying to keep allycats on a leash. I've already been tested but the british test is not as thorough and i want to be sure. It would be fitting of their shittiness if, as well as well and trully screwing me over in my 20s, they screwed this up for me too. Both of them complete arseholes. Infact, dh is the only trully decent bloke i think i've ever been attracted to! Anyway, i learnt my lessons the hard way!

Cat re BF, my biggest tip would be to use lansinoh ointment right from the very first feed. It is the most amazing stuff, and it can prevent a lot of pain. Highly recommend their breast pads too, incredibly soft and two sticky bits per pad so they stay put in your bra unlike all the others I tried. I fed both my boys until the 14-15 month stage. Personally the first 6 weeks is the hardest, as both of mine fed so much, and were cluster feeders in the evening, but once they started to sleep through, tummies get bigger and they spread their feeds out a bit, I really enjoyed it. Really hoping I get to experience it again.

Brummie, I've had a few bfns along the way as I have sometimes tested too early, and on the bfns there is never ever any hint of a line at all, even with a torch. Fwiw I have always found it takes me ages to get enough hcg in my body to get a BFP on a clearblue, frer are always much quicker at giving bfps. With ds1 I remember it was 20dpo before clearblue gave me a BFP. I didn't know back then that frer existed! when you have had bfps before how quickly did your hcg give bfps?

I've had a temp rise today of 0.25 higher than yesterday's temp, so am confident fertility friend will agree with me re when I ovulated in a couple of days. One thing that's bothering me slightly. From the little I have read, progesterone is what causes the rise in temp after ovulation. If my temp has risen overnight, and assuming that it stays high or increases further, wouldn't that suggest that I am ok for progesterone and don't need supplements? Or are here other benefits? Are there any dangers to having too much progesterone? It's just whirling round in a mush in my head, the comments someone made re some people having bigger supplements prescribed than others and re progesterone making your body too selective if they prescribe too much? Am worrying that if you have sufficient progesterone in your body already, and then take supplements, that you might then cause a mc yourself by effectively overdosing on progesterone? Am I going crazy?

blessings I'm glad your appointment went well. It makes such a difference to be listened to and to be involved in developing a plan. Good luck for your trip to Coventry.

cat I'm still waiting for BF in the early days to be a breeze. I think it's probably more realistic to expect it to be tough to start with. With DS1 I had painful let down, blocked ducts and a bout of mastitis, with ds2 he had tongue tie and reflux, DD had tongue tie, problems related to slight prematurity and difficulty regaining her birth weight, hence a lot of faffing with expressing, tubes and bottles. What I would say is that pretty much all issues can be sorted with the right support. It's worth identifying that local expert support and making sure your family are on board to support you practically before your baby arrives. I've fed all of mine past a year, I'm so pleased that I've been able to give that protection to DD with all she's been through - I never knew a few extra IQ points, some DHA and additional immune protection might turn out to be so important.

sasha I think when I feel myself getting sucked down the questions rabbit hole I remind myself what Prof Brosens said: every month it's like re-setting. New lining, new egg, new match and no two months will ever be the same. I think it's incredibly hard filtering all the opinions of various medical professionals because invariably they don't match up. I think you can only do your research and settle on a few things and try those. Which is much easier said than done... Look up the follicular phase and the luteal phase and see how it fits with your cycle - that might help you with the oestrogen/progesterone stuff.

loopy FWIW I am taking half the progesterone dose that I was prescribed this month to manage my own worries about the lining becoming too selective, but this is a total punt with no scientific basis really!

Loopy when I got my test results back for high uNK cell density I asked Prof Quenby whether it meant I could just take the steroids and didn't need the prog. She said that the high uNK test result meant they had identified an issue with the lining and the prog was to help improve the lining. Seems they believe at Coventry that prog always helps to improve the lining.

Brummie I hope that test becomes more definitive. It's so frustrating squinting at those things.

March so sorry yesterday was so hard. Your cairn location sounds so lovely. Brummie will be thinking of you today. Are you doing anything? My first is coming up in June and I'm yet to think of anything quite right.

Blessings your consultation sounds great, like you were able to take it all through. Great you'll get the scans from 6 weeks too.

Thanks Jady I feeling bloody miserable this morning. Mix I think of exhaustion due to working overseas this week, plus I go to Milan for work in 2 weeks and at the moment I barely feel like I can drag myself round the office never mind get on another bloody flight.

Miserable because it's mc1 anniversary and miserable because I suspect my test is negative.

The thought of trying again for another cycle and DP beating himself up because he can't finish - the thought of facing that again makes me want to cry.

One last test tomorrow morning then I'm calling it a day for this cycle. Then I worry what if I tested too early and then stop the progesterone??!!!

Total head fuck made a 100 times worse because I'm exhausted and miserable

Blimey that was a me me me post

brummie I'm sorry you are in limbo land. I've had faint lines on frer but clear blues tell me I'm no pregnant in the past. Personally I would stick to frer at this early stage xxx

freckle glad you've got a good bloke now. We've all been with a treat em mean keep em keen in our time so don't beat yourself up. Apparently you don't even have to have had sex with someone to get it and you can get it from blowjobs!

sasha I've been taking loads of supplements which are targeted at egg quality, hormone balance and implantation. Alpha lipoic acid, royal jelly, l'arginine, co enzyme q 10, vitamin c, vitamin b6 and extra folic acid. I've heard others talk about Agnus cactus and b12 as well. I have a handful of Brazil nuts every day during two week wait which is supposed to help with implantation. Some people swear by dhea for egg quality but it's a bit controversial so I haven't used that.

Hugs Brummie sounds like you need a you day. Try not to think past today. Things can be even more overwhelming when you're knackered. I hope you have something nice planned this weekend. Some and for you x

Brummie I don't know. I think there isn't a line when it's just the chemicals, but I know you don't want to get your hopes up. But a digital test doesn't give a clear answer either - I have had a lot of false negatives with those as they are less sensitive. Basically a squinter would = a no, which looks like a definite result but isn't realy. Fx and hugs - I know how miserable these days of unknowns are.

Well now dh is ill and fevery and I still haven't got over my cold. Come on germs, bugger off now - I want to look forward to this baby arriving!

wadsy good luck today.

blessings - just hugs really.

tanny good to hear all is well with you and Bertie. And just and Scott too.

sasha Just a quick comment on the whole egg maturing/hormones etc. The problem with our eggs is that there is very little we can do about their quality. As we are born with all our eggs, there is really no possibility to influence how they turn out. Hence the pressure to 'utilise' them while they are still relatively young and fresh... Yeah right, like it's that easy.

I would recommend the book 'It starts with the egg' by Rebecca Fett - lots of interesting points in there, and lots of information about what we can do to at least try and give the eggs that we have the best chance.

In order to get your hormones in balance, you first need to know what (if anything) is wrong with them (no disrespect to your homeopath, but the comment that your hormones might be out of balance is an educated guess at best!) - so you need to get your bloods analysed left right and centre for that, no other way. Then you can start treatments/drugs to get them right.
There are some supplements that are meant to help egg maturing (while they are getting ready to be released for ovulation) - namely, CoQ10 and DHEA. Be warned, they are not cheap, though. I've been taking them (and lots of other stuff), but whether they really did anything remains to be seen. Vit B6 is meant to help with regulating cycles, but at the dose that you'd have to take it for that, it can have really bad side effects (speaking from experience here).
I would ask your GP to get bloods done to test all the hormones, so at least you know what you are dealing with. Sorry, I don't mean to sound patronising, but I'm a scientist at heart

Ps sasha mr shehata puts all his mc patients on vitamin d as well. Forgot about that one. I'm not a classic patient of his as I have factor v Leiden rather than raised natural killer cells but he put me on vitamin d anyway.

brummie hope you find ways to be kind to yourself today. Mc dates suck.

Ps sasha as cloud said it's best to get tested to see if you have any issues. I found out I had low amh and low progesterone so I've taken 'the supplements probably can't do much harm but they might just help approach'.

brummie and hugs for today and fingers crossed for a clearer result in the morning x Hope you've a chilled weekend ahead.

wadsy good luck with the scan.

Hugs for today brummie and for a more definite result tomorrow x

Glad you've had a temp rise now loopy. I don't think taking the extra progesterone is a problem.my temp rise is about 0.4 and i asked prof b specifically if i might not need it because of my strong temp rise. He said they still recommend it. Even with my 0.4 rise and 400mg twice daily it didn't have a contraceptive effect on me,but I'm only taking 200 twice daily now. Iwould give it a go with 200s and if you find its to much,cut it back