Dr Shehata advice

[Wolfemum]

Hello, I am currently experiencing my 3rd consecutive miscarriage and my 2nd MMC. I have been told I will now be referred to the RMC unit but due to my age (42) i think I need to go privately and I was wondering what your opinions are on Dr Shehata? I've heard he has a brilliant reputation but is quite focused on NK cells and less on other things. Can anyone share their thoughts, opinions experiences?
My first pregnancy was healthy and resulted in my 6 year old boy but the last 2 MMC we saw a heartbeat at 6 weeks but then no growth or heartbeat at 7/8 weeks.
Many thanks for reading

@Fisky123 welcome!!

@harrietm87 this is so lovely having some more positive news!! Thank you for posting. And yes. That’s what I’m on with 2 pessaries of progesterone a day too

@MeganBistram thank you. I take this from 3dpo as you mentioned this in an earlier post so I took this on board! Do you think 4/5dpo better? Xxx

xxx

Thanks @KatyTTC. it’s interesting because I was pregnant with dc2 during lockdown and my pred dose was reduced due to covid to I think 15mg without any issues. I wonder why it has gone back to 25? Maybe it didn’t work for some women?

Hi @harrietm87 fantastic to have you as a success story! My pred dose is currently 15mg and I was wondering whether it would be enough as others have 25mg. I'm guessing 15mg worked for you though right?

Yes it did. I was on 25 for my first child but the first lockdown hit when I was 6 weeks pregnant with dc2. I was on 25 for the first few weeks and then as a precaution Mr S got everyone to taper down to 15. I also stopped the pred earlier than I had done in my first pregnancy (can’t remember when annoyingly) and again no issues. It is strange that he’s gone back up to 25 but I guess there were impacts for some.

@harrietm87 nice to meet you and yay to more successes on Dr. S. I am on 25mg pred, although coming off it now. 300mg hydroxychloroquine, 75gm Asprin, intralipids every 4 weeks and progesterone. hydroxy I have to take until full term.

@KatyTTC i think as long as you leave it a few days I think it’s good. Xx

Hi @MeganBistram and congrats! Yes I remember some people I met on here with my previous pregnancies were on hydroxy - I was never offered it and mustn’t have needed it. I had intralipids both times too but also missed about half of them second time round due to covid and won’t be having them this time (not convinced on them tbh - I think the pred is what is key for me).

@MeganBistram thank you lovely. I’ll carry on doing this 👍🏼
I would def mention this to CRP and get their take on it. Did they check for all this at your last scan? When’s your next scan with CRP?

@harrietm87 thank you for letting us know about the intralipids too. Also v interesting as they’re so expensive!

xx

@Hope646 Hey! Yes I usually come on after 3 days of stopping progesterone too but I'm like 18dpo now and still no sign of AF. I did email the nurses at the clinic and they've told me to just keep testing daily now, i hate this part when you're just stuck in limbo! I have no signs of AF arriving either. I will do a FRER tomorrow morning.

@JandL2020 Thank you, yep Create usually deal with low amh, mine at the time of ivf was 17, when crp checked it this year january, it dropped to 10, god knows what it is now! I had good grade embryos except the first round I responded really quickly to the stims so I only had 2 dominant follicles. The 2nd retrieval I had 8 eggs but high dose stims, and worse quality so I'm not sure if the high doses affected the quality of them. Dh has been checked too, he did have borderline dna sperm frag which crp found out this january. We just don't seem to be getting any bfp's for an unknown reason which is what led us to CRP who found i had positive ANA and high nk activation. We're both young(ish) and the healthiest out of all our family and friends, just super frustrating.

Has anyone ever been to any of those chinese herbalists? I was told I had an energy blockage in my liver/spleen and the more I read about this, the more I think it could be this but then i don't know if its medically supported by evidence.

@harrietm87 So great to hear of your positive stories on SO, do you mind me asking how many cycles it took? I'm going onto my 6th cycle with no luck! And yes your meds are still correct as that's what I'm on x

@star2022 it was cycle 1 for DC1 which even Mr S didn’t believe. I was on the lowest dose of letrozole (2.5?) and only had one dominant follicle, but that turned into my DS ❤️.

DC2 was 3rd cycle and I think I was up to 7.5mg with her.

I ovulate on my own/have regular cycles and really just did SO to improve my chances and make timing the meds easier, so not sure if that made a difference. I’m not doing it this time as can’t get it on the nhs so hoping I can still conceive without it. Currently 2dpo!

Best of luck to you and everyone on the thread.

Hi everyone! Apologies for radio silence the last few days (I’m hanging in🥴🥴)! Went back home for more family birthday celebrations so trying to catch up on the thread so apologies if I miss any replies 🙈

I’m sorry to hear your update@KatyTTC - I hope that your FRER will be positive tomorrow but if not I wish you best of luck for the next cycle and I hope your Mum is doing okay ❤️remember you need to put your oxygen mask on first 😘❤️

@JandL2020 wow what a busy few days you have had too, sorry I wasn’t online over the weekend but I did think of you! I hope you are relaxing and no doubt patiently waiting ❤️good luck on the 23rd we are all thinking and rooting for you ❤️

@Hope646 how are you doing lovely? Did the spotting stop after sex? I’m like @MeganBistram we have held off because of my spotting and bleeding in each pregnancy - not worth the risk! So he’s just going to have to hold out a bit longer 😂how are you feeling now? 23rd still seems far away, I feel like you got your positive weeeeeksss ago! ❤️❤️did you get your hcg results back yet? Hope they doubled Lovely xx

@Lily1990 how are you doing lovely? What day can you test? The wait at every stage is so hard 😭😭good luck of course from all of us xx

@MeganBistram you are doing amazingly well! So happy to hear about the flutters and the test results back positive 🙏🏻I’ve just asked CRP for a Nuchal scan slot too also although scared to arrange it in advance when no one knows what can happen! Are you weaning down your pred now? What’s the protocol for that? Does anyone know what’s the last stage for CRP? Do you come off all the meds between 12-16 weeks generally or just pred?

@harrietm87 great to hear your lovely stories! That’s such good news for us all!! Congrats! Wonder why he changed pred dose…. I’m on 25mg, 20mg nifidipine (not currently on aspirin), omperazole, 800mg progesterone and folic acid/supplements etc and intralipids! I kinda agree about the intralipids hard to know when you are so keen to try everything. Wonder why he doesn’t give hydroxy to everyone?

@Fisky123 all the best for you too ❤️

sorry if I missed anything/anyone ❤️❤️just an update re: me, I had an NHS EPU scan today! 9weeks and 1 day so thankfully all continued on from last weeks one at CRP! Everything looked good today - the small hematoma is still there despite the on/off spotting I still have! Little baby looked good and all was well thank God ❤️🙏🏻next scan next week CRP❤️🙏🏻…… they don’t get any easier 😰pacing the hallway today and tears welling up in my eyes and the agony when they are silent for a few seconds while checking everything over….. midwife was lovely and gave me a hug 😭😭❤️so happy to have nice care this time round ❤️❤️

@star2022 have you tried fertility acupuncture? I see one and did 3 months before trying with this baby. Apparently it’s incredible for increasing your chances of conception.. hard to tell with us except it was only on cycle 2 of trying and baby seems ok so far ❤️

@whatsgoingon22 gosh what a relief… and no it doesn’t get any easier.. I had felt flutters before my scan on Monday and still shit myself baby was not ok. Now we wait anxiously for the results of the NiPT. Other isssus with feeling flutters is obviously they are not all the time and only in certain positions so was in London today very busy they shit myself I didn’t feel them. Honestly how my body is coping with this whole process I shall never know :)

re steroids I am down to 15gm and it’s a reduction of 5 per 5 days. I have felt no obvious side effects yet.. and yes all drugs stop for me at 16 weeks except hydroxy which is full term and Asprin I think is 20 weeks? Xx

Thank you @whatsgoingon22 and really good news re your scan! I don’t think it gets any easier for each scan but great you got through it and so happy for you. FYI I’m on hydroxy but it’s because I’m on anti deps and dr edge said they don’t want me to come off of those as mental health is important during this process so they gave me hydroxy instead as pred apparently doesn’t work well with Anti deps. So maybe they give hydroxy when pred isn’t possible.

Catching up and familiarising myself all of your situations. So glad to have found you all ❤️

Did Impryl improve anyone’s other halves sperm frag test results over time? xxx

@star2022 by no means not the lowest AMH level and heard plenty of success stories with much lower. I would go with IVF next steps and have a whole new fresh start with a new clinic you are happy with. I have heard Care fertility also good and do immune stuff too. I am skeptical about Chinese medicine but I work in medical field so coming from zero experience of it. Like @MeganBistram acupuncture won’t do any harm and it’s non invasive..I was considering it pre and post my transfer but didn’t go for it in the end.
@whatsgoingon22 fantastic news. Trying to keep myself busy but it hasn’t even been a week yet lol. It’s my day off today and just chilling.

my resting heart rate is increasing which is a good sign hopefully 🤞
otherwise I have no other signs yet.
I went to theatre last night…bloody hell it was so hot thought I was going to pass out 😂😅

@harrietm87 so nice to see your positive stories. Thank you so much for sharing. it is always uplifting to hear positive results. I hope all goes well for this cycle.

@star2022 How are you doing? Did you manage to do the FRER test today?

@whatsgoingon22 that's great news. I am so glad your scans went well. How often can you get scan done through NHS?
my spotting stopped after 2-3 days of having sex. It was traumatising. I don't thing we would repeat that for a long time. We would rather wait until i would be sure there won't be any bleeding. Yessss.. i thought it was just me feeling impatient. I tested positive sooo early and I really think week 6 scan to be 23rd aug is too long away. But CRP didn't want to bring it fwd even my HCG is high.

@MeganBistram Hope you are doing well and slowly enjoying the whole preg experience. I don't think the anxiety will fully stop until the baby is born.

So i have been so occupied trying to understand my HCG the last couple of weeks and i know i should really stop overanalyizing it. I am going to share my results just to see what you ladies think. So it started well but this week's HCG does not seem to have increased much and it is worrying me. The increase has slowed down. It has not doubled across 48 hours at all and that is stressing me now..
Based on my last period date, I am on week 5 and 4 days.

• 31/07/2023: 292 u/l
• 02/08/2023: 586 u/l
• 07/08/2023: 3986 u/l

-14/08/2023: 33129 u/l

• 17/08/2023: 43536 u/l

Anyone can share their experience?

I spoke to CRP and they said they are unable to comment on HCG (not sure why) They can only advice once I have my scan done next week.

@Hope646 i would say you are further along than 5 weeks + 4. Fingers crossed everything is good next week xx

@JandL2020 thank you so much. My spotting started again earlier in the evening. Out of nowhere. It is so triggering. I don’t know how I drove home from work.. all my previous mc happened in week 5 and this is how it starts.
every time I try to stay positive, I get a triggering sign. It’s like my body doesn’t want me relaxed

@Hope646 I is as told past 10000 there is little point in going on HCG as it genuinely doesn’t show the picture. All I would say is that I don’t know many people who have an HCG of 43k that is impending a miscarriage I think they a fab numbers and agree that would surely be more than 5 weeks 4 days xx

Ohhh @Hope646 please don’t panic, the spotting could be the progesterone (the midwife told me that yesterday too) or there may even be a small blood collection like I have which you probably won’t know until you have the scan. I don’t know much about the HCG at that stage but they sound really high which is great. I imagine CRP won’t comment on it because they didn’t do the tests for it. They won’t want to put their view to it when it wasn’t done with them.

You could call your local EPU at your Nhs hospital tomorrow and explain your history and that you now have spotting. In the past I’m sure they scanned me at 5weeks and a few days because of my history and then again at 6,7,8 because the spotting continued and prognosis was poor. I’ve changed hospital this time due to repeated poor service in previous hospital and the current one offer a scan at 7 wks, 9wks and then 12.

sending you much love, if I was you I’d call Epu your tomorrow xxx

Hey @Hope646 still thinking of you, also let Crp know tomorrow that you’re spotting. They may tell you to stop the aspirin. They told me I should have told them before my first scan when i started spotting so best to tell them xx get some rest xxx

@MeganBistram yes that’s what keeps me going. I have never seen those numbers in my previous pregs. It was always below 1000

@whatsgoingon22 thank you soooo much for your support. Honestly, it’s so uplifting. So yesterday whole evening I just stayed in bed until late this morning. Thankfully the spotting stopped. There were sharp pains on and off and that eased off too. I was sooo scared that I would see bleeding and clots each time I was going to toilet but thank God there was none.
I spoke to CRP, they asked me to stop aspirin until my scan next week and asked me to visit epu if there is more bleeding. On one hand I feel the rush to go an epu and see what the scan shows. On the other hand I am dreading it because of past experience.. the trauma that they won’t see anything.
i might just wait until Wednesday if there is no more spotting

Hey everyone, hope you're all doing well!

@whatsgoingon22 your update brought a tear to my eye, when you described how you felt waiting for your scan and the silence before the good news - I really felt for you! And I'm so happy it was good news and you saw the baby at 9 weeks. Good luck for your CRP scan! What is your history if you don't mind me asking?

@Hope646 so glad the spotting stopped, you are really being put through your paces aren't you! But your HCG numbers seem amazing - I had a Google and it said above 10,000 it stops doubling and is more accurate to assess progress through scans (like @MeganBistram said). Also it seems likely you will be over 6 weeks as your dates are according to your LMP and you ovulated early right? Hopefully you will have more reassurance at your CRP scan.

My test day is Sunday and I've really struggled in the TWW (or 10 day wait) this time! Been symptom spotting - as much as I know it's pointless and has never meant anything in the past. I think because I'm a bit bored at work and haven't had many activities on this week. @JandL2020 how have you been coping in the TWW?

One random thing I was wondering - does anyone know if having high NK cells (detected by Dr S's tests) means we are more protected from illnesses/diseases normally? I would like to think I have a super immune system 😂

@Hope646 been thinking of you all day! And I felt the EXACT same way when it happened me in this pregnancy- I almost just wanted to hold out when I knew the CRP apt was a few days but I know everyone is different and I have gone to EPU super early in the past but as you said it’s not like we want to endure loads of scans after being traumatised historically 🙈the spotting is so scary and triggering. There’s nothing like it, imagine there are millions of women who don’t get nervous going to the toilet when they are pregnant…….. I mean I can’t even fathom how it must feel to plod along happy out 🙈(yes I am very resentful lol).
thats really good that it’s stopped now. I must say Dr edge was extremely nice, sensitive and professional for my first scan in particular which made it a lot easier than my past experiences in EPU so if I’m sure they will be the same for you on the 23.08.23. Rest up and take it easy for the weekend and make sure you look after yourself xxx

❤️@JandL2020 how are you feeling? Xx

thanks for the updates @MeganBistram , by some fluke I managed to get my pred/prog and omeprazole on prescription from my NHS recurrent miscarriage clinic/EPU! So hopefully will have enough for a while ❤️🙏🏻is the NIPT testing part of the Nuchal scan with Crp or from NHS?

thank you @Fisky123 interesting to know re pred/hydroxy. He obvs has his reasons and maybe cause I needed the Humira aswell maybe the pred works better with that…. Who knows 🙈as long as it works I don’t care ❤️🙏🏻but I do feel like a walking pharmacy.

Hope everyone else is well ❤️@KatyTTC thinking of you too xxx

@Lily1990 @whatsgoingon22 I’ve not been good today. Made mistake and watched a miscarriage programme last night on ITV which made me cry all the way through. Then at lunch time today my other half comes home and tells me his best mate mrs is pregnant is a really upbeat tone. To say I was pissed off was an understatement. I thought I was feeling better about pregnancy announcements but it is the timing of this one which has really derailed me emotionally. This is one of his best mates which we never see. He had ivf with his ex who I’m still in touch with. Apparently he didn’t want to tell us because of everything we have been through. My other half said well “that person” would have told you. I text this person and she said she has known for ages and did not tell me because it was not appropriate to tell me. She also thinks my other half shouldn’t have told me..especially at the moment.
you can be happy for your friend but it’s like he was smirking almost??
I’ve been upset all day and ivf nurse called for catch up and I was bits…poor woman.
trying to pick myself up before other half gets in from work. I’m still mega pissed off.
best of luck for test day @Lily1990 . I worked during covid and never got sick so I reckon my immune system is pretty good lol.
@whatsgoingon22 i think I’ll get my viability scan done at crp if get that far. just don’t know if i can deal with going back to my ivf clinic or epu. They sound like that they are really sensitive.

sorry to off load and moan 😞
hope everyone has a lovely weekend xx

@JandL2020 so sorry you’ve been having a rough time. ❤️ Bet the miscarriage documentary was super upsetting and triggering. As much as we have such an interest in it, sometimes it’s just too much to be constantly exposed. And pregnancy announcements are rough, especially when it’s someone who you don’t feel deserves it as much as yourself (as much as we all deserve it). Strange that your other half seemed to be smirking. Maybe he knew you’d be upset and felt awkward to tell you so it came across strange? I know my partner has really put his foot in it before by saying or doing the wrong thing when I'm in a sensitive place about fertility stuff. Men don’t have the emotional intelligence that women have!

How are you feeling today? Hope you’re doing a bit better and enjoying the weekend.

I’m dreading testing tomorrow but also it will be nice to have an answer and not the constant wondering.

@KatyTTC hope you are doing well too and your mum is ok ❤️xx

@whatsgoingon22 what incredible news!!! Absolutely over the moon for you. Huge huge congratulations!! This is just incredible. ❤️

@Lily1990 good luck for tomorrow darling and we’re all here supporting you 100% whatever the outcome.

@Hope646 and @JandL2020 how are you both? Thinking of you both so
so much. ❤️

My poor mummy was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer that’s gone to her liver this morning. I was a bridesmaid at a wedding yesterday and knew this news was coming either yesterday or today so it’s been a bizarre 24 hours of plastering on a smile, getting so drunk last night as I thought forget the treatment for one day, I really need to let my hair down (!) and then going back for the post wedding lunch today and again, plastering on a smile and trying to process it all. Crazy.

Hey ho. Onwards and upwards! We’ll know more on Monday when we see the consultant and I’m just so keen now to get a plan in place so she can crack on with treatment.

forgive me if I don’t post for a while…
i do read all the updates, just don’t always reply!

sending you all so much love xxxx