Prednisolone after 4 miscarriages

[JLB234]

Hi all,

We’ve had a couple of years from hell with 4 miscarriages in 20 months. We’d all but lost hope but then we had a consultation with Dr Thum at The Lister yesterday. He’s identified a borderline issue with my husband’s sperm DNA fragmentation and then he’s said that my NK cells are fine normally but become hyper reactive when I get pregnant.

We’ve already been referred for NHS IVF due to low progesterone levels but he’s advised that we go on 25mg of prednisolone from day 10 of egg stimulation until 12 weeks. I am obviously very excited that this might be a way forward for us but also quite apprehensive about side effects and if it will even work after all of the disappointment that we’ve had. Does anybody have any positive stories of using prednisolone after recurrent miscarriage? Also, what were the side effects like for you?

Thanks,

Jenny

That's me. I've been looking at DE and everything. My partner said no more treatment he will think about it after 8 months but I've had the talk before where he's more or less said he would leave if there were no children in certain amount of years which just puts more pressure I guess. I was so hopeful this time too. Did you test early or wait for blood test?

@Sherr33 i waiting until official test day per my clinic and took a pg test then. My husband had to hide all tests to stop me testing early and honestly the wait was torturous.

@Ttcpph congratulations!! This gives me hope too!!!
@Sherr33 I am sorry about your journey.... but I don't think it is fair on your husband to put such a big pressure on you. Having kids is journey that you both have to go through together. And then there is so much more you can do if you don't have your own kids. Sorry but I just felt it was a bit selfish from him to say stuff like this. You are putting your body through some much stuff (treatment and procedures) for this he could at least giving you some recognition for this! Sending you positive vibes for this cycle!!!

Hi all a quick update from me as it has been a while. Got tested with high NK cells and was given Hydroxychloroquine from now, 25mg prednisolone and progesterone for ovulation and heparin and aspirin from a positive test! The issue is after a few days on Hydroxychloroquine I have started to have a whistling noise in my ear and the clinic has now advised to stop that medication but to carry on with the rest.
so I am really worried.. I hope that prednisolone alone will help with my NK cells!!!
@Hopeandfaith1990how are you doing? Thank you again for all your advice for the clinic got lucky to be see. Very rapidly (my age playing a lot I think!!)

Hi all so managed to get pregnant and I am just miscarrying again (not even 5weeks again)… so it seems prednisolone 25mg didn’t do it for me. Has anybody had this issue and got dosage increased and then it worked? I am really upset at the minute as I thought this would be my miracle drug so I would love to hear from your experiences!! Thank you

Oh no I am so so sorry to read this. Its so unbelievably cruel. Are you on progesterone too?

I had an MMC on the Pred protocol last year and then the next step after that MC was to put me on Hydroxychloroquine which I've been on since January. However I've not conceived on it yet. That's all the NHS will do for you but if you go private you could try the intralipids and infusions.

When I had my MC on the Pred protocol the recurrent MC team were very positive about trying again on this protocol... But I have now exhausted all of their options.

Sorry, I've just seen above you couldn't take the Hydroxy and you are on progesterone. So sorry :( you did everything you could and you did everything right. I don't know why this has to be such a cruel and difficult journey for some of us :(

@CarpeDiem75 I'm so sorry you are going through that. Did you have your embryos genetically tested? It could be an abnormality with the embryo causing the MC rather than your body? May be worth trying again on the pred?

@Ttcpphthanks. I can’t have the embryos tested as I only do ovulation stimulation with natural conception. I am unable to afford ivf. :-( I know my age is against me so probably my eggs are not the best but I feel like life is so unfair because we spent 3 years fighting to do stimulation as we couldn’t get pregnant at all, now I can get pregnant all the time but because I am older my eggs are probably rotten 😭😭😭 it just seems endless…
@Hopeandfaith1990i am tempted to try again with the hydroxy though… I might give it a go and see how my body reacts maybe I just need to go over the side effects the first few weeks and it will be better…did you have any side effects from the drug? How long have you been taking it for? Did you do the eye test at the beginning?
this would really be my very last chance!
yesterday I went for a scan and they couldn’t even see that I was pregnant as I miscarried so early… my hcg was 2!!!! 🤦🏼‍♀️ this is so heartbreaking….

@Hopeandfaith1990did they advise how po g to wait after your mmc to try again? I am weaning off pred just now…

Hi lovely, I had to wait until my tests were negative which annoyingly took over 6 weeks. Then I started right away. I think they recommended waiting a cycle but I didn't.

I had minor side effects from the Hydroxy right at the beginning, but I don't feel much from them now other than just feeling a bit crap in general. I take it at 6am when I wake up to try to avoid the insomnia. I had an eye test after a few months of use and it was fine - no problem at all with my eyes.

I've been taking it since January. How are you doing now? xx

@Hopeandfaith1990 oh no I am sorry that you are feeling crap 😔 such a tough journey when we don’t even know what the future holds… I hate the unknown.. if at least someone could tell us yes that’s it don’t give up because it will happen! Sorry I think with the age I get more pessimistic .. probably my way to avoid disappointment!!! I think overall I am ok I am so used to miscarry sadly enough… I am trying to tell in my head that I would have probably not even known I was pregnant in normal times. I always test days after missing my period but because of the meds the clinic asks you to test on day 10 that’s the only reason I found out so early. So I try to move on and hoping that hydroxy will be the magic drug… as you being under the nhs we don’t have much choice after this. Would you go private? I can’t afford it and not sure I will tbh. I am 42 so I need to learn to stop at some point..
I am really hoping for you it will be the right month. Are you doing any type of ovarian stimulation to help getting more mature eggs at a time? That’s the only thing I treated myself from private care. Only affordable thing 😂 also have you looked into these special lube (preseeds) to help the sperm to reach the eggs? Sorry sounds a bit gross but these two things made a massive difference to us. Since we have used letrozole + preseeds we conceived faster and more often (3 years of not getting pregnant before this). Didn’t get us a good result but at least knowing I can get pregnant is a massive achievement for me! Lol now I just need to find a way to keep the baby! xx

Sorry for the late reply, how are you doing?

I am SO pessimistic at times too, please don't apologise! I've also found dark humour a way of coping too, whatever gets us through hey. I often think that about someone saying 'just hang in there' because sometimes I have to confront the reality that it doesn't work for everyone.

Yes, I think we are going private for IVF quite soon. Yes we've used preseed for 1.5 years, it does help but it hasn't recently unfortunately. I really hope Hydroxy is the miracle drug for you - it really does seem to be for a lot of people! Hope you're doing okay xx

@Hopeandfaith1990 oh that’s good you have a back up plan! Why ivf over iui? I am really hoping something works for you soon!! I am waiting for my next cycle to start not sure whether to take letrozole or not again… also I am just back on hydroxychloroquine this week so not sure it will be long enough to be effective on the next cycle … it seems it can take at least 6 weeks to work. So lots of decision to make! I am just worried that my partner gets fed up and doesn’t want to continu with the whole process. This is so hard on relationships … leg me know how you are doing xx

IVF because the success rate is higher I think - and we've struggled to fall pregnant for a year now so I just want to give us the best chance possible. Are you on the general 'pred thread' here? https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/conception/5228367-immunenk-cells-pred-thread-33?page=22&reply=144525338

Its so hard on relationships, I totally agree. In some ways in made mine stronger but its also such a lot to go through :( I feel you. xxxx

Thanks!! I will add that thread to my saved chats! 😀