Slow declining hCG following an early miscarriage

[Penguinn]

Wondering what my options are, in the UK (NHS)

Two miscarriages (early) and slow decline in hCG.

Hi all, I have recentley suffered a missed miscarriage in June. I found out at my 12 week scan, fetus was not viable and stopped growing at 8 weeks. I opted for surgical management and after having previuosly spent a small fortune on HPT's I managed the weeks after surgery with the cheap test strips (to check when my hCG dropped ie negative test)

At two weeks post op and three weeks post op I tested negetive and resumed TTC immediately. Two weeks later I took a HPT and it came back positive so I contacted GP and GP did not agree this was a pregnancy because of the time scales and refered me back to EPU and advised that EPU would need to manage my care until it was resolved. (incase of retained tissue)

Looking back now, a part of me wishes I had listened to all the advice about waiting a few cycles because the heartache that follwed due to not having a period before TTC again was taxing.

Long story short, must have suffered another miscarriage (very early). During beta blood test (to see if there was a rise over a number of days) I had what I thought was a period as it was identical to my period.

I was told it was quite possible this was a chemical pregnancy as my initial bloods went up for hCG but then start declining.

I have spent a number of weeks going in to EPU for bloods as bloods declined (they only discharge you when you are classe as negative). I am still having bloods done now.

Wondering if anyone else experienced slow declining hCG, for info my hCG was only 50 units to start with, the decline over 5 weeks now has been to just 26. the weeks have felt like months as I was advised not to TTC until this was resolved.

Also, I will be 40 in a few weeks and this would have been my first pregnancy. I dont have any health issues and i dont undertand why its not working and why hCG is not budging.

should I ask for progesterone for the next?

Should I look into further supplements?

Can I ask for support/further tests from GP now?

I'm so sorry for your losses.

Firstly, under new guidelines from last month you can now go to your GP and ask for blood tests to see if there's a simple cause e.g. thyroid issues.

Secondly, you can ask for progesterone if you get pregnant again. The guidance seems to vary across the country, but generally speaking you'll either be offered it when you get a BFP, if you have bleeding, or when you have had a scan to confirm that it's in the right place (which is usually around 6 weeks, just to make sure it isn't ectopic).

Supplements wise, aside from folic acid what have you been taking? There aren't supplements you can buy over the counter that can stop miscarriage unfortunately, and folic acid is the big one for foetal development.

Thanks @moosey89 that's good to know, I am currentley taking 5mg folic so more than what you would ordinarily take for prenatal supplements, iron tablets and COq10. I am tempted to come off the folic for a week or so as I read here on a different thread that folic can be the reason hCG declines slowly.

I have had my bloods back again today following this week's bloods and sadly the hCG has only gone down by 11 in 7 days so I am now at 15 at week 6 of bloods 😔