Recurrent loss between 4-5 weeks

[LacedBouquet]

Hi ladies, I’ve just lost my 3rd pregnancy in a row within the space of 4 months between the 4-5 week mark.
I really thought this time would be different as I was on 800mg progesterone per day from 3dpo but no, still miscarried at exactly the same time as the non progesterone cycles.

I’m wondering if anyone else has recurrent miscarriages between 4-5 weeks and what they’ve discovered the issue was?
I’ll phone the GP on Monday and see if I can get referred to the recurrent miscarriage clinic and hopefully still try in the meantime.

I’m just really disappointed in my body x

Hello @LacedBouquet I’m so sorry for what you’re going through. I’m also going through my fourth chemical pregnancy and second loss on progesterone.

I found I have high NK cells but the treatment I was on (prednisolone and intralipids) didn’t seem to do anything to prevent this chemical pregnancy. I am at a bit of a loss for next steps now. I’d like to recommend NK cell testing as that seems to help lots of people, but unfortunately not me yet.

Has your GP done blood tests for things like this thrombophilia and thyroid function? They did that for me while I was waiting for my RM referral appointment (which has never actually come!).

I’d be interested to know if others found out what was causing their chemical pregnancies too, it’s so frustrating and upsetting. Sending solidarity xx

Hi @LacedBouquet

So sorry for you losses 💕

I’m in a similar situation to you, just had two losses within 2 months, both at the 4-5 week mark. The first time I brushed it off as a blip, but the second feels worse. I was so hopeful the second time around, I thought surely my body won’t fail me twice. It’s an awful situation to be in. We’re going to wait a cycle then try again but I feel like we’re just trying again to get that tick in a box of having 3 miscarriages so we can be referred for tests.
I’m honestly looking into going private to get the ball rolling, I’m my heart I know the next one will end in the same way and I’m not sure I can do that without taking some control and trying to figure out what is wrong first.

I hope you get the support you need from the GP 🤍

@Lily1990 So sorry about your losses. That's really interesting about the NK cells. I phoned GP this morning and they've referred me to the recurrent miscarriage clinic and I am going in an hour to get my bloods done so hopefully they'll be able to pick up anything that's not right.

@Bay9 I'm so sorry about your second loss, it does sound a bit like my situation. Can I ask you a few questions, just wondering how similar we are? Were you on any contraceptives prior to etc, if so what were you on and when did you come off them?
Have you been tracking your cycles and if so is your luteal phase a normal length (more than 12 days)?
The private doctor I spoke to after my second suggested it could be 'Super Fertility' where your lining doesn't know the difference between a good and a bad embryo so tries to implant them all (for a young healthy couple, only 1 in 3 embryos are chromosomally normal) and she said because the miscarriages are happening in a row that it is more likely to be the case.

@LacedBouquet

i was on the contraceptive implant. Came off contraception on 13 June, started bleeding on 15th July for about 2 weeks so did a pregnancy test and it came back positive 2-3 weeks so I must have got pregnant within a week of coming off contraception. They suspected a potential ectopic but my HCG levels came down quite quickly so they discharged me on 10th August. We tried again straight away and got a positive on 25th August at 11DPO, but I started bleeding on 31st august, went to EPU again and my HCG went from 13.2 down to 4.6 48 hours later. I haven’t actually had a proper period since coming off contraception, only the bleeding from the miscarriages. I’m going to try call my GP in the morning, see if I can get an appointment due to the new law that was recently passed where you can have blood tests from 2 miscarriages. If I have no luck I’m going to go private.
I didn’t track my first cycle we were just winging it with it been so soon after coming off contraception I didn’t think it would happen so soon. I tracked ovulation on the second one but again thought it was a long shot and was surprised when it came back positive again. Did the specialist say if there was any treatment for super fertility and does it mean we would be more likely to have a child with chromosome abnormalities?

@Bay9 This is super interesting because I was also on the contraceptive implant, Nexplanon for 11 years. Came off in February and started ttc in May.

No so with super fertility our chances are still the same as everyone else, it just means we will always show positive and then miscarry rather than just get a period if not a viable embryo until we get a viable one. The main thing we can do is really try and make sure our eggs & sperm are the best possible quality with what we use as supplements and what we eat. I'll post my new supplement regime that we are trying this month below. This is based off of the book 'it starts with the egg' in the recurrent miscarriage section:

My protocol:
1 x multi-vit- pregnacare preconception tabs
1 x 1000mcg folate
3 x 600mg of Co-enzyme Q10 in the form of ubiquinol spread throughout the day
1 x 200mg R-alpha lipoic acid
1 x 600mg N Acetyl Cysteine (NAC)
2000mg of mayo & d chiro inositol
1 x B Complex
1 x 500mg sustained release vitamin C
28mg iron bisglycinate
1 x 4000IU vitamin D
1 x Omega 3 with 400mg DHA per dose

His protocol:
1 x multi-vit- Wellman's preconception tabs
1 x 1000mcg folate
3 x 600mg of Co-enzyme Q10 in the form of ubiquinol spread throughout the day
1 x 200mg R-alpha lipoic acid
2 x Omega 3 with 400mg DHA per dose, total 800mg of DHA
1 x 1000mg L-carnitine

Just had my bloods done as well- they took 6 vials!! Said they're checking for absolutely everything which I am super happy about :) x

@LacedBouquet that was quick! I was thinking if I contacted the GP I would be waiting a while for any support. Did they say how long it would be until you got any sort of results?
I’ve seen a few people recommend that book, I might have to have a read, thank you ☺️

@Bay9 i was so surprised it was this quick! They said within 7 days and they’ll phone if anything flags up. And then he’s not sure how long it’ll take to get the appointment for the repeat miscarriage clinic. Hoping it isn’t too long 🙏

@LacedBouquet I’ve contacted the GP today and he’s going to refer me to the gynaecologist for blood test so I feel content knowing I’m not just sitting around waiting for the next one to potentially happen 💕

That’s great news @Bay9 ! Did he say how long the wait will be to see one?

@LacedBouquet no, I did ask the question but he was very vague, he just said he would make the referral and they would be in touch to make an appointment. I have tried to search for people’s usual wait times but I couldn’t find anything from recently. I’m unsure what “refer to gynaecologist for bloods” means, is that the step before a recurrent miscarriage clinic? Couldn’t the GP just do the blood tests? I’m a bit confused.

I’m a bit confused too @Bay9 because my GP was the one who did the blood tests. I’m not sure if he’s referred you to the gynaecology department rather than the specific miscarriage clinic? I wonder if there’s a way you can find out.
My GP said the recurrent miscarriage clinic will do all the scans & work out what we can do moving forward to avoid miscarriages using different medications etc but in the meantime they’d do the bloods to see if anything flagged up that they could help resolve

@LacedBouquet So I’ve called the GP this morning and she said that the doctor I spoke to yesterday has referred me to the local gynaecology department at the hospital. I haven’t read anywhere that this is common practice so I feel like gynaecology are going to get my appointment are refer me back to the GP. I’m unsure whether this is a good thing I.e he has taken me seriously so didn’t just want to do bloods at the GP or whether it’s going to drag the process out longer. I guess it’s a good thing.

@LacedBouquet hope you don't mind me jumping in, I've just had a low day 21 progesterone test and I was wondering how you were prescribed progesterone? I really want to get a prescription ahead of next ovulation which is in 2 1/2 weeks and GP appointments are so hard to get!

stumbled across this thread searching for answers. Going through 3rd miscarriage, no live births and in despair of where to turn and what to do next. Have you ladies managed to have success? Hope so xxx

@LAURAPAX I’m so sorry you are going through this. I do thankfully have somewhat of a success story although we are not completely in the clear just yet. I asked my GP to refer me to Tommys and I saw professor Quenby in Coventry. She prescribed me 200mg progesterone from CD21 and 400mg progesterone to take from a positive test up until 16 weeks. I am 18 weeks today and I can feel our little boy wriggling around inside. I remember clear as day been in your position and feeling so hopeless that it would never happen for us after 3 losses but this little one has stuck around. I really do hope you get the support you need and get your happy ending 💕

Thank you for your message and congratulations so happy for you that you are on the home run! I am actually on progesterone already as I’m with a ivf clinic now but this pregnancy was my third natural pregnancy in between failed cycle. I’ve had all the testing done (privately) and no obvious reasons for RPL. I’m in the depths of despair at the moment. I just have no answers and really thought this was our time. I’m late 30s as well so really panicking. Been going through this for 2 years now and so scared it’s never going to happen for us. Il see if I can also get referred to tommys now. Thank you again 🧡🧡🧡 xx

Hello @LAURAPAX I’m now 30 weeks after changing my protocol with Dr Shehata to include hydroxychloroquine as well as a higher dose of prednisolone and intralipids to treat my high NK cells. Plus progesterone and all the vitamins! I was very skeptical that it would work out for me after my chemical on prednisolone but amazingly it seems to have helped the baby hang in there! 🙏 if you can I’d really recommend Dr Shehata at the CRP clinic, he seems to have helped so many women with recurrent miscarriages to have their rainbow babies. Good luck xx

Unfortunately I’ve just had my fourth miscarriage at 7 weeks, still currently passing the tissue.
I’m not sure what the next steps are for us, but progesterone doesn’t seem to be the issue. I think aspirin will be attempted next time plus a work up for my husbands DNA frag and then potentially some immune testing. Sorry about your losses!

Hi @Lily1990 congratulations that’s amazing news! Very happy for you! Can I ask did you refer yourself to dr Shehata separately? I was on an immune protocol just with intrapilids for my ivf transfer with PTGA testing embryo but that didn’t even take at all. I seem to be able to get pregnant naturally (although it’s taken another year from my second miscarriage) but I’ve also been in and out of ivf where I haven’t been trying naturally so perhaps it wouldn’t been have long.

@LacedBouquet im so sorry about your losses it really is so hard. I also have no issues with progesterone - wish I did as that would be something that seems to be able to fix. Sounds like you have a plan in place for next steps though. Are you doing ivf? Thinking of you and here if you want to talk xxxx

It's just so awful isn't it? Sorry you are going through the same thing. What are you thinking about doing next?
I'm still trying naturally at the moment as it seems our issue if holding onto the pregnancy over getting pregnant but I think if we do more testing and if my husband's sperm DNA frag comes back low and likely the reason for the miscarriages then we'd look to IVF with PGT testing.
Are you doing IVF?
I'm just feeling so numb these days, crippled with fear that I'll never be able to carry a pregnancy to term. I just hope we can find answers. Thanks and you too! xxxx

@LAURAPAX thank you ❤I really did not expect to get to this point. I self-referred to Dr Shehata (just called up and made an appointment). He is happy to work with people having IVF or trying naturally. For me it turned out intralipids and prednisolone was not enough, and I needed the hydroxychloroquine too. I was scared to be on all these drugs but I didn't have any side effects in the end and it seems to have been what I needed to stop my immune system attacking the embryos. The costs were very high (about 2.5k for the immune tests) but we were completely desperate and it feels very worth it now.

@LacedBouquet I'm so sorry to hear you had another miscarriage, I'd really recommend immune testing with Dr Shehata if you can afford it. High NK cells was pretty much the only thing that they could find wrong with me (apart from PCOS but that was very mild and had been on metformin and letrozole to help with that).

Wish you both the very best of luck with your journeys xx

@LacedBouquet I'm so sorry for your losses and your latest loss 💐

I'm waiting on a referral to a recurrent miscarriage clinic for investigations. Can I ask how old you are? You're absolutely welcome to not answer. I'm going to be 37 this November and it's scaring me that I might not have much time left.

@Lily1990 did you go private with Dr Shehata? I'm waiting on an NHS referral to be confirmed to him as I can't afford to get all the test done privately unfortunately 😔

I had Hughes Syndrome or anti phospholipid syndrome.

injected with Heprin daily
aspirin too
Progesterone

2 DC from 6 pregnancies.

good luck all. It’s brutal. X