Recurrent miscarriage - what will GP do?

[cornflakegirl]

I've miscarried 3 times in the last 6 months. They were all early miscarriages: 5 weeks, 8 weeks, 6 weeks. I have one DS (3.5), and apart from a chemical pregnancy before I fell with him, had no problems conceiving or carrying him. If I go to my GP and tell them I'm having recurrent miscarriages, what will they do?

I'm sorry you are going through this.

Hopefully your GP will refer you to a specialist recurrent miscarriage clinic. There they will test you for lots of different things e.g. hormonal imbalance, whether you have any chromosomal problems, blood clotting issues. Your partner shoudl also be tested for some things. I think in about half the cases no cause is found, and while this is frustrating, the outcomes for this "no cause" group apparently tends to be better than those where a specific cause is found. However, if a specific cause is found, then the doctors may be able to do something to help resolve the problem.

If you haven't already done so, I would recommend reading "Miscarriage - What every woman should know" by Professor Lesley Reagan. It's a bit out of date now on the hormonal issues, but it gives a very comprehensive explanation of why miscarriage happen and what doctors can do to help women who have suffered recurrent loss.

I visited my GP after 2 miscarriages, which happened at around the same time as yours. She told me that if I had a third she'd refer me to the consultant for investigations.

When I visited her I was 5 weeks pregnant, 3rd pregnancy this year. She advised me to take aspirin, which she thought might help. I took it and I am now 15 weeks pregnant with child number 2. Like you, I had no problems with DS.

I saw my consultant this week and he told me that he couldn't say whether the aspirin helped or not, as he had no idea what caused the other 2 miscarriages. But he said sometimes there just aren't any causes, and that 2 or 3 miscarriages can sometimes not be linked at all, and do not necessarily mean that a future pregnancy will not be successful.

I'm sorry this has happened to you. Best of luck for the future.

Thanks both. I haven't read that book neolara - thanks for the recommendation.

Just occurred to me - I don't think taking aspirin will be an option, because DS is still breastfeeding a couple of times a day. Do you know if breastfeeding is likely to be a factor in recurrent miscarriage? I did wonder about this before, but DS still enjoys it, so I don't really want to wean just on the off-chance it might help.

I'm still breastfeeding too. I hadn't really thought about breastfeeding causing miscarriage. I'd be surprised if it did though. I hadn't thought about the implications of taking aspirin whilst breastfeeding either.

Oops. Sorry. I don't actually know if taking aspirin while breastfeeding is a thing, I've just always avoided it in case. (Isn't it just about a bad reaction if the child had Reyes syndrome? So presumably given that nothing's happened, there's no problem?)

Have just googled breastfeeding and miscarriage, and found a useful bit on kellymom saying that there's no evidence of a link, and good medical reasons for believing that it shouldn't cause a problem.

No worries, I wasn't offended! The consultant did tell me to stop taking though, not sure if he would have advised it from day 1 at all.

[phew]

Have just ordered the Miscarriage book. Leonara - if you're still around - what did you mean by out of date on the hormonal issues? Is there anywhere else I can look for balance on that stuff?

I think some people who have PCOS and recurrent miscarriage are now given metformin, although I understand this is controversial and the drug might not be licensed for this use in the UK (I think it is in the US). This isn't discussed in the book. I did quite a lot of research on the web a few years ago about this. The PCOS website Verity might have some info. Of course, my information might now be out of date.

I also had no difficulty conceiving, but have been diagnosed as having PCOS. The consultant I saw said that if my periods were fairly regular and as I was getting pregnant easily, PCOS in this senario was unlikely to be a factor in why I was miscarrying.

Interestingly, I take metformin for PCOS and continued to take it all the way through my last pregnancy. My consultant told me that it may decrease the risk of miscarriage, decrease the risk of developing gestational diabetes, and decrease the amount of weight gained in pregnancy.

She gave me a load of research to read and suggested I make up my own mind. 2 years later, a different consultant is happy for me to remain on metformin.

Thanks guys.