Miscarriage Clinic - DR Shehata

[louloulala]

Hi -

I am going thorugh my consecutive 3rd miscarriage (ERPC booked for next Tuesday)which is devastating.

Although we are now eligbile for tests on the NHS, I would like to look into private testing as I don't want to be stuck on an NHS waiting list for ages, and my understanding is that unless you go to a recurrent miscarriage clinic, the tests are quite basic and often come back saying there is nothing wrong.

I'm looking for advice from anyone who has been to see dr Shehata at The Miscarriage Clinic, how you found the experience, how many tests you had, costs (if you don't mind divulging) etc. Also open to suggestions of other clinics in London

Any advice / recommendations would be great. Feeling quite lost at the moment

hi there, sorry to hear what you are going through and i can totally relate to the shock and misery you're feeling right now, having had four consecutive MCs myself. as you probably know Shehata specialises in the immune theories about MC (NK Cells) and has an excellent reputation. However, he isn't the only expert in London on this and if you haven't had other tests yet it might be worth considering seeing a specialist who covers NK Cells and all the more "conventional" reasons for miscarriage - ie, someone who is not approaching it from such a very focused NK Cell point of view.
When I was at your stage I went to Zita West who referred me to a specialist at the Lister called Yau Thum. He is doing a lot of work on NK Cells at the moment but will also run all the other tests you could possibly have. (It may be that Shehata also does this but i got the impression from Zita West that he is more focused on NK Cells and less on other things.)
I would really recommend Yau. It costs about £200 for an initial consultation with him; and then to have the full battery of tests is about £1500 . It takes quite a while for the results to come back (about five weeks) as the samples are sent to the States I think.
If you are in or near-ish London I would also push your GP for a referral to Lesley Regan's clinic at St Mary's Paddington. It may take a very long time to get your first appointment there but once you're in, you're in. I am with St Mary's and the Lister and they seem fairly used to people having two sources of advice.They do tests that other clinics don't offer. there are all sorts of other benefits to being at the clinic which i won't go into here as it would take too long. You're right about the NHS - they will do quite a lot of tests but miss out things like Factor V Leiden and MTHR.
hope that's helpful

Hi sotough. Thanks so much for your comprehensive reply and really sorry to hear of your losses.
That was my concern with Dr Sehata - that perhaps he was too focussed on NK cells, when this may not even be the problem. It's such a minefield though. I am also thinking of getting a private appointment at Lesley Regan but my preference would be to go somewhere where they do all the usual tests as well as the NKC stuff. Yau THum sounds like a good option. I think what you're doing sounds like a really good idea - being treated at both St Mary's and the Lister. I'm not sure if St Mary's will accept me on the NHS though as I'm nowhere near the catchement area. Also, if they do accept but I fall pregnant again before my first appt with them, do you know if they would still see me?

THanks again for replying - I just needed a point in the right direction

I think you can be referred to St Mary's from anywhere in the country. i met one lovely girl in the waiting room who was from Brighton. I tried to get a private appointment with Regan initially as i was so desperate to do something fast, but it was absolutely hopeless. nobody ever answered the phone in her office, despite my increasingly desperate messages, and in the end i got really pissed off and gave up. i must have tried ringing about ten times over a period of a couple of weeks. I naively thought that if you could find the money, it would be no problem, but it seems you almost have to know someone to get onto the private patient list. If you get pregnant before your first appointment with them, they won't see you - i'm pretty sure it says so in the information they send to you ahead of your first consultation. However, i can't stress enough how worth it is think it is for you to try to get into the clinic. It has its downsides, but they may be able to find a reason for your losses, where nobody else can. most experts will probably want to wait at least one cycle after your miscarriage before doing any tests anyway, because they don't want any old pregnancy hormones influencing the results. what you probably feel you need right now is a plan of action - well, that's how i felt anyway - and i'm sure once you have a plan you'll feel a tiny bit (not a huge amount) better. If I can help any further please keep hitting me with the questions. i'm sadly quite well informed on this subject...incidentally you may come across Raj Rai as the other well known specialist in recurrent miscarriage in London. he actually works at Lesley Regan's clinic, both on the NHS and privately. he is supposed to be really lovely, but he doesn't subscribe to the NK Cell theory so you wouldn't get those investigations with him. also he is just as hard, or even harder, to get a private appointment with as she is. Another friend of mine who has had four miscarriages is now with Taranissi and highly recommends him. He does NK Cell testing too. However i suspect getting to see the great man himself would involve a long wait too.

I would really like to get into Lesley Regan's clinic but I've heard it can take up to a year for an NHS appointment and I really don't think I can put off ttc again for another year. Do you mind me asking how long you had to wait before your appt came through? Also, do you know if Regan carry out more tests than the lister? God, you must have been so frustrated trying to get a private appt - you have it spot on...I'm assuiming because I'm willing to pay, it will be easier to get an appointment. I've put a call into The Lister to make an appt with Yau Thum - just waiting for them to call back. I hate feeling so desperate, but it's to hard - I just never thought it would be this tough.

oh it's totally awful. It took about three or four months to get the appointment at St Mary's. I had sort of given up on it happening, so was really surprised when the appointment finally came through. i've not heard anything about it taking a year. There are lots of reasons why it's worth the wait. once you're in their system, if you get pregnant again, you will be offered weekly or fortnightly scans. This will help 'keep you going' emotionally and does beat having to pay for it privately. Also yes, they do some slightly different tests. They will do everything that is available elsewhere, except NK Cell testing, but i understand they have a slightly more sophisticated way of assessing the blood for some things. sorry not to be able to be more specific. To illustrate though, I had two sets of tests done before going to St Mary's - one with my local NHS, and one at the Lister. Neither turned up anything. I couldn't really see the point of going through the whole thing again. However, on the basis of 'leaving no stone unturned' ,once i got the appointment at St Mary's i decided just to see what might come of it. They ran all the same tests again. Lo and behold, two results came back different. One was "strongly positive" for a key blood clotting disorder; the other was "raised levels" of another blood clotting thing. Now, as it happens, when St Mary's repeated their own tests on me, those two results came back normal. (hope you're following this ramble!)
So who knows whether or not the apparently "one off" results were significant? I must say I was disappointed as I was hoping we'd found the answer. But it was new information, which I was crying out for, and so now I'm on clexane (a blood thinner) just in case, so at least i know we have blood clotting as an issue "covered."
You should be able to get an appointment with Yau quite quickly - i think we got a slot about two or three weeks after I first rang. you don't say how old you are, or whether you have any children? I've just turned 36 and was 34 when i had my first MC. I have one little boy who is nearly three, for whom I am thankful every day. all my MCs have been since he came along and there is no history of it in my family or any reason to suspect that it would happen to me.

Ah I see - re more sophisticated testing at St Mary's. I guess the clinic doesn't have the reputation it does for nothing. Fingers crossed for you that the clexane will help. I'm going to see my GP tomorrow and push for a referral to st mary's but in the mean time, I have made an appointment to see Yau at the Lister on July 12th. Looking forward to it in an odd way, I guess just knowing I'm doing something.

I'm 33 (no children) so I know it's not too late. I'm at the stage where all my friends are getting pregnant or who have just had babies, I try not to get senstive about it but it's tough sometimes!! That's great that you have a little boy - he must feel very precious to you whilst you are going through this.

The other horrid thing I'm struggling with is that I feel almost house bound at the moment as too nervous to venture too far in case I start miscarrying in public (ERPC booked next Tues). I think my head will be a bit clearer after Tues.

One other thing I forgot to ask - do you know whether it is practice that partners also get their sperm tested?

I don't know anyone close enough in RL who has/is going through this, so I really appreciate your advice and answering my questions!

hi, i've asked many specialists about sperm testing. the bottom line is that if the bloke gets you pregnant, they've basically done their bit. it would be quite nice in a way to think that the problem might lie with them - well, that's how i felt anyway!- but there doesn't seem to be any evidence for it so it's all on us
this is an incredibly hard thing to go through especially if you don't have any children already but it's great that you're only 33. you potentially have seven to ten years to sort this out! (my mum was 44 when she had my little sister, with no problems). the science will move on, too. it may well be that the reason for your miscarriages is identified very easily and quickly and some things are nice and treatable.
as for being house bound, with my two spontaneous MCs i never had much more blood than a normal period and in fact they both started incredibly slowly with spotting etc. so i never felt stuck inside or anything. i dont think it's very common to get a huge rush of blood, thankfully. you'll like Yau.

Hi,
i saw mr S, he did the nk cells testing but not indepth as say Mr Gorgy in wimpole Street or George Ndukwe at CARE Nottingham who send the bloods off to America for thorough testing. They test for many immune things such as th1/th2, dq alpha etc.. aswell as nk cells. The tests are called the chicago tests (level 2's), the nhs do not cover these tests but only test for things such as lupus, clotting issues, karyotyping etc..although Mr shehata does do his nk cells testing on the nhs. The tests cost me about £1200 i think and showed various immune issues as to why i always mc but nothing can be proved scientifically so it's just what the consultants think is causing them really but it gives me something to work on and research.
sueXXX.

Thanks Sue - I'm finding it quite a minefield at the moment....thank god for forums like this, although sorry that so many of us are having to go through this. It sounds like you are making some progress in that immune issues have been identified. I hope you get to the bottom of things soon.

Loulou, sorry to hear you are going through this . We had 6 yrs ttc, 4 mcs, 2 yrs of NHS fertility treatment, then I read Dr Alan Beer's "Is your body baby friendly".

I thought it might be an immune issue as I also have arthritis, went to Dr Amin Gorgy in Wimpole street (he's fantastic), had the Chicago tests and then was treated by him for my immune issues alongside the NHS fertility treatment.

We were very lucky - our treatment was a success on the first go (we could only have afforded one go) and had twin boys, now 9 months.

The very best of luck to you .

Thanks BosomsByTheSea. I feel incredibly sad at the moment and scared about the future but our time will come I'm sure. Wow, sounds like you have really been through it too but great news that you now have twins! Your story has brought tears to my eyes - I can't imagine the heartache you must have gone through, but so lovely to hear of the double happy ending

I actually ordered Dr ALan Beer's book yesterday so will have a read of that. My GP has now refered me to St Mary's (but have since discovered they don't accept GP referrals - only a consultant's so will go back to my GP on Monday to discuss). Have also made an appt at The Lister clinic on July 12th. Hopefully some answers can be found soon and we'll get our much longed for baby before we know it

I'm never sure if it's useful to share our happy ending - but it did help sometimes to hear of others who had come through something similar and come out the other side. On the other hand, I remember the awful, empty, desperate feeling, and that sometimes hearing of other happy endings just made me feel worse . It is shit. So sorry that you are going through it again. Sounds like you might be on the way to some answers though - the very best of luck with that.

I really hope you do get your gorgeous baby very soon. Big hugs for you xx

Louloulala, I'm so glad thatBosomsbythesea recommended that book and you've got it. It was the single biggest factor which helped us achieve parenthood.
I had all my testing done via ARGC and although we could have carried on trying with the help of some immunomodulation, I was 37 and going out of my mind with it all, so headed for full on ICSI. Fast forward 2 years and we have a little boy and I'm pregnant with twins, all from ARGC. My tests showed various raised NK cells which were sorted with steroids and clexane and aspirin, as wel as some additional progesterone support and it worked! It was full on and expensive, but worth it.

It's only my opinion but Lesley Regan is an excellent scientist and researcher, and makes sure that all her treatment is fully documented and evidence based. Good for her.

But Mr.Taranissi at ARGC, and his peers Dr. Hassan Shehata and Dr. Amin Gorgy are excellent physicians whose focus is getting and keeping women pregnant. I really wish they WOULD audit their files and publish the results, but they show no interest in doing so - certainly ARGC's approach is that they know their protocol works with women who have failed numerous times and they don't need to make a name with the UK medical establishment. Alan Beer's book makes the same point in a roundabout way and includes tstimony from St. Mary's patients who feel the approach was too conservative.

If you'd like to read more about unexplained repeated mc, immune issues, and clinics such as ARGC, www.fertilityfriends.co.uk has an excellent forum.

I wish you the very best of luck. x x x

Hi - I'm coming in late on this but I had 2 miscarriages and decided to see Dr.Shehata.

He was brilliant aside from testing for the NKC he also did testing on many other things, including Factor V Leiden and MTHFR. Which I found out I was positive in both.

He was also really helpful in giving me information and tablets for my PCOS too.

He has put me on a course of folic acid, vitamin supplements, baby aspirin, progesterone, and daily shots of clexane as I'm now pregnant again.

I would recommend seeing him. The first consultation, all of the blood tests and then the follow up consultation cost around £1000. The results from the testing returned around 2-3 weeks later.

Anyway I hope this helps and good luck. X

I know this is an old thread but a gogle search about this subject in relation to IVF has brought up this thread and as a regular mumsnetter on another thread I wanted to ask about it, please.

Bosomsbythesea thanks for sharing your story.

Nickster75 I know this thread was a while ago but if you are still checking it, can I ask, please, if you had any children before the treatment with Dr Shehata? We have a child but have had unsuccessful fertility treatment and are wondering if his treatment may help us. I have only had one miscarriage so not sure if this is relevant to us or not.

Thanks so much.