Take 75mg of aspirin or not?

[Lottystar]

Hi, I unfortunately had an mc at 7 weeks in October. My husband and I had been ttc #3 for over a year. I since started acupuncture and luckily I have just fallen pregnant again. My acupuncturist advised taking 75mg of aspirin everyday to prevent further miscarriage. Has anyone any experience or advice on this? This pregnancy feels much stronger in terms of symptoms despite being very early days. I have an appt with my GP on Weds to chat to get too but I'm so worried about mc that I'd like to start the aspirin sooner if it would help. Thanks

Typo - *to get her advice too.

The jury seems to be out on it. My fertility clinic advises taking it, so I have been on it since egg collection (equivalent to ovulation). I've seen one paper that suggests it actually increases mc rates (although that was not a large study.)

I've had two IVF pregnancies on my clinic's protocol. One ended in mc. The current one...it's early days so we will see. Most mcs are due to chromosomal problems. So aspirin or anything else the mother takes would not change the outcome. I'm taking the aspirin because the research seems to go both ways and my clinic recommends it, but it isn't black and white.

Thanks for your reply Eurochick, it's so hard to know what to do for the best one way or the other! Argh.

I am 10 weeks and have been taking it since 4 weeks, and my MW said I should take it at my booking in. I also have a history of recurrent MC.
It won't to any harm, and might help.

Best of luck.

from what iv heard a lot of nhs doctors dont advise to take it, whereas everyone iv heard who has gone private and to top fertility specialists have been advised to take.

iv not had fertility/mc issues myself but on my second "high risk" pregnancy. first one under the care of a pretty poor nhs trust and when i asked consultant about taking it he poo-pooed the idea (& from his response obvious he was ill informed). this pregnancy iv opted for a top teaching hospital and they recommend taking it right through. apparently beneficial for a healthy placenta and preventing pe too. they suggest taking at night for maximum benefit.

i would take if i were you regardless of what gp says: theres plenty of evidence for positive effects and notjing i can see thats negative x

Thanks for your responses, it does seem that the private clinics promote it and the NHS are less sure - I guess it could be to do with liability? My acupuncturist mainly sees ladies undergoing IVF privately and this her advice. I feel worried that if I don't take aspirin if (god forbid) I mc again I'll regret my choice but just worried as it says not to take in pregnancy on the box. Also I've read somewhere that you should take baby aspirin instead? Is that weaker in strength or something?

Baby aspirin and low dose aspirin are the same. 75mg. I have had one previous mc, poss due to anti-thyroid antibodies (or poss chromosomal) so I take as a precauionary measure on advice of the Lesley Reagan Avoiding Miscarriage book.

I had two mcs in late 2012, one at 9 weeks and on at 5 weeks. Doc recommended to wait a few months and start 75mg aspirin before conceiving again. His advice was to take it up to 30 weeks.
I was taking it for about 3 months while we were ttc before I conceived. I took it up to about 24 weeks and then stopped as I didn't like some of the side effects. I had some huge bruising on my legs which scared me and made me wonder what it was doing to my insides.
But, I do believe it helped on this pregnancy. Now proudowner of a two week old baby boy.
I would go for it, if I were you. I was apprehensive too but it can't hurt.

From what you all say and reading around I do not think aspirin would have negative effects so I think I'll start taking it tonight. Thank you for all your advice

I took it under my own research after having very high bHCG at my NT screening. Research shows there are better outcomes (longer gestations, greater birthweights) for women with high levels of bHCG as it can indicate placenta issues. I told my NHS consultant at our first appointment and he said he knew nothing of the research, but it would do no harm so to carry on. So there's at least one NHS consultant out there that doesn't mind it!

I have been taking it. My consultant is a fan, and says at 75mg it certainly isn't going to hurt.

I've been taking it from 10 weeks on the advice of my NHS consultant. Have not had previous miscarriages but had pre eclampsia in my last pregnancy. I don't think it will do any harm

i was also going to say: lot of gps follow NICE guidelines to the letter whereas many specialists, nhs and private, will be more swayed by more recent clinical studies. think nice guidelines take a while to catch up.

Just to add another angle... I was advised NOT to take aspirin when pregnant again after miscarriages as my clotting tests came back clear. My consultant (Raj Rai, who works with Lesley Regan in the Recurrent Miscarriage Unit at St Mary's, said that it can increase the chance of miscarriage significantly if it's not needed (ie if you have a clotting disorder such as APS).

Hi Bakingtins, I've thankfully only had one mc - so not had tests for sticky blood etc. I've had two successful pregnancies in the past. Decided I will wait and talk to my GP on Weds morning.

lottystar I know it was all a long time ago but I wonder if you will update with what you decided to do in the end. What your dr suggested and how you got on? I'm considering taking baby aspirin as has a mc in Aug. Not due back to the fertility clinic until Jan.