How to stay pregnant after 4 recurrent miscarriages. Any advice?

[Sallyjo27]

I’ve posted here before after my 3rd miscarriage.
I went on to have another loss at the end of 2020. I’ve had an appointment with my consultant and have been told to have clexane injections as soon as I get a BFP, cyclogest pessaries (I used these on the 3rd pregnancy) and 75mg of aspirin after a heartbeat is seen at the scan. I’ve had lots of tests- thyroid, progesterone, blood clotting, autoimmune antibodies, ultrasound scan of my womb,AMH and my husband had a sperm analysis all have come back normal. We are waiting to see if the NHS will do Karyotyping bloods as they never did it on the previous pregnancies.
Has anyone else had recurrent miscarriages and gone on to have a successful pregnancy? What did you do differently?

At the moment I just feel hopeless and like we will never get our rainbow

Congratulations, I really really hope this is your sticky one. Will be thinking of you.

Yay huge congrats! X

Congratulations! Sorry for your previous losses, I have had 2 and this is my third pregnancy.

I’m surprised your consultant is saying to take 75mg aspirin since 150mg is the nhs recommended dose now.

Also I’m no expert but I start aspirin from ovulation as I had read it can help implantation- and it worked for me as I got pregnant again and am now 7 weeks.

I figured if you have sticky blood the baby will need help from the beginning in order to develop but it seems doctors have different opinion on this xx

Yes that worked for me. Tried for 18 months and first month I was taking baby aspirin every evening from two weeks before ovulation. My mid wife highly recommends it for her mums to be and wants me to take until the baby is born

Hi all,

I am new to this website and I just wanted a bit of reassurance on the cyclogest and does it help? I had my son when I was 23 (he is now nearly 14) in the last 2 years I have had 2 miscarriages at 6 weeks and about 5 weeks however I didnt realise I was pregnant until I was misarrying as i have got very irregular periods.
I am now pregnant but knew I was from about 2 weeks, I am now 7 weeks and had an early pregnancy scan. They saw a heartbeat which we were delighted with.
The nurse prescribed me cyclogest and I just wanted to ask has this helped those that have had previous miscarriages? I'm also seeing people being told to take aspirin but I wasnt told this, should I ring the doctor next week and ask her?
Thanks so much and hope everyone is keeping safe and well.

Sorry for your losses. I have had 2 and am now 12 weeks.

I would recommend reading It Starts With the Egg, lots of good stuff in there.

Do you have pcos? Are your cycles regular?

I have pcos and take myo inositol and metformin to control my blood sugar (and therefore hormone levels).

I also switched to methylfolate (from folic acid). Folic acid is synthetic and up to 40% of people can’t absorb it. Methylfolate is the natural form of folate and is easier to absorb.

Also, this time I also took aspirin. However I took 150mg (which is what the nhs recommends now for pregnancy) and started taking it from ovulation as it helps the baby implant. I am not a doctor but I don’t agree with the view some doctors seem to have of waiting for a HB before starting the aspirin. I would say that blood flow is extremely important from the very beginning to get things off to a healthy start.

I hope this helps and that you get your rainbow baby 🍀 🌈

Congratulations! I had a rainbow finally after 4 losses. Mine were natural killer cells so I was treated with steroids, cyclogest and intralipid injections
Not sure which bit worked, I like you had thought I would never get one to stick but we finally got our little miracle
Good luck, I hope it goes well for you this time

Hi OP. I had 3 MCs in a row, currently nearly 22 weeks pregnant with my little boy. I didn't do anything differently myself, success of the pregnancy doesn't depend on you, remember.

I had all RMC tests, clear. I was advised Cyclogest 2x400 mg daily (which I took in my 3rd pregnancy too, obvs didn't make a difference) and was told 75mg aspirin daily wouldn't do harm, so I am on it till 36 weeks.

Unfortunately a lot of the time it's a pot of luck.

I would say consider aspirin from BFP not later because you might be unknowingly developing APS in pregnancy even if your pre-pregnancy results were clear. Unfortunately women are not routinely re-tested upon a positive pregnancy test.

I would also say testing your partner's sperm and NK Cells testing in Coventry privately might be the way to go. Good luck 💐🙏 xx

Oops, just saw your update, I hope all is going well and other posters can also benefit from our stories! xx

Thanks for the messages. I take pregnacare along with inserting the cyclogest twice a day. I wonder should I be taking aspirin as well?
I have had cramps all day and have stressed myself out. I'll be 8 weeks pregnant on saturday just wondering are cramps all day normal? They arent causing me to take paracetamol or anything but they are uncomfortable and my tummy has decided to make lots of noises as well lol.
Think with having the 2 previous losses any sort of tummy pain has me nervous.
I am 37 and my friend said our bodies are just different to when we had our first ( I had mine when I was 23) she just had another baby at 37 as well. Xx

@Jen8407 cramps are fine unless severe, don’t worry. I often had cramps like the beginning of a period but never had any bleeding, almost stuff I read online said it was just the uterus stretching. Sometimes I even had sharp pains!

Everything was good at my 12 week scan xx

Thank you so much @cafeaulait27. I actually ended up ringing early pregnancy clinic yesterday and they told me to take a days break from the cyclogest and see if it eased the pain. I am hoping it's just a mixture of them and my tummy is so bloated as well, looks like I'm 6 months pregnant already.
They didnt see to worries though and just told me to ring back if the pain was still as bad. I am walking around etc but just feels like I have constant period cramps. Touch wood it hasn't been as sore today. Thank you for the reassurance :)

Common on Cyclogest. How are you using it? I found rectal use instead if vaginal helps, and also causes less irritation to the cervix. Might however result in digestive system unpleasantries. Sorry, Cyclogest period isn't the most glamorous for many! I don't have fond memories of that time. xx

I am using it vaginal at the moment. The cramps have definitely eased up a lot today however still there. I guess I'm just extra nervous because of the 2 losses before so any sort of cramp pain I'm waiting for something bad to happen. But I'm glad to know other people experience the cramps and thank you for letting me know about using it the other way. I think I will try that way tomorrow and see how I get on. Thanks :)

Yes, that's also normal to be worried. I had 3 losses before and was exactly the same as you. Unfortunately no easy way out, apart from waiting it out. Best of luck!

@Jen8407 I can recommend taking it rectally, I have from the beginning. That way you don’t lose any of the dose as it doesn’t leak out, so it’s all going directly into the bloodstream. It also stops it from irritating your cervix as others have said. But totally up to you 😊

I actually cramped a bit last night and got worried, but there has been no bleeding and it stopped after about an hour. It came on when I had dinner, and I wondered if it might also be down to constipation! I understand how worrying it is, but most likely it’s due to your uterus growing xx

Hiya
What dose of cordyceps should be taken? Anyone using them?

@tubbycustardtummyache I have just seen your post about NK killer cells.
Can I ask when you got tested and when you started treatment please?
I have had 2 miscarriages and pregnant for a third time. I hope this one sticks. I've had tests on the NHS which all came back fine. I am on baby aspirin and progesterone but so scared of losing this one and I know th NHS don't test for killer cells.
I'll be 5 weeks tomorrow X

@LadyBird2020 congrats on your BFP. I hope this is your rainbow baby! I’ve had 2 miscarriages and just got my BFP too. I’ve had the NHS tests and all came back fine. My consultant recommended baby aspirin but didn’t say anything about progesterone. Only that my tests show I don’t need it. I was just wondering if you had to ask for a prescription or whether it was recommended?

@Boredinthehouse12 congratulations on your BFP! I had all the tests done and all was ok. However I follow Tommy's, the charity, on Instagram and they run a trial into the use of progesterone in woman who have had early bleeding or early miscarriage. There were woman who have had miscarriages who went into having healthy pregnancies. Although it I can't be proven that the progesterone was the reason, the outcome was basically that while it can help, it won't do any harm. It's called the PRISM trial. Tommy's created a leaflet that you can give to you GP when requesting it, as some NHS providers are not willing to prescribe.
I wasn't recommended it by consultant but did request it after seeing the Tommy's trial and hearing success stories and luckily was prescribed it quite easily.
It's definitely worth asking for. Might just give the extra help we need & if it was to go pear shaped again (hopefully it doesn't) can say you tried everything. Well that's my thinking anyway.
They are pessaries, not tablets. So need to be inserted via the vagina or rectum.
Having spoken to a few people, the rectum is better as it is still absorbed into the blood stream but won't cause irritation or bleeding that could occur via the vagina.
Hope that helps. X

@LadyBird2020 thank you for taking the time to explain that to me! I didn’t even know the trial existed so it definitely gives me something to focus on should this pregnancy not go as planned.

Hopefully we both get the bundle of joy we’re longing for! Xx

@Boredinthehouse12 no problem at all. I hope everything goes to plan for you and that you won't need to ask for me the progesterone at all. ❤️🌈 x

@LadyBird2020 hiya, I wasn’t sure who you wanted to address your nkc question. You have two options for testing… one is to test uterine natural killer cells (nkc) the other is blood natural killer cells. A test for uterine nkc can be done at coventry at the implantation clinic run by professor quenby and jan brosens. You have to go 10dpo and get one biopsy and another the month after however with covid, they are unlikely to prescribe steroids. I went in nov, dec, 2020 and had to get steroids at a different private consultant. The cost for the two biopsies is £500.

If you want to get blood nkc tested this is a much more expensive test and i only know of Dr Ndukwe at Zita west clinic, Dr Shehate or Dr Gorgy in london who run these tests and it can cost anywhere between £900-£3000 to run the tests and get the answers. From what I can see, Gorgy tests more things that Shehata but some treamtents like LIT are not even allowed in the USA which Gorgy does test. Consults with them range from £250-£350 i think. There is also a doctor in ireland who is less for a consult and doesn’t mind where you are located. Let me know if you want her name…

I hope that helps….

@Sallyjo27 how have things been? Do you have any updates xxxx

@pinkflamingo21 Op here-I name changed. I had a subchorionic hematoma at 11 weeks and I really heavy bleed- but everything was fine! I can’t believe im 27 weeks today! I feel so lucky. What I did differently this time was take a course of antibiotics that my consultant prescribed after hearing about a trial in Warwick hospital to reduce inflammation of the lining of the womb. I also used progesterone pessaries from 3dpo rather than when I got a bfp. And I had clexane injections too. I had acupuncture as well. We had looked into NK cells with dr shehata, but it was so expensive we thought we’d give it one last go before going to see him x