Early BFP, recent MC and low dose aspirin

[nellieee]

Hi all. Looking for any people in similar(ish) scenarios. I got a much-wanted BFP last month, but sadly miscarried about two weeks later at around 6 weeks. I am so fortunate that my cycles appear to have returned to pretty much normal straight away. I O'd a few days later than normal, and this morning, at 10dpo, got another BFP. I usually spot (brown-is) before AF is due, but on Saturday, unusually had bright red spotting (one off), which is different for me, but prompted me to test 48 hours later, as Dr Google suggested it might be IB.

I have read a lot about low dose aspirin used to prevent miscarriage. Too much. From what I have seen, the advice is generally to take it until 12 weeks for those who have had three losses or more. This really frustrates me, as any loss fewer than 3 does not get a look in. I want this one to stick so badly, and don't want to be placid and do nothing. I have seen very few studies, or advices, recommending low dose aspirin for anyone who has had fewer than three losses.

Has anyone taken the plunge and just gone with it without medical advice? Any comments? I anticipate my GP will suggest I don't, because of the generic advice of higher dose aspirin and pregnancy. I totally appreciate that it would be favourable to have the green light from a medical professional, but any fair comments would be welcome. Be gentle! And thanks for reading.

I have had two losses and also read this. But without knowing the cause of your miscarriage there's nothing to suggest it will help and it could harm. I would get an early midwife appointment and ask them. I wouldn't take anything i wasn't explicitly told to. It could do more harm than good. If it were that simple every woman who'd miscarried would be prescribed this.

Also miscarriages are really common. More than one is very uncommon so you are more than likely to go on to have a healthy pregnancy. This is why they don't investigate until 3.

I’d had 4 losses and been seen by a fertility consultants blood tests, scans for me and a semen analysis on my partner showed nothing wrong.

I decided to try aspirin off my own research. I didn’t get the ok from my doctor. I just took it one month from 1dpo. I then got my bfp at 8dpo and am now currently 22 weeks pregnant.

I will never know if it truly was the aspirin that helped but after all my losses and chemicals (I fell pregnant easily but they wouldn’t stick), the one month I took 150mg aspirin, is the one month it stuck!

I am now consultant led in this pregnancy and at my booking appointment with the midwife both she and the consultant agreed I should stay on the aspirin at 150mg and I am to remain on it until around 36 weeks.

@spookycookies @Moominmiss thanks both for your replies, and sorry to you both for your losses. I will try and get a gp/midwife appt tomorrow. Naturally, I would prefer the go ahead from them first.

spooky what type of harm are you referring to? Risk of bleeding etc?

moominmiss congratulations! That's interesting. I just feel like I have more to gain than lose, but ultimately, you never know.

Hi @nellieee after 3 early losses I decided to take aspirin myself without medical advice. Even though I'd had 3 losses, the waiting list for tests was huge and I wanted to try again straight away, but not without doing something different which could possibly prevent another loss. Like you, I did ALOT of research and come to the conclusion it wouldn't do me any harm to try. I started taking 150mg daily from ovulation. This pregnancy for me has been different from the get go and I 100% think it's because of the aspirin. I got my BFP at 9dpo, my pregnancy tests progressed more than ever and I even got a dye stealer at 15dpo. I'm now 16+1 and everything is perfect. I told my gp and midwife about the aspirin and they were fine for me to keep taking it. My midwife even went as far to call it the miracle drug! If your in doubt you can always ask a midwife or gp, but I'm fairly certain they wouldn't bat an eyelid. Good luck ☺️ xx

@Moominmiss

I’d had 4 losses and been seen by a fertility consultants blood tests, scans for me and a semen analysis on my partner showed nothing wrong.

I decided to try aspirin off my own research. I didn’t get the ok from my doctor. I just took it one month from 1dpo. I then got my bfp at 8dpo and am now currently 22 weeks pregnant.

I will never know if it truly was the aspirin that helped but after all my losses and chemicals (I fell pregnant easily but they wouldn’t stick), the one month I took 150mg aspirin, is the one month it stuck!

I am now consultant led in this pregnancy and at my booking appointment with the midwife both she and the consultant agreed I should stay on the aspirin at 150mg and I am to remain on it until around 36 weeks.

I also second this. I have fell pregnant on the 1st try with each of my pregnancies (4 in total) and this so far is the only one that's stuck, after taking aspirin. Before these I had never got further than 7 weeks. So my issue wasn't conceiving, it was just holding on to that little bean!

I took 75 mg a day til 36 weeks too, (my kids are 9&12 now so probs different NICE back then) and high dose folic acid - my consultant says that's her go to meds fir multiple miscarriage
Good luck

@lockdownbabyx congratulations to you! So nice to hear positive stories from people with similar experiences. I am convinced (even bought some this afternoon!), just trying to get OH on board. He thinks it's too risky...

@nellieee it has side effects like all drugs. Including risk of bleeding. There is also a lot of uncertainty about how to use it to prevent pregnancy loss. Eg when to take and how much. I suspect that you could find anecdotal evidence to support taking it but I really wouldn't risk it if I were you. Especially after only 1 loss. Which as I've said is very common. After 3 or 4 I'd be more willing to take the risk as it appears to be a problem. 1 doesn't indicate a problem.

Thank you for sharing @custardbear. Was the aspirin prescribed, or did you self medicate? This is my theory. From what I have read, consultants ALWAYS prescribe low dose aspirin first off, unless you have any condition that prevents you taking it. My issue is that you have to have had three losses to even get to that stage.

@nellieee I do understand why he would be concerned, I'd never tell someone to take it without medical advice even though that's what I did. I however was satisfied with the research I did. See if you can speak to someone tomorrow if that will put your mind at ease ☺️ x

Thanks @spookycookies. I've read up on the risks. Risk of bleeding is around 1 in 1000 or 0.01% of people. Risk of me falling into the recurrent miscarriage statistic is 1%. I don't want to be that statistic. I understand that miscarriage is common, but it's such an understudied area of health. It's put down as just one of those things (I don't think it should be), when many miscarriages may have been preventable.

I am waiting for blood tests to confirm whether I have any blood disorders (I suspect I may have a sticky blood issue based on heritage), but the wait might be too long.

Hi, I had two miscarriages in the last 6 months and was so angry that the doctors won't do any tests until I have 3. I've done a lot of research on aspirin and decided to take it when I got another BFP last week. But I was doubting myself on whether it's safe and DH was also uncomfortable about it so after two days of taking it I talked to my GP and midwive who both told me not to take it so I've stopped.

I still feel uncertain what is best. I felt better taking it because it felt like I was doing something different that might help, but now I don't feel I can go back on it as I'd be going against medical advice. But it obviously seems to be working for some people.

Would be interested what your GP says OP.

@purplemandm do you mind me asking why your GP and midwife have said that it's not a good idea?

@nellieee congrats on your bfp! I'm so sorry to hear of your previous loss. I'm in a similar boat, pregnant immediately after a mmc at 6+5 in April. 5+1 today, though maybe running a little behind.

I'm under the care of a consultant in the recurrent miscarriage clinic as I'm 38, I've had chemicals and they count them, plus the loss in April. BUT I didn't give myself chance for any tests or investigations because of the timing of this pregnancy, and I've only had email contact with my consultant.

From what I understand, low dose aspirin is often prescribed to women who have a clotting disorder detected via a thrombophilia blood screen, and it sounds like you're waiting on those tests. It can also help blood flow to the uterus, and like Spooky has mentioned like all medicines it has risks. Now, despite my not having had any tests whatsoever, my consultant gynae told me it was fine to take 150mg daily, and I've also been put on progesterone pessaries (cyclogest 400mg), which I take once a night.

There's technically no medical evidence to suggest I need either of those medicines, or even that they might be beneficial to sustaining my particular pregnancy. At this point, I'm not even completely convinced I DO have a problem with recurrent miscarriage given that chemicals are so common most women don't ever even find out about them, and I've only had one early loss, which again, is common.

I strongly doubt that if either aspirin or progesterone posed any serious risk to me or to the pregnancy, my consultant specialist would not have given me the green light, especially in writing.

So I'm not saying do it without medical advice, but I'm not saying don't do it, either...

Good luck!

@purplemandm so sorry for your losses ☹️ that's really interesting that both your GP and midwife advised against it. Did they say why?

It's such an understudied area, and it really annoys me that we just have to go through this without any support or intervention. I couldn't get a GP appt this morning, but might phone the EPU to see if they can advise. Would really like to speak with a fertility consultant but how do you even go about it?! It would have to be private, too, obviously.

My thinking is that the dose is so low, and an aspirin a day keeps the doctor away...?

Thank you @weathervane123 for sharing your experience. That's interesting to read. And is what I consistently hear: low dose aspirin and progesterone pessaries are nearly always prescribed by recurrent miscarriage consultants, regardless of test results. I therefore think that with such a blanket approach, it must be ok?

Good luck to you all in your pregnancies!!

@nellieee The blanket approach seems to be it. I can only put my faith in the professionals who, if they don't know everything, must know marginally more than me!

I'm glad of the green light given this pregnancy has many of the hallmarks of my last one, including low hcg. I've got my fingers crossed but I'm trying as hard as I can not to get my hopes up too high.

@nellieee @jengrosve
The GP just said that aspirin is not something they recommend without any tests (for sticky blood) and the tests can only be done by the Recurrent Miscarriage Clinic, so she said she can't refer me for the tests direct but also can't refer to me RMC either because I've only had 2 losses so just carry on as normal and hopefully I won't MC again.

The midwife said that she's aware that consultants sometimes recommend it for women even when they've not tested positive for blood clotting issues as a 'we don't know what the problem is so might as well try aspirin' approach, but since I only had 2 losses she doesn't recommend it to me at this stage. She also said in some cases aspirin can cause miscarriage if you don't actually have a blood clotting issue, although I've not come across this before so not sure whether that's actually the case.

To be honest I don't think my GP or midwife are very knowledgeable about this, I'd trust what a consultant says more.

@weathervane123 it seems so! This is it, we have to put our trust in others sometimes. Oh I know how you are feeling. You're more ahead than me, but I understand the worries. I have been trying to stay positive and optimistic. Feeling very grateful that it has happened so quickly really.

@purplemandm that is interesting. What Trust are you in? I think with everything in life, in the medical professionals can have a different opinion.

Just a quick update for anyone who might be reading this and be interested... I called my hospital's screening midwife today to see if I could have my coagulation bloods expedited following the miscarriage and quick bfp (to see if Aspirin might help this pregnancy). She agreed to this. I also asked her advice on taking low dose aspirin now. Her words were "it can't do any harm", and "the benefits far outweigh the risks" for aiding blood flow to the womb etc. I asked about subchorionic hematoma, and she said, again, very rare, and it could happen with or without aspirin in any event. She said to take 150g (ie two of the low dose tablets) at night with food. I feel a bit happier now that she has ok'd it.

Please do feel free to chat in this group if you want. We all seem to be at similar stages. I've not joined the Jan 2022 thread yet. Building myself up to it! 🍀 to all!

@nellieee oh good I'm glad you have had the go ahead from the midwife! That's basically word for word what my midwife said too. Hope it all goes well for you ☺️ xx

That's interesting @nellieee, thanks for sharing! I'm in West Yorkshire. Yes, it's not helpful when different medical professionals have different views on things like this! I really don't know what to do... I'm considering going back on the aspirin, as it seems there is very little risk and huge potential gain. Ideally I'd like to do the blood tests, but my GP won't refer me. Did you go direct to the hospital to get the tests?

I've also not joined a Jan 2022 thread yet, too worried that it will go wrong as I'm only 4+3 now.

@lockdownbabyx ahh safety in numbers! That's good. Good luck to you too. Hope we all have happy, healthy pregnancies!

@purplemandm no problem at all. Have you had another chat with OH tonight about it? I've only been given anticoagulation blood tests as I have a hereditary trait that means I am more at risk of having sticky blood. I'm quite surprised my GP agreed tbh. I'll report back if there are any developments. You're almost a week ahead of me. It's almost annoying testing so early as the wait is longer. I know it's an anxious wait, but try and stay positive. Easier said that done, I know. Speak to your GP/midwife if you have any concerns. Also, the Miscarriage Association have a line you can call if you have anxieties in a pregnancy after a loss. Got everything crossed for us all 🤞

Hi @nellieee, thank you for your kind words

DH thinks we should stick with what the GP and midwife told me for now. He's not a risk taker! Overall I'm probably happier with that for now too. I have the booking appointment with the midwife next week, I'll ask her about it again then. I'm trying to keep positive and distract myself with work in the meantime!

I'm happy that they agreed to do the tests for you! Really hope you get the results soon and you have a healthy happy pregnancy!!

I know what you mean about finding out early. I found out a week ago so already feels like ages!

I've had 2 previous losses both at around 5 weeks and was close to self medicating with low dose aspirin this time! I stopped myself though after reading an NHS document that specifically stated it can hinder the early stages when taken before 8 weeks so decided not to. I'm now at 8 weeks and haven't miscarried so far. I do think a lot of the time these things just happen and taking aspirin isn't a magic cure. It might seem like it when the cycle some ladies decide to take aspirin happens to be a successful pregnancy but the pregnancy likely would have been successful without it.

Here's the NHS document I'm referring to:

mft.nhs.uk/app/uploads/sites/4/2018/04/12-123-Recurrent-Miscarriage-Service-January-2015.pdf