Advised to stop taking Heparin after Uterine Artery Doppler at 24wks - anyone else had this?

[JaneyB1975]

Hello, I'm news to this group but have read many of your stories - some really sad and some really inspiring. Had me in tears a few times.
I have a 3yr old then 3 miscarriages (11,6 and 6wks). After diagnosis at St Mary's I was put on aspirin and heparin when I got pregnant again. Was advised that if a uterine artery doppler scan came back normal at 24 weeks I can stop taking the heparin. Was told today it was normal but have been given conflicting info from local hospital and I'm really confused. Is it safe to stop? Don't want to risk my baby now. Has anyone else been through this? Can find any info anywhere and waiting for call back from St Mary's.
Janex

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I guess no one has a similar experience. Just a quick update to say I did stop the heparin/clexane injections as advised (decided that I shouldn't question the doctors!). All seems to be going fine, baby girl is still kicking away and I have a scan next week to check her.

Message withdrawn

Hi Janey, I too am on Clexane, but my circumstances are clearly different from yours (clotting disorder, previous DVT). Haven't got any advice, but glad to hear it's going well, and at least you don't have to jab yourself anymore !

Regarding Venous Thromboembolism (VTE), and blood clotting that can occur in pregnancy. It is believed that this may cause late first trimester miscarriages, and second and third trimester stillbirths. Anticoagulants are sometimes prescribed to prevent miscarriage in pregnant women if she has signs and symptoms of VTE and previous miscarriage(s). Medication may be heparin and aspirin, that normally would be possibly harmful in a pregnancy that is not complicated by VTE. Here is a website for further reading.
www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/14332_9264.asp

Hi Janey,
Have only just seen this message. Were you told that you had a clotting disorder when your mcs were investigated, or tested for one? Like whiteorchid (above), I have a clotting disorder and previous DVTs so I was on anticoagulants permanently before getting pregnant, and so will stay on mine (Fragmin) all the way through). If there is some other issue then this might vary. Either way, I can't see what harm it could do to ask more about this at your appointment next week. If the advice changes, you could always go back on anticoagulants and get the protection back very quickly. If it were me, I would want to know quite specifically what they thought the problem was that had contributed to the mcs that merited blood thinners as that's really key to judging whether you need to stay on them or not.

If you haven't been tested for clotting disorders, I would ask them to do this to be on the safe side - it only needs a straightforward blood draw.

FYI, my particular disorder is Factor V Leiden and there's a useful website about it at www.factorvleiden.org that also has some information about clotting disorders (I believe FVL is the most common one) and pregnancy, if you're interested.
Good luck in getting safely through the pregnancy!

Thanks to those of you who responded. I haven't been on this site for ages but was just browsing so.......here's an update (mainly for anyone else who has a similar situation). I'm now 38+3 and baby seems to be completely fine. I did stop the heparin at 24wks and then stopped aspirin at 34wks - as advised by the various docs and experts I've been dealing with. (I have no other history or clotting problems other than the miscarriages). The reason for my first post was because I was getting conflicting info from the specialists and was just hoping to find someone with first hand experience.

Anyway, all is good. C-section booked for 28th Nov (due to previous birth complications - nothing to do with this baby) so I'll be meeting her soon. My little boy is very excited to have a little sister.

Good luck to anyone else out there who is going through something similar, be it a clotting problem or miscarriages. I know they're not easy to deal with but rest assured.....there can be happy endings.

Take care
Jx

Final update, just cos I'm browsing. My little girl is 6 months old now and completely gorgeous so there is def hope after miscarriages. Just trying to decide whether to go for a 3rd! :-)