Should I request testing?

[oceancitymom]

I've now had three losses in four months. I had two easy pregnancies at 32 and 35, and now I'm 38. The doctor hasn't offered much feedback on why she thinks this may be happening. Only thing she said was, "Could be your age." I had a miscarriage at 5.5 weeks in December followed by a D&C, then a chemical in February, and now another miscarriage again at about 5 weeks which thankfully doesn't look like it's going to require a D&C. Doctor mentioned that it's perplexing since I've already carried two pregnancies. I guess maybe it could be just three bad eggs in a row? Anyway, now that we've confirmed the miscarriage (last week she thought there might still be hope and wanted to watch my betas before discussing where to go after three miscarriages) I have a phone call scheduled with her next week. Should I ask for some sort of testing, do you think? If so, what? I talked to the nurse earlier this week when she confirmed my beta was almost negative and asked her about trying again. She said they generally like women to wait two cycles before trying again. I asked why, and she said well, to get your lining back to normal. But then she lowered her voice and said, "I had a miscarriage when I was younger, and I didn't wait, and I got pregnant the next try."

But again, I've now just finished up m/c #3 - so wondering if I should just keep trying or if I need to stop and check something out. Thanks for any advice.

[Traci25]

I personally would, my friend had 5 miscarriage and finally got testing it ended up being just very low progesterone. Maybe the next one will be your healthy sticky bean!! Good luck

[oceancitymom]

Thanks, that's a good idea. During my first pregnancy post-IVF the clinic monitored me even though I wasn't pregnant by them, and the first sign that I was going to lose it was that my progesterone dropped. I'll mention this to the doc next week.

[SweetLily]

YES, get testing.

I ave 4 kids and started having losses after the last one 6 years ago. The fertility clinic didn't know why and said I must have bad eggs, as they were all 4.5-5 weeks. I had so many I quit counting at 10. Then I started taking:
3 royal jelly and 300 mg co q 10 ubiquinol, B complex, a seperate B12, 5 mgs folic acide, vit c, vit d , vit e. I know these are not for ttc girl, but if you can't get an egg to stick you have NO chance. then out of the blue, given up days ago, got a shock bfp. It was a girl too! Unfortunately I lost her a month ago at 17 weeks due to a series of problems and bad medical attention.

The fertility clinic had me on progesterone suppositories each day from O. maybe your progesterone levels are too low, this ia a common thing esp as we get older (I am 39). My intertility was called secondary cause I had kids, and was unexplainable. The RE told me to tak Co Q 10 ubiquinol (the more expensive one because it is the form your body uses, and the other coq10 your body has to convert to ubiquinol to use, so its like skipping a step and you get more from it.

Now, my last reply got deleted cause I took too long to write it so I will continue...

I got a book yesterday at chapters on fertility. I will outline the supps they recommend.

[SweetLily]

right here....oh...and I started massaging my uterus clockwise for a few months too to improve blood flow)

Ok the book. It says to take (for general egg health)

WATER. You need it to flush toxins and provide the best possible oxygenation/blood flow to your ovaries.

Folate. This is different from folic acid and is a more usable form. it develops dna, maintains proper hormone levels and ovarian function. It lowers homocysteine, which forms from many things including weight loss (and is inflammation) women on FOLINIC ACID or CALCIUM FOLINATE (500 mg/day) have higher quality eggs with better maturity. Its vital for early develoment and actually helps fertilization.

CHOLINE. It's a B vitamin, you need 400-500 mg/day. this forms every cell in our body. it helps neural tube formation, brain development, a healthy placenta and lowers the risk of MC. take it with your folate.

B12 (500 mg/day) lowers homocysteine and inflammation and develops dna again. Take with your folate cause they will all help each other work better.

VIT D (1000 IU/day) improves fertility and ability to conceive and carry a healthy pregnancy. IVF patients have higher success rates when they take it daily. It improves implantation and immune balance to allow acceptance of the embryo.

IRON: get your level checked. Interestingly, my iron was always very low and finally was less than 1 so I did iron shots all summer from the dr. The suddenly I didn't have another early loss after that...

ZINC 15-40 mg/day is critical for the egg as it matures and readies for release. It has a significant effect of the maturation process of your eggs. studies have shown that if you are deficient in the 3-5 days before O, he maturation process is dramatically disrupted. (I am quoting the book verbatim). Also when deficient, fertilization rates drop by 50% and the ones that do get caught are less competent and more likely to mc.

I know these aren't girl friendly, but they are BABY friendly and I was in your place for 6 painful heartwrenching years and still got my girl.

Its up to you if you want to use it.

On a side note, after my devestating loss I am writing a book about coping and getting thru and SUCCESS after loss. I'm looking for women who want to share their loss story(ies) and success if they got pregnant later. What helped them move on and be ready to TTC again, that sort of thing. If you feel like sharing your journey, it could reach a lot of women and help them on their road to success. Even tho you aren't "successful" yet after your losses, even hearing how you deal with the pain and moving forward can be very empowerng for ppl. If you can, I'd love to include it in my book. (I am a published novelist). If you want to send it to me please PM me and I will give you my email to send it to.

I hope all this helps you in some way. I have had a long road and have a wealth of experience to share if you need it.

I also shoulod note, and I don't know if it played a roll or not, but I did do a detox for a while (not drugs and alchohol, just everyday life stuff) and I went on a sugarless and gluten free diet for a while, but I was not doing that the month we got pregnant.

Sorry for the typos and if anything is confusing, I am on morphine right now for my gallbladder. I quoted the book word for word so I wouldn't screw it up :)

[atomic sagebrush]

Please ladies do not take that high level of zinc, no more than 8-15 mg a day unless you have consulted with a doctor and been shown to have zinc deficiency. It is toxic at higher doses

[essnce629]

Please ladies do not take that high level of zinc, no more than 8-15 mg a day unless you have consulted with a doctor and been shown to have zinc deficiency. It is toxic at higher doses
Yes to this. I was taking 15mg of zinc just 3 days a week and my blood levels were elevated at my last blood test. My endocrinologist told me to decrease down to 2 times a week.

[atomic sagebrush]

Wow crazy essence, thanks for letting me know that!!! Hmmm I may have to adjust my recommendations.

[SweetLily]

Wow you can't trust even published magazines anymore! Crazy!
The zinc I have is in capsules, 500 mg each so I tale it once a week. Gonna have to dump half of it out!!! Scary....

[atomic sagebrush]

I would NEVER take that much zinc at one time. That's the worst way to take it because you get way too much all at once (harmful) and then since your body is not good at storing zinc and is also probably desperate to get rid of the stuff so you then may excrete more than normal from your foods and stuff. Those high doses are meant for short term use for people with colds to get better quicker and were not intended to help the body meet its zinc needs.

I'd get a basic 8-15 mg zinc supp or else a prenatal or multi because they usually have that amount in them. If you need zinc you can take it daily but I prefer everyone else take only 3 days a week max (and now hearing essence's news I am thinking 2x may be plenty for most people.)

[girliedreamz]

I would totally request testing!

Your story sound a lot like mine. I carried 3 healthy baby boys, with no issues at all. Even had natural home births with all three, so really model pregnancies. Then about a year and a half ago got preg and lost at 7 weeks. Had a chemical the next cycle, then the next cycle another bfp, only we lost that one at 11 weeks. After that, my midwife did a round of testing for genetic issues, possible deficiencies, etc. I wish I could say she found something that definitively pointed to why, but all my tests came back fine. She did say due to MTHFR I should probably be takgin baby aspirin when TTC again, but she also said that was unlikely to have been the cause of my losses. Maybe my age was a factor (38), maybe something else. Frustrating not to have answers, I know!

The good news? After waiting almost a year to TTC again after the last loss, I'm now due with a healthy baby GIRl in October. Fingers crossed she stays sticky, but so far so good.

Big hugs to you! It's so hard and not knowing why really sucks. I hope the tests can provide some answers.

[essnce629]

Girlie-- are you having another homebirth this time around? Both my boys were homebirths as well and after my loss I also found out I'm homozygous for MTHFR. I was wondering if a homebirth midwife would take me since I read people with the mutation should be on blood thinners the entire pregnancy? Are you on any? I'm taking baby aspirin 3 days a week right now. I can't imagine birthing in a hospital and had totally planned to have another homebirth before my miscarriage.

[MrsGoodies]

I would request testing but really there isn't much they can test FOR before 8-10 weeks when the chorionic villi are formed (that's when they can test the embryo directly and let you know of any chromosomal problems).

Very early loss like you have really is only guessing and tinkering with hormones.

That said I found testing both my losses at 12 and 10 weeks very helpful.

the first time Dr said it was old eggs - but nope. I had normal twin boys so the loss was blamed on a subchorionic hematoma (which they told me prior was NOT the cause of the loss.. then they backtracked after the normal karyotype)

the next time Dr said it was very low progesterone, not taking supplements soon enough etc....but nope. It was chromosome problem with the baby. no amount of progesterone would have helped. It only delayed things. Ii am especially glad I had this done because I was BLAMING MYSELF over and over for not having enough medications but really nothing could have been done. It gave me some closure and peace.

[girliedreamz]

Girlie-- are you having another homebirth this time around? Both my boys were homebirths as well and after my loss I also found out I'm homozygous for MTHFR. I was wondering if a homebirth midwife would take me since I read people with the mutation should be on blood thinners the entire pregnancy? Are you on any? I'm taking baby aspirin 3 days a week right now. I can't imagine birthing in a hospital and had totally planned to have another homebirth before my miscarriage.

I'm actually planning a hospital birth with a midwife this time. I had kinda tough labors with the last two—one of them mega long!—and I'm just feeling a bit skittish this time around with the losses and me being older. I found a really nice midwife group who are low/no intervention, so while I am a little nervous about the hospital in general, I feel like it's probably a better situation than the horror stories I've heard. :)

I am taking baby aspirin daily! It's both for the MTHFR, and I've had high platelet counts the last couple of times I've been tested, so my midwife thought this might help and it can't hurt.