6x miscarriages/ failed implantation. Time to give up

[HelenB]

Hi all.
Am new to this, and posted at the weekend but can’t find it anywhere. Apologies if this is a repeat.
In 2017 (age 36) I had 5 x artificial insemination (IUI). All resulted in the same: successful conception, strong implantation symptoms, (sometimes time for a positive blood / pee stick test), but then immediate rejection / very early miscarriage around 1-4 days after implantation. After the 1st of these I had lots of blood tests: all negative except I do have Factor V Leiden, so have been on aspirin for every attempt since. After the 3rd I had an HSG - results all normal. After the 5th I had a hysteroscopy - results all normal. At the start of this year 2018 (now 37) I did my first IVF attempt, transferred 1 embryo, and was on progesterone pessaries. Again I had strong implantation symptoms, but then the wrong kind of cramps again started a day later, and after 4 days I was menstruating. I had a blood test which showed again there had been a pregnancy.

I’m in a same sex partnership, the sperm is donor sperm, and we know it is ok as the donor has other successful pregnancies. With my pattern of identical responses, 6 times in a row, our gut feel is that this is a uterine issue not an egg issue. But the only uterus issues not yet tested for are the immune type issues (NK cells), and from what I’ve read the treatment of these is not proven, and not offered at my clinic. My clinic doesn’t seem to want to try anything else – even not clexane rather than aspirin “until there’s a confirmed pregnancy”. My issue is I never get to that point: the same day as confirming a pregnancy I miscarry.

We have one boy, my partner carried him, and I really want to have a child myself, and give him a sibling. Time is running out: he is 3.5 and we don’t want huge age gap. My partner is 43 and really reluctant to carry again given her age and the time it took her to get fit again after having our boy. I don’t think I have the resilience to try for another year, for it to still fail. I would rather give up now and see if my partner will carry (my egg or hers if not), or give up and adapt to a life of no biological child or not knowing what it is to carry and birth.
If anyone has had to make a similar decision to keep trying of give up, I’d love to hear your experience and any advice you have. Thanks for taking the time to read my long post.

 

[PeanutButter]

Have you tried aspirin?
I had 6 mcs before i had my daughter. No reason found everything was normal. When i found out i was preg with dd i started taking aspirin as i had read loads about it to stop miscarrying, and it worked (well it worked or a weird coincidence).. Oh also progesterone aswell. Im now expecting my second in July also taking aspirin.
I was gonna give up once i reached 10 mcs and just accept i wont have kids, then she just came along xx

 

[Gemsy]

Don’t have any experience in this I can draw on, but it seems to me if you are struggling and your partner was willing, then maybe go for her carrying your egg. Good luck in whatever you decide.

 

[tinselcat]

Hi

I don't have exactly the same experience as you, but we're a similar age and I've done 5 or so rounds of ivf. I'm also using donor sperm. At my last consultation the experienced much-lauded doctor mentioned donor eggs And that there was nothing more they could do to get better results than what I was already doing.

So I tried another clinic and found that there are a wealth of things that I was doing that I should not have been doing to get pregnant.

Also, while there, I read a newspaper article about women at that clinic who had had recurrent miscarriages and struggling to keep the pregnancy, and the clinic had given them some treatment that had resulted in a whole bunch of babies.

That may be relevant to your situation. I would recommend a consultation with one of the doctors there to get a second opinion and see if there is a straightforward way they could help.

That's with the Zita West clinic in London.

Good luck xx

 

[HelenB]

Thanks for the comments all,
PeanutButter: yes I've taken aspirin on all of the last 5 attempts, and progesterone on the last attempt. Great news it worked out for you after 6 mcs.
Tinselcat - thanks for the advice. Yip, my clinic sounds similar to your first one. They seem uninterested in new research / solving the reason for mcs, they just seem to offer a service (i.e. rake in the IVF money). I'm actually based in South Africa and I have an appointment for a 2nd opinion with Dr Coomarasamy at CARE in Birmingham in April, and guess we'll make a decision after that. Such a gamble between trying more 'fringe' treatments which may take a long time and may still be unsuccessful, verses my partner having another baby for us.

 

[tinselcat]

Hi Helen

Yes, it seems like many places only go in one direction and their best response is "try again, knowing the chances of success are low, or give up".

I don't know if you've seen these already:

https://www.zitawest.com/recurrent-miscarriage-1000-piece-jigsaw-puzzle/
https://www.zitawest.com/natural-fertility/recurrent-miscarriage/

I hope you get some better insight with your Birmingham appointment.

xx

 

[Gemsy]

Just had a recommendation for CARE, apparently they are really good ����

 

[blacksnow]

I can't help you with any health advice, but would consider additional tests and PGS NGS screening to be sure chromosomal abnormalities are not the reason of mcs.

 

[miamia]

I am sorry, would advise to check out immunology and vit. D level

 

[HelenB]

Thanks for all the thoughts. I discover my first version of this post did work so sorry for the repeat.
I have seen Prof Coomerasamy at CARE Birmingham for a 2nd opinion, and he was brilliant. Based on all my results to date, he thinks the most likely cause is blood related (factor v leiden, potential protein S deficiency), plus some immunological reason. I was quite surprised but he advised not bothering doing further blood tests (I’ve had most but not all), as immunological tests are >2000 pounds. He recommended trying again with clexane (rather than aspirin) and prednisone injections. I think I’ll start a new thread on advice with prednisone – seems like a big step.