Whew. Lots to think about. I cannot tell you what a rough few days I have had trying to figure out what to do.
Here’s the thing. I’ve only had one miscarriage. (On the inside I am saying so far, but on the outside, I’m saying one.) The cause of that miscarriage? It could be so many things. Chromosomal abnormality, immune issues, the baby aspirin, the drugs I took for the yeast infection (damn, I think I feel another one coming on, but so is ovulation), the drugs I took for the cough, the cramps I felt after orgasms, a uterine abnormality, or gosh, so many many reasons I’m sure any of you have experienced a loss could add to (but please don’t, thanks).
I do have some reason to believe that immune issues may be responsible. I have the high ANA and I have an autoimmune disease (psoriasis). But, none of those other tests for an autoimmune problem came back positive. Everything I’ve read points to ANA being a marker, a reason to check for other problems, but not a problem in and of itself. I thought through, again, the potential treatments for immune system problems, should I actually have one, as I understand them, are IVIG, heparin/lovenex, prednisone, and baby aspirin.
IVIG: I know for sure right now that I would never do that. For one thing, it costs $30,000 and is not covered by insurance. For another, it is highly controversial and unproven. But even more importantly, this involves injecting immunoglobulins from the general population into your body. Clearly they will screen for known blood-borne diseases like HIV and hepatitis. But what about the next, as yet unknown blood-borne disease? There is no way that I would take that kind of risk with my health. If it comes to that, I will not pass go, I will not collect $200, I will go directly to adoption. Period.
Anti-coagulants like Heparin, Lovenex, and baby aspirin: While Dr. Unavailable discussed this as an option, Dr. ILIE dismissed it and even thought that baby aspirin could increase the risk. Also, one of those very cutting edge doctors mentioned by lastqueen told me that he does not use this to treat ANA anymore. As near as I can tell in this article and other research, it is indicated for positive APA, not ANA. In fact, in my last email exchange with him, when I asked whether I should keep my appointment if I would not consider IVIG, he said that I should not. Prednisone also appears to be indicated for APA, not ANA.
I am holding on to this: My sister also tested positive for ANA and has an immune related thyroid problem. She did have two miscarriages, but then she went on to have two healthy pregnancies without treatment of any kind. After the second miscarriage, she did do some serious investigation and was advised to give it one more shot before investigating some of these newer contraversial treatments.
Which is where I am now. Even though I am terrified at the thought of going through the unbelievable pain of another miscarriage, I’ve got to give this thing another shot, this time without the baby aspirin and without the other drugs, before I travel down the path of all of these contraversial, unproven new theories. One thing I think I will do when pregnant is to have another test to see whether those APAs turn up because that would give me a good reason to consider the anticoagulants.
Why does this have to be so unbelievably hard?
Keeping my fingers crossed that the second time’s the charm for you.
–Bugs
I think you are making a good decision. I have sturggled with the decision and a big part of me says, “Go natural. Don’t take anything sythetic, etc.” I figure I have lost 2 without anything in my system, so I will give the “suggested” a go and see. I am more attempting to avoid the guilt I would lay on myself if I had another m/c without at least trying my prescriptions. You, on the other hand, are readily informing yourself after one, and I think you are doing the right thing.
I am wishing you tons of luck.
I think your decision is a good one.
Thinking of you!
It sounds to me like you’ve thought through this really well and you have it covered. One miscarriage really isn’t a big deal (I hope you know that I mean that medically speaking, and not emotionally speaking). The problem occurs when a person is older AND has infertility–then each pregnancy becomes really precious and one doesn’t have the luxury of waiting to see if it will become a recurrent kind of problem or if it was just a random occurence. I think your plan to repeat the APA while pregnant is the smartest idea. I would certainly not recommend IVIG at this point either! I personally did IVIG, but I had high NK cells, and I also have the personality type that needs to feel I did everything–I weighed the risks and went forward with my eyes open. Having said that, I NEVER encourage other people to do IVIG, but will support them if they come to it on their own.
I hope we will be hearing good news from you soon!
I wish that it didn’t have to be so hard! But I do think that you’re making a good well-considered & well-researched decision. When it’s all said and done, that’s all any of us can do. I’m crossing my fingers, toes, and everything else that it comes out okay.
Hi there,
oh, the doctors. Take 10 doctors, get 10 answers. I find that they do most of their work through the process of elimination, and with one m/c, they don’t have a whole lot to go on yet. That is my opinion. Knowing your sister’s situation, I would guess (my non-medical opinion) that your situation is similar and this whole thing will work itself out.
I think it is likely your next pregnancy will be normal, but should you m/c again, I would have genetic testing done on the baby to r/o chromosomal abnormalities. Then you will know that it is time to do some more testing.
Hopefully it was all a fluke.
Hi,
I listed you on my links as having an autoimmue problem, but I’m not sure if this is actually true. See, I also have obsessive thoughts and my new one is that I will create a list of women who have these autoimmune problems and become like the Lupus Anticoagulant Queen of the Internet. I guess I’ll leave you where you are for now, but I actually hope you don’t have one of these things. In fact, I hope I don’t either….but I’m not holding my breath. I guess I’ll know for sure by Friday when my second set of tests come back.
Thanks for delurking on my blog.
Personally, if I definitely have this thing…I would take shots in my eyeballs rather than lose another baby so late. It is the worst thing I have ever experienced, and I lived 4 blocks from the WTC so that’s kinda saying something. BUT I hope that turn out to be okay and I hope they can figure out what’s going on. They do say that first pregnancies are more likely than subsequent ones to end in random miscarriages. I will be obnoxious in saying that my best friend had a miscarriage at 8 weeks and is now getting ready to deliver a healthy baby in about 2 weeks. So it can and is probably more likely to be a weird random thing…but obviously still do all the testing (but recognize that I am completely paranoid right now so maybe you shouldn’t listen to any of my advice). Good luck,
Roxanne