Progesterone Pessaries - is it safe to stop them at week 12?

[BabyHope]

Hi Lovely ladies,

Hello I'm 9 weeks and 4 days and have been taking 400mg 2x daily progesterone since the day of ET and I have to continue till week 12.

Just wondering when others are stopping/ have stopped their progesterone pessaries and how you are doing it,? How did you feel when stopping?

I'm worried that I will get to the 12 week scan and they will see the baby has stopped developing and the progesterone has masked a miscarriage.

Any idea?

[jhza700]

Hi Babyhope,

I stopped my progesterone just shy of the 12 weeks, only because I had run out and my clinic said it was ok to stop. By week 12 your body is producing enough progesterone to support the pregnancy. I don't think I felt much different when I stopped the progesterone, maybe just less bloated.

I think it is just natural to worry until you get to the 12 weeks scan. I know I did, I still worried a little until the 20 week scan lol. I am now 27 weeks and enjoying being huge :-).

If the worry is affecting your work/sleep and daily life, You could go for a private scan or your to local EPU at your local hospital.

Best wishes,

Jx

[BabyHope in reply to jhza700]

Thank you very much Jhza700 for sharing your experience , feeling so relieved now. I can't wait to see my growing bump Lol. Good luck for your rest of pregnancy 🤗 Xxx

[Sad_panda]

Hi there, I've been advised to gradually reduce my Cyclogest pessaries until I run out, which will be by 12 weeks. My doctor said in Europe they don't bother with the pessaries after test day because by that point your body will be doing it anyway. That's not caught on in the UK but my doctor basically said the pessaries are kind of a backstop. Also, your scans will have shown a good lining by then I'm sure.

I'm 8 weeks today, been on 3/day, dropping to two tomorrow then one next week.

[Hidden in reply to Sad_panda]

Hey I'm in spain and they use both progesterone patches and pessaries til week 12 then wean you off.

[Sad_panda in reply to Hidden]

Oh that's interesting to know! Thanks. Are you in Spain permanently or just for treatment?

[Hidden in reply to Sad_panda]

Hey, permanently

[BabyHope in reply to Sad_panda]

Thank you very much Hun for sharing your experience. It seems we are in same phase of pregnancy. I am so excited and happy for every tiny bit of journey. When is your due date ? Xxx

[Sad_panda in reply to BabyHope]

Hello yes there are a few of us quite close together. I haven't been told my due date yet but looking online it's something like October 24. I'm excited but to be honest struggling to deal with the reality that it's finally happening and so worried something will go wrong now!

[WhatAwait in reply to Sad_panda]

I was only given pessaries until OTD ( I'm in the UK) and was told that my body would take over then. I'm now 12+3 weeks pregnant, so hopefully that's proof enough that it did.

[Lynnr54]

I was told to come off the pessaries when they ran out, which if I remember correctly was around 8 weeks. I was really scared that it was early, particularly as my progesterone levels on my bloods were always really low. But I was fine and now 32 weeks. The hospital said strictly speaking that you don't need to be on them after OTD but they keep people on them until their first scan just to be on the safe side.

[BabyHope in reply to Lynnr54]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. Means a lot, I am less worried now after reading all positive stories xx☺️

[Tlove]

I was meant to come off mine around 8 weeks if I recall but I complained that they were causing bloating and other side effects so towards the end I only took 1 per day but finished the number of pessaries I had been given. I think this stretched me out to maybe 10 weeks. I think at around that time the placenta takes over the production of progesterone anyway. This may be why you only take them for this length of time.

I had early scans at the clinic at 6 and 8 weeks and then I was referred to another hospital for the rest of my pregnancy. Were you offered any early scans?

[BabyHope in reply to Tlove]

Hi Tlove

Thanks you so much for your reply. Yes they offered me 6 weeks 4 days scan where we saw our little ones heartbeat 😍😍 and then they transferred us to other hospital.

[Tlove in reply to BabyHope]

Once you see the heartbeat and the little one is measuring correctly, you should be in good shape. Having said that, I relaxed a little at the 8 week scan (hb wasn't detected at the 6 week scan as it was too early) but it was really the 12 week before I was able to truly relax. It's lovely seeing them at 12 weeks, our twins were yawning and stretching at that point and these are the best pictures we have. I'm 22 weeks now and the pictures since then haven't been as good! Best of luck with the rest of your pregnancy.

[BabyHope in reply to Tlove]

Oh dear bless dear little babies. I can't wait to see mine on 12th week scan. Thanks so much for sharing your experience , gave me positive hope 🤗 Xxx

[WhatAwait]

I was only given pessaries until OTD ( I'm in the UK) and was told that my body would take over then. I'm now 12+3 weeks pregnant, so hopefully it's safe enough to say that it did.