Link between Allergies and MC or failure to implant?

Not sure if any will get any response to this post as it is a bit of a rare one but I just wandered if there are any ladies that suffer with severe allergies and struggling with either implantation or have experienced miscarriage.

I have anaphylaxis which is a severe allergy to Shellfish and also have exercise induced anaphylaxis and I'm wandering if due to this my body is seeing an embryo as a foreign object and disyroying it. It's a bit of a long shot but I did find a study by an American consultant who said there could be a link and I would be interested in hearing from anyone who can relate

[E_05]

I’m a coeliac so have an autoimmune disease, after 2 mmc and 2 unsuccessful cycles I also did a lot of ready into this. I spoke to my consultant about NK cells however he wasn’t to keen on the tests. He did agree for me to go on steroids though on the build up to transfer and just after. I also looked into intralipid infusions but for my last cycle thankfully didn’t need to have them. I hope you get some answers x

[Hidden in reply to E_05]

Firstly how is your pregnancy going? Really pleased that your protocol finally worked for you after going through the heart break of MMC and BFN's. I was on steroids for my last cycle but I'm wandering whether I may need a higher dose, the place where I go for my scans in the UK have also mentioned inyralipid fusion's due to my last MMC so it's definitely worth exploring x

[E_05 in reply to Hidden]

So far so good thank you, I’m currently 21 weeks 🤞🏻

I took steroids last year but the dose wasn’t as high, I’ll never know if that’s what caused the mmc it or was something unexplainable. I also have PCOS and for my last cycle was put on metformin (I never took this the previous 4 cycles) and I’ve continued to take this, I think for this pregnancy it’s been a combination of things that have thankfully worked x

[Hidden in reply to E_05]

Glad to hear that your pregnancy is going well ❤

I think it's a lot of trial and error isn't it,we've only got 2 eggs left do want to do a lot my research before we go again. Take care and hope the rest of your pregnancy goes smoothly x

[Suzannah1985]

Hi Clairenix,

I have Hashimoto’s, which is an autoimmune disease, and have have 3 failed implantations and an early miscarriage.

Like you, we suspect that my body is in attack mode, as this is happening even with steroids and blood thinners. I have just had level 2 blood tests (also known as Chicago blood tests) antibody testing and also Karotyping, to try and understand what is going on.

It is quite expensive, but may be with speaking to your clinic to see if there is any testing they can do?

All the best, it really sucks being in this position xx

[Saya85 in reply to Suzannah1985]

Hi Suzannah - sorry to jump in but I am also in the same boat with hashis etc

Looking through your posts I just wondered if they have considered higher progesterone treatment for you? Considering you bled fairly early.

I've bled early on all cycles and failed implantation even with pessaries.

Not until lubion injections and pessaries this cycle which have made all the difference

Some clinic recommend orogetseorne support up until 12 weeks so I don't know how long you were given them but that might be worth checking next time

Progesterone is often low in us hashis women and it's the safest intervention we can use in IVF.

I'm also on 20mg prednisolone- not sure how high your steroid dose was

Did you have baby aspirin or blood thinner injections too?

Hope you get your BFP next cycle xx

[Suzannah1985 in reply to Saya85]

Hi Saya,

It’s great to ‘meet’ someone else with Hashi’s.

My clinic are not great at offering monitoring bloods, but it is something I was going to talk to them about in my follow up, as I have always wondered if there are any underlying issues with my progesterone and oestrogen levels. My clinic keep you on the pessaries until 10-12 weeks, but I have never made it that far.

For my last 2 FETs I was on 20mg of prednisolone and also on blood thinning injections. The level 2 bloods are to assess whether I need to consider intralipid infusions next time.

I saw your post about blood sugar levels the other day, that gave me some food for thought too...

I am also considering going to a nutritionist once I know the results of my bloods, it is likely that the next round will be our last go, so we are considering everything at this stage.

Xx

[Saya85 in reply to Suzannah1985]

My clinic refused to test progesterone as they don't routinely do it "and wouldn't know how to interpret the levels !!"

But I knew it was- made complete sense and I was vindicated. It doesn't harm to up it as a precaution

Sometimes.its higher dose we need but I think our problem is absorption

Therefore injections are absorbed better than the pessaries for us.

I'm.on 800mg cyclogest and 25mg of lubion

If you are on two pessaries or less a day (less than 800mg) I would say it's definitely low from.whatbive seen and read.

We shouldn't be bleeding heavy and red whilst on pessaries. That's why our AF is delayed when we get a BFP until we stop pessaries

So makes sense if we're bleeding early that it's not enough.

So.many women have had success with it including me so definitely bring it up

Good idea with nutritionist too. Optimising my vitamins was vital I believe too.

Good luck xx

[Suzannah1985 in reply to Saya85]

All of my rounds I have been on either 3 (fresh round) or 4 (FET) pessaries just checked and that would be either 600 or 800 as mine are 200mg doses.

You have clearly done a lot of research, out of interest, are you following a gluten free diet? X

[Saya85 in reply to Suzannah1985]

Yep that sounds about right @dose. Most likely way too low

(Hypothyroid tends to shut down ovulation and fertility related hormone production as it's a signal usually that it's not a good time to be pregnant ) so often we need both oestrogen and higher progesterone during our tww.

Steroids help to dampen the thyroid immune attack (and possibly lupus antibodies or other autoimmune issues were not aware of) and I believe the blood thinners work for most of us too with higher coagulant factors.

No@gluten free diet. Last year I was so sick that I came off gluten and most dairy naturally and could barely tolerate it. But after a few months I was able to tolerate it better once vitamins and thyroid controlled

I'm having to be on low carb because of blood sugar issues anyway so I'm thinking of going gluten free and following an AIP diet for the rest of pregnancy so I can mitigate the thyroid effects when I come off steroids at 12 weeks

Sorry claire! I just realised we have hijacked your thread(!)

If you want to DM me Suzannah you're more than welcome to xx

[Hidden in reply to Suzannah1985]

It does really suck to have other health complications, I suffered an allergic reaction the night before my transfer, it wasn't a serious one that time as I think it was something to do with the wheat in the non alcohol lager I was drinking and then walked from restaurant to our apartment (was only a slow 10 minutes walk!!).

Thankyou for the advice I will definitely explore additional tests/blood tests when I speak to the clinic, I did fill in a medical questionnaire to say I had an allergy and it hasn't been mentioned but it only occured to me yesterday that it could be causing complications.

When will you get your results back? Xx

[Saya85 in reply to Hidden]

I'm sorry to read the above.... Did your clinic know you had a reaction the night before ?

I seem to remember something about tkaing or not taking antihistamines during treatment

And of course an overactive immune response just before transfer may have caused added issues.

Hopefully it didn't but that is good for thought and worth discussing with clinic x

[Hidden in reply to Saya85]

I rang the clinic to check they were ok for me to take the antihistamine and they said it wouldn't interfere with the meds which was great as I didn't have any choice and I also mentioned it to my Consultant on day of transfer but they didn't say anything about it being a potential problem with ICSI xx

[Suzannah1985 in reply to Hidden]

Gosh, that must be hard for you!

I found that my clinic didn’t really hear me when I was telling them I had positive thyroid antibodies. I could swear I told them after my first two cycles, but it was only when my third cycle failed and I mentioned it again that it was put on my notes and my drug protocol was changed. I am still frustrated by it, but all we can do is move forward!

The results for the test take a while to come back, I have my follow-up at the end of Jan so will find out what they reveal (or not) then.

Hope you make some progress, let me know how you get on xx

[Saya85]

Hi Claire

I also have hashimotos and few allergies. My nephew had severe esoniphilia which is an overactive immune system and would react to everything !

Steroids in both our cases helped to dampen the immune system along with other health interventions /diet and supplementation

I felt the same way that my body wasn't accosting the embryo - but the steroids this cycle have helped.

Some women have NK cells another white blood cell that's overactive in uterus

And usually if you have one autoimmune issue you have others so it could be a number of things.

I did mention thyroid testing in another message to you in believe - and would urge you to test that soon as that needs hormone medication to replace.

Do check for thyroid antibodies too- as Suzannah says above a lot of us are put on steroids thereafter too.

Regardless that may be the way to go if you suspect any immune issue x

[Hidden in reply to Saya85]

Thankyou for responding,your responses have definitely given me food for thought, I was taking steroids but only 5mg of Prednisone so I will speak to clinic to see if they think this should be incrrased as they only prescribed it last time due to my MMC, can I ask what other health interventions/supplements you took? I do take a pre conception vitamin and gave plenty of fruit and veg,Inc spinach every day and Brazil nuts, I didn't exercise last round due to work deadlines so definitely need to get back into that xx

[Saya85 in reply to Hidden]

My consultant suggested for autoimmune that 10mg minimum is needed to have a significant effect

But it would probably vary based on the cause

Also some clinics start it earlier and stop after ET and others start before ET and continue so I think there is some variation in protocol

In terms of vitamins beaczue of thyroid and low absorption I take higher strengths of vit D b12 and iron

You will only know how much to take one you are tested

If you take b vitamins in your multivitamins they can skew test results so you may at the very least want to stop a week before testing

Vit E is very important antioxidant and apparently good for lining issues and selenium (which you get from Brazil nuts ) is also recommended

Do get iron/ferritin/folate/vit D/vit b12 all tested and don't accept 'normal' from the doctors you should be optimal in range.

My doctor dismissed my low ferritin for 18 months even though I had heavy bleeding and all the symptoms - it wasn't until k checked my own results that I realissd

Often we need higher strength vit D during winter but you can overdose on very high strengths so worth checking before you supplement

A lot of the multivitamins contain iron and calcium which can inhibit the absorption of the other vitamins so it doesn't suit everyone

But if you generally have good diet and no obvious health issues then you may not need anything extra anyway x

[Hidden in reply to Saya85]

I will definitely see what tests I can have done, I'm hoping that I get a lot of the vitamins from my current diet, ignoring all of the chocolate,pate and cheese I'm going to be eating next few days!! xx

[Saya85 in reply to Hidden]

Haha pate is good for iron folate and b12

Cheese for calcium

Chocolate for antioxidants (if it's the dark variety )

So bring it on! 💪

Take a break and hope you really enjoy your holidays xxx

[rivershark]

Interesting post.

I too have autoimmune issues coeliac and thyroid. And developed food allergies 4 years ago. Never been pregnant and 2 failed fresh ivf rounds.

I had immunes blood tests as knew I may have issues. My cytokines were 56 (tnf alpha) and clinic likes them to be less than 30. I react badly to meds - the progesterone in oil shots And the chlomid. For me the cytokines come from gut inflammation - any grains even gluten free brown rice gives me really bad joint pain.

Now am trying to lower the cytokines naturally. I think also from reading lots the gut microbiome can cause inflammation and food allergies.

Probiotics help me a lot and would recommend fermented foods such as live yogurts.

I would also recommend a diet high in fish or fish oils (DHA and EPA) these are very anti inflammatory and can help lessen allergies.

Best wishes xx