Tests for recurrent miscarriages on NHS

[FrancyItaly]

Did anyone have tests for recurrent miscarriages on NHS? What tests did you do? I had 2 miscarriages, 1 natural pregnancy and 1 IVF pregnancy on NHS. The doctor requested some tests for me. Did anyone do it with the NHS?

[Jess1981]

I have! We got referred after 3 losses in a row that was our CCG criteria ( also had a early miscarriage before our toddler) . I had most done with our daughter Amelias post mortem which included testing her for chromosome issues and various infections for me. Nothing revealed an obvious cause of her death. I then had blood clotting disorders and thyroid tests done via miscarriage specialist- all normal. It was frustrating but going forward we ruled a lot of issues out and nothing to assume we couldn't have another successful pregnancy ( we have a 2 year old daughter Francesca after a long struggle!) The miscarriage specialist said the only "proven" thing to help prevent miscarriages is treatment of blood clotting disorder with heparin apparently aspirin isn't enough ( I was already on that ) This pregnancy I was allowed prednisone ( I'd previously had with Francesca due to slightly raised nk cells but were banned during the pandemic but now allowed ) I'm sure the steroids helped ( I'm 22 weeks pregnant ) I also took progesterone which you would've as well. I have to say the care I've had with midwives and consultants has been amazing- they have been very accommodating. Usually when you are pregnant after recurring miscarriages you get 2 extra early scans I had mine at 7 & 9 weeks. Do remember even without any answer as to why doesn't mean another pregnancy couldn't be successful! Sometimes they don't know but it can just be a purely numbers game. It is devastating when it's one after another emotionally it's exhausting. I'm so sorry this has happened to you and I hope you can find an answer or put your mind at ease by ruling things out Xx Tommy's have lists of various miscarriage investigations that might be useful. Xx good luck ❤️

[FrancyItaly in reply to Jess1981]

Thank you! Technically it isn’t diagnosed as recurrent since I had 2, but luckily my hospital requested the tests already. We are also having the miscarriage tissue tested. Hopefully we will make some changes for my first transfer! 😌

[Jess1981 in reply to FrancyItaly]

My ex fertility specialist ( who retired when I had Francesca) disagreed with the criteria he thought it was too cruel to make any women suffer 3 losses in a row before miscarriage testing. Miscarriages are normally just a one off event so I even think 2 in a row is too many. I hope it provides answers or reassurance. Even with recurring miscarriages women do go onto have a healthy baby. I wish you the very best going forwards and truly hope it's third time lucky for you Xx

[FrancyItaly in reply to Jess1981]

Yes that’s what the doctor said, it’s the same who did my egg collection in hospital, he doesn’t want me to risk a 3rd miscarriage. Honestly I believe I was just “unlucky”, I have all faith next time it will be successful! Xxx

[Hidden]

Hey lovely. I was referred on the NHS by my private consultant. I had seven blood test vials in total and they tested things like lupus and blood clotting levels. There’s basically a bucket load of tests they do as standard and it took about 3 weeks for the results to come back

They also did an MRI to check the state of my uterus

Hope you get some answers xx

[FrancyItaly in reply to Hidden]

Thank you! Are there any tests that they didn’t do and you had to do elsewhere? Xx

[Hidden in reply to FrancyItaly]

No, not that I am aware of in terms if the standard ones - I think I had a hysteroscopy too. They didn’t do things like NK cells. I was also told the only thing that would make a difference was blood thinners. I was also told it’s very unusual for women to keep miscarrying - normally after a couple they will have a successful pregnancy x

[FrancyItaly in reply to Hidden]

I did the NK cells already before doing Clomid in my old private clinic and all good. Ok, hopefully that will make a difference for me, maybe both miscarriages just happened by chance, I will see how the tests go. Thank you!

[zytajones]

Hi FrancyItaly,check this post:

healthunlocked.com/fertilit...

There is a list of things to be checked for recurrent miscarriage. I had all those done on NHS after 2 miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy. All my results came back normal so it's literally nothing we can improve in this matter. Doctors says that it's just purely down to egg quality.

Hope this helps.

[FrancyItaly in reply to zytajones]

Oh good, hopefully I will do all of these too! Thank you for the link! I have PCOS so I guess I do have quality issues but we transferred the most perfect 5AA blastocyst 🤷🏻‍♀️ How can the quality be checked??

[zytajones in reply to FrancyItaly]

Some people do PGS testing on embryos but I personally don't believe in this route and it's also flagged as RED on HFEA website. Mine were 5AA blastocyst as well but it still doesn't mean that they are genetically good, it just mean they look ok at the development stage in the lab.

[FrancyItaly in reply to zytajones]

I am convinced the baby was not genetically healthy, that is why I am having the miscarriage tissue tested now.

I did IVF on NHS so they didn’t do PGS testing, but in case I have to do IVF again in the future then I will have it done. For now I have 3 blastocysts to transfer, hopefully there is at least one who is heathy xxx

[zytajones in reply to FrancyItaly]

Oh, that's brilliant news. I hope at least one of those will be you baby good luck!

[FrancyItaly in reply to zytajones]

Thank you! Can you tell me why it isn’t recommended by HFEA? I was also told by my hospital that they don’t recommend it but since they were not offering it I didn’t ask why.

[zytajones in reply to FrancyItaly]

hfea.gov.uk/treatments/trea... read the info here. Basically they do not have enough scientific prove that this helps with pregnancy rate and also some scientist believe it might actually damage perfectly good embryo which then wouldn't implant in your womb.

[FrancyItaly in reply to zytajones]

This is what they mentioned when I did IVF in July and since they were not offering it I didn’t care much at the time. I strongly believe my issue, if there is one, will be found and that out of the 3 there is our baby. I hope I am not wrong. Thank you for your help xxx

[KiboXX in reply to FrancyItaly]

I did PGS testing on my last round FrancyItaly if you ever want to chat about it. Both my tested normal embryos have resulted in successful pregnancies so far (one is 12 months old and currently one is 13 weeks pregnant with the second).

I find it interesting that HFEA has it rated red when the same process is used for PGD (looking for a specific condition) which is approved 🤷🏼‍♀️. It’s pretty standard practise in countries that are more progressive with IVF (like the US) x

[FrancyItaly in reply to KiboXX]

Hi! Thank you! I don’t think I could do it now anyway as my 3 blastocysts are now frozen and I will do FETs. If I have to do another fresh cycle again in the future I will think about it. Especially if I don’t end up with a baby with all 4 of them! For now I can only hope there is at least an healthy one out of them.

[KiboXX in reply to FrancyItaly]

Got absolutely everything crossed for you and those 3 Frosties ♥️🤞🏻 Xx