Prednisone and Clexane for FET- Help!

[Rhea87]

hi this is my first FET and I asked my doctor if I should also be taking Prednisone and Clexane and he said no. I’ve heard lots of stories of women taking these and being successful, what should I do please help x

[Skittles11]

Looking at your previous posts it looks like this is your first transfer? If that is a correct understanding, I believe drugs like the ones you've mentioned are usually given after further investigations have been done when people have had recurrent implantation failure or maybe losses, or there has been something in their history to warrant these meds being given. That is my understanding at least. They don't want to overmedicate you when they haven't seen your response to any transfers x

[Rhea87 in reply to Skittles11]

thank you but I’m really worried I do have an underlying autoimmune disease and it will cause a failed FET. I have really dry eyes, hair falling out and joint are aches at times. Would it not be best to add in the med as a precautionary?x

[Catswhiskers1 in reply to Rhea87]

hi, I am doing my first round of ivf and also asked re prednisolone and clexane as for various reasons I may not do another round if this fails, I’ve been given a poor prognosis and want to feel I’ve chucked everything at it. My Dr gave me the information on risks etc and said it’s up to me but they will prescribe if I want to go ahead.

[Rhea87 in reply to Catswhiskers1]

that’s great do you mind pming the clinic name? And why they wouldn’t offer it to you in first place? Thanks xx

[Skittles11 in reply to Rhea87]

No I'm afraid I don't think it would be best to add it in as precaution for a first transfer unless you have had tests to indicate you need them or something conclusive from your history x

[Hidden]

As Skittles says most clinics won't prescribe these drugs unless there is a proven reason why you might need them, they all have side effects and I personally would just want to try a first round and see what happens without pumping myself full of something unnecessarily. I assume you have told your clinic about your auto-immune issues? They will have taken them into account.

I was put on blood thinners as I tested positive after repeat miscarriages for blood clotting issues. They really aren't pleasant and I am having a lot of issues with pain and bleeding from injection sites. Maybe ask your clinic about taking baby aspirin which can help with blood flow without having to embark on unnecessary injections.

Your first round is so often a learning one, I hope you are one of the lucky ones and it works first time for you x

[Rhea87 in reply to Hidden]

Ives asked about baby asprin but they’ve said only once h get a positive pregnancy but there is no evidence it will improve chances

[Boo718]

hiya I wasn’t on these until my 3rd transfer xxx

[Rhea87 in reply to Boo718]

did it work?x

[Boo718 in reply to Rhea87]

not till 5th transfer. After we did the era alice and Emma tests. They start on basic protocols and then tweak it every time xxx

[Boo718 in reply to Boo718]

the prednisolone was given in larger doses before transfer then reduced a couple of days before to the minimum as it is not the best if you don’t actually need it. It can cause sleeping problems, I had a couple of nightmares on the higher dose and I know too high a dose if it’s not needed is not good for the baby xxx

[MariannaB]

clexane is not hurting you or the baby if you take them but if you have no risk of blood clots, age over 40 , they are not going to help for implantation. Maybe try add baby aspirin for blood flow , that worked for me even if I am not sure about. I had 4 failed transfers ( no risk of blood clots ( age 38 ) then I insisted to my clinic to start for my 5 transfer baby aspirin, it did worked but I miscarried at 9 weeks. Now we done again another ivf fresh transfer where They put me again on baby aspirin and added prednisone. So far I am 5 weeks. There are lots of risks with them and because of this they are prescribed just if there are issues with the implantation. I remember asking on my first transfer about clexane and prednisone and I was told that they are given if there is a reason for them .

[Rhea87 in reply to MariannaB]

than you but surely as a precautionary it doesn’t hurt to add it on? If there is minimal risk?

[Hopecontinues]

Hi Rhea87 ,

Prednisolone isn't a nice drug. Some research shows it can stunt the babies growth and potentially cause miscarriage. If you're really worried, have the test. If you have a major issue, a small dose of prednisolone won't be enough anyway.

I'd also have a full blood count. Dry eyes could be vit A difficiency. Muscle weakness could be vit D. Worth checking. I lost a lot of hair with the high stims of a previous cycle.

I used a company called Fertilysis to do the nk cells test, although I think the best test is a biopsy test. After that someone on here recommended a clinic in Spain who do all the tests at a very reasonable price. I found out I have hereditary thrombophilia. This is pretty rare though. I'm now on clexane daily and I had a course of really strong vit D as this was also low.

Good luck

X

[Twiglet2]

without Any tests to show you need these meds they will likely want you to do the cycle without and see what your response is once you are on these drugs with a FET it can be for up to 12 weeks so they won’t want to prescribe them for no reason on your first go. Clexane is a blood thinner so not linked to autoimmune and not something you really want to take u less tested positive for ‘sticky blood’ or clots or age 40+. I have had success without these and I’ve added clexane the last few times trying for a sibling without success so it’s defo not a one size fits all it’s just trial and error somethings.

Have you had a wee MOT from the GP in your vitamins as some of things you are describing could be due to that (or even stress) and my GP has always been helpful in testing for those (not always helpful for anything else 🙈🤪).

Wishing you lots of luck for your first transfer there’s lots of things you could read about to try and you can get lost in all the ‘what ifs’ but try to trust the doctors and also remember the odds, and not blame yourself or them if it doesn’t work there’s still a lot of ‘chance’ in this process and as someone else has said the first transfer is usually a learning trial one but you might just be one of the lucky ones for first time 🤗 xx

[K8dferXdder]

Hi, as others said, you will need tests in order for the doctor to see whether you have any conditions and if so prescribe you the correct doses. If you have a combination of 2 or more conditions, the terapy has to be tweaked accordingly so even if you take something without test evidence, say if you have more conditions, it might not be enough. Also apart from steroids for the immunology, you may need intralipids or other infusions too, you never know without testing.

My recommendation for test are (what I have gathered through the years and not complete list, there are many more, I am sure):

- NK cells and nk activity, cytokines ratio etc - I did mine at St Helier

- the full recurrent miscarriage panel which includes thrombophillia and PAI- I did mine abroad and through my GP as we have family history so they agreed to test in here too

- tests which your GP can do - like vitamin deficiencies, Thyroid, testosterone, prolactin and the below:

- APS - antiphospholipid screening, ANA, Lupus anticoagulant, Coeliac disease screen, Nuclear autoantibodies screening - connective tissue disease antibodies, ABS

- Clotting screening / Coagulation status - Prothrombin time (PT), Activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), platelet count, D-dimmer, Fibrinogen

The below test can be done only at one place in London privately, as far as I am aware

- TEG test before pregnant and after to compare the results

Apart from all these tests, there are other tests like checking the shape of your uterus, x-rays etc , infections screening which might be treated with antibiotics, tests for the microbiota where you might be given some probiotics etc…

Wishing you good luck with the transfer anyway.

[lianm8]

I had two failed transfers via the NHS (male factor issue) - when we went private they prescribed me Clexane and prednisalone only because I now have been diagnosed with an immune issues! I also had to have intralipids. now have two little girls after talking them with all the other medication however I’m not sure they would prescribe to you unless you really needed it. Prednisalone isn’t a very nice drug & I had a SCH when I was pregnant with my youngest and the Clexane made me bleed so much (they took me off it once bleeding started) so unless you really need to go on them I wouldn’t recommend taking xx

[LSandJ]

Hi Rhea,

I feel how much you want to throw everything at this to try and get your best chance. You want to try everything and really want it to be successful. I do not to dampen your hopes at all, but do remember each transfer only has about a 30% success rate. I was very nieve when I started and foolishly thought over 80% for me. Some say after 6 transfers 80% will be pregnant. Not everyone gets 6 embryos in one cycle so may need additional cycles, and it massively varies.

If you really want to improve your chances have you looked at a 3 cycle package?

Regards steroids for undiagnosed issues, my new doctor has explained that it might actually be detrimental to getting pregnant. If you are treating 'killer cells' that don't exist, you might be causing more harm than good and actually making the environment worse for implantation.

A lot of people on here will have had struggles and further tests before success with these drugs. Remember those people for who it worked first or second time might never even join a support group, so what you see here is skewed. (Don't get me wrong I think think may be useful for some, and I have pursued this option myself, but ultimately you shouldn't have them if you don't need them. Not sure side effects, but for harming the baby, or making the environment so abnormal, that a baby won't even grow!)

I would talk to your clinic more and ask your doctor to explain their thinking about it as all clinics are a but different and they know your history even more.

I am asking for a more detail explanation before my next go (as lrevious doc said I needed them and this one says I don't!) So If I get more details I'll let you know!!!! X