Any advice? Or any one with a similar situation?

:(Hi All,

I'm pretty new to this forum so firstly i'll give you some background info on myself:

My husband is 25 and I am 24, we've suffered through 2 mc's, we were reffered to Syd IVF recurrent mc specialist. My FS ordered blood tests from us 5 weeks ago and today we got the results back.

She said everything was fine and looked normal except in one test i've come back as borderline (Cardiolipin/B2GP1 Antibodies - basically its blood clotting and autoimmune) - she said that the normal result for this is <5 and my result was 5.

I asked her if i could take baby asprin for this and she said that she wouldn't like to put me on that at this stage (as i've only had 2 mc) - if I am to fall preg and have yet another mc, she will look further into it as well as conduct more invasive tests - like a biopsy on my uterus etc.

After doing months of research, and from what i've read, is that low dose asprin can't really do any harm - has any one gone against their FS orders and taken the asprin any way?

To make matters worse, my cycle is still all over the place :( i'm currently on day 19 and have been using opk's religiously since day 8 - still no positive results.

Thanks for listening to me vent - and i'm sorry its so long, if any one can share their story or has had something similar i'd love to hear from you.

:bluedust::stickyvibesgirl: to all.

Hi Lulu

I am sorry to hear of your losses. While I have not been in your situation, I am frustrated at doctors who are of the opinion that 3 miscarriages need to occur before they will act. I think you should seek a second opinion from another FS who might be more interested in doing some more tests or at least allow you to take the baby aspirin. My experience of the IVF journey is that you need to push for things to happen and continually research and ask questions, lots and lots of them, and don't stop until you are satisfied with the answer.

You might also like to post in the assisted conception forum as there are many ladies there who are currenlty undergoing IVF and I think there is also a thread on auto-immune disorders. Have a look here https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...ed-conception/

Good luck in your journey and I hope you find the answers you are looking for.
Cheryl

LuLu, I ended up taking baby aspirin against the advice of my FS...

Brief run down - we know I have existing autoimmune issues, so I demanded testing after my first miscarriage. My FS refused, but I went to another who agreed there were issues to look into. We found I was borderline for having natural killer cell problems, but the medication used to treat it was already being used to treat the existing autoimmune problems. The other FS suggested some changes to my drug dosage and we went back to the original FS. He didn't care about me taking prednisone as it wasn't going to cause issues at all.

Two more miscarriages and my FS finally agreed to look into things a bit further (we never told him about the other testing). This time I came back as being borderline for lupus anticoagulant problems. Problems arise at levels of 1.2 or more, I was sitting on 1.1. My FS assured me it wasn't a problem and we just had to keep trying...

Meanwhile, I'd been seeing an acupuncturist who specialises in infertility, IVF support and miscarriage prevention. Her opinion is that with all of my health issues (I have rheumatoid arthritis and PCOS and a history of chronic fatigue syndrome as well as the NK cells and LAC problems) a level that would be ok for someone else may not necessarily be ok for me, just because there's too much going on in my body and the possibility of different things interacting. Her advice was to take baby aspirin as it is available OTC. She would have preferred me to be on clexane, but there was no way my FS was going to consider it.

So I commenced baby aspirin on the day of my next embryo transfer... At 9 weeks I saw my OB for the first time and she had absolutely no issues with me being on aspirin at all (in fact considered it to be a good idea just with my miscarriage history and no other testing). I carried Sam to almost full term. I was meant to stop the aspirin at 32 weeks, but forgot, and ended up stopping somewhere between 34 and 35 weeks... and gave birth at 36 weeks.

If taking the aspirin would help put your mind at ease, I would honestly suggest doing so, especially if you won't be continuing to see your FS as an OB. Of course, that's just my personal opinion and not based on anything medical at all apart from my own experiences. Sometimes you've just got to follow your gut instinct on what's wrong and how it needs to be fixed... Remember that your doctors may be experts in their field, but they are not necessarily experts on YOU.

BW

Hi Guys,

thanks for replying to my post.

Chez - I'll definately check out that other thread, thank you - and thank you for sharing your story with me :)

Butterfly - your situation is really interesting - thank you so much for sharing your story with me aswell.

I've only had blood work done and my FS has said everything is fine except that i was borderline for the autoimmune/blodclotting disorder. she then told me (after i asked about the baby asprin) that asprin is linked to early mc and that she doesn't suggest i take it? after everything i've read (and that's a lot), is that low dose asprin is fine during pregnancy - I really think i may end up taking the asprin, if anything to put my mind at ease. It would be interesting to know how many people have taken asprin against their dr/fs orders and its worked for them?

I am also seeing an acupuncturist, she hasn't commented about the borderline clotting thing, she did change my herbal medicne though. I mentioned to her that i'm on day 20 and still havn't ov'd, she said that the medicine will help me with that.

Agh, its all so frustrating, i just want to be pregnant already or at least know that i'm ovulating or something!

Thanks for listening and for your advice ladies.

:pray:

LuLu,
low dose aspirin is fine to take during pregnancy. I started taking it 2 months prior to conception for this pregnancy (81 mg daily). I also give myself injections of a blood thinner once a day. My baby is doing great and is on the larger side. I had 2 very late losses due to an unknown clotting disorder. All of my blood tests came back in the normal range but they found large clots in the placenta of my last pregnancy. I demanded the blood thinners from my docotor. He told my that aspirin alone would be the best way to start.

Hi Lulu,

I would take the aspirin if I were you. It doesn't cause miscarriages according to everything I've read. I have had various readings for anticardiolipin antibodies, ranging from moderate positive to just on negative. I saw an immunologist after my loss and he put me on aspirin (which I would have done anyway) and said I could go on clexane as a precaution, even though the latest tests were just on negative. He also said that people on the high side of normal are more likely to clot than those on the low side, it's all a matter of degrees and even though you results aren't really bad they could still be affecting your pregnancies.

I would see another doctor if I were you, not doing further tests when requested just because you've had 2 rather than 3 losses would not be acceptable to me personally.

Good luck!

Hi LuLu,

I am also one who was taking baby asprin before and during pregnancy until 36 weeks.

Even though my testing came back negative for blood clotting etc, my FS said it couldnt do any harm taking baby asprin and it helps with bloody flow and also getting the uterus ready/soft for embeding.

I definately would get a second/third/fourth opinion it.

Good luck

xxx Sue xxx

Hi again,

Good news! :D I finally ov'd on CD24 -It might have been late but i'm glad it happend,so i guess now we wait... hopefully this month is the month :crossfingers:

Laney - :hug: thanks for your advice and reassuring me that low dose asprin is ok to take.

Rozzie - :hug: Thank you aswell for sharing this info with me and also for the reassurance, after discussing with hubby and reading this thread to him he also thinks it can't hurt to take it. Just wondering... do you need a refferal to see an immunologist? or can anyone just make an appointment with one?

I can't thank you all enough for giving me advice with this issue :grouphug:... I just have a few more questions? do you think I should start taking the asprin asap - or only once I receive a positive HPT?

Also how much dosage? Laney you said you were on 81mg per day - is this the standard dosage of baby asprin?

and finally - can you get it from the chemist, can any one reccommond a good brand for me?

TIA and :pink-babydust::stickyvibesboy: to you all

X

I used cartia. I briefly tried another brand, but I found that it upset my stomach. You can get it from the pharmacy - it's on the shelf, you don't even have to ask for it, generally found with/near the other painkillers.

I'm a slightly different situation - I started it on the day of my embryo transfer, which would equate to a few days after ovulation (can't take it before EPU because of the bleeding risk), but hopefully someone non-IVF will be able to guide you further on what to do with aspirin in relation to more natural conception methods.

BW