3 MC's. Starting IVF & PGD, any advice?

Hello.

One or two of you may know me from the TTC after MC pages.

As you can see from my sig, after a successful pregnancy delivering in 2005, I have lost 3 bubs in the past year. Two were caused by chromosonal error. After spending a lot of money on tests, DH and I have been found to be normal. We can only assume our losses are due to poor egg quality. We have been advised to start IVF with PGD (7 tests) and I have commenced accupuncture. I am on Day 8 - start the Provera day 19 for our long Lucrin cycle. Unfortunately we will not be able to do accupuncture on the day of the pickup/transfer as we have to travel to Sydney (though we could do it the night before). So that's my story in a nutshell.

Just wondering if anyone has any tips for the journey ahead - perhaps anything I can do to help our chances?

I would be very grateful to hear from you.

Thanks.

Hi WTH,
Oh my, I am so sorry, I can't even begin to imagine how you feel. I am not the best example (having never conceived), but I too am concerned about embryo quality and am doing every thing I can to make sure that I produce the best embryos possible. This includes a very specific diet of mostly organic fruit, veg and salad, only hormone free or organic meats, and no sugars, no dairy or white bread/pasta etc (I am slightly lactose intolerant and have a food sensitivity to processed flour etc). This also includes no alcohol (I miss my champers but the time for self indulgence is long gone, this is too important to me) and caffiene/soft drink etc. I had a naturopath test me for food sensitivities. I take Sharkey's Healing Centre herbal formula every day (if you have not heard of this, they focus on using natural herbs to support your own hormone function and focus on gut heath etc on a cellular level, all designed to put your body in the best possible position to create healthy embryos/concieve etc) and a probiotic for good digestion and to ensure that I am absorbing all the good stuff I am eating. I have also just stated taking Maca Root (I am on a pill cycle so no conflict with IVF) which is surposed to be a superfood. This plus a good quality antioxidants and mulitvitamine etc. So I believe it is all diet related, and I am very conscious of the fact that they say eggs start growing up to 3 months before you ovulate, so long term health is important. I also have just had a colonic to get rid of any build up of toxis in the lower intestine/repoductive area, and feel great from this also. So I am hoping my next stim cycle will result in some great embies (I wasn't so strict with the first two and I regret it).

Also, I don't have much experience with MC but am very aware of the importance of the right hormone levels at the right time of your cycle/pregnancy, and don't want to be ignorant but have to ask if you had your levels monitored prior to your MC to ensure that you had enough say enough progesterone support? Acupuncture is good to encourage hormonal balance also.

Sorry if I have said anything you already know, just wanted to lend by support and wish you all the best. :hug: xx

Hi WTH,

I have seen your posts in the ttc after miscarriage forum and thought I would reply. I haven't gone through PGD but I have had two miscarriages.

I am seeing a FS at SIVF and they have also suggested PGD testing to my DH and I as all my blood test come back normal. However they did find that I had a subseptum which was removed on the 31/07 and have been on meds since the op so haven't been able to ttc.

Af arrived today and DH and I have decided to give it another go naturally which the FS supports. DH has another sperm test this Tuesday as he also has a pretty sever sperm problem and if that doesn't come back any better FS said we have to consider IVF with PGD to rule everything out.

I wish you luck and if you wouldn't mind in keeping me updated with your progress as I would like to know how you go. Best of luck and lots of :pink-babydust:

I am the mum of 16 week old IVF twins.
The best advise I can give is try not to stress too much ( I know this is hard ).
I wrapped myself up in cotton wool so many times thinking this would help and the one time I didn't I got pregnant.
If you get the right egg at the right time I don't think it would really matters what you do.

Wow - I was so happy to see three replies!

Baby Dreamtime. That is an amazine regime you have. But I understand. The reward is so big. I am a vegetarian and am gradually moving across to organic dairy (I have the cheese and yoghurt covered). I am taking an increasingly ridiculous ****tail of vitamins, including Megafol and CoQ10. Hate coffee, no softdrinks or alcohol. Do you know if it is safe to drink organic black/green/white tea? Would love to know your thoughts on this. I have had my hormones checked and they are all fine. I took progesterone in the last PG just out of desperation. But nothing could have saved the baby because it was a Trisomy 15 (sporadic and not compatible with life). Thanks for your response :)

Tam83 - I am with SIVF, too. I had an appointment with my FS today. He has spoken with a genetic scientist who still does not think I may need to take the PGD path as my losses have been "sporadic". However, my FS does think it could be due to my age. He thinks that IF I manage to fall PG with IVF using PGD, I am at least less likely to go through the anguish of yet another MC. We will also get a better picture of how many of my eggs are not good. They can only do 7 tests. But it is a start. I got an Day 2 FSH of 3 which is hopefully means I will be a good responder (and I did one in May and got 4.2). I am happy to keep you posted. PM me if you like. And good luck with TTC :pink-babydust:

Ann14 - congratulations on your twins! Do you mind if I ask your age and if you did PGD? What should my expectations be? Thanks :)

Hi WTH,


I haven't been using BB for very long and hopeless with computers so please excuse my ignorants but what does PM stand for? I would love to chat with you. Hope you dont mind me asking but which FS are you seeing with SIVF? I am attending the Liverpool clinic.

I am seeing the FS on the 18/09/08 after that we will know whether or not we are going to go down the PGD IVF path.

Maybe we could meet on chat at a specific time that way we can chat.

Good luck and hope you get lots of excellent quality sticky embies :hug:

i have no advice, having never done IVF, but what i can offer is best wishes and i'm hoping you are very very busy with a happy bub in nine or so month's time!

WTH - I was actually thinking of PMing you tonight to see where you were up to. Now I know!!
I can't offer any advice but will follow your progress keenly given I am in a very similar boat.
I am flying to sydney nest week just for the day to see DrS in person (didn't get much out of phone consult) and have his NK test ( I assume yours was normal?).
I still don't have any chromosome results from my last m/c and given its been 4 weeks, I am pretty sure that means we won't get any. Very frustrating as that was going to sway my decision making.
We are currently leaning towards PGD so am hoping you give us a great lead in story!!

WTH, we were once tossing around the idea of using PGD as we'd had three embryo transfers as part of our IVF treatment, three pregnancies and three miscarriages. Our FS actually advised against using PGD as he didn't think the extra expense was worth it and it couldn't test for all abnormalities... However, we don't have a history of trisomies like you do. I wish you every success in your treatment and hope that they manage to find the answers to the questions you have.

My story is a bit more like Baby Dreamtime's... Our first two stim cycles resulted in quite nasty OHSS. I ended up in hospital for a week and off work for a month with one of them, which was I think the milder case than the other where I stubbornly refused to go to hospital and toughed it out at home. We did not transfer those cycles, but sent all embryos to the freezer. However, we had crap thaw rates. From those two cycles we had a total of 52 eggs collected, a total of 11 blastocyst embryos, and only 3 of those embryos survived the thaw process. We have one other that may have, but I honestly believe it didn't (complicated story). All three embryos resulted in a pregnancy from those FET cycles, and all three embryos were miscarried. For our third stim cycle, I followed an extremely strict low-carb, low-GI, high-protein diet. I eliminated all junk from my diet, especially sugar... and it made the difference! We had our first fresh transfer! We had lower egg numbers (a relief!), and rather poor fertilisation rates as they took me to EPU slightly early to fully ensure that we avoided OHSS... We didn't avoid it completely, it developed with a positive pregnancy test and I'm now 21 weeks pregnant. Sorry for the ramble, I did just want to encourage you that the diet changes may be hell, but they are VERY worthwhile and I fully believe that they made all the difference for us.

BW

I used PGD to avoid passing on a genetic condition. As far as what you experience as a patient, there is very little difference to standard IVF other than the expense, and also a bit more anxiety as the embryos grow and are biopsied, since most do not make it. We started with 12 eggs, but come biopsy time there were only 2 embryos that were suitable for testing. Both were OK and were transferred, and we have a son.

My Dr was strongly in favour of transferring 2 embryos - though that may not be the preference if you are having PGD for miscarriage problems rather than to avoid nasty genes.

The weekend - yippee!

Tam - Once you have put up a certain number of posts (I have not looked it up but I think it might be something like 30) you can send Private Messages (PM) to people. It saves scrawling through various threads. I have done it with one or two people here who have been having MC's. It is useful because you can share information without worrying about anyone on the Internet reading it. Having said that, I have never been on Chat and can be a little difficult to pin down at one time. I will see if I can PM you after posting this for a test run :)

Dragonfly - nice of you to pop in and pass on your good wishes.

MeredithD - so good to hear from you, hon. How are you doing? You know I am so sad for what you have been through and I think going to Sydney will be very good for you. Unfortunately it looks like my NK blood test will not be valid (awaiting result). I did it the first cycle after my MC expecting AF to be on Day 29 like afte the last two D&C's and it came a week later. So I probably tested when I O'ed and that is too early. Good luck with Dr S and let me know how you go...

Butterfly Warrior - hi there. Thanks for you message. Your story is an inspiration. I am very worried about the whole OHSS thing. Seems to be so common (though they only quote 1% in the IVF brochures). They are starting with 200 units of Puregon and I am about 58-59 kgs. This would mean something to an experienced one like you. What do you think? Is it a nice conservative amount? When you eliminated sugar from your diet, did you use a sugar alternative?

KMN - thanks for your story. Wow, there are so many ifs with this whole process. IF you don't get OHSS, IF there is something to retrieve, IF the eggs fertilise, IF they make it to Blast stage, IF they survive biopsy, IF they are any good, IF they implant, IF they make it to term. This is what I am finding so challenging about entering this process. So much can go wrong before even getting to implantation. I am so happy it worked for you. Congratulations on your little boy.

OHSS is common if you have PCOS. It doesn't seem to occur too often without PCOS because the doctors do try to do things conservatively. The problem with PCOS is that the line between no response at all and way too much response is very, very narrow. It was a 200IU puregon cycle that resulted in the baby I'm currently carrying, but it does seem to be the right place to start. With younger women they will start lower, but there seems to be absolutely no relation between weight and the dosage of puregon that will work. It's a funny thing, and all they can do is experiment.

When it comes to sugar substitutes, yes I did use them. I have tended to use stevia in the past, but splenda is currently the artificial sweetener of choice at home. There are some that I can't stand the taste of, but I can never remember which ones they are! My FS wasn't too worried about me going organic and getting other random chemicals out of my system, so I also wasn't too concerned about going natural and organic... But it seems to me that whatever the change is, it helps. I would still drink a cup of tea in the mornings, and would still have a can of coke zero with lunch most days, but I also drank copious quantities of water, switched to lactose free milk and from there it was very much meat and vegetables, as little bread/rice/pasta or other carbohydrates as possible.

BW

I had to keep telling myself that by the time they got to transfer the two left were tough little blasties...

WTH - Just a quick note re NK blood test as you now have me bit worried. I was under the impression the blood test can be taken any time - doesn't matter where in cycle. The uterine biopsy IS very specific - needs to be 7-10 days post ovulation but didn't think blood test mattered.
I don't cycle at all on my own so won't kind of be anywhere when my test done next week. DrS said I would have to do "dummy" OI if wanted the uterine biopsy but didn't say anythin about BT. just told me to fly up and have it and would have results that afternoon by the time I see him.
Don't quite get why you haven't got result yet?
I have flights booked so praying doesn't matter when I test!

Meredith, for those of us who don't have a cycle, the timing of the NK test isn't critical. He said the same thing to me - would have to go through ovulation induction if we needed to do the uterine biopsy. For women who HAVE a cycle, he will try to do the NK blood test around the same time as the biopsy, it seems. Don't panic, all will be fine.

BW

Thanks BW! Was imagining flying up there to be told the result would be invalid!
Unless really, really indicated, I am not at all keen on the biopsy. I'm not sure I could face going through an entire OI cycle with drugs, scans etc, only to have a test and not be able to try and concieve. Just not strong enough for that right now.

Oh Meredith - I am so sorry to have worried you! If Dr S is not fussed than that is the way it is. He knows what he is doing!! He has not given me my result because he was waiting for the outcome of my doing the Miscarriage Investigation Program (which is with Sydney IVF). As he is with IVF Australia, he was just being respectful of my OB and waiting until I had completed the Program. I have bypassed the NK biopsy as I will be starting Provera on Day 19 and the biopsy is on Day 26. Apparently the meds affect the NK result. The whole reason I did the NK blood test was because we did not realise I had had a second proven chromosonal loss. So probably a little pointless IYKWIM. I think your visit to Dr S will be very worthwhile. I wish you all the best xx

Butterfly Warrior - thanks for the reassurance about the OHSS. I do not think I have PCOS so hopefully I will not have to go through that. It must have been so frustrating for you to have those cycles cancelled.

KMN - good point! Happy Father's Day :)

Hi Where there's hope,

I was 36 yrs old when I got pregnant and 37 yrs old when I had the twins.
We only ever had the basic blood test even though it took 9 transfers for one to actual work. I never had any m/c's the eggs just didn't take in the other 8 transfers.
You mentioned OHSS in one of your post, I weight about 65kg and I was started on 250 units of Puregon then that was increased to 300 units on my second cyle and the most eggs we ever got was 12. I think it depends on your body and age. We always had the problem that out of those 12 eggs only about 3-4 were okay to use. We transfered 1 egg on 5 transfers and 2 eggs on 4 transfers. We also then had the problem that when our frozen ones were defrosted we lost about 70% of them in the process.
The hardest time I had with the whole IVF process is to accept that sometimes there are no answer to why things happen.

Hi WTH, sorry to hear your losses in the past year but I am glad you are exploring different options for this upcoming cycle.

I had a missed miscarriage last year and tested later was due to chromosome abnormality. Both DH and I were tested straight away for genetic testing (pardon my ignorance, not sure if it is PGD) and came back normal.

After 2 stim cycle IVF (with SIVF as well) we are about to start the 3rd around. FS suggested to test DH's sperm's DNA, I think it is called SACA. I feel at least we are doing something we haven't done before or haven't test before so there will be one thing eliminated from the list.

I just want to share the experience with you as we are similar age as well. So will be holding special interest to see how you go and all the best of luck in the world! :hug:

Ann - thanks for your story. You are one strong cookie to make it through nine transfers - so glad your story has the happy ending you deserve. I am so surprised at the defrost rate - they quote much higher rates in the brochures! I am having so many doubts the past couple of days. If my eggs are poor quality I just do not think it will work. But I have to try everything.

Bei Bei - Hi. As it happens DH is doing the SCSA (sperm test for DNA fragmentation) done today. We also tested normally in our blood tests. The PGD is Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis. We are having our embryo's checked for 7 chromosonal it will be a little less likely to miscarry. Starting Provera next Monday. I took it for 5 days to start IVF earlier in the year but stopped as they found out I was naturally PG. I am dreading the massive headaches it gave me! Thanks for your good wishes. Right back at ya :hug:

WTH, good luck with the provera. I remember it turned me into some sort of crazy person that I really hated being around - majorly *****y and just horrid!

When it comes to defrosting rates, I have a defrosting rate of around 30-35% (it all depends on whether you count the one that had to be defrosted on the morning of transfer because the one before it died overnight... but they start with the best ones first and work through to the bad ones, I'm convinced that if the one before and the one after couldn't survive over night, then this one wouldn't have either, but it only had a few hours before transfer - the clinic swears it was fine, but I'm not convinced), which my clinic assures me is not normal and is an indication of other problems. All of these were blastocysts resulting from quite severely hyperstimulated cycles. Defrosting rates are generally a lot better than that. Sadly, you don't know what it's likely to be for you until you are trying it, but we can certainly hope that a frozen cycle isn't necessary.

Just one more thing... my clinic had me convinced that the only way I'd fall pregnant and not miscarry was if we used a blastocyst embryo that had survived freezing and thawing - the processes of growning to blast and freezing/thawing would weed out the dodgy ones that would never work in the first place. We didn't get many usable eggs on our third stim cycle and couldn't afford to wait to day 5 and transferred on day 3. For all that they were certain it needed to be a defrosted blast to be able to work and stick, I'm now over half way through a pregnancy from a fresh day three embryo!

They may act like it's science and they know what's needed, but it really is more of an art form and just sheer blind luck as to what will and won't work.

BW

Thanks Butterfly Warrior. We will need to do a Day 5/6 transfer because we are having the surviving embryos biopsied for PGD and this is the day they do it at SIVF.

I got my NK blood test results back and am worried. I gota normal/borderline blood test result:

number of NK cells 14.8% (normal <18%)
concentration of activated NK cells 9.2 (normal <8)

It is the second result I am worried about. What were your numbers like?

Thanks
WTH

I honestly don't remember being given a number for the second one. My first number was ~13. He would normally have been happy with that, but considering that I was already on prednisone at the time, we decided that I should definitely continue with the prednisone treatment regardless of whether it was required for my arthritis or not. Has Dr S given you any recommendations regarding what to do from here?

BW

I have asked him further about it and am anxiously awaiting his opinion!

Hi WTH
My DH also done his second SCSA (sperm test for DNA fragmentation) yesterday as his first one showed >30 DNA fragmentation which usually means anything above 29 you are usually infertile or have recurrent miscarriages.

I also Have my first u/s after the op which was to remove my sub septum on Friday.

Then we go to the FS to get the results next Wednesday so counting down the days :pray:

Good luck with your DH results.

Hi WTH, I hope your DH's SCSA test went ok yesterday and fingers crossed for the result.

Sorry to hear your NK cell test result, are you having an appointment with your FS to explain the result as well as advise for next step? I haven't done this test before but I am sure he will have a plan of attact to treat/bypass this and seems your second number very much on the boarder line anyway...

Good luck and let us know how you go...

Hi Tam - sorry about the high number for the SCSA for DH. But wow - now you are getting somewhere (and you still have youth on your side). I wonder if PGD will help out? It is a double-edged sword to find out something is wrong - but so good to get some answers. Hope your US goes well and good luck with your FS appointment.:)

Hi Bei Bei. Both Dr S and my FS ended up being ok with my NK result, even though the second number was borderline. So I guess we won't be doing anything about it. I have to wait two weeks for the SCSA result. I truly do not think there will be a problem. Unfortunately, I believe our issue is related to my age :(

Just joined this forum today and wanted to say hello. :hello:

Not sure if this is the right forum for me. I haven't done TTC but will start IVF with PGD in late October due to a genetic condition.

I was diagnosed about six years ago and became pregnant. The CVS showed that the baby had the condition as well and I had an abortion in week 14, subsequently my marriage went apart, I am now trying to have a baby with my new partner.

I am with Dr Gee at SIVF, she told me that due to my age (39) the chances to have a successful cycle are only about 15%, my partners (42) semen analysis SCSA also showed bad DNA damage (>30?), we have tried a few things and done another test last Monday - we'll get the results on October 1. Dr Gee said this may mean we'll have to use PICSI.

I've also done a blood test for hormone levels today and will have a pelvic ultrasound on Monday, I have had one before but it didn't show anything since I was on the pill.

Would be thankful for any advice. Has anyone experience with PICSI?

Good wishes for all of you :pink-babydust:

Sara

Hi Sara

Are you saying your chance of a successful IVF cycle with PGD is 15% or 15% naturally TTC? I have had PGD figures for aneuploidy sent to me and it showed if you get to Egg Transfer you are looking at roughly 45% chance of a heartbeat for over 38 years. I am counting on this! Also does PICSI mean IVF with PGD and ICSI?

WTH :)

Another possibility is ICSI with polscope - a special light source that helps them do ICSI without damaging the egg itself. I have no idea what it may actually be referring to, though.

BW

I think that PICSI is a sort of ICSI where the sperm are screened in some way before being injected.

The cycle "success" rate depends most of all on the number of eggs that fertilize, which is a strong function of age. And with PGD for a genetic condition, some of those embryos won't make it to biopsy; some may have the genetic disorder; some may not survive biopsy.

Once you have a "good" embryo, the chances of it making it to heartbeat stage (if there are no other issues) are around 40%, pretty much regardless of maternal age.

Hi WTH, KMN & BW,

Thank you very much for your replies.It's really good to be able to speak with people who do this as well.

KW: I agree with you I think PICSI is a special way of screening the sperm before ICSI but I don't really understand how it works will ask my Doctor when I speak to her.

WTH: The 15% is only a very rough guess which I made after my doctor showed me some figures of the PGD cycles of women of my age last year. The way I understand it the challenge will be to have an embryo to transfer. My genetic condition is a dominant condition so statistically 50% of the viable eggs I produce will be screened out as they will have the condition. I am not sure how the PGD works that you describe but hopefully it means you have to screen out o a smaller percentage. Good luck with you talk to the FS and the SCSA

Hi Tam: We're in the same boat my partners result was similar. Good luck with the SCSA results!

Went to the baseline ultrasound today and had a real fright. The technician said she only saw one follicle in one of my ovaries and none in the other. Thankfully she then got the doctor who saw another one or two in the first ovary and detected that what the technician thought was the second ovary was actually something else and then found the second ovary which had four to six follicles. That's probably not very good either but I was much happier with that result as just one! It was just the fourth day of my cycle so hoping that when I really got for IVF next month with all the hormones it may be a few more which would be great. :)

Sara

Sara,
Have you thought about whether you would like to put 2 embryos back if you have them?
We also used PGD to screen for a dominant gene, and my Dr felt strongly that if there were 2 good embryos they should both go back in, since the process of getting them was so expensive and trying.

He did get me to see an obstetrician who specialises in twins first, to make sure that I could handle a twin pregnancy without excessive additional risks.

Hi Kmn,

That's interesting the idea about the two embryos, was going to ask if you did it but just saw your earlier post about your DS, that's great, it gives me hope that it worked for you.

My Dr seems to think the opposit, she recommended to only use one and freeze the other if there are two (not that I expect that to happen anyway). I am not sure what I'd think about having twins, in one way it would be good as then the baby would have a sister/brother as I think I'll only be able to go through this once.

I have an appointment with an obstetrician on Oct 3, will ask him what he thinks about this.

Sara

Hi Redlady - thanks for the explaination. You are right - just getting to transfer is a big step in itself as in so many cycles there is nothing to transfer (roughly half for what they sent me for my age category). So I guess that takes it to more like 25% - more in keeping with what you said. :)

KMN - I have been tossing around the two embryo idea, too, though we have been advised against it. My fear is that if I had two put in, and one was of a poorer quality, that both may MC :)

Tam - still awaiting the SCSA result. I am sure they have it, but we meet with our OB next week so not too long to wait :)

BW - good news. No provera headaches this time. Taking them at night instead. Soooo much better and I am falling asleep in minutes. Lucrin injections start tomorrow... It is great to have you drop in on this thread and learn from your experiences :)

No problems, WTH. I'd suggest the same thing with the lucrin - take it at night. I didn't know when I was on provera that it was best to take anything that messes with hormones at night, but it does help reduce the side effects! It's another reason why I preferred to inject lucrin (once per day) rather than use synarel (nasal spray, but twice per day). I'm glad you're doing ok with the provera - that drug seriously scares me! The only thing worse for me was the clomid-induced anxiety attacks.

BW

Hi all,

I just wanted to give you a quick update on the test results. My u/s results to check if my uterus was normal after a removal of a septum which it is yephee.

DH semen test came back from >30 DNA fragmentation to only 9% which is great he is now in the normal range. My DH took the new conception vitamins for men called Menevit which you can get from your chemist. So Red lady you might want to get some for your DH.

Hi Tam,

That's amazing, good luck with all this, the test results sound great. :cheer:

Thanks also for telling me about the Menevit, DH is using the Blackmores Men Performance Ultra but I'll think we better change over to Menevit now. Is your DH also on a diet or is this the only thing he changed?

Baby Aspirin
Was wondering if any of you use something called Baby Aspirin (I think it's Aspririn in very small amounts) - I am in an American Forum and they all seem to use this also heard there were some good studies around this especially to prevent miscarriages.

Sara

Red Lady, the theory behind the aspirin is that it thins the blood. The two main causes of miscarriage being auto-immune problems and blood clotting problems. The aspirin is used to help prevent the blood clotting too much and causing miscarriage. Your blood tends to clot more in pregnancy normally, and for some women this can become too much. Baby aspirin is a low-dose aspirin tablet (much lower than the dosages used for pain relief) that is also often used for people with heart conditions who need to be wary of clots.

I have also noticed that in the US, IVF clinics tend to use it as standard procedure even when there is no evidence indicating a need for it.

I don't think taking aspirin is going to be a magic-bullet that should be given to everyone. I don't think taking aspirin without being advised to is necessarily a good idea either.

That said... after three miscarriages, my FS sent me for more testing and said everything came back normal. However, he did give us a copy of the actual results, and one of mine was sitting at 1.1, when anything 1.2 or higher was considered to be problematic (too early, can't remember exactly which one it was!). I discussed this with the lady I had been seeing for acupuncture for over a year, and we both decided that adding aspirin into the mix would be a good idea for me. She is of the opinion that my body over-responds to things, and a blood level that would be ok for a "normal" person isn't necessarily ok for me. I took aspirin from my next transfer, without telling my doctor (who doesn't really believe in treating things on the off-chance, only if there is overwhelming evidence - I decided my three previous miscarriages were overwhelming enough for me!), and was lucky enough to have that transfer work... At my first consultation with my OB, we talked about my history and the medications I was on, and she had absolutely no issues with me being on aspirin after hearing about the circumstances surrounding my miscarriages. It was a situation where one doctor would, one doctor wouldn't... Sometimes you have to make the medical decisions for yourself, but I certainly wouldn't jump in and take it without some sort of evidence to support it. It may be a commonly used drug that's available over the counter, but it's not without its problems and side effects.

BW