Is it all just bad luck?

ajg824

0 Posts
Reply Is it all just bad luck? Posted on: Nov 5, 2010 at 12:37am
Hi Dr. Braverman,

I found my way to your site and this board after hearing many many glowing recommendations from women on lifamilies. I will try to keep my story short....

I am 34 years old and my husband is 42. Last year we were lucky enough to get pregnant after only a few months of trying. From the beginning of the pregnancy I had spotting and the ultrasounds dated about a week "behind" than what the dating was from my LMP. There were questions about viability but then in week 6 we heard the heartbeat and thought we were in the clear. At this point I was given progesterone supplements. In week 11, we went in for a routine ultrasound and a large cystic structure was found in the baby's abdomen. After seeing two perinatologists, including Dr. Kofinas, we followed their recommendation to terminate the pregnancy as we were told the baby would never properly form his organs and most likely I would miscarry at some point. We were told by all the doctors we saw that it was simply "bad luck".

In May of this year, I got pregnant again. I almost immediately started bleeding and my obgyn at the time thought it was a chemical pregnancy. I bled on and off for over a month. During that time, I switched obgyn's as I was not happy with the care I had been receiving. I then started having major pain in my abdomen and the new doctor diagnosed me with an ectopic pregnancy and rushed me in for emergency surgery. She removed my left tube. Again, we were told it was "bad luck".

Somewhere during all of this, my new (current) obgyn ran a recurrent miscarriage panel and found that I have one copy of MTHFR but said it was easily treatable once I get pregnant again.

Fast forward to now. Last weekend I tested positive on 3 digital pregnancy tests! My doctor immediately sent me in for a beta on Tuesday and I was CRUSHED to hear my hcg level was only 11. Today I was retested and my level is now 2. The doctor said I should expect to bleed and miscarry in the next couple of days. Again, bad luck.

I will also add that the only other known medical issue I have is asthma. In the interest of full disclosure, I will also say that I am severely overweight (at least 100 pounds heavier than I should be).

Dr. Braverman, is this all just "bad luck" or is there something that could be causing all of this loss? Should we just keep trying and hope that someday I'll carry a healthy pregnancy or is there something we can do to up our odds? I've been told to see an RE and then some people say since I can conceive there's no reason to see an RE.....I'm really confused but just want to do whatever we can do have our first child. Can you help us?

Thank you in advance for your advice and for reading such a long post after all!

Dr. Braverman

2026 Posts
Re: Is it all just bad luck? Posted on: Nov 5, 2010 at 3:04am
Hi ajg,

you cannot attribute this to bad luck after this many losses. There may be an immune component with yoru history of asthma and yes weight can also play a part as insulin resistance and its associated problems can also cause your loss. As there are no immune cells in the fallopian tubes to reject pregnancies it is not unusual for patients with your issues to have ectopics that grow large enough to rupture yet never grow large in the uterine cavity where the immune cells are in much greater numbers.

Im sure I can help you figure this all out but it does require an extensive workup so I can localize the problem or problems.

Feel free to give my ofice a call to set up a consult and if you are local just schedule to come in , if not I can consult with you over the phone. Dont despair.
Braverman Medical Team
Braverman Reproductive Immunology P.C.

ajg824

0 Posts
Reply Re: Is it all just bad luck? Posted on: Nov 6, 2010 at 3:48pm
thank you so much dr braverman. my husband and i will be in to see you soon

Dr. Braverman

2026 Posts
Re: Is it all just bad luck? Posted on: Nov 9, 2010 at 3:20am
see you soon
Braverman Medical Team
Braverman Reproductive Immunology P.C.