It’s been a hell of a week ladies (or gentlemen if you are reading).
Found out that I ovulated this cycle (that’s 3 times in eight months, all by myself, new record for me!) and AF arrived late Saturday so thank you Lord and Universe! I, seriously, could not have handled a pregnancy right now. Until I can figure out a way to really manage my anxiety I don’t want to be pregnant. Too scary…
So we may have found our “why can’t I keep a pregnancy?” answer... or maybe just another answer to the ones I already have because 3 aren’t enough [insert bitter tone and fake smile]
I get the call while looking for quilting fabric for my sister’s baby (this will be her second)… so it was “super fun” and I couldn’t ask a whole lot of questions.
Dr. K’s nurse called today, Nurse Nice (‘cause she really is). While my NK (Natural Killer) came back normal my Leukocyte Antibody Detection (LAD) did not. It has thrown me for a serious loop. After a year and a half, of hearing “Everything came back normal” I am in shock… a daze if you will. What? What does that exactly mean?
As best I can figure out, your body naturally has white blood cells (these are Leukocytes). In pregnancy you are supposed to create antibodies to those blood cells so that it doesn’t attack the baby, making the uterus and sac a ‘safe haven’. My body does not create the antibodies my baby needs for protection. The treatment…
IVIg - a.k.a a blood transfusion given starting the month you plan to be pregnant, then again once pregnancy is confirmed, and possibly given every 4 weeks until you are 30 weeks along. This is about $3,000-5,000 per treatment (of COURSE there is no insurance coverage silly!). I read an article that talked about 6 studies that were done using IVIg. I cut and pasted the study that appeared to pertain to my situation the best….
***In a randomized controlled trial, the effect of IVIG was assessed in patients expected to have a poor outcome if untreated, i.e., women with five or more abortions, who have aborted AFTER paternal leukocyte immunization or who continue to abort despite expressing anti-paternal complement dependent antibody22. Seventy-six women received IVIG in a dose of 400 mg/kg body weight, in one day (total 30-45 g) in the follicular phase of a cycle in which pregnancy was planned. A booster dose was administered when pregnancy was diagnosed. Their results were compared to an untreated control group of 74 women. The results showed that thirty-five (49%) pregnancies in treated women have resulted in live births or passed their previous stages of abortion compared to 23 (31%) in control patients (P=0.04). In conclusion, these figures indicate that IVIG may prevent further miscarriages in this poor prognosis population. These figures are especially significant considering the doubt concerning the efficacy of IVIG in patients with three miscarriages and therefore a relatively good prognosis.***
However, another more promising study said,
***Group 1 was women who had a history of three or four spontaneous abortions; group 2 was women who had a history of five or more spontaneous abortions5. Antibody production was reported to relate to an increased live birth rate in both groups. In women with 3-4 abortions, live births increased from 18.5 to 53.7%, and in women with five or more abortions, live births increased from 44.4 to 67.5%. Both immunization with paternal leukocytes and expression of anti-paternal antibodies were associated with an increase in live birth rate in subsequent pregnancy.***
www.oxhp.com/secure/policy/immunotherapy_for_recurrent_pregnancy_loss_607.html
(When for the love of God are we going to STOP using the word abortion when it comes to miscarriages??? Get with it medical field! I always feel so insulted when I read those words. Not that I have a problem with women who choose that, it’s just that I WANTED my baby.)
Again, no guarantees here. Some people make it, some don’t (shouldn’t we be guaranteed something after all of our tears and pain?) Of course I would like to think that I would be in the favorable odds. However, that hasn’t gotten me very far in the past. I certainly never thought I would have 1 miscarriage let alone 5… or be considered a part of a “poor prognosis population.”
What happened to the days when decisions were easy? Like, grape or cherry? Whip cream with that? Would like butter on that?
Where’s my Decaf Grande Mocha from Starbucks? (said with despair and desperation)
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More IVIg article links- http://www.inciid.org/article.php?cat=&id=278
www.obgyn.net/displayarticle.asp?page=/firstcontroversies/prague1999daya4
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4 comments:
Wow...thats quite the news. Im sure that was not easy to hear--I have read a few things about IVIG--be sure to check out Watson's blog: http://mydearwatson.typepad.com/(she is preg after IVF with IVIG) she would be a great resource for you.
Best wishes...
Email me again--and if you are OK with sharing your email with me, I can give you the direct link and see if it will work that way?
I actually know two people who have done iVIG--one is a grandmother who does it for immune system issues. The other is a woman I know who is extremely pro-iVIG and used it to success. I'm sure she'd be happy to speak with you too if you want to gather ideas--especially about funding. It is so freakin' expensive.
And I came with the Mike's Hard Berry, but I can certainly whip up a mocha.
I have to say i'm not a believer in the IVIg stuff, but if it works for you, I'll support you every step of the way!
On another point, 'abortion' means that the fetus is alive when the pregnancy ends. In miscarriage the fetus is dead. So the word is being correctly used medically to describe a situation where the pregnancy is ended by your immune system (theoretically, no one can prove this is what happens), and not because the fetus has died for some other reason.
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