Recurrent Miscarriages

Hi all, any ladies here had recurrent miscarriages before? 2/3 or more? Any test done to find the causes? Care to share? TIA!

 

Hi Roza,

I had an m/c earlier this yr.. Did some reading up and saw that nuh has a recurrent pregnancy loss clinic.. I have not done any tests myself but have heard good comments from a couple of ladies who went to this gynaes/doctors to get checks done.. Here's the link..

http://www.nuhgynae.com.sg/wbn/slot/u2349/Articles/Recurrent_Pregnancy_Loss_brochure.pdf

 

Hi min81..tks for dat link! Any idea if kkh had dat kind of services?

 

Roza,

From what i understand, only nuh has this, the gynae will work with rheumatologist.. Can give it a try.. I'm actually seeing a fertility specialist at nuh for the past yr.. Find they are very gd in their patient service.. If i manage to conceive again, would wanna have prof mahesh choolani as my gynae..

 

roza,
I had 2 mc, but no clear causes found for me.

 

I had 2 m/c before and 3rd pregnancy healthy baby girl. 1st m/c baby has no heartbeat at 11 week, 2nd m/c baby has no skull so have to abort. I didn't go thru any test after that. For 3rd pregnancy I just went to see TCM first before ttc, which helps me to carry my girl to full term and no complications. Now she is 25 months old

 

Hi Stefie, for TCM wat did they actually do?

 

Roza, the dr gave herbs to regulate healthy eggs and sperms. So hubby need to see him also.

He will check your pulse and see when to ttc. Once pregnant he will check the baby heartbeat etc.

 

Oh i c..tks for the tips! Besides than TCM did u went for western treatment/medicine too?

 

Roza, did not. Just tcm, plus folic acid and gnc prenatal vits before ttc. Happy, positive mind and faith are also important: )

 

Hi,
For recurring miscarriages, you may want to test for sticky blood syndrome/hughes syndrome.

Just a simple blood test will do. And it is treateable!

Definitely look out for it.

 

Hi munyi,

Can the test be done at gp/polyclinic? Or only at the gynae's?

 

min,
if i m not mistaken, its a blood clotting test, my gynae ordered the test for me tt time. not sure if it can be done at gp/polyclinic

 

Una,

Do you remember the exact name of the blood test? My gynae did blood tests on 4 items with regards to my previous m/c and i would like to check if i've done it.. If not, i'll call up polyclinic to check if this test can be done there.. Thanks!

 

I had 3 m/c in a year before i had my #1, did tests at kkh and no prob on me n hub. Gynae saidnprob bad luck since we are both ok. When i had #1, was given duphaston to take till 6mths.. And aspirin (to thin my blood) till 8 mths.

Am now preggie with #2 n seeing gynea next wed. Hope this preggie will be smooth sailing. Really paranoid now, scared ofmhistory repeating,

 

I had 2 miscarriages over 4-5 months and they both ended around 5weeks. On the second round I had take duphaston from my first appointment at 5 weeks with subsequent jab and increase meds on my week 6 appointment but unfortunately it still wasn't sufficient to sustain the pregnancy. I'm still waiting for the results from the d&c tests.

On my pre-natal tests at kk, they diagnose me with PCOS and now I have to find out exactly what is preventing both pregnancy from lasting through the 9months. Anyone has similar experiences?

 

hi Lyn,
don't be discouraged. i am a PCOS patient too. took quite long to ttc and when i finally conceived, the pregnancy only lasted till 8 weeks coz of no heartbeat despite being given duphaston and jabs to increase the pregnancy hormones and had bedrest. i took long time to get over it and only after 2 years after the first miscarriage then i finally conceived n given birth successfully. d & c results doesn't tell me anything why it happens. then i read up on miscarriages and realised that early miscarriages is quite common. And they are the 'bad' eggs which is not meant to be as they will eventually cause more problems and deficiency in later pregnancies. So we must learnt to let go and just continue to try.

I learnt my womb is 'cool' after diagnosed by TCM physician too. so i did acupuncture and also eat chinese herbal medicines prescribed by the physician at Eu Yan Sang Paragon before i go back to my gynae. I guess all these help to prepare my body to conceive again. So please don't give up and hope u will have happy news soon. Cheers.

 

elmo,

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm not (yet) discouraged from trying again but with every subsequent mc, it does trigger more fear on the next one. The lucky thing was I did not have much problems with conceiving but somehow both pregnancies did not last past 6 weeks. It can be quite disheartening and helpless when it's hard to know what is really wrong.

Still I will continue to hope that one day it's going to happen.

 

Hi ladies,

I think there is a supplement that can help you all. PM me for more details.

 

Hope03,

Try eating dates, besides supplements that doctor gave. Google the benefits of dates. Good for before and after pregnancy.

 

Hi Roza
I have a failed pregnancy in 2010 where by my bb was found with no heartbeat at 5th mth. I took a long while to got over the whole ordeal. Test shows everything was normal and nothing unusal was found.
I was pregnant again after 2 mths from the lost and this time my gynae runs some bld test for me and found that I have APS aka sticky bld syndrome. Throughout my pregnancy I have to be on injection and medication to thin my bld.
The good news is I have not only one but 2 successful preganancy. My girl is 2yo and boy 8mth old.
There are some problem can't be detected until a pregnancy occurs. Maybe u can talk to ur gynae about it.

 

Hi,just wonder has anyone thought of recurrent miscarriages due to our poor womb health,poor blood circulation and low immunity? Just thinking aloud on this possible causes besides poor sperm health..

If you think you have enough of sadden miscarriages, why not give a best try by wearing on -ve ion undergarment daily (unisex) or sleep on -ve ion with far infra red mattress? All this worth to explore cos afterall, so much money spent with depressions at miscarriages? I had ectopic pregnancy before and can understand the feeling.

Please call,wats apps or sms me at 97710200 if you wish to listen to the -ve ion,far infra red product to gain beneficial insights. I bought myself this product and seeing gradual improvement to both myself and child.

 

Just to share my experience and hopefully it will benefit someone out there.

We were trying for baby and experienced 3 early miscarriages. All the pregnancies ended very early around week 6 and we never saw any heartbeat during those pregnancies. It was truly a very disheartening period for my hubby and I because we had to go through weeks of worries and torture only to keep hearing bad news. The private gynaes which we saw wasn't able to offer us any answers unless we opt to undergo costly and lengthy tests which will mean a strain on our pockets.


My friend was seeking treatment at NUH then and recommended us to give it a shot too. We went to a nearby polyclinic and got the referral letter to O&G Clinic at NUH which sees case like ours. With the referral letter from polyclinic we were able to enjoy subsidised medical fees because we were Singaporeans. Initially they allocated my case to the subfertility team but I explained to the gynae that our problem was not with conceiving but rather substaining the pregnancy. Still the gynae wanted us to take the various fertility tests. We passed everything and again i told the doctor our situation and this time round they finally reassign our case to the high risk team which take care of recurrent miscarriages. So please insist that you want to be assigned to the high risk team.


For the tests, they took about 10 small tubes of blood for many different investigation and the cost of those tests will have come up to $1k if not for the subsisides which brought it down to a more affordable $200 to $300. I passed most of the tests except for one which shows that one of my immunity cells (NK - Natural Cells) was higher than average which means my body may not be able to differeniate the foetus from the normal invasive (bad) cells and attack it causing early miscarriages. During those visits, we always see the gynae and rheumatologist jointly.

Fortunately for us, we conceived again very shortly and was arranged to go through the IVIG treatment which is supposed to suppress the immunity cells and had 4 rounds of treatment, once every month. NUH gave us the mobile phone of the program coordinator and I could always count on her to arrange for my appointments, blood tests and treatments during those early months which I am super grateful. There is neligable side effects for IVIG but the only thing is the treatment is very costly and cannot pay using medisave. Each round of treatement set us back by $2k but we felt that it was worth it because we really wanted a baby. I am happy to share that I am right now close to 30 weeks pregnant and look forward to deliver my little precious in june. So please do not give up hope because I was almost on the fringe of giving up the idea of ever having a baby of our own but was glad that we managed to pull through those horrible times. With perservance and the right treatment, you can do it too. I just hope that everything will go smoothly for the rest of my pregnancy and I sincerely wish that no one had to go through those miscarriages like me.

Press on ladies.

 

Hi cherieyap,

Thanks for the information! I need this badly. I just had a 2nd miscarriage. I dunno where to turn to and who is good for recurrent miscarriage.

Can I check with you if you are delivering your baby at NUH too?

 

Hi Princess Leopard,

Yes, I will be delivering at NUH. From trying to conceiving to week 21, I was under their subsidised clinic which is at Clinic G. After 22 weeks, I was allow to take their private gynae package and now seeing my gyane (Dr Anita) at their women clinc. It makes more sense to only switch to private package at week 22 when the pregnancy is more stable else it will be too costly to bear all the expensive consultation and blood test fees.

If you are a subsidised patient, you cannot choose your doc but they will usually try to arrange the same doc for high risk patients as our cases are more complicated and need to handle with care. I usually see doc Shila (rheumatologist) together with a gynae (either Prof Mahesh or Dr Anita). However they see a lot of patients at Clinic G hence the waiting time can be very long. Usually I will need to spend half a day there but no choice.

But I am very grateful to the doctors there because they arrange to see me almost once every 2 weeks from the time i was pregnant which is much more often than most other pregnant women. It makes me feel very well taken care of. They will arrange for ultrasound scan almost everytime i was there initially. After the pregnancy cross the first trimester, sometimes they don't arrange for scan but they will make sure they can hear baby's heartbeat during my visit. Most pregnancies will only have a detailed scan at week 20. Dr Anita specially arranged 2 sessions for me, once during week 18 and another time during week 22. She say the scan at week 18 is for early detection in case baby got any abnormalities and the next one at week 22 because some defects may not be able to detect at week 18. She is very detailed in this area.

I understand the agony you are going through because I was at that point just a few months ago. Looking back, I really made a right choice to go for the tests to find out the cause and then seek treatment. Even if the tests show that all is ok at least you know you have no problem. Wish you all the best in this journey. Press on!

 

By the way, when i started treatment at NUH, I had encountered 2 miscarriages then. Of course the doctors will say 2 may just a case of very bad luck but they were still willing to let me go through the tests because I told them I hope not to have the third case.

When I was pregnant for the third time, I tested positive the day I missed my menses and started taking HCG tests. But the HCG tests had very poor results and I started bleeding 3-4 days later. My gyane at NUH told me the baby won't survive so I didn't go for IVIG then.

By grace, I conceived again one month later and the HCG readings were very positive so I was given an IVIG as soon as possible and finally managed to break out of the cycle! In case they tell you 2 times is too early for test, just insist that you want to go through it =)

 

cherieyap,

Thanks for sharing your valuabke experience. It's hard to come by any discussion regarding sustaining of pregnanacy and I'm in a similar situation.

I have an appointment with kkh on further testing similar to what you tested at nuh. Now I'm wondering if I should just switch to Nuh instead.

 

Hi Cherieyap,

Thanks for being so detailed in explaining. I had always been seeing private gynae, and was struggling if I should switch to govt hosp. Moreover NUH is very far away from my home. It will be good if doc and hospital is near my place. But I see that you are well taken care of at NUH.
So, now at the women clinic, how is the waiting time? Is it better?

For my case, I do not conceive easily, and yet miscarriage is really a heartache. My first took me 2 yrs to conceive, 2nd took 1 yr+.

I am really happy for you that you got your rainbow baby now. Have a smooth pregnancy ahead!

 

Hi Hope03,

Is KKH well-equipped for recurrent miscarriage as well? When I search for recurrent miscarriage, seems like NUH is the first to pop up in the webby.

 

I'm not too sure as the tests are scheduled in 2 wks time.. I will asked them about it. I had some checks with them before I started getting pregnant.

When I had 2 miscarriages, I went back to kkh and they suggested I could do a glucose test, anti cardiolipin antibody test, lupus, etc. They had mentioned that these were the test to take for recurrent mc. NUH seems to be the only one with the recurrent mc dept but I'm not too sure what difference is it from kkh.

 

Hi Princess, the waiting is considerably much shorter at the women's clinic. The last time I went there I was done after one hour which seems to pass very fast compared to the endless waiting at Clinic G.

Do you monitor your menses cycle? My menses were pretty regular and I keep a close tab on the ovulation period. Every time I hit the fertile window, my hubby and I will do "homework" diligently. Initially when I didn't care to monitor and let nature take it course, I also didn't manage to conceive. Some of my friends with irregular menses will see gynae and be given medication to regularise their menses and the gynae will perform tests to monitor their ovulation too. One of my colleague's sister succeed in conceiving 2 months after the gynae helped to perform tests and monitor their ovulation. Hers was a private gynae though.

But of course nothing is guaranteed. I still remember the times when I will be sorely disappointed to see my menses come. I never knew that having a baby will be so tough but it really made me appreciate what I have now and not take things for granted. Please continue to press on and don't give up hope! Really look forward to hearing good news from you soon!

 

Hi Hope,

I am not too sure about the treatment offer at KKH but still worth to give it a try. When some of my friends knew I had multiple miscarriages, they start to say I should not eat too much cooling stuff or my womb was too cold etc. I know they meant well but saying such stuff didn't help me at all. Just made me more lost. After this experience, I believe it's still best to go for check ups and hopefully find some answers. All the best!

 

Those tests are in line with a few of the common recurrent problems but there is no guarantee. I come to terms with how hard it is to pin point the cause of it and mostly it could just happen to be the right treatment at the right time.

Yes, from the tcm point of view they always mention about cold womb but if there is a more complicated unlying reason then cold or warm won't really make much of a difference.

 

Hi cherieyap,

Yes, I did monitor my menses cycle. It used to be 27-32 days, to gynae and tcm they still say this is consider regular. So, my ovulation date will be different as well. So, I used OPK and basal temperature to keep track so I know exactly when I ovulate since I am not like some ladies with fixed 28 days cycle. After I started seeing tcm 6 mths ago, my menses cycle become fixed at 30days. But for us, still not easy to conceive. Hubby and I done some tests before but all came out ok, just dunno why so difficult to conceive.

For the cold womb thingy, tcm really believe in it. After my first miscarriage, I stop drinking cold water. I think that alone helps, I do not have anymore menstrual cramps or blood clots. Flow seems more manageable too.

 

Hi Cherieyap!

Good to hear of your good progression. I am also the receiver of NUH miscarriage clinic!

I have to go thru 6 of the IVIG but well worth the pain and time. When I look at my 11 month girl sometimes I still cannot believe it. We have all come a long way =)

I like to request you though to write in to MOH about claiming from medisave. I have been campaigning with them for the longest time but I would think with more people writing in it will be for the best! Please spare 1-2 mins to drop a note to MOH and the health minster about how much we would like to be able to use medisave for our treatment which is not too different from IVF. Health Minister : gan_kim_yong@moh.gov.sg / Health Minster assistant :lilian_ng@moh.gov.sg / General email : moh_info@moh.gov.sg

 

Hi all,

Just want to share my part of journey,
I was Prof Mahesh patient even before the setup of Reccurent miscarriage clinic and i have gone through 3 mid trimester miscarriage with early placenta abruptio, all my babies were too premature to survive despite being born alive.
For my 4th pregnancy, i was seeing Prof Mahesh weekly on top of the once a mth recurrent miscarriage clinic with Dr Sheila Vasoo. I had Protein S deficiency and Antithrombin III deficiency. Was on alot of meds and spent alot of $$ and putting myself in greatt danger of complications , i was even hospitalized for 104 days just to sustain my pregnancy, I am grateful for all the care, love and attentions they have given me with empathy. Never once was i left to fend for myself alone. They are always there to comfort me and give me moral support. Looking at my 6 months old boy now makes all of those tears, worries and pain worth while. Please do not lose hope. =)

 

Hi ladies,

Thank you so much for sharing such useful information.

Can anyone share the costs of doing the whole battery of tests for recurrent miscarriage at NUH? I am interested to see Dr Mahesh. I was quoted 3k+ by private clinic - super X; its pretty comprehensive though. I have to take tests before my period, during period, and after. My husband is also supposed to take some kind of chromosonal test. Im wondering if NUH offers similar, and at what costs?

Sorry, what is IVIG?

Its been 2.5 weeks since my missed miscarriage at week 17 or 18 and its impossible to ever get over the pain. finding out more information and arming myself with knowledge is the one thing i can do to help myself.

Thanks in advance.

 

Is this thread still active? Stumbled upon this. Trying to find some support and hope for recurrent m/c. Just had my 2nd dnc. Anyone there?

 

Hi, may i know your experience with Prof Choolani in nuh or mount e? Thinking of seeing him. Does nuh have all comprehensive blood test like mount e?

 

Hi ladies, I had 3 m/c as well. Was wondering on the cost of the test required for recurring m/cs at choolani's clinic. If anyone could shed some light pls.

 

I saw both Prof Choolani and Dr Sheila at NUH. Managed to get an appointment within 2 weeks after I highlighted to the nurses my urgency due to advanced maternal age and multiple miscarriages. Did the whole series of comprehensive blood tests that includes karyotype for both me an DH. This cost about $1k+. Semen analysis was also done but this is private rate as it has to be done outside NUH, cost couple of hundreds. While no major issues were detected for my case, they put me on preemptive medication once confirmed bfp. However to see them under subsidised rate, you'll need a referral letter from polyclinic. The nurses at polyclinic were very sympathetic to my situation and helped to expedite my case.

 

Hi Hey and other ladies,

I am in same boat as you. I had 2 Mc in a year now. All tests came through fine. My doctor however has put me on baby aspirin and will have to take heparin jab from the day I get pregnant again. I recently moved from Singapore to USA. Haven't seen any doc here. So confused if I shud still be on medication.

Hang in there. There is hope for all of us. I know the pain, but please have faith and u will soon have a little one in ur arms.

Lots of love,

Prash

 

Thanks maybebb. I heard from another mummy the cost of dr choolani for mount e is ard 3.7k for blood tests excluding consultation. I believe it shd be faster than nuh. Cos dr choolani only sees patiets once a week thurs afternoon in nuh but for mount e it's open mon to sat till 6pm. So depends on your preference n budget i guess.

Will you be deciding on a gynae soon Prash? I'm not sure how many gynae here prescribe bb aspirin to their patients except prof Choolani. Maybe need to find out a bit more.

Let's keep this thread active or we can migrate somewhere to support each other. All the best ladies.

 

Thanks Jeu. We should really kero this thread going. I have had so much console from all you lovely ladies. I am not sure on obgyn here dear. But I will surely go to one soon. I am already on aspirin pills, 75mg is what I take once a day. Now that I am moved out of Singapore, not sure what the doctors here would say.

 

Sorry read ur post wrongly. Thought u just moved to Sg. But u've moved to US. I think there are way more support groups there than in Sg. Hope u find a suitable gynae soon and settle there well.

Take care ladies :]

 

There was not much time wasted waiting 2 weeks to see Prof Choolani at NUH as the tests can only be done on certain days after the next menses. And some of the lab tests require a bit more time than usual. By then the results will be just in time for the review appointment. Only thing is that the waiting time on appointment day can be quite long depending on the complexity of the cases for the day.

 

Can i check with you maybebb how many consultations in nuh did u hv with prof choolani b4 the blood tests were done? Is it during the 2nd consultation or after that?

 

If I remember correctly, the blood tests were ordered during the first consultation. 2nd consultation was to review the results. Everything was efficiently planned. But had to go back NUH twice as blood were required on different days. The wait for the nurses to draw blood was fast though.

 

Ok thanks. Can i check if you're a patient under subsidy or private? Just wondering how much will the blood tests n consultation costs if private patient in nuh.

 

Hi, i had 2 early pregnancy mcs and decided to see Prof choolani for help at mt e novena . I have went thr the detailed recurrent pregnancy loss tests and eventually found out i have protein S deficiency. Sticky blood. He is taking good care of me nw who is at 3rd trimester. Very careful and detailed.