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ADVICE ON RECURRENT M/C CLINIC AT QUEEN CHARLOTTES

8 replies

peepee · 03/05/2005 19:24

I m/c for the fourth time and have just been advised by the EPAU at Queen Chartlotte's in Hammersmith they they will refer me to their clinic where I will undergo a blood test. Does anyone have any idea what will happen and how long the procedures take? DH and I have decided to wait for the tests to be out of the way b4 we try again.
DH will be going away for eight weeks but home at weekends. Will he be required for any tests?

I would like to hear from anyone who has/is attending the same clinic for the same reason. If I remeber rightly I beleive the consultant will be Prof. Phillip Bennett.

Any info regarding the above would be really appreciated.

Thanks.

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Spacecadet · 03/05/2005 20:35

wish I could help, but hopefully someone will be along soon who can,{{hugs}}}

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bunny2 · 03/05/2005 20:50

peepee, I cant help with the above but I can recommend a book by Prof Regan "Miscarriage, what evey woman should know". She runs the recurrent mc clinic at St MArys and the book is really infomrative and should answer your questions. I read it many times after my 2nd mc but passed it on to another Mumsnet person when I had a successful pg. Good luck, you will get there one day soon.

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slotnicki · 23/05/2005 22:36

I was referred to Queen Charlottes a couple of years ago, after having 3 miscarriages. I think that I was under Prof Bennett, but I saw a registrar and not him. I think that I saw the registrar to talk things over and then went back for the blood tests. This only took about 10 minutes. My partner also had to give a sample, as they will want to rule out the possibility that either of you are carrying any genetic abnomalities. I then went back for the results a few weeks later. In my case, they couldn't find a cause. However I found the book by Lesley Regan really helpful - in fact it was far more use to me than seeing the registrar. Hope this is helpful.

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slotnicki · 27/05/2005 22:16

I just wanted to update the info I gave before. A friend of mine went to the clinic a few weeks ago and it now seems a bit more thorough. Although they couldn't find a cause, they have undertaken to give her a very early scan, once she becomes pregnant again. This was something that was never offered to me, even though I have had 4 m/cs.

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vicksey · 01/06/2005 16:08

hi,
I dont know much about the m/c clinic at queen charlottes but I did attend the one in st marys. They usually start off with genetic blood tests for you + partner, then various other blood clotting tests and I had quite a few scans. They will explain all to you as its happening as you have to go back for other tests as some have to have 2+ results to be conclusive.
HTH
vic

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peepee · 01/06/2005 17:17

Thanks for you replies.

I was starting to worry, thinking this was not normal procedure. I will be going in for my blood tests on Monday. DH has to have his done too. We then have to wait 6 wks for the results. We are booked in for the 26th July. It seems ages away.

SLOTNIKI,

have you had any viable pregnancies?
Did the hospital not offer you anything more after the nil result blood tests?
I thought they would have done internal examinations or something?

Thanks again.

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slotnicki · 01/06/2005 21:14

Peepee - in answer to your question, I had a normal pregancy after 3 m/cs. Sadly, I've had another m/c since then.

The hospital offered me nothing after I got the results of the blood tests - I wqas simply told to 'keep trying'. In actual fact they did come up with a possible explanation (which I'll come on to later) Although they talked about the selection of 'healthy' embryos after IVF, as a way of avoiding m/c, I didn't get the idea that this was something that they were actually going to offer me.

The 3 m/cs took place over a period of 3 years and they were constantly on my mind. I had questions and thoughts every day and no hospital could have provided the level of detailed info that I constantly needed. In order to cope, I became my own 'expert' on m/cs. I used the Lesley Regan book as a reference and a US website - www.inciid.org - this is an excellent source of info and support. It also became apparent to me that women in the US are offered a lot more in the way of detailed tests etc, though it is my own view that this cannot really make much difference to the viability of a pregnancy.

Going back to my own m/cs and the likely cause - all of them were 'missed m/cs'. In other words the embryo failed to develop but I had no bleeding. In every case, it was simply picked up by a scan. What made matters worse, was that although by m/c 2, I knew what was happening, I could not get an early referral and had to wait about 9 weeks to be seen by the hospital. When I was seen, they were reluctant to accept my view that the pregnancy was not viable (I knew by the reduction in symptoms) and on one occasion the midwife insisted on giving me one of the pregancy guides!

It seems very likely that my m/cs were caused by random genetic faults. This is because when the first m/c was picked up by the scan, the scanner told me that the baby has foetal hydrops. I wasn't offered any explanation for this. I later, (through my own research) found that this can be linked to genetic abnormalities and I think that I even found out which one. When I had m/c no. 3, they carried out an analysis of the foetus after the ERPC and found that it had a genetic abnormality. It was the hospital's view that my m/cs were simply bad luck and were caused by random abnomalities, possibly made more likely by the fact that I was 38 and the quality of my eggs were deteriorating (making abnormalities more likely). This concurred with my own research.

As I said, my friend recently went to the clinic and saw a registrar, but will be seeing the consultant in a few weeks time. She is also being given an internal scan and has been offered an early referral to the hospital, when she becomes pregnant again. This is much better than the treatment/help that I was given.

Hope this is helpful.

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peepee · 02/06/2005 20:28

Slotnicki

Thank you very much for all your advice. It is really appreciated.
I will check out the website and hopefully this will put my mind at rest.

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