Fertility Tests

Date:  July 8, 2018

I was diagnosed with Recurrent Pregnancy Loss (RPL) after my third miscarriage and just wanted to do a blog post talking about all of the doctors I saw and tests I had done.  I’ve gone into more detail about some of these appointments in previous posts. 

The first doctor I was referred to was an endocrinologist.  I had several appointments with him.  He tested my hormone levels, and they all ended up being okay and within range.  There were a couple levels that were slightly off, but for the most part, they looked pretty good, so he didn’t think it had anything to do with my progesterone or hormone levels.  Next, he did some blood tests to check for autoimmune disorders, and one of those tests came back positive, the ANA test (antinuclear antibody test).  My ANA level wasn’t extremely high though, and he said that some people just test positive for it for various reasons, but in some cases, it can be an indicator of an autoimmune disorder, so he referred me to a hematologist to check and see if I had a blood clotting disorder, which can happen in people with autoimmune disorders. 

The hematologist tested me for a couple different types of blood clotting disorders, and all of the tests came back negative so she suggested I see my primary care doctor.  I then saw my primary care doctor and explained to him everything that was going on, and he referred me to a rheumatoid doctor.  It took months to be seen by the rheumatologist.  He tested me for a couple different autoimmune disorders that could cause miscarriages.  He could not test me for all of them though, because there are so many different types of autoimmune disorders, but he tested me for the ones that typically cause miscarriages, and they all came back negative.

I then went back to the endocrinologist and he suggested trying metformin.  He said if the Metformin prevented me from having a miscarriage, then I probably had PCOS.  I started Metformin sometime in September 2017, and it’s one of those drugs where you have to slowly increase it because it can cause really bad stomach issues.  Luckily, when I first started it, I had no problems on the lowest dose, which I think was 500mg, but then when I went up to 1000mg, I felt really sick.  It only lasted a few weeks though, and then my body adjusted to it, and I didn’t feel sick anymore.  Around that time, the endocrinologist I was seeing left, and I got referred to a different doctor. 

The new doctor did an ultrasound on my ovaries, and said I had multiple cysts/follicles, but

did not think I had enough to diagnose me with PCOS.  He thought I could have a blood clotting disorder that I hadn’t been tested for or that my husband or I were carriers for a genetic disorder which was causing the miscarriages.  We filled out paperwork to see if our insurance would cover those tests, and it did, but I ended up getting pregnant before we had the tests done.  He took me off Metformin when I was 6 weeks pregnant. 

At that time, I was having a lot of anxiety about having genetic testing done on my husband and I.  The baby at that point had a heartbeat and was progressing well, so a different doctor I saw at that office at my next appointment said not to worry about having the tests done, and referred me back to the OB/Gyn I was seeing in Charlottesville. 

After seeing all those doctors, and having all of those tests done, we never found out exactly what caused my miscarriages.  I still wonder what happened, and if the Metformin is what helped me get pregnant and stay pregnant this time, even though I had a miscarriage while on it.  I have no idea, but am just happy and thankful everything is going so well with this pregnancy, and hoping everything continues to go well!