My progesterone started out at 18.2 which was certainly normal, too high for me to feel I could ask for supps without looking like an internet know-it-all... but well less than with my son which was 28.4.
I feel like I wanted to believe that things would work out, this this pregnancy was meant to be, that it was just early and progesterone would rise.
Now of course I worry... what if I had asked for supps?
Progesterone has fallen to 12.4 - but I am thinking could that just be because the non-embryo was sending weak signals to the corpus luteum? CL has begun collapsing.
Nothing ever developed in the sac... I feel like if it was a progesterone issue, SOMETHING would have developed and I would have lost it. But here I have just a sac, nothing developing inside - does that point to blighted ovum or is there no way to know?
Regardless I think next time if p4 is not at least 20-25 I am going to risk looking like a hypochondriac. I know supps won't help if the pregnancy is doomed to fail anyway but they won't hurt anything, either.
I had considered natural progesterone cream but when I tried to use that for a "shut down" I bleed like a stuck pig after 6 days of using it so I am never going near that stuff to try to help a pregnancy. Wish I was one of those people it worked better for.
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"We've tried to wash our hands of all of this
We never talk of our lacking relationships
And how we're guilt-stricken, sobbing, with our heads on the floor
We fell through the ice when we tried not to slip..."
- the verve pipe
I really don't know the answer to your question. I just wanted to say how sorry I am for your loss. I do know that 18.2 is a pretty good p4 level. With my pregnancy with my son it was lower than 10 to start out with and I was given progesterone. I do agree that it wouldn't hurt to ask for a suppliment next time. To my knowledge there is no such thing as too much progesterone.
It's so hard to deal with a loss, and not knowing what went so wrong is even harder. We keep trying to find someone or something to blame, usually ourselves. It doesn't sound like low progesterone is the cause of this loss. Certainly, it is not your fault in any way. I doubt asking for the suppliment would have helped at all. Like I said, 18.2 is pretty good. (((hugs)))
I feel like I know it's not my fault but I feel like I wish there was something I could say I shouldn't have done that I won't do next time.
Working too hard at the gym?? Really unlikely.
Too much caffeine?? Unlikely, according to studies saying moderate intake is OK and moderate is up to 8 cans of cola a day!
Wearing the wrong t-shirt to my first OB visit? Really, really, REALLY unlikely.
I know it's bad to blame yourself but I feel like I would feel better if I could think of something to blame myself for. How crazy is THAT?
I don't think asking for supps would have made a difference but I feel like at least then I would know I did do everything in my power to make this little guy stick. You know?
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"We've tried to wash our hands of all of this
We never talk of our lacking relationships
And how we're guilt-stricken, sobbing, with our heads on the floor
We fell through the ice when we tried not to slip..."
- the verve pipe
{{{HUGS}}} I'm sorry for your loss. I know how hard it is, and how you are constantly second-guessing everything you did or didn't do. But it isn't your fault!
I'm no medical expert, but it sounds more like a blighted ovum than a problem with progesterone, to me, since nothing ever developed in the sac. That's what a blighted ovum is; conception and implantation occur normally, but the baby never develops. Sometimes the placenta can develop and keep hormones at normal levels for a while, but no baby. If it were a progesterone problem, some development would have occured.
Yeah but... does the lack of anything in the sac mean this WAS a blighted ovum? What I am unsure of is, is there any way to know (or at least make a good guess) what caused an early loss without testing.
Something should have developed if it was a progesterone issue, right? Especially with such a good start?
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"We've tried to wash our hands of all of this
We never talk of our lacking relationships
And how we're guilt-stricken, sobbing, with our heads on the floor
We fell through the ice when we tried not to slip..."
- the verve pipe
Last edited by RunnerDuck; 04-03-2006 at 03:53 AM.
There is nothing wrong with being an internet know it all. Without research - even from the cysters - most of us would not be as well informed as the regular "consumer."
RD - I am so sorry this has happened! I was very excited reading your other posts and wish you lots of love and (((((((((hugs))))))))))) to get through this time.
As far as the progesterone - since all of my m'c's have had low progesterone, my RE and my OB will let me have prometrium or even suppositories after ovulation if I ask.
It's normal to try to figure out why. A big part of that is blaming ourselves. I guarantee that this wasn't caused by anything you did or didn't do.
If it makes you feel better, my progesterone was 5 with Rivi at 8 weeks, and it was 7 with Dominici at the same point. Somehow, they held on. I think, if it's meant to be, they do.
Your progesterone, even at 12, is still at a point when some docs wouldn't supplement. I doubt it had anything to do with your loss.
I'm curious, is progesterone during pregnancy only to be taken as a suppository? Is the only alternative a cream, or can it be taken orally? It seems most women use the suppository - why is that, is it supposed to be more effective?
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Diamond, I have read there are three preferred methods... injection, suppository, and oral. Injection works best but is the biggest pain in the ass - literally. Suppositories are second best and middle of the road as far as inconvenience, messy and all. Oral works, but it the 3rd best choice.
The cream application is like when women can't get a doc to supp and they use OTC natural progesterone cream, I think. I think you can get a prescription form of the cream but I am not sure why a doctor would give it over the other 3. I find applying the cream annoying, you have to apply so much I feel so greasy afterwards... I'd rather pop a pill personally.
Juana, that article makes it look like blighted ovum is deiniately what happened to me. I find it kind of funny how it says "blighted ovum" is an antiquated term and the preferred term now is "early pregnancy failure." Huh. I don't know why but I prefer blighted ovum.
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"We've tried to wash our hands of all of this
We never talk of our lacking relationships
And how we're guilt-stricken, sobbing, with our heads on the floor
We fell through the ice when we tried not to slip..."
- the verve pipe
Runner, thank you for that info. I am a sissy when it comes to suppositories. I'd worry too much about getting anywhere near my cervix during pregnancy, and the thought of doing it every day for the first few months is daunting.
I think the term "blighted ovum" sums things up better then "early pregnancy failure." Like when I hear "blighted ovum," I say, "oh, ok I understand." But with "early pregnancy failure," I'd still say "oh, ok - but what happened?" It lends a better explanation, and is better identified in my opinion.
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I personally like "early pregnancy loss" myself. I feel like a blighted ovum is still the loss of a baby. Calling it something else doesn't change that. I generally don't like the word "failure" applied to it because that just feels like it implies wrongdoing to me. Kind of like how they call a miscarriage a "spontanious abortion." Perhaps that is technically correct, but it my mind I hear the word abortion like a choice to terminate a pregnancy. Adding spontanious in front of it doesn't make it sound better to me. I think they ought to start talking to women about these medical terms and come up with some new ones.
Runnerduck, it's definately going to take some time and soul searching. We want answers and sometimes there just aren't any. We find the dumbest reasons that our losses could possibly be our fault, even if our brain is trying to reassure us that it's not true. Broken hearts do not care what is rational. I hope you find some comfort in sharing your thoughts and feelings.
"Spontaneous abortion" makes me think of the sac/embryo/fetus just SUDDENLY popping out of the woman's vagina. Like one minute you're watching TV and eating some popcorn and the next minute there's an embryo on the floor at your feet. It's the "spontaneous" part I find weird. Like pop, bam, surprise!!!
Now I really wish this thing would happen SPONTANEOUSLY and just pop out of me instead of sticking around. I had an itty bit of spotting last night and nothing since then. Grrrrrrrr. It's weird to go from hoping not to see blood on the TP to praying to see blood on the TP, LOTS of blood on the TP...
and I am so freaked out now because it's like, early in pregnancy, you think, as long as you don't see blood, everything is good... I never saw blood before last night, but things are SO far from good. Next time around I will have NO means of relaxing. Whether or not I see blood, I will freak out.
Well back to terminology, this is a MISSED miscarriage, or abortion, whatever... I don't like the MISSED part. It makes it sound so insignificant, like, oh, I didn't notice. Hmmm. How 'bout that?
This sure is a lot of agony for something so "inconsequential."
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"We've tried to wash our hands of all of this
We never talk of our lacking relationships
And how we're guilt-stricken, sobbing, with our heads on the floor
We fell through the ice when we tried not to slip..."
- the verve pipe
Medical terminology is awful, and can add a lot of unecessary pain.
I wonder if there will ever be a day where these so-called 'abortions' will be called for what they truly are: "a baby gone, and along with it, the hopes, dreams, and innocence of its parents."
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"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
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Blighted ovum vs. low progesterone? 
