# Flushing the HcG out of my system



## League_mama

Any idea? I'm now six weeks into the m/c (carried to 8.5 weeks, started to spot, u.s showed non-viable fetus, spotted until Thanksgiving, so haven't spotted for two weeks) and STILL my freaking Hcg is 300 (had blood draw Mon). 300, down from 900 three weeks ago, down from the admittedly enormously high level (for a non-viable fetus) range of 35000 six weeks ago! I had another m/c almost three years ago (viable pg in-between) and the m/c was gone, done, finished, naturally in ONE week! I am LOSING MY MIND. Is there anything I can take to re-order my hormones??????????? Still bfeeding DD but considering Vitex. Have an acupunture appt. later in the month. Any advice SOOOOO APPRECIATED!
TIA
L


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## chel

sorry things are just dragging along.
no real advice, but I've BTDT. I took me 5w to get my hcg so low that I would get a -hpt, no clue when I actually went to 0. That was after 2 rounds of cytotec, it had been 4w since things stopped growing.

I think it just takes longer when the body tries to absorb the POC vs flushing them out.


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## mommyfied

double post


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## mommyfied

It sucks.

I'm still breastfeeding too and noticing some similarities. It sounds like your body is taking the slow route like mine did... only spotting and reabsorbing the rest. It could be a long road ahead. I have been wondering all along if BF is influencing this whole mess!! My DD is now 15 mo old but still BF a lot. I got my first PPAF back at 5 mo when she was nursing around the clock, so I don't know why my body would care now.

I had a missed miscarriage discovered at 13 weeks. Sac was measuring 9w6d with no baby. I only lightly spotted for 2 weeks right after that. They checked my hcg then and it was 448. 2 weeks later it was down to 131. I stopped going in for blood tests at that point. It took another 3 weeks before I got a BFN at home with a test sensitive to a hcg level of 20. That was October 7. I still don't have AF so I went for another blood draw this week and I'm at 10!! I fully expected to be under 5 and officially "negative" by now.







I've been having EWCM since the beginning of November so my hormones are wacky.

I am close to asking for a round of BC pills or progesterone to jumpstart a cycle, but I don't know if that would work. I am so non-interventionist I don't know what I will do. I've never heard of Vitex. What does it do?


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## League_mama

Amanda:
I am SOOOO glad you posted here...not glad that you're still waiting for AF but you and I seem to be having a similar experience w/m/c and it's at least reassuring if not annoying...you've answered a couple other posts of mine v. reassuringly and you seem quite peaceful about the whole thing, at least online!!!

Anyway, I also suspect bfeeding may be involved in a) the absorption vs. expulsion of the m/c--it makes some biological sense that the body would want to avoid imposing trauma and blood loss on a nursing mama; also I think the slow decline in HcG might also be caused by nursing because again, at least in my case I think my body might have wanted a break to sort some things out about another baby, etc.

HOWEVER, it is ANNOYING and since I'm 36, it's making me even more freaked out!!!!

Here's my thinking--AF's arrival would probably finish the m/c, right? So if I could get my hormones to kick in right (like you, mine are OUT OF WHACK--no EWCM yet but I can tell things are trying to re-start)...and have AF, then my cycle might be back on track?

Vitex, also known as Chasteberry, is an adaptogenic herb that has been used for centuries to help women balance their hormones. It sort of meets the need of whatever deficiency you have in your body, ie if you are low on progesterone, it will ramp up production of that, if you are low on estrogen, it will help your body increase that. It can take a while to work, but I also know mamas on the Nursing / TTC thread who have taken it for one cycle and gotten pg, used it to re-start AF in a month, etc. Search for Vitex on the forums for recommendations about dosage, etc. It can have an impact on milk supply but most mamas I've read/talked to haven't had that happen, especially if milk supply is well-established and baby is eating solids. I took it before we TTC the first time and I think it did help w/ estrogen dominance I was experiencing.

AnnieMarie, a mama who also had a m/c in Oct and is pg again already, had a great tea she was using to get AF back. I think I'll post separately and ask her to suggest that.

Anyway, sorry for the book, but this is driving me NUTS and I am holding out hope for you, since you are a month ahead of me, that it resolves soon for you and soon for me!

Oh, I'm also going to try acupuncture...it's a great balancer.

Hope you are not in a part of MO that got the inch of ice last night! We are a bit homebound today!
L


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## mommyfied

Thanks for the nice reply.









I agree with a lot of what you said. I've come up with all the same theories.







There are so few people who experience a m/c like this and very little information so it's hard to know for sure what's going on!!

I also think my body needed a break to sort things out. I wasn't in a hurry to TTC at first, but I was thinking OCTOBER. After things drug way past October, I got kind of anxious. Now I am thankful for the time I've had because DD gets to nurse longer and my body gets to recover a bit more. I realized I'm not really ready for #2 before November 08 anyway.

I have been charting since August and I noted some spotting that started during the week before Thanksgiving. It was red tinged EWCM for a couple of days and I thought AF was coming. Now it's brown. Maybe that means things are wrapping up. I am going to call the OB tomorrow to schedule my appt with her and also schedule another blood draw to see if anything is happening. I don't know when the OB will be able to see me. I have to go through the nurses with the 'answers from the book' until then, so I'm not feeling good about asking for BC pills or progesterone without being able to communicate directly with the OB.

I'm also thinking about Vitex. I did some reading on that last night, so thanks for mentioning it! I now remember seeing the name, but thought it was a prescribed fertility drug.







Maybe the tea you heard about is Fertilitea? I saw it when I was doing my research. It has some other fertility boosting herbs in addition to Vitex.

Are you in MO too? Luckily we didn't get any ice (yet)! It's all north of here. It was about 34-36 degrees here all day and it POURED. We were very thankful for those extra degrees. It's below freezing now so I hope the rain doesn't start up again.


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## League_mama

Amanda and others experiencing a drawn-out m/c, please please keep me posted on how it resolves for you (ie, finally return of AF, what you did or whether you just waited, etc.). I am hoping for good results w/acupuncture and may start Vitex when my blood levels are lower than 100. In the little more research I have done recently it appears that it is a metabolic issue (Hcg decline) but that can't be the only thing and I do think bfeeding hormones are playing a role in my case. But I am PRAYING for Bfps for all of us, preferably in '08!!!!!!
L


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## mommyfied

If you find any more research, please update!

I have been spotting all week (very lightly again) and am getting my blood checked again on Wednesday. If it's not under 5 by then I am starting on Vitex. I may start on Vitex anyway, but I want to wait and see where I'm at before that.

I saw the OB today, but it was a pretty unproductive appointment.


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## League_mama

Read about your OB appt in the poll about bfeeding and m/c. Whatever. I know lots and lots of people who bfeed through pgncy with no problem. I also know LOTS and LOTS of women (the more you talk about it, the more you hear the stories) who have had one or more m/c after a healthy child and aren't bdfeeding, maybe never bfed! OBs just really don't know a lot, in my opinion. They are, after all, primarily surgeons. Really, it is a surgical rotation in med school. I just wish Missouri would get its act together about midwifery because I'd love to talk to a midwife about my situation and all the midwives I know are running scared right now with the various litigations and legal things associated w/it here.
I'm getting my bloodwork done again on Tues or Wed. Did you get your blood levels back again? Are you under 5? My dr wants to follow them until I'm under 2! That would be such a great CHristmas present.
L


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## mommyfied

You are exactly right. I can't get my DH to understand. We do have one legal midwife in the area, and I met with her when I found out I was pregnant. DH was so adamantly against home birth and this midwife simply because she made similar comments about obs that you just made. This midwife had all the medical training and tons of experience. Plus, her experience included the entire birth--not just the last 10 min.







:

The OB really upset me until I came to my senses.







She was telling me I needed to stop bf before I get pg again, and I responded with a question about bf supressing fertility and that I was thinking I'd want to have at least a couple of cycles first to make sure things are back to normal. No, she clarified, bf could cause another miscarriage. I told her most women can bf throughout pregnancy without any problems at all. She reiterated again that what she was trying to tell me was that she thought bf caused my m/c, so it would be best to stop bf if I want to get pg again.







At that point, I said my m/c could have been due to a lot of things, but I would keep that in mind. I had other things I wanted to talk to her about at my appt, but she blindsided me with that and my brain stopped functioning.

I am so fed up with my choices right now. I have 6 women obs to choose from. I know 4 of the 6 and they are at my current office. I have heard of all of them telling women to wean when they find out they are pregnant and they scare/guilt trip most into doing it. If I went somewhere else, it really doesn't make much difference. They all have the same general outlook on pregnancy and I'll end up in the same hospital. Once I'm in the hospital, it's the nurses who will oversee my birthing time and it will be the dr that shows up in the nick of time. I shouldn't be worried about this. I haven't had AF and who knows if I will even get pregnant again.

My blood test is on Wednesday so I *should* get results on Thursday if I can get someone to call me about it. Here's hoping both of us are at ZERO!!!!


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## League_mama

hey, Amanda you changed your username!!








We should both be getting our blood test results back Thursday! Oddly, I had spotting on Sunday (one case of it, first time since the m/c bleeding stopped 3+ weeks ago). None since. Does that count as menstrual bleeding? I have read that if you go 3 + weeks w/out bleeding post m/c the next bleeding is related to your cycle. Although my cycle, while never particularly uncomfortable, NEVER is one moment of spotting. You said you'd had some spotting off and on--I've been reading on pregnancyloss.info about types of m/c and apparently both you and I are having one 'that should be monitored'...although that website is pretty mainstream, it has some good info I think. Anyway, the limited bleeding we had and the slow decline of HcG is unusual. Of course, again, nobody has studied bfeeding/m/carrying mamas, as far as I can tell, to see if this happens more with us for some reason.
Don't know what to say about OBs and midwifery in Missouri. It's a pretty ridiculous situation. I would LOVE to be where you are, I think I've heard of that midwife and she is ABSOLUTELY awesome from what I hear. My husband actually pushed me to go w/the midwife / physician supported birthing center where we are--he did NOT like the OBs I had seen at all. I was the one who was all freaked out about medical emergencies, etc. And then I had a 5 hour labor (total) and we were home in less than 6 hours from the time I got there. It was pretty awesome. Can't BELIEVE it was 2 years ago.

Come on, UNDER 5 HcG!!! Wouldn't that be a merry Christmas?????
L


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## mommyfied

I've been charting since I found out about the missed miscarriage. I'll PM you a link to my chart so we can compare notes.


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