Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Trying to make sense of it all

Well we have just received our blood test results by post. Unfortunately the earliest appointment we could get for a phone consultation with the doctor is in six weeks so for now we just have to try to interpret what we can ourselves. The results are several pages that list items tested next to the ideal range. If something is above or below that then there is a little arrow beside the value and sometimes a paragraph with some info from the doctor.

The main result is that I tested positive for natural killer cells. My initial reaction was to curse to be honest! I had really been hoping that our results would show that everything is fine and that we could just go ahead with IVF round three. I know some people might see this as a good thing that now we have something to treat but at the moment it just raises loads more questions for me. For instance, have I always had this? Could this also be preventing us from getting pregnant naturally? Does that mean my body basically killed the three little embryos that were transferred during round 1 and 2 IVF (as opposed to it being a chromosome issue with a pregnancy that would not have continued anyway). The thought of that makes me sad... And I also have questions about the treatment for NK cells. The whole area is still very controversial like I mentioned before and because of that treatment wouldn't be covered by my health insurance so could be expensive.

And I am wondering if there might be some other underlying issue causing it. My T4/T8 index was also elevated which according to the info below means either an auto immune disease (!!) or an allergy. So maybe I have some undiagnosed allergy which is causing an inflammation and then the natural killer cells get activated. In which case maybe I need to do more allergy tests to see if I could find the issue. Maybe I will need to change my diet too. I already try to avoid dairy when I can and I haven't found that easy (since I was diagnosed with lactose intolerance early this year). The idea of having to try to restrict what I eat even more doesn't sound fun!

The results also mentioned that I will need to get a second test to find out if the natural killer cells are just in my blood or also in my womb. I've made an appointment with the doctor at our fertility clinic to see if I can get that done there and just to talk about the results and what it means for us going forward. My vitamin D level is also too low so I'll need to take supplements. My AMH value was in the normal range but only just about. It looks like it has gone down from when I had it measured last time, which also concerns me!

Right now we just feel confused and overwhelmed. The one thing we know for sure is that we need to put our plans for the the third IVF round on hold until we can figure it all out. 

9 comments:

  1. I've never heard of natural killer cells! The allergy theory sounds logical to me, but I'm not a doctor. I can imagine you're feeling overwhelmed right now. I hope the time until your next appointment passes quickly. *Hugs*

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    1. Thanks Bev :) I asked two of my doctor friends and one hadn't heard of natural killer cells and the other said that they could just be elevated due to stress and it's not a big deal. It seems to be a really new area linking natural killer cells to miscarriage or implantation failure. Hopefully the doctor will explain it to me and we can come up with a treatment plan!

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  2. Hi DinD, I tested borderline for natural killer cells so they gave me prednisolone - I researched it at the time and couldn't find much about it back then, but I understand it works for preventing known cases of recurrent miscarriage. The only trouble was they caused insomnia but I had that anyway at the time!
    So overwhelming to get all these results, it can be a bit paralyzing - I hope you get it all ironed out at your appointment. Keep us posted; all the best

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    1. Thank you! I've heard women getting different things to fix the high natural killer cells. I'm going to have to do some research into the different treatment options and see which one my doctor recommends. Sorry about the insomnia, that wouldn't be a nice side effect I can imagine!!

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  3. I want to encourage you to keep on going! I know that is much easier said then done as someone else who is battling and blogging along the way but you can do it, and in your deepest, darkest days just remember your inner strength!
    Keep going!xxx

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    1. https://aquestfrommetomum.wordpress.com/

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    2. Thank you. It can be hard finding the strength to keep going on this journey but I'm hoping it will all be worth it in the end! Good luck to you too! x

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  4. I'm sorry for the bad news! But hopefully this will help you moving forward to have a healthy baby. It stinks, but at least now you know so you can work on fixing it! Keep us updated and I hope you can start the next round of IVF soon :)

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  5. I am so sorry. I hope everything will be okay.

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