My two cents may save you $15,000...

So, I am not quite ready to post a full update, but as I was pondering when I might be able to post I realized that I didn't need to necessarily post an update. I really just want to throw some information out there that someone may need right now to save them from even just one BFN.

If you are reading this post because you saw that your medical profile is similar to mine (borderline high FSH, fibroids, advanced maternal age, recurrent pregnancy loss, thyroid issues, activated NK cells, DQ Alpha match (4.1-one of the toughest matches to have), homozygous MTHFR- A1298C, failed IVF cycles, horrible egg quality, mild endometriosis, possible adenomyosis, yadda, yadda, yadda), I want you to promise me you will try two things before you give up or move on. These are two things that I feel are the reasons I was able to get pregnant and stay pregnant:

1. I stopped eating gluten and dairy, though I did not test positive for Celiac Disease. I think that I may just be intolerant. I have always had issues with dairy, but spent many years in denial (I mean, really, a Wisconsin girl cannont live without cheese, right?). I think that gluten and dairy were both causing inflammation in my system which in turn affected my hormone levels, which in turn may have affected my egg quality. Now, I am not a doctor so I don't know anything for sure. All I know is that things were different after I stopped eating gluten and dairy.

2. I had food allergy testing done. I had other food sensitivities that I also feel were causing inflammation (beans, pork, beef, GARLIC!!! etc.). I also avoided these foods.

After eliminating these foods from my diet, I felt less bloated, less crabby and just better in general. Within four months of doing this, I had gotten pregnant twice. I STRONGLY believe that food sensitivities may be one of the causes of many diseases including infertility and I believe that most REs do not want people to know this because it would impact their earnings. I am not saying that this is the answer for everyone, but I do think there are people who have similar profiles to my own who certainly could benefit from such simple (and almost free)changes.

I do also want to throw a shout out to my friends, Lovenox, Prednisone and Intralipids. I believe that while I was not using these items at the time of conception, I did begin using them within days of my first positive hpt and I feel that they played a role in allowing the pregnancy to continue.

Lastly, PLEASE do not hesitate to disagree with your doctor or be persistent about being prescribed prednisone, lovenox, progesterone, intralipids or whatever it is that you may need. While my regular ob/gyn made me swear I would not get pregnant again for at least 18 months because I kept him on his toes, I do not regret my sometimes feisty attitude toward getting whatever it is that I felt I needed to sustain a pregnancy. (For the record, I would NOT have wanted to have me as a patient either...).

Anyway, I know that every case is very different in the land of infertility, but if anyone with similar issues can benefit from what I have learned the hard way it will make my journey more meaningful. I would not wish 6+ years of infertility on my worst enemy.

I hope my two cents can save someone the $15,000 an IVF cycle might cost...

More later!
P.S. Check out Dr. Sher's blog at ivfauthority.com. He knows a lot about immunologic implantation issues!

Former ghost blog

Wow. I just found out that my blog has turned in to a "ghost blog," which is basically a blog that someone abandons without saying goodbye. I have always run into blogs like this throughout my infertility journey and they have always driven me nuts! I hate not knowing how things turn out for someone. I need closure! So, imagine how I felt when I realized that I had become one of THOSE bloggers. I hope that I did not leave anyone hanging! It would be like me missing the finale of "Big Brother" after watching every episode leading up to it. I would be annoyed. Now, I do have two reasons that I feel are valid for accidentally turning this into a ghost blog:

1. I had absolutely NO idea that anyone had EVER read my blog. When I first started this blog, I couldn't figure out how to track the number of visitors so I just assumed that since nobody left comments it meant that nobody was reading it. (Kinda makes you wonder how I earned a Master's Degree...). I don't know where I got the assumption that my blog was not seen, since I have read a million infertility blogs and never once left a comment.

2. At the time I stopped blogging, I figured that it would only be a monthlong hiatus. I was pregnant and convinced that if I posted anything about my pregnancy, it would disappear. I think that anyone who has dealt with infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss will understand that statement even though it sounds completely nuts.

Assuming that anyone has read this before and has waited for an update, I would like to give you one, however I still have that "infertile superstition" and am afraid if I update, something bad will happen. I was never superstitious before infertility, but once I entered the world of infertility I started become perpetually afraid of "jinxing" something. It became borderline OCD.

I promise I will be posting more in the next couple of months for anyone who is interested. I hope that this post will erase my status as a "ghost blogger." I still feel like I am just talking to myself, so please leave a comment if you have anything you would like to say (my mom always said that "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all") or have any questions for me. I have learned A LOT (of things I didn't want to ever know) over the past 7 years about infertility...