Results!

Got some great news today! I received the results for my LIT treatment as well as my updated TNFa tests, and LIT worked!! My numbers look amazing!


                                               LIT treatment before (top) and after (bottom)

Needless to say there have been some major improvements here. I will start with the LIT. The most important aspect of this test apparently are the B-Cells IgG. Specialists say they prefer this number to be above 50% and anything less than 30% can lead to miscarriages. Clearly, mine were insanely low at 1% before the LIT treatment. Which means my body wasn't producing any protective antibodies when pregnant to help protect the embryo from my insanely active immune system. So in turn, my body was attacking the embryo and viewing it as a foreign object. Now my numbers are 99.9% which means I have developed the antibodies needed to protect the embryo for future pregnancies! Amazing news!! You can see the test went from negative to positive! So I am naturally ecstatic over these results! Those trips to Canada were not for nothing and I am excited to see if this will really be the difference we needed!


                                     TH1/TH2 (TNFa results) before (top) and afrer (bottom)

Now on to this other important test. As you can see my before numbers were off the charts high at 61.5%. They say anything above 40% can damage eggs and anything over 30% can cause miscarriage. So I have been taking the natural supplements (3 grams of omega daily, 1200mg of NAC daily, 100mg pine bark, and 600mg Reservatrol daily). I was on these supplements for probably a month before I retested and I am really happy to see that the tests came back much lower. Now it's still in the high zone...we need to get this below 30 before I can start trying again. But I feel now with neupogen or humira - that it will help get this down where it needs to be. I don't understand why my TNFa is so high to begin with. They say it can be flared by Rheumatoid Arthritis, Endometriosis, or Crohn's disease. I wouldn't be shocked if I had Endo. I have always had painful periods so it wouldn't surprise me. It also wouldn't shock me if I have Rheumatoid Arthritis. My mom has that so it very well could be inherited. Whatever it is, I am glad my body is responding well with the natural supplements. And hopefully more specific medication for this issue can knock it down under 30.

  I have my followup with my doctor on June 2nd to go over everything. I want to begin trying again in July - so we have a month to get this all situated. But I am really optimistic for the future now and eager to see if everything works. I am still staying grounded because with my history - how could I not? Nothing is guaranteed and I can't expect that these will be my golden tickets to pregnancy. But I am so excited to finally be moving in a direction!! :)

Retested...and now we wait.

So yesterday I went in to get retested for the LAD (to see if LIT worked) as well as the TNFa. Now the waiting game begins. I hate this part because I just want to know now!! But they take sooooooo long to get you the results! I am hoping it's not like last time where it almost took 2 weeks! That will be brutal. But it's done!

  The retesting kind of was a nightmare. Apparently the phlebotomist up and quit suddenly - and left my nurse high and dry doing the tests. Well she didn't know what color tubes the specific blood test was used for and we had to call the lab that runs the tests to walk her through what she needed to do with it. Naturally this kind of upset me because I don't want any hiccups with this retesting. The blood has to arrive at the lab within 24 hours - I just hope it got there in time. But I am going to try and not stress...we will just wait for the results.

So that's that. Stay tuned...

And more changes

Things keep getting delayed but this time it's my doing. I have decided to start trying again in July. June just seems to rushed - and on top of that, we are going to be traveling to my Dads in Tennessee for the 4th of July, so I don't want to be in that crucial 1st week of pregnancy while traveling. There would be nothing more horrific than to miscarry again while on vacation. So it is just best to just be home during that time.

  Sooooo since there is no longer any rush...I pushed back the retesting of the LAD and TNFa to May 23rd and have a follow up with my dr. on June 2nd. From there we will decide what next steps to take. I am also hoping that will allow enough time for these supplements to start taking effect in hopefully naturally lowering my TNFa. So we will see...

  But yeah, I am feeling more comfortable with this plan of action now. As much as I am eager to start trying again...I just simply don't want to rush it, and I don't want to be traveling. After the 4th I am not going anywhere until September so that will be ideal.

  So here is to a month of just relaxing and sorting it all out without rushing! :)

Retesting

So I got these supplements that I wanted to take for a bit to help bring down my TNFa, so I was going to push my retests back to the 24th of may to give them some time to maybe take effect in my system before I retested everything, but as it always goes - my doctor will be going on vacation the last week of may/first week of June...so now I need to stick with the original plan of testing on the 16th. Which kind of sucks because now I will not be able to tell if these pills are really benefiting me or not.

  And I cannot wait til she comes back because if our plans are to try again in June - then I need to get all of this taken care of before I ovulate again around the 9th. Bummaz. I have been taking the supplements for a week now, so maybe they did SOMETHING to help bring it down. haha...doubtful. I just know I am going to have to take some risky ass shit like Humira or neupogen to get that level down and I really don't want to take those. They apparently give you a higher risk of developing cancer later on because it messes with your bone marrow. Not something you should really f$ck with if you ask my humble opinion.

  I am trying to not stress, I am working out, I am attempting to eat better (still have lots of work to do on that lol) and I have been OD'ing on vitamins and supplements especially Omega 3 which I am hoping will help lower my TNFa as well. I am also EXTREMELY nervous to see if the LIT worked or not. But again, trying not to stress or worry - because those things trigger my TNFa as well. Man I can't do anything these days!!!

  Well I am just going to have to have the mentality of "whatever will be will be" because as much as I am trying to control this situation...there is only so much I can do. If my body is just simply not on board with all of this...I can't change that. So I have to learn to go with the flow and accept the outcomes as they come. (Again...so much easier said than done). But I'm tryin!

 So monday will come. I will retest. Then a weeks agony of waiting for the results and harassing my nurses for them, then my appt with my dr to see where we stand. As always, will keep you updated! :)

Plans

So after doing tons of research online I have come to determine that intralipids is not the best option to bring down my high TNFalpha issue. Which is what I feel strongly is the cause of my miscarriages. Apparently, intralipids work well with tackling NKCells directly - but TNF is a completely different cell - that does interact and "flare" with high nkcell activity, but is a completely different issue on it's own. The things to tackle TNF would be the IVIg injections, humira, or neupogen. I really want to do the IVIg injections. My issue is that it's super expensive. That would be AT LEAST $7500 for just 3 treatments. I am so much in debt that more money is going out then coming in...and it just keeps piling up. I hate it because I am not one to allow myself to be in such a hole financially. I pay my bills on time and like to have great credit. But this whole ordeal has just slammed me. And it's never ending it seems. Everyday I come home to a $100 bill, $400 bill, $300 bill for something. That shit adds up real quick. And I haven't even begun the super expensive treatment yet. That is just all for diagnostics.

  Fortunately my dad gave me $1300 to cover the LIT treatment which was a huge help. But that is just one of many that I need. TNF is also triggered by stress and I am not sure how I am going to control that since I am CONSTANTLY stressed. I need to find some sort of outlet to take my mind off of things and relax. I'm not a yoga person. I am a sit in a jacuzzi person. haha! Wish I had one. I did start working out yesterday and going to try to keep up on that.

  I just wish this whole nightmare would end. I am so ready for it to be over.


Restest for the LAD on May 16th to see if it worked. I guess we will figure out the complete gameplan afterwards, since we are shooting for June to try again. Yikes