A Wacky Start to My Next Cycle, But Improvement

AF this time is just odd odd odd. Usually I won't have more than half a day of spotting prior to her arrival, this time I've had two. I feel totally hung up, sort of like when I was waiting for my m/c to start in June and it took a whole week before my body was ready. Today I marked as the start of AF but it's just barely stronger than spotting and dark red/brownish. It's so weird. I had a really great chart, I wonder if things have started to move in a new direction for me hormonally. Sounds scary a bit, but it could be a good thing as I had that fibroid, anemia and excess estrogen working against me before, which were all bad things.

At acupucture this morning she noted that my tongue coating looked better (it was awful and white coated last week out of the blue), confirmed that my liver qi stagnation was not an issue any more (I had noted this myself), and said that we're just dealing with minor stuff right now. She said that the spotting and symptoms of the cycle transition from LP to the Blood Phase were related to my qi deficiency and spleen qi deficiency.

My treatment helped dissipate a lot of the pain I was having (thank goodness) and she gave me a handout with some qi building foods on it. I've also got a pre-O herbal powder to take starting CD4.

It's so weird though, but perhaps my body pushed through to the other side of its deficiencies. I don't know if you had noted this but I've heard/read that sometimes the deficiency of something will trigger its excess. So heavy menstrual bleeding can be a sign of deficiency, excess estrogen can be a sign of yin deficiency and so on.

As I've mentioned I was anemic for years, even as a child I had lots of nosebleeds ages 5-12, the last big on was when I was 14 that I recall -- I got my period later that year. In TCM not being able to contain your blood is a sign of deficiency though it's harder to pick which one it might have been as it was years ago. I do think it is possible that my body got used to operating in a state of deficiency so the journey has been to reset the expectations so that it can adjust to a healthy pattern. In some ways no different than for people who have blood sugar issues, etc.

Some more miscarriage links

Check it out, lots of interesting information about early scans, percentage rates of various situations, etc.

Management of Early Pregnancy and Loss

Page of stats about miscarriage

First Trimester Miscarriage from Dr. Spoock

Dr Alan Beer is mentioned in the book Coming to Term as a repeat loss specialist. I took a quiz on the site and it said that it wasn't likely that I had an immunological reason for my losses. Probably pretty accurate for me, though the mention of retained tissue leading to an immune reaction (at link below) kinda freaked me out since I had retained tissue for so long with my first loss.

I found this page about RPL testing with posts from patients which is interesting

I'm CD 15 today and feeling heavy with achey ovaries. I started spotting yesterday and I can't wait until AF shows up as at least that will indicate that things will soon be better. I've got acu in the morning, hopefully that will help. I hope I feel better by the weekend when my MIL is in town.

Thyroid Information

Some of the links I've found helpful in understanding thyroid health, and its relationship to fertilty and reproduction.

American Thyroid Association

Thyroid Tests -- Normal Ranges and Interpretation

EndocrineWeb: Thyroid Gland Diseases

Thyroid Problems in Women

Physician Interview: Richard Shames, M.D., on Treating Thyroid Dysfunction, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome & Fibromyalgia

Maternal Thyroid Function During Pregnancy

Postpartum Thyroiditis

Thyroid Power
I've got the book and I found it interesting.

Also I know that some women have noted better results than Synthroid when they have taken Armour Thyroid as it contains T4 and T3 and not just TSH.

My Medical Care Providers Over the Past Three Years

Before having to deal with infertility I had the unfortunate luck to have been injured in a car accident back in 2000. Through that experience I realized that my healthcare providers didn't have my best interests at heart, they wouldn't let me know to come in for a follow-up appointment, sometimes I was referred to lame care providers. I came to understand that the only one fully vested in my recovery and well being was me. That helped set the stage for the adventure that started when we got into TTC.

September 2002 -- Internist diagnoses fibroid (dump internist due to issues with getting appointments and information from her in the couple of years in her care -- I had to wait a week for an appointment when my neck went out and I was in constant pain and couldn't turn my head).

October 2002-March 2003 -- worked with a naturopathic doc who helped me gain better balance in my diet and lifestyle but also wanted me on a ton of supplements. She asked me if I had considered adoption and how long I intended to cut back on alcohol and taking prenatal vits in a way that wasn't entirely supportive so I stopped going there.

February 2003-May 2003 -- Met with RE#1 who I liked and she did an okay job but she left the State and clinic after a few months. She told me I should have my fibroid out after my HSG but to find a new surgeon. Even though my basel temps charts showed that I had regular cycles and temp rises consistent with ovulation she dismissed them after saying "yes you ovulate" and then told us we should do the HSG and then move onto IUI with Clomid and that she could "make me ovulate" which I didn't like the sound of at all.

June 2003-Nov 2003 -- Met with RE#2 to try to figure out if I needed to have fibroid surgery or not. He decided to give me a fertility work-up (just blood work) and wasn't a good listener. He told us that my partner had anti-sperm antibodies almost certainly and we would need ICSI to conceive (you won't be able to conceive on your own he said). While he knew his stuff I really didn't like him and his arrogance so I left him after one last consult in Nov to review my pooled progesterone results and to see if he would provide care if I had a fibroid embolization instead of abdominal surgery for my fibroid. It ended with a strong conversation about fibroid embolization.

July 2003-Sept 2003 -- Gyn #1 who I was scheduled to have my fibroid surgery with but I got such a bad feeling from her that I cancelled the surgery 10 days before and decided to pursue other options.

November 2003 -- consulted with an interventional radiologist about having my fibroid embolized (they block the blood flow using small particles through the uterine arteries). He was nice but I wasn't sure and couldn't find a gyn to provide support to this procedure.

Dec 2003 -- met with Gyn #2 who was all right but a little young and I cried in her office and she just looked at me, offered no consolation or anything. Her office was hard to book appts with so I decided to bag them.

Jan 2004-May 2005 -- started working with acupuncturist #1 after prompting by a couple of friend in alternative medicine. He was very nice

April 2004-current -- fell down the stairs and reactivated my back injury from a car accident in 2000 prompted a visit to chiropractor #2 (chiro #1 took bad care of me after my car accident)

Jan 2004-July 2004 -- met with RE#3 who was very nice and a good listener. We were going to try clomid/IUI under his care in July but we got pg on our own in May. He did my first d&c but left the clinic the following week; he told the nurse that I didn't need to have my beta checked post procedure which was wrong. I had continued bleeding for weeks afterwards due to retained tissue and had to see RE #4.

August 2004-current -- RE#4 took care of me after my m/c showed to be incomplete. We decided to wait it out rather than try methotrexate to avoid doing a repeat d&c so soon after the first one. With my enlarged fibroid not decreasing and the retained tissue not resolving on its own she was the one who did my surgery on both in November.

June 2005-current -- acupuncturists #2/3 work together in a practice that specializes in fertility. I went to see them first the week of my miscarriage as I was in so much pain.

Sept 2005 -- gyn #3 was very sympathetic, but gave signs of being a little conservative such as 37 week c-section due to my myo though he did say that they would take good care of me on a subsequent pg.

I'm not really a problem person but I wasn't really to take standard b$ care from my docs, especially after seeing how lame they were 5 years ago after the car accident --- you have to look out for yourself.