Miscarriage/Pregnancy Loss
Help me understand hcg levels
Hi ladies. I lost my baby on Sunday. I think I was about 8 weeks along. At first I was in shock but now I am starting to miss my baby. I am blessed to have my daughter who is a healthy one year old and I am even more thankful than ever for her now. I just hurt for the one I never got to hold.
Question though for those of you who have been down this road before. I understand my hcg level needs to drop before we can TTC again. My test on Monday showed 3000 but I see posts with ladies who were in the hundreds or lower after m/c. I got tested again this morning and should have the results soon. Is 3000 high? Is it going to take a long time to get back down to zero?
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Re: Help me understand hcg levels
3,000 is high but it's not the 8 week range which is good. 3,000 is more in the late 5 early 6 weeks range.
I'm so sorry for your loss. Hang in there hun.
With my M/C at 8 weeks it took almost 8 weeks before my HCG hit negative. (I had twins though so my numbers were much higher)
Thanks for the perspective. Sorry to hear of your loss.
It is a blood test that your doctor/lab will do for you. My doctor wants me to be at zero before we try again but I see other ladies on here who were told they need to be under 5. So, apparently it varies and your doctor will probably have their own recommendation.
I am so sorry for your loss.
the hcg levels measure the so-called pregnancy hormone and anything over 5 is considered positive. It is tested by a blood test at the ?doctor's office, though some people use pregnancy tests until they get a negative result.
After a miscarriage it can take a long time to get back down to 0, though it doesn't always. After my first m/c, I was down to 0 after two weeks. This time I was at 8 after 2 1/2 weeks and am waiting to hear if I have gotten down to 0 yet.
Your body needs to be at 0, or close to it for your cycles to restart. But even that can take a little time or a lot. As I said, last time I was at 0 after two weeks, but it took more than 7 weeks for me to AF for the first time.
Sadly there seems to be no way to predict or affect this - it just is what it is.?
ladies, not only does your hcg level need to be nothing, but you also need time for your lining to "regenerate" and replenish. Often it takes a full cycle after the loss to get back, sometimes more.
I'm anxious to get back on the horse too, but: we lost one at 5-6 weeks, and then 2 weeks later, after the bleeding stopped, I noticed I was ovulating!. Not wanting to pass that up, we had sex, and got pregnant again. But although that looked like a perfect healthy pregnancy, we lost that baby at about 9 weeks.
So who knows if conceiving that quickly again was a factor, but something to consider. (my lining was perfect, so they said)
If you really want to be particular, you can request ultrasounds and/or blood tests to determine your p4 (progesterone) levels/lining, prior to trying. This would be something an OB specializing in IF or a "RE" would do.
That is what my Dr. said. I have issues with my lining as I have Endometriosis and most women with Endo have progesterone issues which help the lining of the uterus. Since we got PG so close to my surgery, I feel liek I didn't give my uterus enough time to heal. But we did get the okay to try after my first cycle.