Progesterone plummeted (XP with PgAL) - Any experiences? (possible loss mentioned)-UPDATE!

pblge

I'm on the PIO, about 5+6. Progesterone has been looking okay--about 50, then down to 30 (nurse said still fine), then up to 65.5., I had a bleed, possibly m/c a twin (2 sacs, then one sac after a bleed), and my progesterone went to 16.5. They told me to increase my PIO from 1 cc to 1.5 cc a day, but I'm still terrified. Has anyone has their progesterone fluctuate that much and still been okay?

PS. I haven't introed yet her bc I'm terrified. You can probably see why.

aliciafirewife

I have no advice, but thoughts and prayers are headed your way.

FishyMom

I have no experience either, but wanted to tell you that in thinking about you. Trust your RE, and bring on the PIO.

pblge

Thanks, ladies.

@geordie314 - I just had an u/s yesterday after the weekend's bleed, and the one sac looked good, and even had a yolk sac and fetal pole. I've not had more bleeding, so I'm hoping that's still okay. I have another blood draw tomorrow. I took 0.5 ml PIO this afternoon (not dr's orders--went off script with that one) and will do 1.5 ml starting tomorrow. My boobs sure hurt like there's progesterone in my body!!

I also realized that no one has checked my TSH yet, which seems like a pretty serious oversight. It just to almost 4 with my pregnancy after IVF #1. Hoping blood tests will come tomorrow afternoon, instead of having to wait 36 hours like this past time.

runawaylaurel

I never had my progesterone tested so I'm not sure. I'm so sorry about the twin loss. Fingers crossed your other one hangs in there tight. Are you getting another u/s? This must be so hard, I hope you get a solid, positive answer soon. 

Grateful&Thankful

Hang in there girl. I don't have any experience but my thoughts are with you. I'll be stalking for an update. (((HUGS)))

dp21

Sending thoughts and prayers your way.  I'm no help either, my progesterone was never tested during the whole IVF process.  I was on 1ml PIO during 2 week wait, then on the progesterone suppositories 3x a day until 10 weeks. 

I did have lots of bleeding scares, doctors thought I was going to M/C or possibly had an ectopic starting around 5 weeks.  At one point even dripped a gush of bright red blood into the toilet as I was sitting there and thought it was all over.  It worked out for me, so going to stay positive for you!  I know it's hard and is very worrisome/anxiety producing. 

Many good thoughts coming your way! 

Sophistikitty

I am so sorry you are going through this.  Are you on endometrin as well?  If you are only on PIO I would ask your RE if you can up 2cc’s.  This past cycle was the first time I was on PIO only and they had me on 2cc’s until 12 weeks.

Definitely get your TSH tested.  I precautionarily upped my meds by two pills per week after transfer this time and my TSH still shot up to almost 4. My dose ended up having to be doubled.

I am so glad to hear that the bleeding has stopped and the ultrasound went well. Fingers crossed that everything is positive from here on in!

pblge

Thanks ladies. (((hugs))) This has been very helpful, and I'm so grateful for your reassuring words. I went to the vampire phlebotomist this morning, so I'm now anxiously awaiting results from redraw of HCG, progesterone, and the TSH test. I suspect that my clinic doesn't call the pregnant people until last, as I haven't heard from them before 4 since my first beta. Sigh. It's going to be a long day!!

MissEm15

I don't have experience w/ my progesterone dropping until later.. i think around 8w. FX & Ts&Ps to you tho!!

jlb902

Fx for you! I haven't had my progesterone tested either so no experience.

gldnbearz

Hugs and Fx for you @pblge. I'm sorry about the twin loss and thinking positively for the remaining one to stick stick stick around.

Like many others, my RE did not test my progesterone level so not sure how much fluctuation there was.

FishyMom

Please let us know how the calm goes!! T&ps your way!

intheplanningstage

I only had my progesterone tested once at 7 weeks and it was 25.9 (naturally-no pio or endometrin....) and the lab said anything over 8.8 was normal. I know the dropping must be scary though. I wonder how it can do that when you are putting the medicine in your body. Fingers crossed u get good news this afternoon!!!

hopeby2015

((Hugs)) I'm so sorry to hear you lost one. Sending you lots of t&ps!

From my understanding, progesterone levels should stay above 30 - so if God forbid, anything goes wrong, it's not a progesterone issue. This advice was given to a friend from a specialist. I know that you can continue to have a solid pg even with low levels but I belive the thinking here was - might as well be safe than sorry kind of thing. I would definitely ask the doc for more progesterone. And I would definitely get the TSH tested. Mine is typically low and had to up my meds to twice a day as well.

Good luck! I hope everything turns out okay and hopefully that little dip in the # is just cuz u lost one and that the # will climb now!

pblge

So the clinic just called, and I'm kind of flabbergasted. Here are the last few progesterone results:
Friday, 8/15             65.4
Monday, 8/17          16.5
Wednesday, 8/20     82.5

I can't help but think something is off there, but I guess I can stop freaking out now about that.

Edited this, because I was being dumb:
My nurse wasn't thrilled with my HCG levels. They went from 4659 to 7763 between Monday and Wednesday, which translates to a 65 hour doubling time, which seems great to me. The nurse said they want to see a 67% increase, which would have been to 7780.53. That seems a high bar! Trying not to think about her pessimism too much.

New thing to freak out about: Also, TSH went up to 3.7, so that's not good either. Sigh. Can't freaking believe my clinic didn't test before this!!

Anyone got insight on either of those?

pblge

Thanks @Ducky719! I corrected the above a bit, as I was being an idiot, and I've no idea why my nurse was being so gloomy about what seems like a good result to me. Also, RunCC37 is one of my good buddies through the IF board, and she said her sister was here, too. Nice to finally meet you, and congratulations!!! I'm not tagging her, as she might not enjoy that.

Mrs.McIrish

I'd ignore the Nurse's doom and gloom bc the beta is "close enough" to what she wanted plus if there was a vanishing twin, there's no way to know how much of the 4000 level was from the twin !!! It's not like the twin beta drops to zero automatically. Deep breaths and have hope that the one baby is nestling in just fine:-)

Sophistikitty

pblge said:

So the clinic just called, and I'm kind of flabbergasted. Here are the last few progesterone results:
Friday, 8/15             65.4
Monday, 8/17          16.5
Wednesday, 8/20     82.5

I can't help but think something is off there, but I guess I can stop freaking out now about that.

Edited this, because I was being dumb:
My nurse wasn't thrilled with my HCG levels. They went from 4659 to 7763 between Monday and Wednesday, which translates to a 65 hour doubling time, which seems great to me. The nurse said they want to see a 67% increase, which would have been to 7780.53. That seems a high bar! Trying not to think about her pessimism too much.

New thing to freak out about: Also, TSH went up to 3.7, so that's not good either. Sigh. Can't freaking believe my clinic didn't test before this!!

Anyone got insight on either of those?

I’m so glad your progesterone went up! I wouldn’t worry about what the nurse said about doubling time.

Did the nurse say anything about your TSH figure? Your synthroid/levothyroxine dose should be upped IMO. My clinic wanted me under 2.5 and immediately increased my dosage when I tested at 3.9. I read that the American Thyroid Association is now recommending that women should independently increase their dose by 25-30% to 9 doses per week upon a positive pregnancy test. I am not a doctor so I obviously can’t recommend you do something against your doctor’s wishes but it is food for thought.

pblge

Oh, I should have said! The nurse said I should just call my endocrinologist (this RE doesn't ike to give thyroid advice, apparently), and the endo wants me to more than double my Levathyroxine dose starting immediately. I'm just hoping that that no harm has been done so far.

kflynn81

pblge said:

Oh, I should have said! The nurse said I should just call my endocrinologist (this RE doesn't ike to give thyroid advice, apparently), and the endo wants me to more than double my Levathyroxine dose starting immediately. I'm just hoping that that no harm has been done so far.

As soon as I got a BFP last year, my TSH went from under 1.0 to almost 6.0 ....as long as they catch it (yours is high but not drastically high) I think you're in the clear as long as you're treating it now

Great news about your p4....do you have a patient portal? I wonder if they mixed up the numbers like it should have been 61.5 instead? LOL just a thought

FishyMom

Happy to see the update! Like everyone else said.. Forget the nurse! When is your next sono?

pblge

Ashris13 said:

Happy to see the update! Like everyone else said.. Forget the nurse! When is your next sono?

Monday! I'm not anxious about it at all. )

poohniki

Hey. I was just reading that your progesterone can go down quite a bit after you eat. I don't know if you were fasting for your blood test or not.

I just had mine done and it went down a decent amount- but I just had a decent carb fest before going into labcorp. Guess I won't be doing that again.

I'm glad for your update.