Neupogen and Humira/Reccurent Loss and Failed IVFs

kknapik

I just found out that IVF #4 was a failure. This was our 7th injectable cycle. I have had 2 losses at 9 weeks, a heterotopic pregnancy following our first IVF, an ectopic, and a chemical and still have no answers (and multiple failed cycles). Since I cannot afford to go see Dr. Braverman in NYC after dumping all this money into IVF and CGH, my clinic has agreed to do his panel of testing. They said that, depending on the results, some of the other things we can try are Neupogen and/or Humira. Does anyone here have any experience with either of these drugs in conjunction with IVF? Any other words of wisdom?

So far we have tried 15mg Prednisone, Lovenox, 60g IvIg every 30 days, Crinone, PIO, and baby ASA. I have had a HSG and multiple hysteroscopies and everything looks good (had septum removed earlier this year.) The only issues that I have is a thin lining (hovers around 7mm) and we did one IVF with aCGH testing which showed I had a ton of abnormal embryos....and I am only 31! My RE isn't sure if that was a fluke or not but when we had the chromosome testing done after one of the D&Cs, the results came back normal. For the lining issues, although its sufficient for implantation, we have tried E2V injections and Estrace and I do not respond to it.

Sorry for the rambling, but I am at such a loss!

theworms

i'm sorry for you losses.  it sucks.

i am a patient of Dr. B's (he's not my RE but works with him on my cycles). he does phone consults if you want to do that, it is worth the money. his panel of testing is done through reprosource and is very thorough.  he's really odd but very knowledgeable and want's to solve the puzzle that is you and your losses.

i haven't done neupogen or humira but STL (on PaIF) just cycled with him and added neupogen and is KU.

in terms of thin lining have you tried acu?  i would also add (if you haven't already) pom juice, wheat grass and warm compresses on your lower ab.  you can also look into viagra supps.

GL and i hope you have success soon.

 

kknapik

theworms:

i'm sorry for you losses.  it sucks.

i am a patient of Dr. B's (he's not my RE but works with him on my cycles). he does phone consults if you want to do that, it is worth the money. his panel of testing is done through reprosource and is very thorough.  he's really odd but very knowledgeable and want's to solve the puzzle that is you and your losses.

i haven't done neupogen or humira but STL (on PaIF) just cycled with him and added neupogen and is KU.

in terms of thin lining have you tried acu?  i would also add (if you haven't already) pom juice, wheat grass and warm compresses on your lower ab.  you can also look into viagra supps.

GL and i hope you have success soon.

 

Thanks so much for your response. What is PaIF? That is great to hear of her success with Neupogen. Did she have a lot of failure before trying it?

Do you happen to know how much Braverman charges for a phone consult? When I inquired about an appointment (at the time) is was $2500 just for the consult but I have heard his prices have gone way up since then.

 I did do acupuncture for quite some time and it didn't do anything, actually, the first cycle that I did it after going every week for 2 months, my lining was at its worst at only 6.1. (I have the worst luck!) I also drink a lot of POM juice and use powdered wheatgrass in my smoothie every morning. We also tried vaginal Viagra for one cycle and then combined it with Terbutaline for another cycle and I had no response to it. I feel like we are running out of options.

kknapik

theworms:

i am a patient of Dr. B's (he's not my RE but works with him on my cycles). he does phone consults if you want to do that, it is worth the money. his panel of testing is done through reprosource and is very thorough.  he's really odd but very knowledgeable and want's to solve the puzzle that is you and your losses.

Also, do you have a list of what his immune test panel includes? I would like to see what we have already done in comparison to what is left. Thanks!

thebeadinglady

kknapik:

theworms:

i'm sorry for you losses.  it sucks.

i am a patient of Dr. B's (he's not my RE but works with him on my cycles). he does phone consults if you want to do that, it is worth the money. his panel of testing is done through reprosource and is very thorough.  he's really odd but very knowledgeable and want's to solve the puzzle that is you and your losses.

i haven't done neupogen or humira but STL (on PaIF) just cycled with him and added neupogen and is KU.

in terms of thin lining have you tried acu?  i would also add (if you haven't already) pom juice, wheat grass and warm compresses on your lower ab.  you can also look into viagra supps.

GL and i hope you have success soon.

 

Thanks so much for your response. What is PaIF? That is great to hear of her success with Neupogen. Did she have a lot of failure before trying it?

Do you happen to know how much Braverman charges for a phone consult? When I inquired about an appointment (at the time) is was $2500 just for the consult but I have heard his prices have gone way up since then.

 I did do acupuncture for quite some time and it didn't do anything, actually, the first cycle that I did it after going every week for 2 months, my lining was at its worst at only 6.1. (I have the worst luck!) I also drink a lot of POM juice and use powdered wheatgrass in my smoothie every morning. We also tried vaginal Viagra for one cycle and then combined it with Terbutaline for another cycle and I had no response to it. I feel like we are running out of options.

I looked into doing a phone consult with Dr. B earlier this summer and I think it was $600.

theworms

kknapik:

theworms:

i'm sorry for you losses.  it sucks.

i am a patient of Dr. B's (he's not my RE but works with him on my cycles). he does phone consults if you want to do that, it is worth the money. his panel of testing is done through reprosource and is very thorough.  he's really odd but very knowledgeable and want's to solve the puzzle that is you and your losses.

i haven't done neupogen or humira but STL (on PaIF) just cycled with him and added neupogen and is KU.

in terms of thin lining have you tried acu?  i would also add (if you haven't already) pom juice, wheat grass and warm compresses on your lower ab.  you can also look into viagra supps.

GL and i hope you have success soon.

 

Thanks so much for your response. What is PaIF? That is great to hear of her success with Neupogen. Did she have a lot of failure before trying it? it's another board, pregnant after IF, i want to say this was her 3rd IVF, i don't think she had any losses but STL comes to this board often and will hopefully reply.  i know she has some immune issues

Do you happen to know how much Braverman charges for a phone consult? When I inquired about an appointment (at the time) is was $2500 just for the consult but I have heard his prices have gone way up since then.  i think consult was $600 over the phone

 I did do acupuncture for quite some time and it didn't do anything, actually, the first cycle that I did it after going every week for 2 months, my lining was at its worst at only 6.1. (I have the worst luck!) I also drink a lot of POM juice and use powdered wheatgrass in my smoothie every morning. We also tried vaginal Viagra for one cycle and then combined it with Terbutaline for another cycle and I had no response to it. I feel like we are running out of options.  Dr. B put me on metformin to help improve lining and it has gone up for me.  i don't have PCOS but have a few of the symptoms

 

theworms

kknapik:

theworms:

i am a patient of Dr. B's (he's not my RE but works with him on my cycles). he does phone consults if you want to do that, it is worth the money. his panel of testing is done through reprosource and is very thorough.  he's really odd but very knowledgeable and want's to solve the puzzle that is you and your losses.

Also, do you have a list of what his immune test panel includes? I would like to see what we have already done in comparison to what is left. Thanks!

i don't remember, it was a lot of stuff, he also does testing on the sperm as well.  it used to be on his website.

 

 

theworms

there is a discussion board on his website and you can ask him questions, he's great about replying on the boards.

i would ask him some of your questions there.

GL

mdluv21

I have not worked with Dr. B but my RE is big on immulogical issues/testing and I went through some very extensive panels prior to starting IVF.  I did not have any of the issues that they recommend Neupogen or Humira for but did have elevated NK cell activity and did intralipid infusions for.  I also was on metformin, dexamethasone (sp.? - a steriod) and heparin for heterozygous MTHFR. 

I did my intralipid treatments at the Beer Center and I know they do phone consults as well.  I am not sure if they are any cheaper than Dr. B.

https://www.repro-med.net/repro-med-site2/

A friend of mine who also used my RE did humira with her cycle is currently 5 months pregnant.

kknapik

theworms:

there is a discussion board on his website and you can ask him questions, he's great about replying on the boards.

i would ask him some of your questions there.

GL

Hmm, they had me on Metformin for a short time but stopped it as I had a spontaneous pregnancy. I will ask about that again.

Thanks for all the help! I really appreciate it!

kknapik

mdluv21:

I did my intralipid treatments at the Beer Center and I know they do phone consults as well.  I am not sure if they are any cheaper than Dr. B.

https://www.repro-med.net/repro-med-site2/

 

Thanks so much for the info!

STL34

I just responded to your post above about cycling with Dr. Braverman.

The initial phone consult was $650.  Follow-up phone consults were $350.  For him to order meds/follow a cycle, it is $1250.  

When I had my blood work done, I had high NKas, high cytokines and some of my white blood cell panel was off.  My husband and I also had a bunch of HLA matches.  

I was on Humira when my initial testing was done (I was on it for my arthritis) and it obviously didn't get my cytokine levels down.  I had been doing intralipids with my IVF cycles and never got a positive result.  When I first consulted with Dr. Braverman, we had been trying for about 2 years (including 2 IVF cycles) with absolutely no implantation.  After my blood test results came back, Dr. Braverman thought I had auto and alloimmune implantation dysfunction.  I couldn't afford to try IVIG because it was not covered and would have been $2,000 to $4,000 per infusion and I would have had to be on it for a while.  So, Dr. Braverman had me try adding neupogen.  He had me stop Humira at least a month before I would be starting neupogen.

Since I had already been tested (and found positive) for full antiphospholipid antibodies and anti-cardiolipin antibodies, Dr. Braverman didn't retest those.  I had also had full blood clotting panels, so none of that was retested.

For all of my IVF cycles, I was on Lovenox, baby aspirin, HGH, intralipids, coQ-10, and a few other supplements. 

Good luck!  Let me know if you have any questions!

ETA - Dr. B though my implantation dysfunction was keeping me from ever having anything implant.  So, even if egg and sperm were meeting on those many, many natural cycles and even though we transferred 4 really good and one okay blasts during my IVF cycle, I never had any implantation.  That being said, those same issues can cause m/c if you do have implantation.