Question for those familiar with autoimmune issues

Sophistikitty

We are in the process of regrouping and trying to decide if we are going to move forward with our RI consult or not.  Long story short finances are becoming a big issue as all our treatments (like most of you) have been OOP and we are not sure what our most prudent course of action is at this point.

I had (what most would consider minimal) autoimmune testing a year ago.  Those results showed anti-cardiolipin below the reference range for concern.  My question is, although I was within the reference range I did have antibodies for all three cardiolipin antibodies (IgG, IgA, IgM).  Does this not show that there is potential for a future issue?  My understanding is that not everyone has these antibodies.  I realize mine are not elevated and were not a concern at the time but does the presence of them not in itself require further investigation.  I have Hashimoto?s and doctors have told me that even though my thyroid antibodies are currently within the normal range that doesn?t mean that they are still not active.  Is the same not true with other antibodies?  Can they not go up and down once they are present and even spike under certain conditions?

hmz819

I have an appointment with Dr. KK coming up so I can't speak to costs yet but I was told by her insurance person that a lot of things get covered since she uses immune codes instead of infertility codes.

luvboston

If you are positive for the antibodies then you have some sort of autoimmune issue that warrants further investigation. My advice would be to save up and have a consult with Beer or Kwak Kim. In the meantime I would ask your pcp to run all the tests they can, I can give you the list.

Sophistikitty

We have all our paperwork ready to send to KK.  We technically have the funds to go ahead with testing but it would come out of the funds that we had allocated for a second DE cycle.  Part of me still questions if the last failure was due to the embryos (our donor only stimmed for eight days).  I don?t know, I?m guess I?m just not thinking clearly lately.  I am so scared that we won?t have the $$$ to do another fresh cycle but on the other hand I realize that if the FET fails we will likely have to see an RI anyway.  I think I am going to see what tests I can get done locally first and then make a decision from there.  

Sometimes I feel like I just don?t have the energy for this anymore.  I have always been one to pick myself up and push forward but right now I just feel beaten