Betahell.. can anyone relate?

JourneytoJoy07 · February 2013

This may be the wrong place to post this....but a girl over in IF said there was a woman that had my situation possibly in this group. I would LOVE to find her or anyone that can relate..... Here is my story:

Background: Transferred two blasts on a 5dt. Started spotting on 8dp5dt (positive wondfo) Started what I believed to be AF on 9dp5dt. Passed huge clots, something I never saw with the first BFN IVF and bled like I've never bled before. Still got a positive Wondfo and beta. Bleeding stopped late Sunday night (11dp5dt)

I'm still in betahell. My 4th beta was a 21. Needed to be a 36. RE said it's most likely an abnormal pregnancy, but I have to keep taking meds until I go for a 5th beta on Monday. If it goes up like it has been, I'll go one more time before they will do an ultrasound to help us decide what to do (natural, d and c, meds, etc.). It would be phenomenal if it were a HUGE number on Monday and a miracle baby.... But it's just not looking that way. Has anyone see this turn into a positive story? Everything I read online in regards to chemical shows a high beta for a while, then it lowers. Mine keeps going up, but is way behind every single time. I am now 17dp5dt still getting positive wondfos and faint faint pos on $tree tests. Every chemical story I have read shows higher numbers than me that increase more normally before dropping. I can't find anyone with my situation I feel like this roller coaster will never end. I would love for it to end in a miracle...but not so sure that'll happen.

BETA 1: 6.1, (8dp5dt) spotting

BETA 2: 9, (9dp5dt) AF like bleeding and clots

BETA 3: 16,(12dp5dt) No bleeding

BETA 4: 21(14dp5dt) No bleeding

delino · February 2013

I'm sorry that you're stuck in limbo. Beta hell is so hard and I hope you get a definitive answer soon.

hungryhippo · February 2013

I can relate to beta hell and I know how much it sucks. I'm so so sorry you are going through it.

My beta hell was different and to warn you before you read it... It didn't end well. You can see in my siggy that i didn't get as far as IVF in my treatment. The pregnancy that landed me in beta hell was my second, and the last one I had before becoming infertile, so I didn't have an RE at that point. A brief summary of my experience...

My beta was in the 100s before I even discovered I was pregnant. I too thought my bleeding was a period and just kept charting like it was a new cycle. 3 weeks and multiple positive OPKs later I took a HPT and it was positive. My chart showed i was only 5dpo, so my dr and i believe i was actually pregnant the whole time and that the temp rise on my chart was a fluke. Betas stayed around 150 for three or four draws, spiking a bit for one of them. OB suspected ectopic but thought it was more likely intrauterine. Still she offered methotrexate. Ultrasound didnt see any evidence of a pregnancy anywhere. We scheduled a D and C, because she wanted to find evidence of the pregnancy to rule out an ectopic, but finally the next beta showed enough of a decrease that my doctor let me continue betas until 0. Eventually the miscarriage started without intervention. My current RE believes I had an ectopic that dislodged itself and tried to implant in my uterus. That explains some crazy pain I had at what I thought was 2dpo and the HCG spike later.

So, yes I can relate, but it's not exactly the same. I can tell you that in my time on the loss boards I've seen a few beta hell stories. A few of them do turn out ok, so there is hope. Your RE us doing exactly what I'd expect with betas that are increasing, but just not doubling in 48 to 72 hours.

I hope you get great beta news on Monday. An ultrasound that early might not show much at all, but I hope you get to see a sac forming in your uterus too.

Hang in there. You won't be in beta hell forever. Huge hugs.

katharine25 · February 2013

I'm so sorry your in beta hell. I've been there and it's such a horrid place to be. Betas can be really really weird, and sometimeds you just have to forget all the science and just hang onto a bit of hope, because there are success stories out there. Here's a link to a fellow PgALer who Does have a success story to tell. Her betas are listed in the the post, and she's now holding her daughter in her arms

https://m.thebump.com/cs/ks/forums/ShowThread.aspx?PostID=67704406

Sorry it's not clicky.

Laurakat is another PgALer who did IVF, she had some pretty weird betas to start and is now in 2nd tri. I'm sure she'll chime in if she sees this post.

Good luck to you!!!!

Laurakat81 · February 2013

I'm so sorry you're dealing with beta hell. It's awful. And I truly hope you have a good outcome. My story is a bit different but it has so far had a happy ending.

I did IVF back in November. My first beta at 9dp5dt was 64. Because of Thanksgiving I wasn't able to get a repeat beta until five days later, 14dp5dt. It came back at 91. So it clearly didn't even double once, much less the 2 and a half times it should have by that day.

My RE didn't tell me to stop my meds, but I actually did for two days. He did tell me that is was almost certainly a chemical pregnancy and to prepare for the worst. Two days later I had repeat betas done and they came back around 200. It was around 2pm when the nurse called and I remember running to my med stash, shoving a progesterone suppository up my woo-ha and injecting myself with the PIO on the spot, not even waiting for DH to get home to do it. And then worrying that I'd killed my baby by not taking the meds the previous two days! So I know taking those meds when you feel hopeless is just a cruel joke but trust me when I say keep taking them (I know you said you were).

I don't understand it but I do think IVF babies are more likely to be late implanters and follow their own rules on betas. I see so many crazy beta stories with IVFers that do end well, of course many don't as well though. Praying and keeping everything crossed that you end up being one of those success stories. ((((HUGS))))

JourneytoJoy07 · February 2013

Thank you all for your responses. Laurakat, I went to your blog and read your November posts. It's much how we feel. Ours are just so low, but I know miracles can happen!! Thank you again...:)

buggirl72 · February 2013

I just wanted to send you a (((hug))). I'm currently in beta hell but my situation is different than yours. I encourage you to keep having them monitor your betas.

mork · February 2013

PAL lurker hopping in here.

My Jan 2011 pg was similar. I originally didn't think I was pg that cycle because of the bleeding, but it was different than my normal AF and I started experiencing other symptoms as time when on. Got a positive HPT, then slow rising betas. They called it ectopic at the time even though three u/s found absolutely nothing anywhere. Since then I've had an RE and two OBs say it was likely an incomplete m/c instead, with just the hormones and maybe a tiny bit of tissue remaining somewhere.

I had to take two rounds of methotrexate, as the first didn't make my hcg drop, and then lived through 13 weeks of beta hell on the back end until my hcg finally reached zero.

I wish I had a better outcome to share. ::HUGS::

ETA: stupid mobile bump

JourneytoJoy07 · February 2013

Thank you all so much for your stories. I truly hope to find some more information out on Monday. Although, I thought surely last Wednesday I'd have the answer. We shall see....

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