Progesterone level during early natural pregnancy?

[Maggie8]

Hi Everyone,

Just had my 4th miscarriage. Frustrated and angry with myself. Was it due to low progesterone and could be avoid by taking the progesterone supplementation continuously? 26 to 27 day short cycles. Ovulated on cd16. 4w5d after LMP, progesterone 13.8. hCG 488. Mild cramping next day. Started vaginal progesterone. Cramping disappeared. 3 days later after 4capsules of progesterone had 2nd blood work. Progesterone 12.9. hCG 885(incr82%). Nurse said not promising, chromosomal abnormality? Devastated by what she said, stopped vaginal progesterone. 2 days later, 3rd hCG 1372(only up 55%). Progesterone not tested. 6w3d miscarried. My questions are:
1. Are slowing increased hCG doomed for chromosomal defect? Or it could lead to a healthy baby?
2. For a natural pregnancy, what is normal progesterone level arround 5wpreg? My doctor is a IVF specialist not sure if 13.8 was low. Nurse said progesterone not necessary for normal pregnancy?!
3. What to expect on serum progesterone level with vaginal supplementation? Up down or stays same?
4. 3rd m/c trisomy 21. Don't know about previous two(doctors refused to study the tissues), m/c around 5w after LMP. But I suspected it could be low progesterone as well since my luteal phases of those two cycles were 12 days. Does anybody have similar m/c history and found out later to be low progesterone? What would be my chance of having a healty baby if I have luteal phase defect?
5. Wouldn't it be too much to blame all 4 m/c chromosomal abnormalities due to my age?

No child. Almost 39. Please help.

[Niki Bry]

Progesterone is one of the hormones needed to support a pregnancy. I don't know why your nurse would say it's not needed...Your body produces the HCG hormones that support the pregnanct up to 11 weeks and progesterone is one of those hormones in your HCG. At 11 weeks the placenta takes over producing these hormones for you. You can have a healthy pregnancy and not produce enough of these hormones and end in a miscarriage...This is what happened to me 3 times before we realized what was happening. I had HCG hormone injections twice a week up to 11 weeks of pregnancy and had a healthy baby girl. This pregnancy we did the same thing as soon as I found out I was pregnant again and I am now 33 weeks pregnant with our son. We were checking my HCG levels with my pregnancies that's how we would find out they were low....

[Maggie8]

Dear Niki,

Thank you so much for your reply. It made me feel so bad that nobody responsed to my post in the past two days. I really appreciate your input. It makes me feel better now. At least I know that somebody out there had been in similar situations and eventually had healthy babies.

You mentioned that you had your progesterone level tested and were put on hCG injection. Was it hCG injection or progesterone injection? Do you still remember how low your progesterone levels went before your doctor put you on the treatment? My 1st progesterone level tested was 13.8 at 4w5d. The doctor was not sure if it needs to be boosted, as we conceived naturally without any drug inducement or IVF. Among all my 4 m/c, this was the first time that the doctor tested my progesterone level after I got pregnant. My next appointment with this specialist is in January, after the genetic analysis result comes out. I am trying to collect as many information as I could before I see him so that I could get the most out of it. He is such a caring and knowledgable specialist. Unfortunately, once your appointment is done with him, only his nurses communicate with you about your lab results and treatment.

I thought the same as you do. What the nurse said totally conflicts with what I have read about progesterone. To me, it does not seem to be quite reasonable just blaming my age and chromosomal defect on all 4 m/c. There got to be somthing else to blame beside my age. My gut feeling is that this one was a good embryo. But my hormone levels were not good enough for the baby. They sent the tissue out already for genetic analysis. We'll see how it is reported. I wish that I had not heard what the nurse said and continued the progesterone supplement. My baby might still be alive if I would have been mentally stronger and positive and held on the hope. It taught me a hard lesson. I will not easily give up hope next time.

Thank you again. I wish you all the best with your current pregnancy and deliver a healthy happy little boy.

Maggie

[gallerygirl]

I also had  4 m/c this year.  My levels were low, but they did not put me on supplements they said I didn't need them.  So I used a progesterone cream from a naturopath.  The doctor did however put me on heprin (two injections twice a day) which led the last preganancy to 14 weeks.  He said my blood was "sticky"  next time and I will try again (I am 41 with two teenagers) I will do progesterone asap, heprin and baby asprin (80mg)  You might ask the doc about your blood tests whether you show an anticogulant (spelling???) The best to you I KNOW its hard...

[Maggie8]

Hi Gallerygirl,

Thanks for the response. My doc did test me for blood clotting issues. They all came back negative. But I was put on baby aspirin 80 mg/d anyway, at the same time when I was given vaginal progesterone. You are right. I will do the same thing next time. As soon as I find out positive, I will ask to be put on progesterone and hoping for the problem to be solved. Having an uneventful pregnancy seems to be so luxurious to me. Quite a few women (sure younger than me) in my work place are pregnant one after the other without any problem since I had my 2nd m/c. It is so hard to look at them with their growing tummy everyday. Sometimes I wish that I would not have to go to work and see them. Other times, I wish I were them. Life would have been more beautiful then. Thanks a lot for your support.

Maggie

[Maggie8]

Hi Gallerygirl,
Thanks for the response. My doc did test me for blood clotting issues. They all came back negative. But I was put on baby aspirin 80 mg/d anyway, at the same time when I was given vaginal progesterone. You are right. I will do the same thing next time. As soon as I find out positive, I will ask to be put on progesterone and hoping for the problem to be solved. Having an uneventful pregnancy seems to be so luxurious to me. Quite a few women (mostly younger than me) in my work place are pregnant one after the other without any problem since I had my 2nd m/c. It is so hard to look at them with their growing tummy everyday. Sometimes I wish that I would not have to go to work and see them. Other times, I wish I were them. Life would have been more beautiful then. Thanks a lot for your support. Best of luck to you as well.

Maggie

[Niki Bry]

I'm sorry I don't remember my HCG numbers other then he said they were low at the first blood test which was at 4 weeks and with the miscarriages they would stop doubling by the third blood test.....The HCG Hormone is a combination of hormones including progesterone....you will hear some ladies on here take progesterone suppositories this is one of the hormones that makes up our HCG level. The injections I was given were the HCG hormone so it must have been a combination of horomones not just the progesterone....He didn't go into detail with me other then telling me my body did not produce enough of the hormones that make up the HCG horome and by taking these shots it was helping support my pregnancy. Now they will not give you the injections if the pregnancy doesn't look viable....so I had an ultra sound right away and of course you can't see much but the doctor wants to make sure the the egg is implanted in your uterus and not the fallopian tubes or anything....These injections only work if the pregnacy is a viable one to begin with just like you had said you thought one of yours was at the beginning...I would make it to 6 weeks and that's when I would loose the baby....He said that was another sign that my body wasn't producing enought of the pregnancy hormone hcg because by losses were all around 6 weeks! I hope this is helpful to you...We went through all the testing too- originally my doctor was worried it was a chromosome issue which he said was very hard to fix and I would have to see a specialest for that. But those tests came back normal and that's when we tried the hcg injections....Hang in there and don't give up I know what you are going through I have been there I remember being so upset that I  told my husband after the last miscarriage that I understood if he wanted to leave me because I couldn't have children - he was so sweet he told me it didn't matter to him he wasn't going any where and then that very next pregnancy we tried the injections and it worked!!!!!!! Good luck to you and please let me know how things go I will be thinking of you....

[Maggie8]

Dear Niki,

Thank you so much for the clearification of the hCG hormone injection. I'll keep it in mind for next time. I did the same thing as you did. I told my dh that he could leave me because of my m/cs and age. But he said no. Instead, he tried to take care of me after the m/c as much as he could. I wish I could be a better wife of him. Thanks again.

Maggie

[Niki Bry]

You hang in there it will work out for you and your husband...It just takes some of us a lot longer. Plus when you are holding your little one- he or she will be just that more precious to you.Please keep me updated and I will be thinking of you....

[Maggie8]

Thank you, Niki. I will. And good luck to your family as well.

Maggie

[christie34]

Going through my 2nd miscarriage...34 years old. My doctor says it "might" be time for testing. After reading your narratives and studying on the internet, I now have no doubt that they were due to low progesterone levels and mine was 18 at 4weeks and began dropping at 5 weeks 5 days and I just miscarried TODAY 6 weeks 2 days. My last miscarriage was also at 6 weeks. I honestly believe that had I taken progesterone injections that this pregnancy would have ended in a healty baby. I had an ultrasound at 5 weeks 4 days and everything "looked fine" they said. I really think they neglected me not giving me progesterone early on. They just prescribed oral progesterone yesterday evening which I read was the least effective type. Of course, I was already bleeding and cramping terribly. Why doesn't the doctor explain this to us? I feel like I have to research everything so that maybe I will have an inclination of what to ask and the physiology of what is happening to my body. Now I plan to tell my doctor that the next time I get pregnant I WANT PROGESTERONE INJECTIONS! They actually treated me like " oh well another miscarriage...instead of researching the possible causes. had to find all my info on the internet. I will be ready for the next one.. thanks for all your stories. That is the only way we learn things sometimes.
Christie

[Maggie8]

Hi Christie,

Thank you for your post. I am sorry to hear that you experienced your 2nd m/c. The good news is that you are still young, much younger than me. Hope your body can get over it soon so that you can try again, with the progesterone suppository or injection. Good luck and take care.

Maggie

[erane]

Hi.
During the year 2004 I had 2 miscarriedges, about 2 months apart from each other.  The doctors said this is because of my low progesterone level together with arithirits.
Now, i found out about a week ago i am preganant again, between 5 and 6 weeks. They've tested for my progesterone level and it was 58.2, which is very good, but yesterday i've tested again and it dropped till 49.8.  The doctors said anything below 50 is not good.

I am currently on Cyclocest Progesterone supplements and Ecotrin tablets.

I am so worried and do afraid that i might loose this baby also.
I wonder if someone can tell me what the changes are of that happening again?

good luck to all the mother struggling and who had lost their babies!!!!

[StellaMaris]

I need the progesterone injections and patch, somebody have for sale? and how much is it?
Stella

[babyhopeful]

I have just finished a combination of letrozel and follistim and I am on progesterone supplements. I got my week after ovulation progesterone test results today and it was 32.3. Is this normal with the supplements or is this a likely indicator that I am pregnant?

[allison71]

I am new to this...but here's my story.  I found out on May 14 that I was pregnant. My Dr. told me that I was probably in between 4-6 weeks pregnant.  I couldn't stop crying when she told me!  I was sooo happy.  My hubby and I had been trying for nearly 2 years!
Anyhow, I had my 2nd visit with the Dr. and she did and u/s.  She saw a sac but nothing inside.  She did some blood work and said that my hcg levels were fine at 14,300 (May 14, hcg was at 130) but that she was concerned about my progesterone levels.  On May 14 it was at 90.8 but on June 3 it had dropped to 34.  My Dr. immediately recommended progesterone suppositories (2xday at 200 mg per suppository).  At this point she also said that she'd probably miscalculated how far along I was.  She was now saying 5 1/2 weeks and so it would make sense that there was nothing seen inside the sac during the u/s.  She said that we should be 'cautiously optimistic'.  That just stresses me out more!
I'm freaking out because I'm nearly 38 and this is my first pregnancy.  This baby is wanted soooo badly and it would absolutely crush me to lose it.
I have another appointment schedule for Tuesday, June 9.  So nervous...but I guess I can't change what is meant to be.

[brooke870]

I'm sorry, I don't know it all by anymeans but if your progesterone levels are above a 12 at 5 weeks, your doing good. I am approx. 4 weeks. my prog levels were at a 1.6 2 days ago. I go in and test again tomorrow to see if they increase.  All I can say to anyone who has had more than 1 miscarriage- GO SEE A REPRODUCTIVE ENDOCRINOLOGIST!!! They are specialized in this and will be able to help you sort through your questions. Don't go to a regular md or even gyno-they dont know jack.  Sorry to be so blunt, i guess I am just a little upset that I may be going through another miscarriage if levels dont go up. Good luck to all.