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Frequent miscarriages and now on Progesterone

I am 41 yrs old. So far I have had 2 late miscarriages at around 14 weeks and a couple of very early miscarriages.

I was supposed to be seen and tested at a medical centre for women with frequent miscarriages when I found out that I was again pregnant. As a result they were not able to perform those tests. My doctor agreed to put me on progesterone starting around week 4 of my pregnancy. I would take two vaginal pills every day. I am now in my 10th week and she told me that I can lower the dosage to one pill/day for this week and stop taking them by the end of the 10th week.

My questions are:

1. I read on your website that the Progesterone therapy should be continued until at least 4 months. Isn't 10 week too early to stop the therapy then?

2. I have no had any tests so far (before or after pregnancy) to measure me progesterone levels. Is there a blood test for this? and if yes would it make sense to have it done at this point and would it tell my doctor whether or not the therapy should be continued?

Thank you for your time and looking forward to hearing from you.

Comments for Frequent miscarriages and now on Progesterone

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Jun 15, 2011
 suggestion
by: Annette Canada

Hi there. I'm 39 years of age and had a baby very preterm because of low progesterone. She came at 29 weeks and was only 3 lbs, scariest experience of my life. There is no harm staying on progesterone throughout your pregnancy. Maybe consider switching to the cream after the ten weeks. Considering your age and your past miscarriages, I wouldn't risk going off of it. There are many women they have stayed on it right through until birth and had wonderful pregnancies. I wish I would of known about it before, it would of prevented my situation. Wray may give you different advice but in my research on it. I would say stay on it right through if it was me. Hope you have a wonderful pregnancy all the best.
Jun 21, 2011
 Frequent miscarriages and now on Progesterone
by: Wray

Hi there I'm glad you've finally been given progesterone. For some extraordinary reason, it's only thought about after 3 miscarriages have occurred. I would always recommend starting progesterone before conception if recurrent miscarriages have been experienced. But at least you are now using it. And yes, stopping at 10 weeks is too early to my mind, specially as you've already experienced 2 miscarriages at 14 weeks. Your doctor of course might not agree to give you more vaginal pills, in which case I recommend getting a cream. They are as effective, I've helped many women throughout their pregnancies using only a cream. Two other effective options are injections and suppositories, but these often require a script. I'm not sure how much progesterone is in the pills you are currently using, often it's 90mg in each, giving you 180mg/day. This is a good amount, so if you have to change to another Delivery system please continue using this amount or more. We do have more info on our Pregnancy page. A test would be a good idea, in view of the miscarriages and your doctor wanting you to stop at 10 weeks. An hCG and progesterone test is optimal, hCG is the hormone which ensures that the corpus luteum continues to make progesterone. Levels of this rise exponentially once pregnant, for more info see American Pregnancy Association. Take care Wray

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