Starting from zero :Doctors Appointments Dr Gamal Mathias

I had a little break , I came back  to the gym to try to loose the 8 kg I gained  at the end of  the last pregnancy .. I think  I actually  gained the more  weight when I was winding down from the prednisone,

I think december  was very hard for me  .. not  only  because of my lost,   but  because  I had " retained product  " in my  uterus ...  I was very  stress out ...  I didn't know what  to do... do  what your  doctors  tell you or  just   follow  your  heart ....

So this month I did had a little  break of  thinking about  babies  or having a  family  :-P , but  who I am lying to ,  If I don't look for possible  treatments  myself , nobody is  gonna  do it for me .. 

So 15 days  ago my husband  read and article about surrogacy and then we  watched a bbc  show about  surrogacy in India ,  he though that surrogacy could be a good alternative  for us  as we dont  know whats  wrong with my  uterus ..  so I  actually  wrote to some of the surrogacy leaders in India, I contact  Dr Nayana,   they  were very helpful and  gave me some info  online  about their  surrogacy programs 

but at the end  . I really like  it .  but  at the end  $28k  is just too much for  us , especially  right now that only  MrB is working and not me , I have  been  working  super hard  sending my  cv's and selling things in my  2  ebay sites  but is just gonna be almost impossible to pay 28k in 9 months ... 

I did  contacted other surrogacy programs in Thailand, Vietnam  , India, but all of them   are  about the same  price   :-(  .. I am still waiting for a ivf clinic in Colombia that has a similar program , but they haven't answer  to me yet

So I came back to  plan A :  investigate  what's  wrong with me .   Should I go overseas,  Should I stay , I am so  confuse I dont  even know where to start again .

so I called Dr Gamal Matthias  in sydney , I will have a phone appointment with the doctor , this will cost me $300. Dr Matthias is an specialist in Reproductive  Immunology, I choose him  coz I read about him in some of the forums ,  I wanted to see  Dr Sacks  but  he doesn't do phone appointments  and It would cost me at least  $1000 to travel to Sydney and back and then pay for  tests on top . 

with doctor mathias  I will be  discussing  new tests  and possible  treatments .

I also Contact  Ivf Australia , I will be having an appointment with  Dr Ron Chang , it will cost me  $190 .  With Dr Chang  I will be  discussing  if is possible to have a Hysteroscopy /laparoscopy to check that everything is alright  down there  and that I don't have  any  Fibroids  (as one of the  ultrasound technicians  suggested  I probably had , as  he couldn't  see properly lining of my endometrium .. this happen at the ultrasound of the 31 of  december )  I am just  hoping  Dr chang has  successful experiences in women with Unexplained recurrent miscarriages .

with  doctor chang Ill be  discussing the possibility of  having  Ivf  with PGD/PGD-aCGH , prices etcetera. 

So , my ebay sales will be all going to  this specialist appointments I guess  ,

 I am very  interested in the Ivf  with aCGH  to be able choose the best embryos  and ruled out the possibility of  chromosomal abnormalities .

I feel little bit  left  behind  because  I know  all this treatments are very expensive, I know that we can't  afford them right now  :-( 

Thats why I also contact  some of the clinics in thailand , they seem to have very update  technology  and more reasonable prices than Australia .   I particularly like  one  , they seem to be  quite complete , joining the  immunology and the ivf in one same place , but I still have to  register with them to  know the costs . 

I also contact  some of the clinics in Colombia , I found  one  to be the most  I like , their  Ivf includes aCGH  cost about  8k  so is  not  that bad . 

The Prednisone protocol , the Bondi Protocol

I actually found this  comment in  the website underneath,  I found it very interesting  as I found her symptoms in previous pregnancies  very similar to my own symptoms , I also  had the same treatment  for pregnancy which I reckon It worked but it was something  else missing , I also found the  lack of support of the doctors  en Australia  for actually try a new treatment on me , so it was actually very difficult to get access to  heparin for example  or even the progesterone pessaries .

I think they are updating the  website if you want  you might be able to  email them for more info if you require .

http://www.tryingtoconceive.com/mc.htm
Dear Momma Kath,
It has been a year since I first emailed you inquiring about an online subscriber to your website who had used prednisone to have a baby. I had emailed you asking for her contact information, but you had no luck in tracking her down. Well, I wanted you to know that I did some research of my own and contacted doctors in Europe who are using prednisone ("prednisolone" in Europe) to treat women with "unexplained recurrent miscarriages" with great success. What they are finding is that women with recurrent miscarriages have higher levels of natural killer cells in their uterine lining, which causes an immune system reaction when a pregnancy tries to implant in the uterine wall. With all my miscarriages, immediately following implantation, my belly would blow up like a balloon causing me to look like I was 12 weeks pregnant, when I was only 4 weeks into the pregnancy.
What they are finding is that for some women, the body attacks the pregnancy as a "foreign invader" causing an immune system response with inflammation at the site of implantation, leading to fetal demise.
Anyhow, to make a long story short...I just gave birth to a healthy baby boy on Dec. 23 after 5 miscarriages in a row. I followed the protocol of a Dr. Siobhan Quenby in London.
You take 20mg of prednisone upon a positive pregnancy test up until week 10, then 10 mg until week 11, then reduce it to 5 mg until week 12. You just take it for the first 12 weeks, in order to allow for a strong placenta to grow, and prevent your body from rejecting the pregnancy. My doctor also had me take Endometrium vaginal inserts 3 x/day starting 4 days after I ovulated up until I was 16 weeks pregnant (he said I only needed to take it for 12 weeks, but I wanted to be extra safe). He also put me on HCG shots every 3 days starting from a positive pregnancy test up until 12 weeks, also as an extra safety measure to support the corpus luteum.
All I can say is that within a 1/2 hour of me taking my first prednisone dose, my belly deflated like a balloon, and the inflammation that caused my uterus to swell in the previous pregnancies was no longer.
Prior to my doctor agreeing to follow Dr. Quenby's prednisone protocol, my doctor told me to try Lovenox injections. I found this drug to be very "evil"! Painful black and blues on my stomach, bleeding from the injection site that didn't stop, so I had to stop it.
Throughout this journey, I have found two disappointing realities...in this country there is a push for IVF as a band aid for all pregnancy problems...I found SO many doctors that immediately pushed for IVF..ironically the most expensive treatment...as a first line of treatment. I found that many reproductive endocrinologists and fertility doctors were money hungry and preyed on women who were desperate to have a baby...telling them that their eggs were bad and that the ONLY way to have a baby is through IVF.
I also was disappointed to find that the other alternative to treating women with "unexplained" recurrent miscarriages that is being used in this country was the horrible Lovenox drug. I had already seen a leading Hematologist and he said I had no blood disorders whatsoever, so I found it disconcerting to have to take blood thinner to try and treat my "unexplained miscarriages", when I could take a $5/month drug, once a day in the morning with no side effects whatsoever that would actually treat my overactive immune system, which was the problem.
I wanted to send you this information, so that it may help other women like me. Please pass this along. Tell your subscribers to type in "prednisolone" and "Dr. Quenby" into their search criteria on the Internet, print out her study, and bring it to their doctors. I know that if I couldn't find a doctor in this country who would try this prednisone protocol, my husband and I were ready to take a trip to England so that we could get the treatment that we needed. Persistence is key.