Miscarriages

[SweetBella]

THIS POLL IS ONLY FOR WOMEN WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED AT LEAST ONE MISCARRIAGE!!!

For those of you who have experienced a miscarriage or more, I am deeply sorry and can't even imagine what it feels like to go through something like that!

I was watching a show today that had a doctor talking about different things and one of the things was regarding miscarriages....

Here is the question: If you have had at least one miscarriage, I'm curious how often you floss your teeth? I know this sounds weird....

Please vote truthfully in the poll....

 

[Entertaining_Angels]

Not weird at all and I know what you are getting at. The one that shocks me the most is women who work nights have an 85% greater risk of miscarriage. Also smoking adds tens years to your reproductive age which also greatly increases miscarriage.

Sorry, really not trying to hijack the thread but I do collect medical journal articles related to miscarriage.

 

[sunshiinedays]

I've never heard of a correlation. Very interesting.

 

[Manna]

I haven't had a miscarriage, so I couldn't vote, but I googled it after I saw this, and I thought it was interesting...had never heard of the two being connected before now!

 

[Linnis]

I honestly think the teeth flossing thing is a little bit far fetched. Like some have the need to put the blame on something, anything and when all else fails why not how often you floss your teeth.

Sometimes miscarriages happen through no fault of our own and as hard as it might be we have to accept that.

 

[jgonz]

I've never been one to floss my teeth (maybe once a month)... and I had 9 full term pregnancies before I had my miscarriage.... so I really don't see a correlation....

 

[Manna]

The only thing I found was that there has been a link between periodontal (sp) disease and miscarriages, and flossing *could* help the disease. It's very loose, but apparently quite a few doctors are looking at it.

 

[Katakalupto]

I floss about once a week. I have had 3 miscarriages, and don't think my teeth had anything to do with it.

 

[NothingButTheBlood]

I have had one miscarriage and we know it's because of blood clots in my placenta so flossing is irrelavent.

 

[dews]

It didn't have anything to do with my miscarriages or stillbirth either. My problem was physical. Once I had surgery to correct it, I was able to carry children full-term.

 

[EmSchmem]

Did my Mother In Law do this report? She's still trying to figure out what i did to cause my miscarriage 2 years ago. I did nothing by the way.

 

[Leanna]

Dude so I don't get it.... should I be flossing more or less? (this sounds a bit silly really)

 

[Entertaining_Angels]

Did my Mother In Law do this report? She's still trying to figure out what i did to cause my miscarriage 2 years ago. I did nothing by the way.

Oh Em, I am so sorry. I know when they told me my son would have Down Syndrome, my MIL accused me of doing something to cause it. Yeah, that was nice.

And, truth be told, often miscarriages are no fault of our own. You can look at all the 'reasons' today given but miscarriages have always happened.

 

[Entertaining_Angels]

I know you're an expert on the subject OreGal, but just wanted to chime in and say, that this is so true. Miscarriages have always happened due to no one's fault.

Nowhere near expert status but I have learned quite a bit in the last few years. Unfortunately, there is just so much unknown still about miscarriages and often a single miscarriage is just a miscarriage with no rhyme or reason to it.

 

[Linnis]

That's part of why except for a few people nobody knows I miscarried)In November 2004). I know my MIL would be equally crual.

Sometimes there is a clear cut reason for a miscarriage or preterm labor but most of the time there is not.

 

[InTheFlame]

Could the same be said for a second misscarriage, or is that when they do begin to look for a reason.

They generally start looking for a reason after 3 miscarriages in a row.

Often, they're just genetic mismatches. Getting sperm and ova to combine to produce a person with all the right bits and pieces is harder than we tend to realise - around 50% (I've seen estimates from 25-75%) of fertilised eggs never even implant in the uterine lining... then about 25% of the ones that DO, suffer some problem - at this stage the cell cluster has to divide into embryo and placenta, so sometimes a placenta forms but no embryo, sometimes an embryo starts to form but the the base of the form, the foetal pole (which becomes the baby's spine) doesn't form correctly, sometimes the cell cluster didn't implant into the lining deeply enough. And that's just what can go wrong with the egg-sperm combo, without any medical problems of the mother's (which might be treatable).

Some things that can be diagnosed (that I can think of):

• Mother's immune system doesn't recognise the embryo, and attacks it
• Low folate or b12 levels
• High homocysteine levels in the blood
• Insufficient uterine lining created each month
• Listeriosis or toxoplasmosis infection

My girlfriend has 4 children and within the past couple years also suffered 4 miscarriages - all very early in the pregnancy, sooner than 12 weeks. I don't think she ever got a definitive reason. Does this sound plausible to you, given your knowledge on the topic? I think we expect more answers than are possible.

That's sad Do you know if they did any tests on the embryo(s) she lost?

Technology has grown by leaps and bounds, but answers to life's questions aren't able to keep the pace and that confuses people sometimes who assume there must be an answer to everything.

Yup. I wish there were more answers! Sometimes it just seems that technology simply provides more questions

 

[Entertaining_Angels]

Generally doctors wait until the third miscarriage to start testing but I think they should test after the second. Generally, most women have a successful pregnancy after a miscarriage. Of course a second one for no apparent reason can happen but it happens less often. When a miscarriage happens two or three times in a row, there is a greater possibility that there is something happening to cause the miscarriages and I think that deserves some testing. And sometimes with multiple miscarriages, nobody seems to know what caused them. One of the moderators on the miscarriage site suffered seven miscarriages before she finally had a successful pregnancy. We've seen this happen to other women too but they are persistant and eventually end up with a baby. What a difficult thing to go through though.

I also wish doctors would do progesterone testing in women 30 and older. There is a link between low progesterone and miscarriages. I'm still learning about progesterone but natural, prescription-strength progesterone has been shown to have amazing effects on pregnancy in the first trimester for women with low progesterone. Some signs of low progesterone can include short cycles (26 days or less), stress (progesterone actually helps calm an expectant mother), weight gain and just being an older mother. Progesterone can also help prevent preterm labor in some women. Anyhow, just knowing progesterone levels can help so many women.

 

[Entertaining_Angels]

I just read a funny but good quote by Mark Twain: Be careful about reading a health book. You may die of a misprint.

I love that quote and have used it a number of times.

 

[InTheFlame]

I also wish doctors would do progesterone testing in women 30 and older. There is a link between low progesterone and miscarriages.

Hey yeah, I forgot the obvious one - hormonal imbalances!

 

[Entertaining_Angels]

I'm glad to hear there was a happy ending. I can imagine if I suffered four miscarriages, I would have a very difficult time as well.

Yes, I really am on a progesterone kick. I have been absolutely astounded by the number of miscarriages attributed to low progesterone especially in women who are older than 30. What really surprises me is that the research done shows an incredible decrease in miscarriage rate when progesterone levels are caught early. I'm fine with my two kiddos and we plan on adopting our third but I know that if I ever did have another baby, I'd have my progesterone checked as soon as possible and in women who are trying to conceive, they should start checking mid-cycle.