Has anyone here ordered their own lab tests?

Is this an OB? Or a family Dr? Some of the tests you can understand them not doing but there are others that aren't directly fertility tests that your insurance should cover. You could at least have thyroid and insulin resistance tested as both of those things could impact pregnancies. If it was an OB could you just go to your family dr and see if they will test those couple things?

I used healthtestingcenters.com to order myself an HCG blood draw at Quest when I was waiting for an US to confirm my blighted ovum. It was super easy. I paid for it out of pocket, but submitted it to insurance and they paid me back for some of it.

What tests would you be looking to get? Every insurance is different, but mine covers anything to diagnose infertility (but not treat it) or recurrent loss, so I was able to get CD3 testing covered through my OB.

I’m sorry that is really frustrating. I don’t get this mentality either to wait for another miscarriage before more is done. Time to see a reproductive endocrinologist then. The dr will run a battery of tests - thyroid, blood clotting disorders, vitamin/mineral deficiencies, hormones, etc. I have never had “fertility services” covered by my insurance so I pay out of pocket anyway.

There was an AMA on one of the TTC subs the other day from Modern Fertility, which is a company that lets you do some fertility testing for $159. You can either schedule a lab appointment, or do it at home.

The only thing that I’m hesitant about is that it has to be done on CD3, and they don’t take returns. I emailed them and they said that I could order it on CD1 and use 2-day shipping to make sure it arrives by CD3. I just don’t want to order it during the TWW and then end up not needing it if my period doesn’t come.

I decided not to do it yet, because I’m not comfortable doing it at home, but the lab in my town doesn’t have hours outside of my work schedule (I’m a HS teacher, and really hate to miss a class period unless it’s necessary). But I may change my mind in a few months, so I’m glad the option is there.

Yes. Where I lived (Denmark) they would do zero testing until you had 3 miscarriages and THEN waited like a year on the waiting list for the only RPL clinic in the country. I was desperate after my second MMC at age 38 while also having infertility and doing treatments. I ultimately found a private infertility clinic that was a chain hq'd in Germany and they had their own private blood testing facility in Germany. Otherwise it was impossible because blood testing in Denmark was heavily nationalized and everything had to go through central channels. I paid out of pocket for a basic blood clotting panel (APL, lupus anticoagulant, homocysteine level, INR, basic set of thrombophilias), a bit of thyroid tests since my TSH had been as high as 2.9 before, and we did karyotyping for me and my husband. Turned out I have a thrombophilia, protein S deficiency. My third pregnancy on Lovenox was successful (and I was basically only getting pregnant on aspirin which I happened to start on my own during the infertility treatments).

If you can afford the tests, there is no downside to just checking for these things before you have to suffer multiple miscarriages. It also then made sense that a medical mystery from my past was a misdiagnosed DVT while on a type of birth control pills bad for clots in my early 20s. They were going to do surgery on the blood vessel in my shoulder before it spontaneously went away (typical of a thrombosis - I'm lucky to have not gotten a pulmonary embolism). All women should be checked since hormonal birth control is so common and the women who get clots all have blood clotting disorders and are prone to it (and could likely have problems in pregnancy). Although you can also easily not have ever had a clot before because it's a totally random event and some pills are worse than others with causing it. I was on different pills for over 10 years and only had this happen once.

My case is umusual and most likely outcome is nothing will be found as a possible cause. But at least you can check some boxes off. I was really surprised they found something from mine and it was a lifesaver literally.

I think it's time to get a new OB. I miscarried Feb 2018 and this past April I was (and still am) getting full rounds of testing. Maybe it helps that my doc is a fertility specialist and pretty fricken awesome and understanding. It's SO important to have one who listens to you and gives you all the info you need.

To answer your question, no. My OB ordered my labs after two miscarriages due to new research regarding 2 vs 3 miscarriages in regards to recurrent pregnancy loss. and also, I’m in the military so in order to be treated I have to be diagnosed with something. After the first, both doctors I saw were confident I would go on to have a successful pregnancy, so much so that when I came to the clinic with moderate bleeding I was sent home by a nurse saying it was probably implantation bleeding (spoiler alert I was miscarrying again.). This is likely because STATISTICALLY Women will go on to have a successful pregnancy after one miscarriage - the odds of having two in a row are between 2-5% depending on the study. Additionally, the tests only identify causes in about 50% of losses, my doctor was very up front about that. Furthermore, if it’s a clotting issue, apparently if you present with signs of a clotting disorder you have to re-test in 12 weeks, aka another three month delay.

All that to say, I’m sorry your doctor is being uncooperative, I wish you the best on your journey.

I actually just ordered a retest of my tsh through one of those sites. It was borderline (2.510 & they want it under 2.5) when my doctor tested it and offered therapy for it. I wanted to check again before I decided to treat or not. I figured it is cheaper and easier to just order the test myself online ($40!). Overall, very easy! I just go to the local LabCorp location and give blood, which is also where I would be sent if my doctor ordered it.

I’ve had three losses with less-than-attentive providers and ended up needing to do labs myself. I’ve used AnyLabTestNow, PersonaLabs, and some other local one. I’ve use the first two multiple times, picked by which one had the better deals/promos at the time and/or better lab hours for my needs. I LOVE getting a copy of my own results in my email the next morning, versus waiting over a week to get anything back from my provider. I’ve only tested HCG so far. But now after my third loss, I’m eyeing the fertility testing. Might look into this Modern place mentioned above.

How many miscarriages have you had?