About 25,000 women have a miscarriage every year. Some women even experience multiple miscarriages. Unfortunately, the cause of this is not always clear. The LUMC is now starting a trial with the drug prednisolone (comparable to prednisone). This medication is also used in organ donations to prevent rejection of the donor organ. By giving the drug to a group of prospective mothers, it is investigated whether it can increase the chance of a live birth.
Inge Pelsers is one of the participants in the study. She has had five miscarriages, the last of which was not so long ago. “Normal people take a pregnancy test, see two lines and are happy. We just think: how long will it last this time?” says Inge.
Watch the story of the special treatment in the hospital in the video at the top of this article.
Choice made quickly
Things always go wrong for Inge after four or five weeks of pregnancy. “I am also in a fertility process. My treating doctor was at a conference, heard about this research and asked: isn’t that something for you? The choice was quickly made.” Inge hopes that a future pregnancy will go well. As soon as she tests positive, she must immediately start taking the medication. “Or maybe it can be done earlier, before I’m pregnant.”
Attention to miscarriages
The doctors behind the study also hope that it will bring attention to miscarriages. “We hope to prevent miscarriages caused by rejection with this drug,” says one of the doctors involved in the study. “An embryo is partly foreign to the body, so this little brother of prednisone could help with that.”
A total of 490 women can participate in the study, provided they have had two or more unexplained miscarriages.
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Miscarriages, Medication, and Motherhood: A Cheeky Take
Well, folks, here’s a topic we don’t often discuss over tea and biscuits—miscarriages. About 25,000 women endure this every year. That’s nearly one tough round of golf gone horribly wrong every year for a small nation. And, just to add to the drama, some women deal with this heartbreak more than once. Apparently, saying ‘don’t worry, it’ll happen’ isn’t cutting it anymore.
Now, let’s dive right into the clinical side of things. LUMC is kicking off a trial with the drug prednisolone, a name that sounds like a jazz musician from the ’60s, doesn’t it? This medication is akin to prednisone, often used in organ donations to make sure your body doesn’t start protesting against its shiny new organ like it’s an unwanted house guest.
Inge Pelsers is one of the brave participants in this gamble—five miscarriages under her belt. That’s right! Five! That’s almost enough to start a support group where everyone just sits around sharing chocolate and bewildered looks. Inge notes, “Normal people take a pregnancy test, see two lines and are happy. We just think: how long will it last this time?” Ah, the joy of motherhood, served with a healthy side of existential dread!
Now, if you’re wondering how this miracle drug works, it’s believed it might prevent miscarriages caused by a little thing called rejection—no, not the high school dance kind—but rather your body thinking, “Hey! What’s this foreign entity doing inside me?” Picture your immune system as a bouncer at an exclusive club, only letting in what it thinks is worthy. Unfortunately for embryos, they tend to get turned away if they look even slightly foreign.
Inge’s journey includes a fertility process supervised by a doctor who stumbled upon this research at a conference. “Isn’t that something for you?” they said. Translation: “We’ve got some interesting ideas and you’d make a great lab rat!” Inge’s ready to roll the dice as soon as she gets the “two lines” signal—medication and all. Or maybe she can start taking it earlier, like a pre-game warm-up for a match that’s fraught with tension.
The study hopes to enroll 490 women who qualify—those who’ve had two or more unexplained miscarriages. With those numbers, if this study were a TV show, we’d have quite a cliffhanger waiting to see who makes it to the final episode!
So, what’s the takeaway? Well, besides the heavy dose of reality we’ve just unpacked, it’s that conversations around miscarriages are slowly entering the mainstream—something doctors are keen on highlighting. And that’s a relief! Because if we can talk about everything from the Kardashians’ latest antics to bizarre food combinations, we sure as hell can chat about something as critical as pregnancy loss.
As they say, it takes a village to raise a child, but it might also take one to help navigate the rocky waters of trying to get there. And who knows—perhaps with a little help from medications like prednisolone, Inge and others might finally get to buy those baby shoes without the baggage of worry!
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