The Bodle Family
A CARE Fertility patient gives her own account of her Reproductive Immunology experience at CARE
My Reproductive Immunology treatment at CARE Sheffield
"I first became pregnant in 2007 but tragically lost the baby within weeks. Of course I was really upset but I thought that these things do happen to people. I put it down to luck - I didn't realize there was something wrong.
Then followed two rounds of IVF, at the end of which I'd suffered another two miscarriages. It was heartbreaking for us. All my friends were having babies and I just thought that it was never going to happen for us. All I wanted was to have a family! I was adamant that there was something wrong but the reason for my miscarrying wasn't identified.
Then a friend told me she'd read something about a condition whereby a woman's body can have too many of the so-called 2 natural killer cells which support the body's immune system.
I did some research and found that CARE Fertility provide a Reproductive Immunology programme and I contacted the Sheffield clinic. They ran a series of tests which showed that I have very high levels of natural killer cells which were attacking the embryos and causing my body to reject them. Dr Shaker at CARE Sheffield advised treatment with CARE's Reproductive Immunology Programme. I was given three doses of intralipids, administered through a drip.
It worked and I gave birth to Harry and Libby in January 2011. We had started to think this day would never come. There were so many awful times and to sit here and see our lovely twins staring back at us is a wonderful feeling."
Note from CARE
Evidence from studies suggests that intravenous Intralipid administration may enhance embryo implantation, that Intralipid stimulates the immune system to remove "danger signals" that can lead to pregnancy loss. Also, recent evidence has confirmed the ability of Intralipid to suppress Natural Killer (NK) cytotoxicity for a sufficient duration of time to enhance implantation and maintain pregnancy. Clinical studies using Intralipid have shown improved pregnancy and live birth rates in recurrent embryo implantation failure\miscarriage after IVF in women with elevated Natural Killer cell activity.
