As of September 2015 | 10 weeks pregnant | Intralipid therapy sessions
Being maintained by your immunologist and perinatologist in an APAS pregnancy is very critical.
In my case, I had checkups with my OB perinatologist, Dra. Valerie Guinto, every two weeks during my first trimester, once a month during the second trimester and again, once every two weeks this third trimester. Dra. Carol Gloria, my immunologist, on the other hand, saw me once a month for my immune treatments.
There is a variety of treatments for repro-immuno disorders. In my case, I had Lymphocyte Immunotherapy to treat my Category 1 (too compatible HLA with husband resulting to non-production of needed blocking antibodies during pregnancy), daily aspirin and heparin injections (twice a day) for my Category 2 and 5 (APAS or antiphospholipid disorder) and IVIG and intralipid sessions for my Category 5 (rejection and/or high natural killer (NK) cells) disorder.
I have discussed my LIT treatment in this post>>. Today, let us talk about intralipid infusion therapy.
To quote Midland Fertility Clinic,
Intralipid infusion therapy is a sterile fat emulsion containing soy oil, chicken egg yolk, glycerine and water. The infusion is in liquid form and administered intravenously. It is a non invasive procedure carried out in clinic as part of a treatment cycle.
Research has found that raised natural killer cell activity (toxic white blood cells) can act against an embryo and prevent its implantation into the endometrium. This is known as implantation failure.
In addition, some auto immune disorders can also have a detrimental impact upon the healthy implantation and early progress of an embryo which can also cause implantation failure and early miscarriage.
Intralipid therapy is designed to combat these factors.
I was put on intralipid therapy starting the second month up to my eighth month. This is how it looks like.
The procedure took around two to three hours. No complicated preparation was needed. You just need to bring food and drinks so that you don’t get hungry/thirsty in the process.
For some immunologists, they do the procedure in a hospital where patients are admitted for half a day. In my case, the procedure is done in Dra. Carol’s clinic so we didn’t have to pay for extra hospital fees.
The procedure itself is not that painful, albeit a little uncomfortable. However, this varies per person as we have different pain threshold.
For the side effects, I noticed that for those treatment which went fast, I had some terrible migraine after. Fast, in this definition, took around 1.5 hours than the usual 3 hours and this was done because I requested the nurse to make the drip rate go faster. Hehe. Impatience doesn’t really get me anywhere – when will I ever learn, haha!
Anyway, I really believe that our intralipid therapy helped us sustain our pregnancy.
For one thing, I suffered from a bad first trimester because of morning sickness and nausea that I can barely eat and drink.
I have tried some of these tips above, but it was hit and miss.
The reason why?
Unfortunately, I did not have the “normal” morning sickness routine. I was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum, which coupled with APAS, was a frustrating condition. I was even hospitalised because I passed out due to extreme vomiting and dehydration. Not only did I have to go through heparin shots twice a day, I also had to carry barf bags with me all around. The toilet also became my best friend – it was like tequila hangover minus the alcohol.
Despite that, our little warrior kept on surprising us with really good ultrasound results. 🙂
So there. If you are wondering how much an intralipid session costs, please send me a PM and I’d be glad to share. You can also get in touch with my uber wonderful immunologist, Dr. Carol Gloria, through her secretary, Eunice at (0998) 954 8327.
Babydust to all who needs it. <3
