A Word of Caution

I would like to offer a piece of advice to anyone who is pursuing IVF: request blood work to detect the presence of an autoimmune disease before the procedure is completed!!! I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease when I was 17 (juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and uveitis). I am now 31 and have no symptoms of the arthritis, but still have the uveitis. In all my years of being treated by many doctors, not one told me that the illness may cause miscarriages! I honestly had no idea. When I began seeing my RE, I was not asked if I had an autoimmune disease until my physical exam that is performed a few days before the retrieval! Why I was not asked during my first appointment I will never know, but I can assure you, I am very, very pissed about it! This may have cost me my baby! My rheumatologist is currently doing another series of blood tests to determine whether or not I have anything that could have caused the miscarriage. If I do, it can be treated. Please do not be naive like me, be tested before your first IVF!!! There is nothing worse than the feeling of miscarrying a genetically normal baby!