I have recurrent miscarriages (first and second trimester losses). I have had a clotting panel done but I have not been tested for Protein S deficiency specifically.

Would a clotting disorder caused by this be detected by the clotting panel (the panel is called: Phospholipid syndrome/lupus anticoagulant Comprehensive Panel by Quest diagnostics)?

I just want to be able to completely rule out a clotting disorder. Thanks!

Kelly

Hi Kelly - I'm not sure what a 'clotting panel' is, you may wish to ask your doctor. When I was checked for my clotting disorder - I also had both of my kids checked after I was diagnosed with it - that's all they checked for, protein deficiencies. It's just a simple blood test and that would be all they would look for. If you have your test results, it should say on there if either protein C or S was checked. If not, just call your doctor and ask to have this done.

Now, we're pretty positive I got mine from my mother, she had 8 miscarriages during her marriage to my dad. She did manage to have us three healthy kids in-between, but 8 miscarriages was a red flag to my doctor that hmmm, maybe it was her. If you do indeed have one of these deficiencies, you definitely got it from one of your parents. The way it was explained to me is, that doesn't mean they suffer from clots or problems, but you still inherited the gene from one of them. I have a brother and sister who as far as we know are just fine, but I'm not. My kids are fine, too, but my daughter refuses to take birth control pills because they think that's what trigged mine. It's very confusing and any good, honest hemotologist will tell you they're just as confused and don't really understand how it all works, but at least they can find these disorders now and treat them. They didn't have this type of testing when my mom was young but I have always been told that it's genetic and I inherited it from one of my parents, and the fact that my mom miscarried so many times told them it was her. I too had one miscarriage between my two kids, which is not uncommon, many many women miscarry for whatever reason. It's repeated miscarriages without any explanation that should send up a red flag and will initiate the testing of a blood disorder. If I had continued to try and have more children instead of stopping after my second, then maybe I would have continued to miscarry too, but my miscarriage was twins, which in itself is risky, and my mom miscarried twins, too, so the coincidence was a little hard to ignore.

If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask.

Thank you so much for sharing your story and all the info! The clotting panel I had done didn't test for any proteins. It only tested my clotting time (PTT and aPTT) and for specific autoimmune factors.

I've had 7 miscarriage but I also have 5 healthy children (I had two of them between my kids but the last 5 miscarriages have been in a row).

I'm not dealing with the most competent drs on the planet and want to make sure they've covered all their bases (I've had to request most of the testing I've had done).

Thank you for all of your help!

Kelly

Kelly,

Lupus anticoagulant is definately a clotting disorder, I have it. I was told by my doctors that alot of women find out that they have this clotting disorder after they have had miscarriages and are tested. My protein S was also low for a while, but my dr said that was because I was on birth control pills-the hormones can cause your Protein S levels to drop and therefore, increase your chances of developing a clot.

Hope this helps!

Hi Kris! My clotting panel was negative (including the lupus anticoagulant).

That's interesting about the birth control...I wasn't on BC until after my miscarriages but began using it because I was constantly bleeding. So if I get tested for Protein S deficiency I'll have to be off of it for a while? Do you know for how long?

Thanks for the info!

Kelly

From what I understand, if you have a protein S deficiency, you should not be on birth control pills because the estrogen causes the Protein S level to decrease. I did go on the depo shots and got another clot...(I was off coumadin at the time) but my gyno is adamant that the depo could not have caused the clot. Anyways, I believe if you have Protein S deficiency, you could be on a birth control with progesterone. In fact, I'll be discussing this issue with my hemo next week!