Hello ladies, I am sorry to be statring a new thread again so soon but I am going out of my mind!

We are due to start IUI next month and I had CD3 bloods done last week in preparation. I phoned the hospital this morning for the results and she said that I had raised prolactin levels, she didn't know the exact numbers as they didn't have the paperwork yet but the consultant would have a look and probably ask for a new test. This leads to the first of my frustrations as the likelihood of starting treatment next month is now practically zero as I will have to wait for bloods to be done again!

But worse than that is that I went to my GP in October 2008 after we had been ttc for nearly a year and mentioned that I get milky discharge from both breasts (sorry for TMI! ) and could high prolactin be our problem. They did a prolactin test then and the levels came out at 593 and they didn't do anything because it fell just within the normal levels (up to 600). But of course now I can't help wondering if this has been our problem stopping us conceiving all along and I tried to tell them all that time ago and I have I wasted the last 2 years of trying to have a baby when all I needed to do was shout at them and make them investigate the prolactin further then? I just feel like all the hope and the letdowns every month for the last 2 years could have been prevented, I was always just wasting my time.

All I want to do is cry right now. I tried phoning the nurse at the hospital back to ask if the levels were the reason we weren't conceiving and she made it clear I had to wait for the consultant to take a look and that she just didnt have time to talk to me. So that will be another month before I get a request to go for a repeat blood test, another month or two before I get an appointment to see the consultant and discuss the results and then goodness knows how long before they decide to do anything about it!

I guess this post was more about having a rant than anything else but I am also interested to know how raised prolactin levels affect IUI - can you still have the treatment or do the levels have to be normal first?

Also, has anyone conceived naturally with high prolactin levels? What are the treatments to lower it, is there anything I can do myself?

Hi, sorry i cant help with your question but i wanted to welcome and good luck

I had some bad news today so i can understand how you must be feeling

hope you get some answers to put your mind at rest x

hi hunni my fertility problems, try not to worry my level was 300 something when i conceived my son he's just turned one 3 yrs ttc. my highest level was 843
we're ttc again for a sibling for him and got my results back this morning and they were 427 talking to my doc prolactin is very sensitive to stress apparently but i'm going to get a 2nd opinion on it and a repeat blood test next month. i also leak milk and have done all my life

just try to keep calm till you get a proper face to face chat.

i dont know about iui, but i conceived with clomid on the 6 month but it doesnt seem to be working this time round
sorry cant be anymore helpful to you i know how hard this ttc malarki is

Hi i'm not an expert on this. but i had trouble concieving 3rd child. my bloods came back high prolactin too. boarder line too so they didn't do anything. but i was told eating shell fish was good to help bring down. loosing weight if thats an issue. luckily i concieved naturally, before further investigation. good luck getting some better answers XX

ewwwww shellfish why does everything that can help have to be gross or hard

i have raised prolactin

dec 09 - 643
Jan 10 - 1360

saw a specialist today - who i thought would give answers or do something more, but no has just taken more blood.

i'm at a loss at what to do next, so cant give any guidance, just wanted to say i'm in the same place and know its hard. esp when told not to stress. i'm a healthy weight too so loosing isnt going to help (23bmi)

cd57 and no af? dont no when its going to arrive either

Hi MarsMaiden,

I had raised prolactin a few months ago, I had 2 periods in 18 months after coming off the pill and certainly wasnt ovulating regularly, thats why they eventually found mine!

I was given bromocriptine to get the levels down and within 3 weeks I had ovulated and was told the prolactin was near normal again.

I got a BFP last month but unfortunately had an early m/c.

Once they found my high prolactin I was referrd to an endocrinologist who deals especially with this, so push for that if you can.

It takes alot of messing around and I had to have an MRI scan just to see if a benign tumour was causing the raised level, it sounds more scary than it is. Generally they can be treated with medication so please try not to worry too much.

Just make sure you keep pushing them on this, I think because its not that common its not always the 1st thing they look for.

Let us know how to get on

xx

Thank you all so much for your responses and positive thoughts!

It's great to hear the positive stories here and that really gives me hope. As always it is just the time it takes to do things that is frustrating, you would think I would have learned some patience by now!

misskat - I can really sympathise. It seems obvious what the problem is, why do they need more bloods? I too am a healthy weight and I know that I wasn't stressed when the bloods were done so it is not down to stress. Luckily I have regular cycles (although they have been very short recently) but it looks like I may not ovulate regularly so I think there is defintely more work to be done. Just frustrating that they have waited this long to start!

pleasehappen - that is great to hear that the levels can be brought back down so quickly and that a bfp is possible although I am very sorry for your loss. I have had the leaking milk symptom for many years, even when I was on the bcp and it never bothered me too much as there were no other symptoms so hopefully there is nothing else really to worry about. If I wasn't ttc, I am not even sure they would do anything at all!

In the end, I have found some PMA and I have decided that I am going to stop being so British and just make a bit more noise about all this! I have an appointment at the fertility clinic on the 17th so will take that as my opportunity to start! I will keep you updated on progress and any other information I come across...

But I have to agree with the shellfish comments - I'm sure they're very good for me but ewwwww!!! Maybe some supplements instead....

Hello all! I'm new here, and came in hoping to find some other members with the same prolactin level issues as mine. After living abroad, we've been trying to conceive for 2 years (before this I had two miscarriages about 4 years ago ), then I ran a marathon and took a year off ttc. I went to two different infertility experts, the first wanted to give me a blood transfusion claiming that I had some kind of allergic reaction to my husband! And the second, after making me take many tests gave me 2 iui's and neither of them worked. Now I'm trying a new expert (seems better) and it turns out my prolactin levels were high. I've been taking 1/2 cabergoline pills twice a week for two weeks, and my levels went down. She says I can try iui again during my next period, which is about to start. I'm wondering how long it might take to get pregnant, and whether my original miscarriages could've been caused by this. I also recommend doing an MRI - they found a small tumor in my pituitary gland too, which is important to follow up on)... I can't wait to have a ! All my friends are conceiving and I even convinced my husband to move away with my job to avoid the pressure.

hi hunni and welcome to bnb
i think there's more common to have high prolactin than i thought. it is possible to concieve i have a yr old son so thats proof, i think my levels go up and down
good luck and keep us posted