When a mother loses a baby back in the day, people would often assume that it just wasn’t meant to be. “The baby wasn’t ready”. “The timing just wasn’t right”, “You can always try again”—these were the most common things that well-meaning friends and family would say to someone who had lost a baby. Left undiagnosed, these miscarriages seemed normal, but now that medical advances have finally looked into these unexplained losses, we have a definite yet extremely complicated answer: APAS. Short for Antiphospholipid Antibodies Syndrome, APAS is now the growing cause of recurring miscarriages and difficulty to conceive in most women today.
It may sound like a lot of scientific mumbo-jumbo, but the bottom line is this—APAS makes baby-making a challenge. It requires patience, emotional strength, a hefty medical budget, and a great leap of faith.
I should know—I have APAS, after all.
What is APAS?
In layman’s terms, what APAS basically means is that a person’s antibodies are sort of on overdrive—they sometimes mistake their own body cells for foreign invaders, hence, attacking them. The antibodies attack all foreign bodies—which includes anything related to making a baby.
It’s true that there are a host of other factors that may hinder a couple from conceiving properly. The woman may have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome or PCOS, Endometriosis, blocked fallopian tubes, and so on. The husband may also have sperm with decreased mobility or high levels of abnormalities, opening up a different kind of infertility. But APAS is one of the most difficult factors to treat, which is why a lot of couples find themselves becoming disheartened.
Characterized by internal blood clotting, unsuccessful IUIs (Intra Uterine Insemination), and failed IVFs (In Vitro Fertilization), APAS brings a whole new meaning to waiting for the stork to come. Most women who have inexplicable infertility might not be aware that they should consult their medical provider for a series of reproductive immunology tests. These tests will help determine if the patient is indeed positive for APAS—at the very least, they can start getting the proper treatment they need in order to make a healthy baby a possibility.
What does it all mean?
There are five categories when a woman undergoes immunological testing.
