[caption id="attachment_1623" align="alignright" width="150"]<a href="http://www.hormonesoup.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Doctor-With-a-Crystal-Ball.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-1623" alt="ePatient Power: No Crystal Ball Required  Image Source: Dreamstime" src="http://www.hormonesoup.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Doctor-With-a-Crystal-Ball-150x99.jpg" width="150" height="99" /></a> ePatient Power: No Crystal Ball Required Image Source: Dreamstime[/caption]

When I miscarried my first two pregnancies I was told that most early trimester miscarriages are "unexplained".   It never sat well with me in the first place and when I really became a citizen-researcher eventually my beliefs were validated.

<b>My miscarriages <em>would have been explained</em> if my doctors had bothered to spend even a moment to go over my health history and symptoms.  </b>In fact, if my health history had been taken into account it wouldn’t have taken a crystal ball to figure out that I was going to miscarry in the first place!  My medical history pointed to:
<ul>
	<li>some serious estrogen dominance symptoms</li>
	<li>hypothyroid symptoms</li>
	<li>trouble conceiving</li>
</ul>
Here were the glaring red flags:
<ul>
	<li><a title="Miscarriages Double for Women with Infertility" href="https://sites.google.com/site/miscarriageresearch/miscarriage-general " target="_blank">risk of miscarriage doubles for women who need more than a year to conceive</a></li>
	<li>hypothyroidism causes infertility and miscarriage</li>
	<li>progesterone deficiency causes miscarriages</li>
</ul>
Does it seem obvious to you?   It sure sends some red flags up for me. If I had been an <b>engaged patient</b> before I started trying to conceive<b> </b>there is no doubt in my mind that I would have had a different outcome.  Of course how would I truly know since neither my thyroid nor my estradiol/progesterone levels were tested at the time.  <span style="font-size: x-small;">(Progesterone suppositories worked and I have three kids as "evidence"!  As well, later hormone tests revealed I had almost no progesterone but really tests should have been done at the time. That being said I had all the signs of progesterone deficiency/estrogen dominance and they weren't picked up on.)</span>

<b>The perfect example of why being an engaged patient is crucial to your health:</b>

To my doctors those miscarriages were <em><strong>“spontaneous abortions”</strong></em> (the medical term for miscarriage that feels like a punch in the stomach when you spot it written on your chart).

To me, those were <em><strong>my beautiful little babies</strong></em> that I never got to meet or hold or nurse or cherish or snuggle or laugh with or hear them call me Mama.
<p align="center"><span style="color: #800080; font-family: helvetica;"><b>It’s not that my doctors didn’t care – they just didn’t care as much as I did.</b></span></p>
<p align="center"><span style="color: #800080;">No one will care about your health as much as you do.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center">Read my article <a title="My Baby Taught me My ABCs" href="http://www.drgreene.com/perspectives/2012/08/27/my-baby-taught-me-my-abc%E2%80%99s" target="_blank">My Baby Taught Me My ABCs</a> about how I advocated for myself and had my beautiful baby girl on Dr Greene's website.</p>