First Meeting with the Reproductive Immunologist

Dr. Caroline T. Gloria

I set up an appointment for the reproductive immunologist, Dr. Caroline Gloria, at Asian Hospital. Via text, her secretary informed me of my appointment.

I arrived an hour before my appointment and luckily, the patient who was scheduled before me didn't arrive. I filled out a form and waited a few minutes.


Dr. Gloria was friendly and amiable. She started our consultation by telling me not to be sad because I'm not alone in my infertility struggles. In fact, she was one, too, many years ago and now she has two children -- a boy and a girl. She even showed me a wall in her clinic wherein there was a board filled with baby pictures, all of them her trophies from couples who had difficulty conceiving. I was so touched and inspired!

She asked me about my infertility history, what drugs and treatments I've done, etc. When I was about to tell her about my miscarriage, she told me, "Ikwento mo nung nabuntis ka." It was like telling a dear friend of what I've been through from my excitement upon learning the pregnancy, to my grief when the radiologist told me that the 9-week-old baby had no heartbeat. She listened to my story and immediately I felt at ease with her.

She then discussed with the me the reasons why there are miscarriages, infertility, and difficulty in conceiving. Studies show that women who had those troubles, 50% of them are due to immunological problems. There are five categories related to a woman's immune system that are tested to know the reason why a woman is not able to conceive. I'll write about those categories in a later post.

She also told me about Lymphocyte Immunization Therapy (LIT) which is the treatment for Category I (LAT, which you could read here). (Soon to post!)

At the back of my filled out form, she listed the treatments for each category. Since I've already tested for Category I, she wanted me tested for Categories II, III, and V. She said, before I get pregnant, she wanted to know if there are other categories which I needed treatment so there are no surprises in the future. We could already plan our actions this early. Also, she wanted to know the cause of my spotting during my brief pregnancy. Spotting may be not a big deal for other pregnant women, but for those who struggle with infertility, it is a big deal.

My consultation lasted an hour and I was satisfied with what I've learned from her.