Suspected Ectopic - very scared

[sunshineandshowers789]

I went to the doctor today as I am 6 weeks pregnant and have had very slight spotting and abdominal pain for 2 days. Had a scan and couldn't find anything in my uterus so suspects an ectopic pregnancy. He sent me for blood tests that will need to be repeated in 48 hours to test for HCG levels. I am scared that if I do have an ectopic pregnancy my fallopian tube will rupture in the meantime. Does anyone else have a similar experience of having to wait for it to be verified? At what stage does a rupture occur?

[EffinIneffable]

Hi sunshine. The fact you are being scanned and tested is good, and you will be ready and aware to get to hospital quickly if you feel serious pain in your abdomen or shoulder tip.

I had a suspected ectopic in January when I had the same symptoms as you at the same stage - nothing visible in uterus and slowly rising HCG. I had an exploratory laparoscopy to look for the ectopic after a second scan and three blood tests. In my case, they didn't find an ectopic (in fact they never located the pregnancy - I suspect it had already disintegrated in the uterus) and I miscarried naturally soon after. So your case is not necessarily definitively ectopic - but they have to take the possibility seriously as untreated it's a big risk. 6 weeks is also very early to see a healthy pregnancy, especially if there could be a few days doubt about your dates.

Has your abdominal pain lessened now? That is probably a good sign it's not ectopic, or that it's already stopped growing on its own and is not about to rupture.

The whole wait and see thing is completely horrible, and you don't know what to think. Finding out the pregnancy might not be healthy is bad enough, but with suspected ectopic it's even worse. But do hang in there, and the fact you're aware it's a possibility already lowers the risk of there being serious complications as you'll seek treatment quickly if necessary. Hoping for the best for you.

[sunshineandshowers789]

Thanks you for your kind words and useful advice Effin. Abdominal pain is still there, a light dull ache that I notice now and again. The waiting and not knowing is just horrible, unable to do or think about anything else. The hospital is only 10 minutes away so if things do deteriorate I know I can be there soon...

[Tranquilitybaby]

Aww bless you, I went through exactly the same in April, being in limbo is awful. I had the dull ache and spotted brown for several days. My hcg levels were doubling but were low for how many weeks I was.

Then I started getting very strong back pains and the spotting turned more red. I couldn't sit down comfortably after about three hours. I rang my EPU and went straight in, they scanned me and I was operated on 90 mins later.

If your pain does get worse go straight to hospital x thinking of you x

[sunshineandshowers789]

Thanks Tranquility. I ended up having a laparoscopy on Sat in the end after it was agreed that it was almost certainly ectopic despite only having one blood test result. At home and feeling sore and emotional, thanks for your kind thoughts x