Pregnant after lots of bleeding?

[Chica1990]

Hi everyone, long time lurker here.

I’ve been ttc since July 2019 with no luck. This cycle has been pretty weird as I have been bleeding since my last period and started bleeding again with heavy cramps on day 22 (Thursday 24th). I even woke up early Sunday morning (cat woke me up) and noticed I had pains in my lower back.
Just because the cycle had been so weird I did a cheap strip pregnancy test Sunday morning and noticed a faint line on there. I’ve done more tests and even a digital (with my second wee of the day) and they all came back positive, days after I started what I thought was an early period. I was even wearing tampons on Saturday!

Do you think there is something else going on or have you experienced or know of a lot of blood with a positive at the end? I know some people aren’t aware they aren’t pregnant for a while and after this I can understand why! (If I actually am). My best friend who miscarried earlier this year said her pregnancy tests started showing negative before she bled at all.

If any of you can share your experiences or wisdom I’d really appreciate it as I’m so confused.. please also keep your fingers crossed this is the real deal!!

If it is the real deal and anyone is interested in knowing what new things I did this month I’m happy to share

[kirinm]

I think it would be a good idea to contact your local EPU. It could be anything at this stage, a normal pregnancy, miscarriage or an ectopic but it would be good to rule out an ectopic pregnancy. I had what appeared to be a normalish period and then positive tests. Are you still bleeding?

[Chica1990]

Thank you so much for replying. I am still bleeding but not the flow it was before, but it’s definitely still medium thickness red blood. I did another test this morning, just a Tesco own digital one and it said pregnant in 30 seconds. Hearing you had the same makes me feel slightly more positive about this.

I didn’t realise an EPU was a thing until I googled it after your comment! I will try call and see if they can help suss it out.

[kirinm]

Sorry @Chica1990 I don't want to worry you but I didn't have a great outcome - mine turned out to be an ectopic. However, with my DD I also bled on and off until I was 17 weeks from about 5 weeks.

Let me know how you get on with the EPU?

[tigerbear]

I had pretty much exactly the same as you describe / LOTS of bleeding, much heavier than normal, but something made me take a test, which was positive.
Because I’d had a miscarriage before, I booked straight into the EPC, and they said that the pregnancy hormones were increasing. The bleeding stopped after a while, then I had another bit of spotting at around 6 months, which was scary.
Apart from that, pregnancy was quite straight forward...
DD is now 9! 😊
Good luck OP, I hope everything is ok for you. X

[Chica1990]

I’m so sorry! I’m trying to call them but they aren’t picking up but will persist as I know that would be serious. Thanks for letting me know! I will keep you updated.

[KenDodd]

I had a very heavy bleed at 13 weeks with my first. No pain though.
Baby was fine and born health at term.
There was some speculation it may have been a twin.

[Chica1990]

@kirinm I called up and they said to keep an eye out for diarrhea, bum pressure and shoulder tip pain and if I get those they will check for ectopic.

The lady said it sounds like I just picked up the positive early and it sounds like it’s unfortunately bleeding out.

@tigerbear thank you for this! Hopefully the lady on the phone is wrong and I’m just unusual but I’m really in two minds. I’m going to do another test on Sunday and if it’s positive I’ll do a digital and see if the week has gone up.

@KenDodd glad to hear your little one was ok! Couldn’t have been nice to have that bleeding though.

[kirinm]

Sorry to hear the EPU haven't been very helpful. I wouldn't wait to feel any of those pains tbh. If you are still getting positive tests in a day or two, I would call back. Shoulder pain is often felt at a very late stage.

I hope it all works out for you but please don't let the EPU fob you off. If you keep getting positives, you should be seen.

[Chica1990]

@kirinm I think I’m used to being fobbed off, I wasn’t expecting much from them. Ah ok I will keep testing over the next few days in that case and if it doesn’t fade I’ll call again and also raise cases with my gp until someone sees me!

[Chica1990]

@kirinm In case you wanted an update. Still really strong positives every day despite bleeding and cramps until today. Today I’ve had faint niggling pains on my left. Still getting really strong positives in the morning and took another digital test tonight and it’s moved me a week along (Sunday it was 1-2 weeks now says 2-3). I’m going to call the epu again tomorrow and make a fuss to rule out ectopic to put my mind at ease x

[kirinm]

Absolutely call EPU. Are you still bleeding?

[Chica1990]

I was yesterday but noticed it was slowing down yesterday evening. I have a bit in my pad from last night and it seems to be brown (the blood has been red so far) - sorry for tmi

[tigerbear]

Def go to the EPU! Good luck, really hope you’re ok!

[Smoby]

Yes definitely insist on being seen at EPU. I had bleeding and a positive pregnancy test and it turned out to be ectopic despite the pregnancy tests getting stronger. Hopefully it will be different for you!

[Chica1990]

I called the EPU and they said they can’t take self referrals (which they didn’t bother telling me last time). They said bleeding can last this long with miscarriage and those home pregnancy tests aren’t reliable (um pretty sure they can detect a hcg hormone?), they said the hormone can hang around for 3 weeks but the logical part of my brain thinks that’s highly unlikely when I would only have been touching on 3 weeks when I started bleeding last Thursday. They also said it’s unlikely I would be showing symptoms at this point. She went to go speak to a colleague about it and I basically heard them tutting about the convo and laugh when they suggested telling me to go to a and e.

They’ve made me feel like a dick and I feel stupid for making a fuss. I’m actually quite upset. I actually might call them back and tell them how rude they are but that must just be me wanting to lash out.

I was on the phone to the gp and was ‘first inline’ for 20 minutes but no one picked up. I’ll raise an online case with them and hope they can get me in for their test and refer me. If I get more symptoms like massive pain, dizziness or runny poo I’m going to go to a and e.

@Smoby do you remember how many weeks you were when you got really bad symptoms to get checked? I’m sorry this happened to you.

Thank you all for your support so far

[tigerbear]

OMG OP, that’s terrible! I’m really sorry they treated you like that, that’s appalling!
I know their role must be stressful and it’s difficult in the NHS right now, but they should have showed some compassion, FFS!
Your kind of situation is exactly what the EPU is supposed to be there for!!
At the moment you’re just left in this awful ‘am I or aren’t I?’ Limbo.

I hope you get through to the GP.

[Roomba]

I had this with both pregnancies. Assumed there was no way I could be pregnant after that much bleeding. They are 8 and 14 now! I know several people with similar stories. But I also know several people whose stories didn't end as happily too.

I'd definitely see if you can see someone at an EPU. Best of luck, OP.

[Roomba]

Oh, I missed your update - I'm so sorry they were so awful! That's horrendous.

[kirinm]

That's horrendous. I actually can't believe they're ignoring this. Did you raise the possibility of an ectopic? Shoulder tip pain tends to occur as a result of internal bleeding when a Fallopian tube has burst. Suggesting you wait until then is absolutely awful and quite frankly, possibly negligent.

It may be just bleeding but please push to be seen by someone. Your GP can do blood tests 48 hours apart just to ensure hCG is either rising properly or dropping.

[Smoby]

@Chica1990 I can't believe how awful your EPU have been!! I was about 5 weeks when I started bleeding and I also had a slight niggling feeling on my right side. It wasn't painful - I could just feel something. I ignored it for a while but when I googled the symptoms ectopic came up. I phoned 111 (as it was on a weekend so GP surgery shut) and it was them who told me to go to EPU. When I got there the EPU were great (Manchester). They tested my HCG levels with blood tests ( it turns out they were doubling every 48 hours as a normal pregnancy would, so we were hoping the bleeding was nothing sinister) but when they scanned me later in the week they could see it was ectopic.

I'd say keep trying to get in touch with your GP or try 111 as they may be able to refer you to the EPU if EPU won't let you self refer. My story is a sad one but, as previous posters have said, plenty of people bleed in a normal pregnancy so don't give up hope! Wishing you lots and lots of luck!

[Chica1990]

I don’t think I would have thought much of it if I didn’t hear their conversation, would it have killed them to mute the call? I really wish I had said something at the time but I was so shocked.

@kirinm I did mention all my symptoms and suggested it. When I said they said I wouldn’t have symptoms yet I should clarify they meant I wouldn’t have symptoms of ectopic yet. Sorry I wasn’t clear, I was typing in a frantic rage. :(

The gp have called back and want to see me this afternoon, thank god! I’m going in earlier to do a urine sample. @Smoby thank you for sharing your story, I will stay cautious if the gp do determine I by some chance am pregnant still.

@tigerbear thank you!

@Roomba thank you for sharing this. There does seem to be a lot of mixed outcomes with this and I hadn’t actually heard of this being a thing until this thread.

If anyone was interested I called the EPU at royal berks.

[Chica1990]

The gp did a urine pregnancy test and said it didn’t look good, I’ve included a pic. She said the test line needs to be as dark as the control line for it to be a good pregnancy.

She is worried about the faint line so put In a referral to the EPU and told me to call them first thing tomorrow. She said they should be able to determine if it’s a miscarriage or ectopic. Will update tomorrow.

[Chica1990]

Forgot the pic

[kirinm]

How many weeks would you be OP?

[tigerbear]

Oh OP, I’m sorry, let’s see what they say tomorrow. Sending a virtual hand hold xx