Etopic pregnancy

I'm also surprised that they are expecting you to make a decision tomorrow, it's very early. The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust used to advise having a scan at six weeks.

If you are not in pain, are well and have someone at home then they may be happy to manage it expectantly. This was the way my first ectopic was managed. I had hcg tests every 48 hours for three weeks and was rescanned a couple of times during those three weeks. Eventually I had to have methotrexate which stops the cells dividing and my hcg levels then began to drop.

The other option they may discuss would be an exploratory laparoscopy. However given that you are well and your hcg is below 1500 I would hope that they would go for expectant management to be completely sure that you do not have a healthy pregnancy. Sorry you are going through this worrying time. The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust is a great source of information.

I had an ectopic pregnancy 2 years ago. I attended EPU with bleeding & sharp pain in my right side & back. I was around 7 weeks pregnant, they could see something in my tube but not in my womb but couldn’t confirm ectopic until blood tests. Your hcg levels should double every day if a healthy pregnancy, mines had risen but not doubled therefore ectopic pregnancy was diagnosed. I was given the choice of medical or surgical management, I chose medical but a couple of weeks later I ended up needing surgery anyway as I had ruptured resulting in the loss of my right tube.

The fact they see something in your womb & your hcg levels have risen so much seems more promising than my situation but seems unfair to ask you to make such a decision without proper confirmation. I understand the waiting is horrendous, I felt like a ticking time bomb the whole time just waiting to rupture

To give you some hope, I am now sitting feeding my ten week old baby 2 years later, so as horrible as it is now, don’t give up hope ❤️

I had an ectopic removed 6th October.

I didn’t have any pain but had constant bleeding (I was probably bleeding for over 4 weeks) and continued to get positives, so I posted on here asking if anyone had the same experience. Half the people who responded had the same and were ectopic but half said they went on to have full term pregnancies (one said she couldn’t believe how much blood she had).

My blood hcg on the Friday was 221 and Sunday it was 248. It’s supposed to double in a good pregnancy and your numbers look pretty good going by that logic (ectopic is usually static), and I would have thought the progesterone going up was positive?
Despite being 8 weeks (which I found out later) they couldn’t find it on two scans I had. After a third blood test on the Tuesday morning (which was 201) I went for a laparoscopy.

I don’t think you could see anything on a scan until 6 weeks? Have they mentioned something called a blighted ovum to you so far? Hopefully this is just some random spotting and everything is ok! I have my fingers crossed. Please let us know!

I had 2 ectopics both ruptured and lost both tubes. With my first the ectopic wasn't visible until hcg went over 3500 - I didn't experience any bleeding.

With both I had one sided pain - more like a stitch. I've had multiple miscarriages and so can tell the difference and it definitely didn't feel like the low down cramping pain, heavy feeling in your uterus you get with miscarriages

They did attempt to treat my first with methotrexate but unfortunately it failed and baby still went on to develop a heartbeat. My second ectopic hcg was very high and a heartbeat was detected in the morning and I'd ruptured within 12 hours

As awful as methotrexate is - and it means you mustn't get pregnant for 3 months as it can be dangerous to a new baby/pregnancy - it means the process is over quicker as you could have to go through medical monitoring with weekly blood tests tracking hcg back to zero which could take weeks and weeks anyway? Also the threat of rupture would still be present until hcg is zero - I've known people rupture with a level of 5

It’s a really shitty thing to happen, if that is what is happening. But at the same time, I found the uncertainty to be far worse. Once I had the diagnosis and I knew what treatment I had to go through, things felt a lot better (or at least less shit and scary!).

I agree. I was devastated but after several weeks of back and forth and being told I’m pregnant/not/am it was a relief to have some closure.

I had an ectopic, i started bleeding at 4 weeks, I was told I’d likely miscarried. Two weeks later my tests were still positive so I was actually seen and had a scan. Nothing, followed by blood tests that initially showed my HCG doubling (Nurse rang me to congratulate me on being pregnant still) levels continued to rise but only steadily. Next scan after I’d passed a massive clot showed the lining of my womb was thinner. Still thought I’d miscarried. More bloods (every two days), I was due to have methotrexate which is a heavy drug to end the pregnancy, but my levels dropped v slightly and I started bleeding again. The drug was actually being prepared and I said I’d like to return the next day as I needed to go and collect my son and didn’t want to deal with the ill effects and a toddler. My pain continued to increase and I was finally seen by a competent Dr who asked a consultant to scan me. Consultant found the ectopic pregnancy and internal bleeding almost instantly. Expressed disappointment in her colleagues and my care and got me into theatre. Suddenly I was being offered morphine and v closely monitored where before nobody had taken my pain seriously. I was told it wasn’t “too bad” despite experiencing one sided pain from the outset of the pregnancy. I actually rang urgent care and said I was concerned re my one sided pain and was told “you know you’re miscarrying and there’s nothing we can do, we won’t scan you.”

It was super shit.

I’m sorry to share that but hope this isn’t the case for you.

Oh what a horrid position to be in!

I’m surprised they are making you decide so early at 5+1 when they aren’t 100% certain. I had an ectopic in April, they refused to scan me at 5+0 because they didn’t think they would see anything, I pushed and was eventually scanned at 5+4 where they noticed the embryo in my tube. I was bleeding like a regular period but was also in quite a bit of pain too - it felt like someone had their thumb where my ovaries are and was pushing down as hard as they could.

Best of luck for your scan tomorrow, keep us posted xx

Scan tomorrow! Not scam 😂🙈

Hi @Mamainmaking1 I’m so sorry you’re going through this. I had a diagnosis of an ectopic pregnancy in September- I went to EPU with bleeding (no pain) assuming it was a MC but my HCG was all over the place and they couldn’t see anything on the scan, so that confirmed it. I was about 6 weeks at that point. I spent a lot of time on here desperately looking for miracle stories but I think it’s helpful to try and think about worse case scenarios too.

It’s a really shitty thing to happen, if that is what is happening. But at the same time, I found the uncertainty to be far worse. Once I had the diagnosis and I knew what treatment I had to go through, things felt a lot better (or at least less shit and scary!).

Good luck for your scam tomorrow. Let us know how you get on and if you have any questions please do just shout xxx

Sorry I don't have experience with ectopic pregnancy but are you able to wait until 6 weeks? By then they should be able to see where the foetus is. I know I wouldn't feel comfortable aborting if they weren't 100% sure it was ectopic. Some women experience bleeding throughout pregnancy and go on to have healthy babies, so they need to be sure its definitely not in your womb. Wishing you luck xx