New poster - please can someone help me? No idea what's going on with my body!

[RaRaZ]

Hi all. I've been reading the odd thread for a while, but only just decided to join because I desperately need some advice - sorry to make my first post a cry for help!

I had a TOP 11th April. There were complications, I had retained products and a uterine infection, and I had to have a D&C on 25th April. This left products as well and I got another uterine infection and another course of antibiotics, which I finished some time in early May.

Since then, we've been having unprotected sex as we are trying for a baby. Whilst on holiday in early May, I started to get nasty abdo cramps, exactly like I'd had when I was pregnant before. I started to bleed and thought it was mebbies my period, but I only passed a teaspoon of blood at the most. The cramps continued and I started to wonder if I'd be some miracle got pregnant really quickly and it was implantation. Also - sorry for tmi - got some diarrhoea. That's really unusual for me - I'm 24 and have never in my life before had diarrhoea.

Anyway, got back from holiday, took a test, and it was negative. Also been seen back in the hospital and by the GP and had a total of three negative tests over about three days. According to a doctor I saw at the hospital, I should've started my period about ten days ago (18th May ish). I still hasn't arrived and there's no sign of it coming either. I started to feel pregnant at about the time I was at the hospital, but was told it was very unlikely. However, in the last week, I've taken four tests at home and all have been positive. Two were Asda's own brand (sensitive from 20 I think), which were pretty faint, and the next was a Clear Blue one which was still faint but much less so than the Asda ones, and finally on Friday I took a Clear Blue digital test which said 'Pregnant 1-2'.

Fairly conclusive, I thought, but I went to the GP that day anyway for a pre-booked appt and got her to test my urine while I was there. That came up completely negative, and today I've had another negative (the other Clear Blue digital).

My urine was said to the lab by a nurse who was sure I must be pregnant on Thursday, and I'm still waiting for the results. I still feel pregnant, and I've started with diarrhoea again (last night), which I assumed was part of early pregnancy until I got the negative test result this morning. Unless....can diarrhoea affect the result??

Spoke to my GP and the hospital. Hospital have booked me a trans-abdominal scan next Monday (was meant to be three weeks' time to check if all complications have cleared up, but they've moved it forward), but couldn't see me on the ward unless my GP referred me. My GP said it's probably gastro-enteritis and that it's extremely unlikely that I'm pregnant. She said if I'm still having diarrhoea by Thursday or if I get a positive test then, to back for an appt. However, I'm not convinced that it's gastro-enteritis at all: I've never had diarrhoea before (apart from the occasion mentioned above) and I have a really strong stomach (have drunk water and eaten street food all over Asia and never had a problem, etc), I'm not vomiting or running a fever, I haven't eaten anything unusual, and I haven't been around children or ill people - and I very rarely catch anything anyway.

So....sorry for the essay. I guess my question is: could I still be pregnant? Or does anyone know what the hell is going on with my body?

don't want to read and run. I had a d /c sometime and conceived that same week tho it ended up in another d /c as had a boyfriend then who didn't want a baby yet. (God forgive me for committing such ) so its possible you are pregnant. Fx

Dprecious, thanks for reading and replying - I was worried no-one would with me being a new poster :-/ x

Hi raraz - welcome to mn. I am sorry to say that it does not look good, with positive tests last week and negative today. It could be you have had a chemical pregnancy (early pregnancy loss). The only other possibility is if your urine testing today was more dilute than last weeks testing.

I hope I am wrong and that you are pregnant still. I hope you get an answer soon.

That's what I'm scared of :-( The GP said I might not even lose any blood, that my body could just reabsorb it. She was pretty blunt about it and terribly unsympathetic. Do you have any idea how common it is to miscarry and not bleed??

Thanks for your support :-) x

It is not very common to reabsorb the pregnancy. I have only had it happen once out of 12 miscarriages for me. With this one my normal period arrived four weeks after my pregnancy tests turned negative. I had had scans and seen the pregnancy sac and the a few days later the sac was smaller with no bleeding in-between or afterwards (until my next period).

It is hard, and I feel very sorry that you are going through this.

Oh god, I'm so sorry you had to go through this 12 times. That's horrendous, and you must be a far stronger person than me to cope with it cos I'm falling apart here. I'm just so scared. I was on the phone to the EPU this morning and they said they can't do anything unless I start bleeding or develop pain, so I'm stuck waiting for my scan next Monday (feels like a lifetime away :-/ ) and to take another test in a week. I'm terrified of having a scan show a foetus but no heartbeat. How do you deal with that?? x

Can I reassure you that there is nothing to be scared about?

Early pregnancy losses are common, and your body was still recovering from all the uterine infections. It is horrible to be going through it all, the grief of your first loss has now been compounded by this one.

I am not any stronger than you are, I have fallen apart like you have too. I had great grief counselling and since then, whenever I was pregnant I would take one day at a time, and not dwell on if's/what's/ and maybe's like I used to prior to miscarriages.

With your scan next week it will be very unlikely that they will see an embryo, a pregnancy sac at most, even then it might not show a pregnancy sac at all, as you were early on in the pregnancy and it will have already been started collapse and to be reabsorbed. The scan will probably show thickened uterine lining, but that will come away with your next period.

There are only two things to be concerned about, first is that with low level fluctuating hcg levels there is a small risk of ectopic pregnancy. If you have any shoulder-tip pain, any prune-juice colour bleeding, then straight to a&e.

The second concern is for re-infection, if you get a raised temperature, or pain then definitely seek medical help.

These possibilities are small, but worth taking note of.

Have you taken any further home pregnancy tests since Tuesday? It might be worth just checking with another asda one (don't spend a fortune on the test). If it is negative still then it is more or less confirming the early pregnancy loss (only other reason could be ectopic).

Try to be kind to yourself, distract yourself with anything you feel like over the next few days. Do let me know how you are doing.

Thankyou, Willitbe, you're very kind. I took another test last night (First Response), which was faint but very definitely positive. Then the one I took this morning (Boots, digital) was negative :-/ So presumably the ones I've been using detect different levels?

I played around a bit with conception calculators and stuff and managed to work out that the most I can be is four weeks' pg, which apparently is the earliest most people test +ve. Is it possible that I've just got low levels of HCG (which I did last time - didn't test +ve till about 6weeks) and that the diarrhoea (and hence peeing constantly) means I've just had too low levels in my pee to be detected by some of the tests? Or am I just kidding myself?

If I've lost it, it must've happened Saturday or Sunday as my strongest results were Friday (much stronger than Thursday), and Monday was when the problems started. x

There is a small chance that you are a person who has a pregnancy without getting a really clear positive test, this is rare, but does happen.

Really since last week your tests should be getting darker. First response test has a sensitivity of around 20mIU whereas a boots digital only has level of around 50mIU. So your levels if they are around this level now should not have been detectable last week, if a normal hcg increase going on.

The most likely senarios are 1) that you are one of the rare people who will not get a clear hcg level in this pregnancy (happened once to my mum and once to my sister with successful pregnancies, it does and can happen), or 2) it is ectopic, and will be a pregnancy of unknown location next week, and they will find it in the next couple of weeks in the wrong place, or 3) it is residual hormones from a miscarriage, and gradually declining or finally 4) that you are right in that using different sensitivity tests and having different dilution of urine is making the tests appear irratic when they are not.

You need hcg quantative (not qualative) blood tests 48hours apart to determine this. Whatever else they do when they scan, make sure they do this. If you are only 4 weeks pregnant then you are highly unlikely to see anything on the scan other than a thickened uterine lining. I am concerned that the scan might be a waste of time, and cause you more stress than helping. One question I have not asked is with the termination of pregnancy in April, how far along were you? and if you don't mind me asking why the termination?

Yeah, that's what I've understood from my research too - and why I'm so worried that they're not. Everything was going fine in that the tests were faint, then slightly less faint, and then showed up on a digital (Clear Blue).... and then I had a negative, another faint positive, and then another negative. So my levels don't seem to be increasing as you would expect.

I'm hoping against all hope that your scenario 1 is correct, but I am concerned that 2 or 3 might be instead.

I have to have the scan on Monday anyway as a follow-up from the D&C and to check that everything is ok. They also hope to be able to give me answer on the pregnancy then. The consultant dealing with the results is very good - I've met her previously, and she's very highly qualified.

I was 14 and a half weeks at the time of the TOP. It was the worst decision my partner and I have ever made and we've both regretted it ever since and it's caused us a hell of a lot of heartache. It was an unplanned pregnancy at a difficult time in our lives when we knew we could ill afford a baby at the time it was going to arrive. We wanted it, but unfortunately were frightened into having a TOP by family. I wish it had never happened and I hope this isn't my punishment.

Oh, re the blood test, the GPs have refused to do it :-/ They've told me to take another urine sample in tomorrow and they'll send that to the lab to compare my levels with last week.

So sorry that you have had this much stress in such a short time. This is not a punishment, you do not deserve it no one does.

I now wonder if it is lingering hcg from the failed d&c's. it only takes a small amount of remains of the prrgnancy/placenta to give hcg levels.

In which case it is good that the scan is being done.

Gp's are not good. They avoid doing the blood tests they should as it is a financial policy. It would have answered so much for you if they had done it.

I hope you manage to distract yourself with something over the next few days.

Hey. Ended up in A&E today with the pain - GP and EPAC said to take myself along if/when the pain or bleeding started. They took bloods and confirmed that the baby's gone :-(

So sorry

So sorry for you and your sad loss.