How soon to try again after ectopic pregnancy??

[Ezzitigger]

Had operation for ectopic pregnancy last week and am wondering how soon would be ok to start trying to conceive again?? Also does it make it harder to conceive having just one tube?? Took just over a year to conceive this one and am worried that my age is also going against as Im now 35. Any advice much appreciated

Hi, very sorry to hear about your ectopic, it's a terrible thing to go through. I had one in February but was treated with drugs as it was caught very early.

From the reading I've done, it's generally recommend to wait for 2 full cycles or 3 months before trying again. That's to give everything a chance to heal. You could start trying again sooner than this though.

The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust have a great frequently asked questions resource here: Ectopic FAQs. They also have a really good message board that I recommend if you have any questions or just want to speak to women in a similar situation.

Hi Ezzitigger, I was told to wait one full cycle, which I did. This was almost exactly a year ago. Like you it had taken me over a year to concieve that time. My hospital were very good and I had a follow up with the sister who told me that it may take longer, but it doesn;t nessesarily mean you have half the chance. She said she would expect me to be PG again within 6 months, actually it was 8 months and ended in MC, but at least I know I can get PG. I don't mean to sound negative though, she said you can concieve even if you ovulate from the side where the tube is missing as the other one can pick it up (who knew, the human body is a very complicated thing!). I am now seeing a fertility consultant, who also tries to be very positive and while they are doing all sorts of tests says he fully expects me to call him up any min to tell him I am PG all by myself. It is hard to stay positive, especially when you have been trying for what seems like ages. There are pleanty of stories on here of one tubers managing to concieve relativly easily, I am sure they will all pop in and tell you their stories soon!

Hi there

I had a ruptured ectopic mid-March this year. We were told to wait 2 cycles until we started trying again. Having taken 6/7 months to get pregnant with the ectopic that seemed like AGES to me.

However I went through unexpected waves of sadness 2 and 4 weeks after the operation which mean I actually appreciated the time to heal emotionally as well as physically.

After my second period DH and I started trying again...and now we're 8 weeks pregnant - i.e. we got pregnant straight away. We had a scan at 5 weeks which only showed the sac and no baby so we went back at 7 weeks and there was the baby, heartbeat and everything, in the right place. Phew!

I also have only one tube now...I was told that it doesn't affect your ability to get pregnant, the main thing is that having had one ectopic your odds of having another change from 1/100 to 3/10. So you must have early scans. Losing a second tube does affect your ability to concieve.

I hope that is a hopeful story for you.... Two cycles seems like a long time but it is so important that you grieve what was lost, go through the emotional rollercoaster and heal physically.

Fingers crossed for the future...

BTW you should have to go back to hospital for blood tests to check everything is ok after 2 weeks. Have they organised that for you?

And FWIW i'm 33...