Ectopic pregnancy

[Emily1699]

Hi I haven’t really done anything like this before but I’m feeling a bit lost at the moment and didn’t know if anyone could give me any advice.
In the last year I have had 3 pregnancies of unknown location, which have all started the same a positive test and then brown discharge and then bleeding. The hospital monitored me through them all.
Last month I thought the same thing was happening again but this time my HCG went up to 1080 when before it only ever really went to 300. It turned out to be ectopic and I had to have surgery they removed my tube as it had ruptured. I now feel stuck and lost about what to do next. I didn’t know if anyone else had been through a similar thing.

Sorry for what you have been through. What a stressful year.
Yes. I’ve had a ruptured ectopic and removal of tube, following a miscarriage (so ectopic 2nd pregnancy).
Things will be progressed differently depending on which hospital you have been treated at as far as I know. You should request gynae follow up because, if you haven’t already had one, then you need an hsg to check the patency of the remaining Fallopian tube.
They should have commented on the presence of any endometriosis/other findings following the laparoscopy? I did specifically ask about this though after mine.
I did go on to have fertility investigations and ivf, but that was partly because my ovarian reserve was found to be low and I was 36. They didn’t want me to hang around trying naturally for years.
I’m sorry I can’t comment on why you have had pregnancies of unknown origin before, but losing one tube is not necessarily a disaster. I think it only reduces your chances of a pregnancy by about 10-20% each month? That’s what my gynae consultant advised me anyhow.

I've had two live ectopic pregnancies (heartbeats present) and both ruptured so lost both tubes within 18 months

I've also had 5 miscarriages but looking back now I suspect some of those were ectopic instead.

I would think your PULs were also ectopics but your body managed to resolve them so the as hard as it is to lose a tube it's better for it to be gone as is clearly didn't work

Give yourself time to grieve, most doctors will say that losing a tube doesn't affect your fertility and I know loads of people who had a healthy pregnancy after losing a tube although I wasn't so lucky. Give it a few months for things to heal before you start trying again

I did move on to IVF but I didn't realise IVF actually increases the chance of ectopic and I lost my second tube following an IVF transfer

Did you go on to have children?
I have been referred for IVF because they are worried that it will happen again, but I have to wait until January, so I didn’t know if I should keep trying and hope that all the previous problems I’ve had were all from the same side, I’ve had pain on the same side each time and now that tube has gone, I’m thinking hopefully the problem has also gone.

@Emily1699

I'm currently 9 weeks with twins but it's taken 5 rounds of IVF, 4 transfers and £35k!

I would also discuss the increased risk of an ectopic due to IVF with your Doctor - I was Naive in thinking IVF would solve our problems but obviously in my case IVF caused my second ectopic