Can pessaries cause a little bit of bleeding?

[CloudyIvy55]

Can anyone offer some reassurance and stop me spiralling here...

Had a positive earlier this week after a round of IVF.

I'm on progesterone pessaries and ran out of applicators so ordered some new ones off Amazon. Started using them this morning and they aren't great. Takes a couple of go's to actually get the tablet to stay up there and they don't go in as smoothly as the others.

This afternoon after using one, I saw the tiniest bit of blood after I pulled it out. It really was small and I feel like it is most probably irritation from the new applicators and having to use it several times for the tablet to stay.

But the sight of blood has made me panic...I had a miscarriage a few years ago and the first sign was bleeding. My minds jumping straight to worst case scenario.

Progesterone pessaries used vaginally can irritate the cervix and cause some bleeding (assuming that's what you are on, as most people seem to be!) You can also use these rectally to avoid this issue and less messy.

Some bleeding in early pregnancy seems quite common and not necessarily a problem, but it is scary! I'm now almost 18 weeks with an ivf pregnancy and have had bleeding on and off from subchorionic haematomas, also common in ivf pregnancies, always fun! I've spoken to EPU and my clinic about it and generally unless bleeding is heavy or painful they weren't concerned. Do you have an early scan booked?

Congratulations by the way!

Thank you!!! Thats reassuring!

Yes early scan is on the 25th so still a bit of wait. I'm telling myself that it wasn't even enough blood to be seen on my underwear so it can't be anything to worry about... in a naturally conceived pregnancy, I wouldn't be using pessaries and therefore wouldn't even know about it!

Got a new a batch of medication being delivered tomorrow and I'm really hoping they come with the original applicators! Or I get over it and use them rectally...which I haven't been brave enough to try yet 🤦‍♀️😂

Hi Op, it’s really common for the pessaries to cause a little bleeding. I’ve had 2 positives via IVF when using pessaries and had a little bleeding with both early on. The first ended in MMC for totally unrelated reasons and the other is my DD. As a side, I was not provided with applicators so never used them, I just used my finger, basically the same as inserting a tampon without an applicator. I also started to alternate between rectal and vaginal insertion. Good luck!

It could be a few things - pressarie, applicator or it could be a hematoma. All very common in IVF. If you are taking Utrogestran, I don’t think this can be inserted rectally. it’s also annoying that they stopped the applicator with those.

I found these applicators good - https://amzn.eu/d/anZTPKB