Receptionist told me everything is ok!!!!!!

[newmum2020]

I am writing this out of a little rage! I am 5+2 today and on Sunday I had a bit of bleeding for a few hours. This tailed off to slight spotting the next day and since then I've only had one slight bit of pink cm. Tuesday night I had a bad cramp for 5 mins but no blood and all ok since. This morning I did a test and it was still a strong positive. I spoke to EPU on Monday and was told test in a week and call us back if positive.

So today I am off work and thought I will call GP for some advice (had miscarriage in November so am extra anxious) maybe they can test blood for HCG before weekend.

The receptionist told me if I haven't bled since Sunday and my test is positive today then it's all ok not to worry!! I can't believe they are giving out this advice! She said trust your test result. I pointed out you can't trust them as sometimes after a miscarriage the hormone levels take some time to drop. She put me on hold and came back to say i would need to see GP as they won't do bloods for this reason so a GP would have to "authorise" this!!! I almost hung up I was so upset. It scares me that a receptionist can tell people this over the phone, I wish I challenged her more to be honest as, despite probably being meant with good intentions, it's irresponsible for them to give this advice!

Rant over!! I'm still in limbo waiting to find out am I still pregnant or not 😫I'm clinging to the strong positive as I've read lots (and lots and lots!) about chemical pregnancy and it sounds like i would have had a negative by now but it's a waiting game now ☹️

I agree that the receptionist shouldn't be giving clinical advice like that.

However, the blood test situation is the same at our surgery. A patient can’t randomly request a blood test without a doctor approving it. Ie. Deciding there is a clinical need for one.

flowers for you.

No the reception staff are not there to discuss this. I had similar following a scan. I would contact the practice manager but hope everything is ok and try not to get too stressed.

I had a chemical pregnancy in December OP. I tested upon late period and got a faint positive. A couple of days later, I tested again to see if it had got darker to reassure myself and the line was gone completely. A dark line is a good sign and some bleeding during early pregnancy is normal. However, that doesn’t stop us worrying, does it?

A friend was in a similar situation so to reassure herself she used tests which show hormone levels to check they were increasing. Her little girl is almost 4 months old now :-)

All the best to you x

It's only really a scan whixh can confirm and you're very early for that. It could just be implantation bleeding - hope all works out

I think I was just taken aback by her comment. If she's giving out advice like this one day someone will believe it and then have something wrong!

I am just going to wait now and if test positive on Sunday then I'll see what EPU say. I just would have liked reassurance from bloods that HCG okay for 5+2 rather than waiting on scan and frantically POAS constantly!! I only have one left anyway so I'll keep that for Sunday!

Thanks for all your kind words 💜

Please consider putting a complaint in to the practice manager, the receptionist was really out of order.

I understand that you might not feel up to doing it now, so make some notes about the time you rang, which receptionist (if you know) , what was said etc so you can complain later.

@starfishmummy I will do that, for the sake of others and not to get her in trouble but she needs to be aware of how this can impact people. Thankfully I knew not to take any notice of her comment, although god knows I hope she's right! 🤞

Exactly this happened to me. I was due to have my 12 week scan this Tuesday but spoke to the midwife on Saturday as was concerned that something was wrong (having mild cramps and slight brown discharge) she told me not to worry, to take some paracetamol and relax as it was all perfectly normal in early pregnancy. I ignored her and booked a private scan for the same day to be told that there was no heartbeat and the baby had stopped growing at 8+2. Called the midwife and told her and all she could say was ‘I’m sorry for your news, call the gynaecologist on Monday’ over the weekend it all happened naturally but I had no advise, nobody to speak to, they pretty much just left me to it

@Char2020 I'm so sorry for your loss. I think it's really shocking how they treat everyone the same. I get that they are used to dealing with these things all the time but i think they forget we aren't and it's a really sensitive and upsetting subject!! I've found midwives to be very cold and factual, you'd think they'd be a bit more careful and reassuring with things they say!

I hope you are doing ok, it's the worst thing to go through, sending you hugs x

The + test thing is ridiculous.
We found out our baby had died on 3rd January (9 weeks) and I had surgical management. 4 weeks later and I have only just stopped getting a + preg test which is very normal, so it's bollocks what the receptionist told you.

I'm so sorry you're going through this. I've done it 4 times now and it doesn't get any easier.

@Frazzlerock how awful for you, sorry for your loss.

I am glad that I know better than to trust her 'advice' I'm still no further forward, no more bleeding so waiting patiently and slowly going out of my mind!!

Hope you are doing ok x

I don't think it's fair to take your rage out on the receptionist. Would you rather she got you all worried over potentially nothing?

She has tried to reassure you based on the information you provided to her. She hasn't given advice as such. If you wanted to insist on making an appointment with the GP, you could have.

I'm not sure if you can sense it @Butterflyflower1234 but I'm already pretty worried!!! I would rather she didn't give her personal opinion, that's not her job and she's not qualified to do so.

You should have reminded her that she was a receptionist and not a doctor. On saying that two years ago I was in the process of miscarrying and had been for a few days and my midwife continued over many days to tell me that I had normal pregnancy symptoms and unless I was bleeding red I wasn’t miscarrying. It was my second so I knew what was happening I just couldn’t get anyone to listen to me. Within twenty minutes of getting off the phone to my midwife I miscarried.