Eptopic pregnancy

[MySharpLion]

Hi im sadly going through eptopic pregnancy following 6 unexplained mc previously and no living children. Im looking for advice on your experience. I have been given 3 options all of wich come with risks however as of yet have had no symptoms that cause urgency

1.wait and see if it reabsorbs with regular check ups

1. Methotrexate injection
2. Keyhole surgery to remove my fallopian tube

If you have experienced this please can you share what route you went down and and how this went for you thankyou x

[Totallyfried]

I haven’t got any advice sorry OP, just wanted to send you a big hug. Sorry your going through this x

[MySharpLion]

Thankyou i really appreciate it x

[budgetbunny]

I'm so sorry. I had multiple miscarriages and sadly also multiple ectopics and ultimately lost both tubes (2 ruptured ectopics)

It really depends on lots of factors what route you choose - for me two of my ectopics were live and had heartbeats so was limited with options with those and had to have the tubes removed. I also had ectopics where I had methotrexate

Waiting and seeing with regular blood tests depended on hcg levels for me. If they are low - like less than maybe 500 I might be inclined just to wait it out but it can take weeks and weeks and there is no guarantee that they don't just give you methotrexate in the end anyway. It also prolongs an already traumatic and emotional experience. You are advised not to fly. You can actually rupture with hcg levels of like 5 (I was a member of lots of ectopic groups). For me I just wanted the whole thing over as soon as possible so I could grieve and move on. I couldn't move on whilst having weekly blood tests and calls to discuss results

Methotrexate (MTX) is actually unlicensed to use in ectopics in the U.K. but its is the most common form of medical treatment. It's actually used to treat cancer in some circumstances so is a very nasty drug. You can't try to conceive for 3 months if you have one dose or six months if you have 2 doses due to the harm it could do to another pregnancy. I also found I couldn't drink alcohol for a couple of months and apparently that's a common side effect as it affects your liver. It can only really be given if your hcg levels are less than 5000 as it's not very effective above that. I took this option once. Because I knew that I was happy to wait 3 months to try to conceive again

Removal of tube - to be honest I think depending on your history it is often the safest option. Once you have had one ectopic you are high risk for another. I felt like every month i was playing Russian roulette with my life trying to conceive in case I had another ruptured ectopic (I nearly died when mine ruptured). Ectopics indicate there is a problem with a tube - there is no medical way of fixing a tube which doesn't work and there is no fail safe test to see if they do actually work. Having a growing ectopic can also further damage the tube itself as it stretches and warps it as it grows. In the end I was really relieved when my tubes were gone. I just couldn't take it anymore

My doctors also suspected some of my early miscarriages were also ectopics and this could be the case for you too if any of your 6 previous miscarriages you didn't get any confirmation that the baby was in your uterus ie if you just had a BFP and then bleeding followed by a BFN

I wrote a lot there but I hope that gives you some information x

[FunLurker]

I had surgery, had the pain on the Saturday night and went to hospital, but ambulance staff were adamant it was nothing. On the Sunday they started me on Morphine, couldn't have a scan to Monday so they just doped me up. Monday morning had scan and they said was ectopic. It burst before I got the surgery, lost my tube and was in hospital for over a week as problems with my bladder. I never tried for another baby as I had so many miscarriages before this one and I already had children from previous partner and I couldn't put my kids through it again. I did know the reasons for the miscarriages but never made it any easier.
Good luck.

[fortifiedwithtea]

My history is that I had a missed miscarriage December 1996.

April 1997 I believe I became pregnant again. Had the early signs of pregnancy but continued to have periods. Started to use ovulation prediction kit and the readings were odd. Went to doctor who got me to do a pregnancy test which was positive and sent me to hospital. Took a couple of days to diagnose and I was bleeding as I went to surgery. Judging by the massive scar I woke up with shit must have really hit the fan. I believe I was somewhere between 11 and 16 weeks. The pregnancy was barely in the tube and I didn’t lose it.

I went on to have two more successful pregnancies. Both times I had very early scans to establish where the embryo had landed and that there was a heartbeat. Dd1 scanned at 6+ weeks saw a proper heartbeat. Dd2 scanned at 5+ weeks just a quivering blob.

[MySharpLion]

@budgetbunny

I'm so sorry. I had multiple miscarriages and sadly also multiple ectopics and ultimately lost both tubes (2 ruptured ectopics)

It really depends on lots of factors what route you choose - for me two of my ectopics were live and had heartbeats so was limited with options with those and had to have the tubes removed. I also had ectopics where I had methotrexate

Waiting and seeing with regular blood tests depended on hcg levels for me. If they are low - like less than maybe 500 I might be inclined just to wait it out but it can take weeks and weeks and there is no guarantee that they don't just give you methotrexate in the end anyway. It also prolongs an already traumatic and emotional experience. You are advised not to fly. You can actually rupture with hcg levels of like 5 (I was a member of lots of ectopic groups). For me I just wanted the whole thing over as soon as possible so I could grieve and move on. I couldn't move on whilst having weekly blood tests and calls to discuss results

Methotrexate (MTX) is actually unlicensed to use in ectopics in the U.K. but its is the most common form of medical treatment. It's actually used to treat cancer in some circumstances so is a very nasty drug. You can't try to conceive for 3 months if you have one dose or six months if you have 2 doses due to the harm it could do to another pregnancy. I also found I couldn't drink alcohol for a couple of months and apparently that's a common side effect as it affects your liver. It can only really be given if your hcg levels are less than 5000 as it's not very effective above that. I took this option once. Because I knew that I was happy to wait 3 months to try to conceive again

Removal of tube - to be honest I think depending on your history it is often the safest option. Once you have had one ectopic you are high risk for another. I felt like every month i was playing Russian roulette with my life trying to conceive in case I had another ruptured ectopic (I nearly died when mine ruptured). Ectopics indicate there is a problem with a tube - there is no medical way of fixing a tube which doesn't work and there is no fail safe test to see if they do actually work. Having a growing ectopic can also further damage the tube itself as it stretches and warps it as it grows. In the end I was really relieved when my tubes were gone. I just couldn't take it anymore

My doctors also suspected some of my early miscarriages were also ectopics and this could be the case for you too if any of your 6 previous miscarriages you didn't get any confirmation that the baby was in your uterus ie if you just had a BFP and then bleeding followed by a BFN

I wrote a lot there but I hope that gives you some information x

Thank you so much for all this information it really is helpfull. I have been reading about the (MTX) and feel i have somewhat ruled it out based on what i have been reading it really sounds like a nasty drug. I have had 2 misscariages that went from bfp to bfn with follow up scan to confirm my womb was clear and others confirmed with scan one of wich being mmc.

So i got my bfp on 14th/2
come monday 19th/02 i started spotting i went to early maternity unit ( my last period was 7th of jan however my cycles are 35days with 8 days variation)
They saw some fluid on the womb and some on ovary and said its too early to see anything they did hcg wich was 174 and started me on projestrone due to history of misscariages
They repeated hcg 21/02 and it was 270 just below the expected 60% increase they then told me to leave it a week and go back wich was yesterday 28th/02 for repeated bloods and hcg had decreased to 182
I had a scan today to confirm its on my right tube and measures 2cm wich they explained is not cause for urgent decision and any pain to go straight back
I have an appointment at 1pm again tomorow to see if hcg has decreased anymore

I have wanted children for as long as i can remember and all 6 losses where in a previous relationship and underwent investigation over years with no explination
I was due to start ivf at that point due to the unexplained misscariages

I have a tilted womb and dont ovulate often however from knowing the pain and my body i would say as when i do ovulate i really feel it and get a lot of pain 80% of the time i ovulate from the left and on the rare occasion i do ovulate from the right (wich is where the pregnancy is) i am very aware and knew this baby came from the right

So im thinking do i take the risk of losing my right tube and go down the ivf route

(Sorry for poor spelling in advance i have dyslexia 🤦‍♀️)

[pittynop]

I had an ectopic right side, treated with methotrexate at 5-6 weeks. Had my bloods taken for 6 weeks until hcg below 5. Conceived from the ectopic side a year later at first try, healthy 4 yr old DD who I was convinced was another ectopic as I still have twinges where it was. MMC two months before ectopic.
I wasn't treated in the uk. I had no issues with the drug at all.
Hugs to you, it's shit and unfair.

[BananaHammock23]

So sorry you're going through this OP. I had an ectopic last year after a lengthy process of IVF and was devastated. I was offered the injection and surgery and opted for surgery. For me there were two factors in deciding this: firstly, I'd been pregnant for 7 weeks with a pregnancy I knew from 4 weeks wasn't viable and I needed it to be over. secondly i wanted to conceive again as soon as possible after and I would've had to wait 3 months with the injection. I just wanted it to be over. Surgery was quick and recovery was hard for the fjrst 48 hours then i improved quickly x

[Stade197]

I had an ectopic pregnancy in 2018, I was given the options of methotrexate or surgery and I opted for surgery because I didn't want to potentially go through weeks/months of tests to check my levels were going down and the doctor said there was still a risk I could need surgery anyway so the day after my scan I had my left tube removed. I stayed in hospital for 1 night then rested at home for a couple of weeks and to be honest I was just glad it was all over and done in the one hospital visit and I didn't need to go back. I was also told that i could still ovulate from both ovaries and my 1 remaining tube would move around & pick the egg up from whichever side produced and I went on to have a healthy little boy in 2021

[ReetPetity]

I’m so sorry you’re going through this. I had an ectopic a few years ago and it’s a really shit thing to have happen. I had no signs things weren’t OK until it became an emergency situation and I had to be rushed to hospital, so the only option for me was surgery. Like another poster said the surgeon told me that the impact on fertility is to reduce it to 90% rather than 50%. Wishing you all the best whatever route you decide to go down

[budgetbunny]

If you are going down the IVF route anyway I would say lose the tube

IVF doesn't reduce the risk of an ectopic happening it actually increases it.....my second ruptured ectopic was an IVF transfer.

I did go on to have twins via IVF though x

[MySharpLion]

Thankyou all for you very informative and kind replies.
Unfortunatly my blood where done yesterday and although my hcg levels are motsuper high they had failed to decrease
With some shoulder pain occuring so i opted forthe operatio wich iwill be going for this morning.
They did say with the eptopic only being small that they might be able to snip my tube squeese it out and leave the tube to re attatch so we shall see however im at the point where i just want the quickest fix x

[BananaHammock23]

Hope it went ok today OP and you're not too uncomfortable. I found the trapped wind after surgery really painful. Guzzled peppermint tea and it was gone in a few days!

[MySharpLion]

Thankyou all went well they managed to find the eptopic and have removed my right tub as it was not looking to good however said my ovaries and my left tube look really good. Have managed to eat and already started guzzeling the peppermint tea makes heck of a difference, and im pleased to say i have not long got home to the comforts of my own home to recover. Back in tomorow for the anti D injection due to my blood group but other than that all is well. Thankyou to you all for the advice and support xx

[ReetPetity]

I’m glad it all went well. Take plenty of time to recover — the peppermint tea really does work wonders!

[Bumble88]

i just wanted to pop on to say I also had an ectopic (first pregnancy) in 2019. Hospital said I could “watch and wait” but ruptured the next day resulting in emergency surgery and losing my tube. Rest up, I found the recovery hard mostly from a mental perspective. I was just obsessed with being able to TTC again and worried I would never conceive again/it would be ectopic. My second and third pregnancies were both healthy (DD now 3 and DS 6 months) - and I know I ovulated from the same side I lost my tube! I wish you the very best in your recovery and TTC journey if/when you’re ready. Hopefully stories of hope, like mine, will help you along the way x

[MySharpLion]

Nearly 4 weeks since op. I was bleeding for approx 5 days post op. Had my right felopian tube removed and woken up this morning feeling sick with pain on the right side where my ovarie is. is this normal?

[delphi13]

This is not something I experienced in my recovery from the fallopian removal. I'd get it checked out. Hope you feel better soon xx

[ReetPetity]

I’d definitely get it checked out. I ended up with a post-operative infection following my laparoscopy, it was easily sorted with antibiotics, but always best to know what’s going on. Best of luck