5 weeks pregnant - is everything ok?

[Anwen3]

Please could I ask your advice? I am 5 weeks pregnant with my fourth child but it feels quite different from the rest. I feel very pregnant. I feel as if I'm seven months pregnant! I can't bend over because it feels as if I have a big baby there!!! I have aches and pains on both sides of the abdomen. I'm tired and sleep in the afternoons. It burns when I urinate. What's going on?

Please do!

Please call now. A pain in your shoulder can be a sign of problems in your abdomen. Thinking back 20 years we were told to watch post hysterectomy patients for shoulder pain as it was a sign of complications.

It could just be a bad nights sleep, but I think you need to check it out now

"Now, this is psychological, isn't it??!"

No, it may well not be.

Please get yourself checked out as a matter of urgency. Hopefully it's nothing to be worried about but why take chances?

Why not call NHS direct?

How have you got on today OP?

Hope you have been able to see your GP OP and that everything is ok.

Pain in the shoulder tip is a warning sign for ectopic pregnancy. I hope you are OK.

Hope you're OK OP.

Thinking of you, hope no news is good news...

Thanks for your messages. To let you all know that I did see a GP. She thought it was probably an UTI and took an urine sample to check. I have started a course of antibiotics. She is also going to look at the possibility of an ectopic pregnancy and I have to take a morning urine sample to the hospital tomorrow morning.

I didn't mention the shoulder pain as I can be a bit of a hyperchondriac and didn't want to make a fuss. I felt much better this afternoon but I'm feeling terrible now. I'm shivering all over. It looks like this is consistent with an UTI so I hope the antibiotics will kick in in the next few days.

I was advised by a friend to go straight to casualty and avoid the GPs. I didn't because that would have been silly. But part of me regrets not doing that. At least I'd know for definite by now if I had.

I'll keep you posted and would be grateful for any more comments. Please don't be afraid of scaring me. I'll be fine with anything. x

Anwen. You MUST mention the shoulder pain. It's not being a hypochondriac!

Someone else here mentioned it can be a worrying sign when accompanied by addominal pain. If you didn't tell the GP the full story then you can't trust their diagnosis to be as reliable as it might have been given the full picture.

If you are shivering all over, please call NHS direct, just to be sure. And mention the shoulder pain!

(Really sorry if I sound like a nag! just concerned about you!)

I don't want to scare you but this is sounding like another thread on here a couple of years ago. Please don't ignore the shoulder pain, its a very very real symptom of ectopic pregnancy.

Oh, I don't know!! I know I sound pathetic but really I don't know what to do! The GP was so cold and matronly and I felt really stupid. And the shoulder pain just comes and goes and switches from shoulder to shoulder. It's a dull pain rather than a sharp pain and it could be because I carry too much stuff around with me in my handbag. Or just stress!!

And I've got the children tonight and don't want to have to try and find someone to look after them...

Again don;t want to scare you but trying to urge you to act to protect yourself!

Ectopic pregnancy can be very dangerous as I'm sure you are aware.

Possible outcomes of calling NHS direct / your out of hours doctor / going to A&E

1. if something serious is happening, you get help and advice about it
2. if it's a false alarm, you spend some time talking to someone who is being paid to talk to you. no harm done.

Possible outcomes of not getting help:

1. You might not get any more unwell.
2. You could get very ill indeed.

Please, call NHS Direct or your out of hours doctor.

Do you have any bleeding at all Anwen?

You don't need to get someone else to care for your children to call NHS direct.

Doesn't your doctor have out of hours cover?

I have no bleeding. And no very sharp pains.

The thing is with calling NHS Direct that they always err on the side of caution and tell you to call your out of hours GP. And the thing is with out of hours GPs is that they're always peeved if they're called out.

And as I've seen a GP today who has started a plan of action, it's a bit silly, isn't it?

I'm sure it's just an UTI.

Just had a look on NHS website. Does the shoulder pain get worse when you are lying down? Do you have any diarrhoea?

It is most likely a UTI, you're right. If it does get any worse please et checked out though

Do get that checked. Much better to have a false alarm than to miss something really important. Shoulder tip pain, as another poster said, can be a sign of something amiss in the abdomen. I would not hesitate.

No it's not a bit silly it's your health, which is priceless.

The shoulder pain seems to be at its worst when I wake up in the morning in bed. What does that indicate?

I have constipation rather than diarrhoea (TMI!!!)

I have painful kidneys now so I'm sure it's an UTI. (I was hospitalised with a kidney infection about 12 years ago and remember where the pain was well!)

Anyone who makes you feel silly is not doing their job properly.

If the shivers have appeared since you got back and you have another symptom - the shoulder pain - then calling a doctor out is appropriate.

Calling them out for a cold is wasting their time.

Calling them out for a possible ectopic pregnancy is not.

Thanks for your advice. Phoned NHS Direct and they told me to go to A&E. But have no childcare so will have to wait til morning. But at least I know what I'm doing first thing tomorrow. x