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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

am I miscarrying

6 replies

darkscouser14 · 10/07/2014 01:28

I had a gainful positive Friday just gone which was a day before period due date. Yesterday I got salmon coloured discharge on my knickers and when I wiped which was then brown. This morning I have cramping in my abdomen and bleeding is heavier with small clots. I'm worrying my self sick :(

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Pinkrach · 10/07/2014 07:09

Hi Hun,

It could be a chemical pregnancy - an awful term I know, and doesn't do justice to how you are feeling I am sure. The research says that before the days of super sensitive tests and early testing, many women would have miscarried before they even knew they were pregnant - they would have just assumed their period was a little late.

Having said that, some women do bleed and go on to have healthy pregnancies. However, the clots and pain you are experiencing makes this unlikely.

I would give your doctors a ring or try and get an appointment, but the likelihood is that they'll ask you to wait it out and 'see what happens'.

I hope you have a positive outcome, but if not try and take some small comfort in the fact that a loss in the first 12 weeks usually means something is wrong and it is 'nature's way'.

Take care of yourself xxx

squizita · 10/07/2014 08:19

If you had a positive test, it would not be a chemical pregnancy (which is very hard to tell unless you've had IVF). The egg will have implanted, you are pregnant and it might be a miscarriage albeit a very early one.
This means nothing emotionally, but if (as I know too well - I have a rare condition) you ever need gynie/consultant care it is something you want to use the right word for. But that is a less than 1% chance at this stage so do not worry.

Go and see your GP, it would be too early to scan but they could do "48 hr bloods" which is a good indication of whether things are going well (the hormones rise in your blood) or it is a loss (the hormones fall).

Wishing you the best of luck. I sincerely hope it is not a loss.

Pinkrach · 10/07/2014 08:32

Hi squizita,

A chemical pregnancy is indeed a term used to describe a very early miscarriage - it isn't used to imply that conception never occurred. Please see below:

"The term chemical pregnancy means that the miscarriage happened at a point that a missed period and biochemical tests, such as an hCG blood test or a home pregnancy test (checking hCG in urine), were the only evidence that you were pregnant. The miscarriage happened before an ultrasound could have shown a gestational sac.

When the pregnancy develops to the point that ultrasound could confirm the existence of the pregnancy, the term becomes clinical pregnancy. Thus, a chemical pregnancy would be a miscarriage before the fifth week of gestation -- or within about week after your missed menstrual period."

Unfortunately, at this stage it is very likely that a doctor would use the term "chemical pregnancy".

Darkscouser - I hope you're doing ok xxx

squizita · 10/07/2014 08:44

Pinkrach I'm afraid I used to think this, however was set straight by Raj Rai and Lesley Regan at their clinic on the matter. Although a Dr (e.g. GP) might use this term, it isn't actually a medically accurate one and has in the past led to women being sent for tests for implantation issues when they don't have them at all, it's an issue which occurs afterwards. If a HPT has shown 'positive' it should be termed 'miscarriage' to avoid this confusion, they told me (and indeed said IVF was the only time you'd 'know' a chemical happened unless you gave yourself blood tests daily).

Indeed Prof Hughes, who discovered Hughes Syndrome blames the haziness about earlier miscarriage as a factor which has delayed many women getting diagnosis in the press.
An additional issue is that chemical Pregnancy is often used, by GPs, as shorthand for "we think it didn't implant properly" and if a HPC has worked, implantation has worked and been in place for approx 48hrs. Thus, although there might not be anything to see on a scan in terms of causes and care it is a miscarriage.
My medical records, simply from my local hospital done by their gynie consultant, list those losses I have had at 5 weeks as "miscarriage, natural, 5 weeks (or in one case 4+6)".
If he hadn't known to do this, as many recurrent miscarriers I know have had, I may have been wrongly tested for implantation/fertility issues.

I met someone who had 'chemical' written 6 times on her records. She had been referred to the wrong people because of this and eventually found her way to the correct clinic after months of heartache and confusion. I was lucky: my local gynie knew better than me (at the time) what to write on my notes so I got seen as quickly as possible by the right consultants.

OP sorry for derailing this thread: BE REASSURED the stuff I have described happens to less than 1% of women and is HIGHLY UNLIKELY to happen to you, and even with that tiny number, most go on to have a healthy child.

Pinkrach · 10/07/2014 08:52

I had no intention of getting into a debate, I merely wanted OP to be prepared for what a GP might say. I don't want to say anything else for fear of upsetting OP. Any miscarriage, no matter how early, is heartbreaking. Unfortunately, the medical profession don't always acknowledge this.

Take care x

squizita · 10/07/2014 08:54

Sorry. The reason I always explain it is 'just in case' after I met that poor woman I mentioned.

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