Shoulder pain early pregnancy

[Haz1516]

Hi there,

I'm around 5 weeks pregnant with my second child. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night with a pain in the tip of my shoulder, I was then tossing and turning with discomfort. Today it is still on and off painful and I'm generally feeling pretty under the weather.

When i googled it, the first thing that came up was ectopic pregnancy. I have no cramps or other symptoms though. Can someone please put my mind at rest that it can't be this?

Honestly OP, you cannot get decent medical advice from an Internet forum. Make an appointment with your GP / midwife just to be sure.

It could be ectopic pregnancy, but it could easily also be indigestion. Unfortunately not one here can tell you.

Hope all is well with the baby and please see someone

It’s probably best to get checked out by a GP as this is one of the symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy. Better to be safe than sorry

GP today, you need to get checked out. Hope everything is ok

www.nhs.uk/conditions/ectopic-pregnancy/symptoms/
NHS says seek medical advice promptly, for exactly this. GP or midwife not Mumsnet OP.

Oh dear, I was really hoping people would just say that it was impossible without any other cramping or symptoms associated with it. Does anybody have any experience of this?

I had an ectopic with NO symptoms and nearly died. Get to a medical professional as a matter of urgency.

OP, I wouldn't even wait for the surgery to open tomorrow. Get to a and e, or if your area has an early pregnancy unit, go there. Don't pass go. This isn't a wait and see situation.

Ring 111, or GP, now.

Or yes, A&E.

Agree with the above. Don’t wait, go to A&E. if it is a strain/trapped wind/something else you’re better going to check than leaving it and it becoming serious. Hope you are ok x

I had this in early pregnancy, I was almost certain I'd pulled my shoulder playing with my dogs but rang 111 expecting them to brush it off and reassure me. They took it really seriously and I ended up going to primary care for blood tests, I couldn't have a scan as it ended up being 3am when I was finally seen in primary care (Friday night) so I went back on the Monday for a scan at EPU and everything was found to be fine.

They were really helpful and reassured me that anything like that is worth getting checked out straight away!

Did you make an appt OP?

I work in A+E and we get ladies in with shoulder pain in early pregnancy all the time. Mostly they get referred to gynae for further management. Defo dont hang around for a GP appointment.

Ive had an ectopic pregnancy but only symptom was bleeding. I am very early pregnant at the moment and had an early scan to confirm pregnancy is in the womb, and I've had weird shoulder pain, which clearly isn't anything to do with an ectopic, so hopefully that's some reassurance for you. Shoulder tip pain with an ectopic would indicate internal bleeding, which would most likely mean that you'd have some sort of vaginal bleeding.

I must stress the importance of you still going in to be checked, everything we say is not definite and an ectopic can be life threatening!

I had shoulder pain quite badly when I was around 5 weeks pregnant, I had a scan and everything was fine! Apparently it was trapped wind in my shoulder area 😕
Definitely get it checked out though 😊

I don't think it is uncommon in a normal pregnancy, and certainly in some of mine that were in the right place I had this (and all sorts of other niggles). Ironically with my 2 ectopics I had no shoulder pain at all - or indeed any other real symptoms.
So, OP, you shouldn't fret, but do get checked so you can relax properly.