Experiences of etopic pregnancy?

[GeeHO98]

I had a miscarriage 5 weeks ago and found out I'm pregnant again since it was straight after I've had blood tests which are showing hcg levels are around 1000 odd it's definitely a new pregnancy as I've had a scan and everything from my miscarriage is gone but they couldn't see a sign of new pregnancy so it's been labelled as a "pregnancy of unknown location" could either be really early to see anything or an etopic. Has anyone had anything similar? If so what were your results? I'm guessing I'd be around 4-5 weeks but I'm leaning towards it been an etopic if they can't see anything in my womb now.

If you've had an etopic how did they end pregnancy? I'm really nervous of having to have surgery

Sorry you're going through this, it's an awful time. I had a pregnancy of unknown location which was never confirmed specifically as ectopic. My understanding was that if they can confirm it as ectopic they will operate but I could be wrong. I was offered 2 courses of action the first to let it resolve itself naturally whilst continuing regular bloods and check ups and the second to be treated with a drug which is also used for chemo. This came with obvious side effects and the instruction not to TTC for 6 months. We chose to let it resolve naturally as it was already showing signs of doing that but it did take almost 2 months.

Hi there Ive had 2 ectopics both ruptured and I lost both tubes. They will likely offer you methotrexate as it's pretty early and your hcg level is low. But you MUSNT get pregnant again for 3 months as the drug can cause birth defects. If they give you 2 shots then the wait it 6 months. But unless your levels are going down naturally it's the only way to avoid surgery. The advice from Ectopic specialists is also not to get pregnant for 3 months even if you avoid methotrexate and surgery as your tube will need time to heal

I would also say that whilst lots of people will say they got pregnant straight after a miscarriage and had a healthy baby this is also why the advice is to wait for one period before getting pregnant again - my first ectopic likely happened when I didn't wait and hadn't recovered sufficiently so definitely wait the proscribed time before trying again x

Thank you both I'll keep that in mind, I have another scan next week to see if they can see anything as my hcg has doubled as it should but I don't think I'm out of the woods yet

I’m so sorry to hear this. I also had a PUL very recently (last week!). The hospital kept a very close eye on me as I was bleeding. My hcg levels doubled within 48h which led them to believe it was an ectopic and once they went past the 1000 mark, they were eventually able to pick up the ectopic on a scan. Along with the bleeding I had low-level sensations in my right side where the ectopic was, though it wasn’t painful as such.

As they caught it early, they were able to treat it with methotrexate and I’m now waiting to see if my hcg levels fall far enough or whether I need a second dose. They are keeping a very close eye on me as it is still possible to rupture, unfortunately.

I am so sorry to hear that you are going through this as I know how stressful and distressing the waiting, and the lack of certainty is. However, what I would say is that the earlier you have an outcome, the better. If it is an ectopic, you will be treated quickly and monitored closely. If it isn’t, your mind will be at ease far sooner.

All the very best to you, do let us know how you get on. It feels like a very lonely time, I know, but many, many women go through the same awful waiting and stress and there’s lots of support if you need it.

It's probably too early to see anything on a scan. Plenty of threads here where nothing is visible until 6/7 weeks. I had an early miscarriage at 5 weeks and they said it wasn't worth scanning me as nothing would be visible.

@NigellasMicrowave so your hcg can still double every 48hours and it be an ectopic? I thought etopics usually heightened a little slower
I don't know much about it to be honest just what I've read on google. And yes hopefully I have the same outcome if its an ectopic and they catch it early I want to avoid an op if possible

I had an eptopc at 8 weeks. I had been bleeding for a week. I had surgery, (no drugs) but there wasn't an issue with trying again immediately. We were not advised to wait but warned it could take a while. I was pregnant within 2 months, and that was absolutely fine.

@GeeHO98 I definitely doubled in 48h which heightened the cause for concern at the hospital, because they couldn’t see anything in the uterus. But everyone is different - that’s only my experience. It did give me false hope as I was desperately hoping it was an intrauterine pregnancy that was just too small, but it wasn’t to be.

@NigellasMicrowave sorry to hear that & to everyone else commenting it's a horrible thing to have to go through hope all you ladies are okay I've had 2 losses already it's not easy to go through wishing you all luck if your still ttc

OP - could very easily be a normal early pregnancy, sounds very promising honestly. Also there is absolutely zero evidence that getting pregnancy straight after a miscarriage leads to worse outcomes - rather the opposite- so please don’t worry at all about that! Fingers crossed for you.

Big thread here which you may find helpful:

TTC after ectopic pregnancy www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/3832234-TTC-after-ectopic-pregnancy

My hcg was doubling normally both times - but my ectopics were quite rare in that they were perfectly healthy babies with heartbeats just in the wrong place - most ectopics don't actually contain any fetal tissue - the embryo implants and the body sends blood supplies to the location and it's this blood clot that actually ruptures the tube x