Signs of an ectopic pregnancy

[dg93]

I’m really panicking about a possible ectopic, but I was wondering if anyone knows the symptoms you’d get?

I’ve googled everything and it basically says the same as early pregnancy signs, but i also saw someone say pregnancy tests will stay with faint lines, and you won’t get dye stealers. I’ve had dye stealers and a 3+ on a digital.

Is this correct?

I’m 4 weeks 5 days pregnancy, and I have a scan in 13 days. I am having cramping in my stomach (low, and on left and right), an upset stomach which goes either way - but today I’m in so much pain on the lower left of my stomach but I do have diarrhoea, so the pain can be coming from an icky stomach, but I can’t figure it out and I don’t want to waste anyone’s time by going to a&e if everything is ok!

I don’t really have any other symptoms yet, other than occasional nausea but that’s not very often yet.

Hope that makes sense, any info will be greatly appreciated!

You wouldn't be wasting anyone's time, go get and checked out, they can be very dangerous.
Fingers crossed for you.

I had a positive pregnancy test last year and the pain in my left side was so excruciatingly bad I thought I was having an ectopic.

Phoned doctor and EPU nurse and both were fairly certain it wasn't ectopic because if the pain is that severe, you'd probably also have shoulder tip pain which is the huge symptom they're worried about.

Anyway, although they have classes me as having an early miscarriage I'm pretty confident I actually had a corpus luteum cyst which causes positive pregnancy tests.

I'm now actually pregnant now and early symptoms were identical to period - lots of cramping, some quite intense although not necessarily painful.

It's a good sign if you're not bleeding and to be honest a scan just now wouldn't tell you anything as it's too early.

Hopefully everything goes smoothly for you!

Phoned doctor and EPU nurse and both were fairly certain it wasn't ectopic because if the pain is that severe, you'd probably also have shoulder tip pain which is the huge symptom they're worried about.

Sorry just want to add this is pretty dangerous advice as once the shoulder tip pain starts, your tube has likely already ruptured.

OP, you won’t be wasting anyone’s time if you went to go checked out. They won’t scan you yet as it’s too early but they could take some bloods to see where your HCG level is at. I had an ectopic last year, main symptom was very localised one sided pain. Felt like someone had their thumb roughly where I imagine my ovaries are and was pushing all their weight on it. Was bleeding on and off too. My pregnancy tests were fairly strong but I never got a dye stealer and never went past 1-2 weeks on a digital. Not to say it can’t happen though!

Best of luck OP

Thank you all so much for your advice, I called 111 and they wanted to send me an ambulance, but I said I’d take myself to a&e, so I’m currently sat here waiting.

Thank you so much for your advice as I have been putting this off since Tuesday last week - fingers crossed everything is ok! X

Keep us updated op!
Everything crossed for you

Agree with @MrsB2019x ectopic symptoms are incredibly misunderstood and shoulder top pain is pretty much the last symptom you get before unconsciousness as it's basically caused by internal bleeding reaching your diaphragm

I had 2 ectopics both ruptured but both pretty rare in that they had heartbeats so very high hcg levels

Pain similar to @MrsB2019x - I would describe it as someone reaching into you and trying to tear your tube out with their bare hands....it's literally writhing on the floor pain unable to stand walk or speak (and I have a very high pain threshold)

Glad you’re being seen to @dg93, keep us posted

I had a ruptured ectopic with no classic symptoms.

I’d been scanned and palpated and nothing was flagged. No one sided pain or shoulder tip pain.

When it happened I was sick, fainted and was lightheaded.

If I hadn’t been in hospital at the time I’d be dead now.

How are things?

I’ve just got home - my a&e didn't have the facilities to carry out any scans, so I’ve been referred for an emergency scan, within the next 48 hours at a further away hospital

I’ve had every other test you could imagine, blood tests, ecg’s, blood sugar levels, tests for Uti’s and everything else came back normal thankfully!

So just waiting on a call to schedule the scan which I’m hoping will be tomorrow - really hoping everything goes well!

Thank you again to everyone that’s commented on this post, I really appreciate it x

Please don’t think you need shoulder tip pain to be having an ectopic.
Ectopics can be totally “silent” and most often the shoulder pain happens immediately before you pass out from a life threatening rupture.

I had an ectopic and the main symptoms were bleeding, bloating and rectal/bowel pressure. Mine ruptured and I still didn’t have any shoulder pain.

I hope it’s not ectopic - keeping everything crossed for your scan. If you want any advice or have questions, feel free to ask away as I’ve been there 😊

I had cramps in my back on both sides but more on the left and had bleeding. My test never got to 3+ on a digital though.

I was 8 weeks when I had surgery to remove my tube with the ectopic and it was never picked up on a scan. The only thing that indicated it to them was comparing the hcg levels from two blood tests 48 hours apart. If the hcg is stagnant then it’s an indication of ectopic but they should double in this time period for a normal pregnancy!

Good luck and hoping for a good outcome for you!

Pleased your bloods all came back!
Hopefully they've been in touch already for your scan

Update - just heard from the hospital I have a 10 minute scan booked in for 10:50am tomorrow… I’m expecting the worst, but hoping for the best 🤞🤞🤞🤞

Good luck got the scan

for

How did it go @dg93?

I have mixed feelings about today, they couldn’t see the sac on the ultrasound, so they can’t confirm if it’s in the right place, or ectopic yet…

I’m only 5 weeks today so it’s probably just too early!

But instead We’ve done a hcg blood test today, and I have another at 8:30 on Friday, with results Friday afternoon. They want to see my hcg levels rise between 50-60%

They said if the results look good I can have a scan at 6.5 weeks to confirm the sac is there.. they didn’t mention what would happen if my levels didn’t rise enough - meaning it would be ectopic..

Very, very worried! X

Sorry it wasn't great news, if they can't see a sac at 5 weeks but your hcg is over 1500 then unfortunately it is likely to be ectopic, it isn't so much the rising that is important (mine more than doubled in 48 hours so it doesn't always rule out an ectopic) it's more that if what they can see/or what they can't see doesn't match with what your hcg levels are

If you’re on Facebook, there are some really good support groups - the ectopic pregnancy support group is great. Lots of people have heaps of knowledge and can answer questions/offer support.

The good thing is, they are on it really early with you, so if it does turn out to be ectopic, they may well be able to medically manage it rather than end in surgery.

Keeping everything crossed for your HCG levels 🤞🏻🤞🏻

Just had an update from the hospital, my current hcg level is 5506, which they said was increasing as expected, so it's now unlikely to be ectopic

Obviously they couldn't see anything on the ultrasound on Wednesday (5 weeks), which apparently included not being able to see anything in the tubes - so they think it's possible that it's just too early.

I have another ultrasound booked in for the 9th July.

They said we can't rule out an ectopic until it's seen on a scan, but it's very unlikely at this point

@dg93

I don't want to scare you but the fact you are over 5000 today means they should really have seen something 2 days ago.....I had very similar levels with my first ectopic - it didn't become visible until over 3000, 2 days later it was over 5000 and I ruptured 2 days after that

If you feel any pain go straight to a&e and tell them you are being treated for a suspected ectopic

UPDATES!!!!!
I just had a private scan, baby is doing amazing, in the right place and heart is beating away ❤️❤️❤️

Fantastic news @dg93 😊👍🏼

Great news however nothing in your previous posts suggest eptopic