4weeks - Ectopic Help Please

[KLK94]

Hi,

I am looking for advice from anyone who has had an Ectopic pregnancy before. I’d like to know if you felt symptoms beforehand…. And if so what were they and how bad.
I was going through diagnosis for infertility, so to now be pregnant is a shock, but I’d like to understand the pain I’m having. I know before 8 weeks no one medical really cares about you.

TIA

I wouldn’t say no one cares. If you think you are having an ectopic pregnancy you need to call the early pregnancy unit now.

I think if you have a positive pregnancy test and abdominal or pelvic pain then anyone would be interested - early pregnancy unit or ED

Hi, I had an ectopic pregnancy 1997.

I had lost my first pregnancy mmc six months before. Desperate for a baby we tried again straight away. I had early pregnancy symptoms but still had periods. I bought an ovulation kit. The reading were weird indicating I was ovulating for too many days and I thought my period had started again too soon.

i went to my doctor who gave my a pregnancy test. It was positive but she told me to go straight to hospital as she suspected an ectopic pregnancy.

at the hospital a blood test was taken but the hormone level was not conclusive. Sent home and told to come in if I had shoulder pain. I was home only a few hours when the shoulder pain started .

admitted to gnae ward again and a lap and dye booked for next day. Only shit hit the fan whilst I was under ga and I woke up to a massive incision. Apparently I was told when I came round but don’t remember that. So it was a shock when the surgeon spoke to me the next day. I thought I had to tell my husband we had lost another baby but he already knew.

luckily I kept my tube and went on to have two more successful pregnancies.

@fortifiedwithtea Did you have any abdominal paints at all during the time when you first went to the GP?

I had a 'period' then pains that increased as the days went on. They were pretty agonising by the end so I went to a&e and told them I couldn't be pregnant as I'd just had a period. Went to gp a couple of days later who did a pregnancy test and sent me straight to hospital. I was kept in then had keyhole surgery and tube removed the next day. I was gutted but went on to have dd

The pains were abdominal and over 1 side

I had a ectopic six weeks ago. No pain at all, just bleeding. I’d advise to ring EPU, I was scanned and admitted to a ward the same day.

@KLK94 no I had no abdominal pain when I first went to the doctor. I think it was my cousin (a nurse) who urged me to go because I was lightly bleeding and supposedly ovulation (according to the pee stick) at the same time.

I remember it being explained that I was going to have keyhole surgery just to have a look and it I had a normal pregnancy there shouldn’t be any harm. My husband was very unhappy about me having the surgery and begged me to withdraw consent.

sorry this is graphic. I walked to the nurses desk to say I had changed my mind. The nurse told me to look back behind me and there was a trail of blood all the way back to my bed. I don’t remember What I said, suffice to say I went back to bed and waited for surgery. I guess my lack of pain masked how serious things were.

so I say the incision was big . I don’t remember anyone explaining what had happened just the terrible burning pain like fire when I first came round. So I had to have it all explained to me again when I woke up the following day.

Watch for referred pain in the shoulder .

I don’t think people “don’t care” if you are less than 8 weeks and having an ectopic

I'm sorry if you are indeed experiencing an ectopic pregnancy, but I think it is extremely unfair to suggest nobody cares before 8 weeks. I had bleeding myself at 6 weeks and the medical staff I encountered most certainly did care. It's a generalisation that is uncalled for.

@ThickSkinnedSoWhat agree 100%

I had an ectopic in 2020.

I had multiple positive pregnancy tests but was also bleeding dark brown. At first it felt like someone was pushing their thumb down on where my ovary is (left side), it then progressed to feeling like they were putting all their weight on that thumb, then eventually I had really tight pains all across my abdomen.

Medical staff, despite being in the throes of Covid, were incredibly supportive and you definitely will be taken seriously. I called 111 and was sent to A&E. Please see someone if you have suspicions, an ectopic can be a life threatening emergency!

@ThickSkinnedSoWhat it’s not uncalled for, I guess all areas are different but I know you can’t really contact anyone in my area as they just laugh at you before 6 weeks, like you’re making it up, and I’m 4 weeks tomorrow.
the pain is on one side but over the last 3 days it’s not gotten worse in pain or more frequent I don’t think, so I think maybe I’ll be okay, I just wanted to hear real life experiences and symptoms instead of the general NHS website.

@fortifiedwithtea thank you for sharing your story, it sounds very tragic, I hope you are in a better place now, I couldn’t imagine going through that. Thank you for sharing with me

I had this pain too. Do you usually have ovulation pain?

Some women feel pain from the corpus luteum cyst on the ovary you ovulated from. The pain is usually mild, sometimes moderate, but shouldn't get worse or severe and passes by the end of the first trimester when the placenta takes over hormone production.

Abdominal 'period' like cramps are totally normal in early pregnancy, but one sided pain will usually be investigated.

If the pain becomes severe and/or you start getting shoulder tip pain, go to a&e, otherwise you can contact your local epu (most are self referral but some require gp referall), tell them about the pain and they might book you a scan for in a week or so, when it's possible they might be able to see something. They might also tell you to monitor the pain/ look out for bleeding and call back if it gets worse, but they're trained to look out for the signs of ectopic and investigate them so they definitely won't ignore you.

It was corpus luteum pain for me, I knew at the time that's what it was because it felt exactly like ovulation pain.

If you're worried you should go to your gp. They can organise a scan.

I had an ectopic in 2010. A week before I remember feeling really dizzy when lying down and sick but thought it was normal pregnancy symptoms. A few days later when walking I had a stitch like pain on and off on one side. Again, I thought nothing of it and never even heard of an ectopic pregnancy. I woke up one day with horrendous one sided pain to the point I could barely walk. I rang epu and was told to go up asap. I was scanned and told I had an ectopic pregnancy in my right tube, a ruptured tube and internal bleeding and needed surgery asap. It all happened so fast but they pain was horrific. I was put on an iv and strong pain meds before my operation and unfortunately needed my tube removed. This damaged my other tube and I then needed that one removed a year later. Obviously, I could no longer have children naturally and needed ivf. So, please, if you think you could be having an ectopic, go to the epu asap and do not let this get any further. Good luck.

I had an ectopic a few year back. I'd had a miscarriage 6 months before and thought it was happening again so I saw the GP (she was an arsehole and I should have just gone straight to EPAS but that's another story).
My pain wasn't one sided, I had general abdominal pain like intense cramps and significant bloating. They discovered it was ectopic through blood tests. My HCG levels were low so they weren't worried about a rupture and thought my body would manage it itself which it didn't. I ultimately ended up having a methotrexate injection a couple of weeks later.
Like other PP's have said, I was given a list of other symptoms to look out for in between the blood tests and injection which would have indicated a rupture was imminent.