Bad cramps

[AHBM2020]

Hey guys, I'm 5 weeks pregnant and I've been suffering with bad cramps the last few days. The first time they were bad cramps, like period cramps. But they settled down to just occasionally cramping and bloating. But now they're back to bad period cramps. They're not unbearable, but enough to make me have to breathe through them. Is this a worry? I've booked a first initial appointment with a midwife; I'm just waiting to hear back.

I had this and apparently it's very common and caused by the embryo implanting in your womb. As long as it's not accompanied by bleeding then you should be all good. Mine were excruciating and would wake me up in the night.

Mine can get quite bad, I have to double over and breathe through them

I had this at 5-6 weeks and they were waking me up and I was having to take paracetamol every 4 hours, so GP recommended I get it checked out for ectopic. I'm nearly 14 weeks now and everything is fine 🙂 Get it checked out if you're in pain, you don't get medals for it!

I haven't been woken up yet! But have stopped in the street to catch my breath and breathe through the cramps. Im usually just having the constant mild cramps, which are an annoying discomfort. It's those random deep ones that worry me a bit; I'm trying to avoid my GP as I really hate him and am instead waiting for my midwife to contact me.

That level of pain does sound unusual, if you want to avoid the GP maybe you could speak to 111?

Any shoulder tip pain, dizziness, sickness or bleeding I would definitely speak to someone

@AHBM2020 I'd go through 111 if you're desperate to avoid GP, but FYI you're under GP care until 17 weeks so would need to see a doctor if you wanted to get anything checked out (not just cramps). Your midwife should be in touch to do a booking appointment before you're 10 weeks but that's just an admin appointment really. If you're having to manage them with paracetamol for more than three days, I'd get it checked out just in case. It's probably things stretching and settling but ectopic pregnancies don't always have pain in shoulder etc.

I called Tommy's midwife line because I was worried and the midwife I spoke to recommended GP, so you could try calling them for a quick bit of advice 😊 If you would like to speak to one of our midwives about your pregnancy, or need support and advice following a pregnancy loss, you can contact the team at [email protected]. You can also call them for free on 0800 014 7800 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).