GF has heavy bleeding and pain/cramps days after positive pregnancy test, is this worrying or normal?

[User20203]

So im a bit worried about my GF right now and I decided to post here just to see if any other women have experienced what my GF is going through. So on wednesday my GF took two pregnancy tests which both said that she was positive so we phoned the doctor to get her booked for a pregnancy scan at 12 weeks, My GF mentioned if she needed blood tests or anything in which the person over the phone says that modern pregnancy tests are pretty much 100 percent accurate and her period never came so she said that she was defiantly pregnant.

but then friday evening she started bleeding heavily with clots and was also getting a sharp pain on one side as well as some shoulder pain, I have done research and one of the things that came up was "eptopic pregnancy" but then it said that the symptoms only come on after 6 weeks and my GF is probaly only 1-2 weeks pregnant. She says that the symptoms are slowly going away and she plans on taking another test once the bleeding stops but then I feel like this isnt normal.

It can definitely be a sign that the pregnancy hasn’t developed. As you say it says she is only 1-2 weeks, do you know when her last period was? Eptopic is also a possibility. I had bleeding a bit further on in the first trimester and luckily it was ok - it was placenta previa(sp?). I also had a suspected eptopic a few years later, I had an early scan and they weren’t able to see anything but I had to go back a couple of weeks later to have the scan again, where it would’ve been bigger and easier to see. Depending on how your gf feels about what is happening, I guess she will need to decide her next steps, ie getting an early scan or waiting a while and doing more tests.
Also, a lot of the time that women miscarry very early on they’re often not aware that’s it’s happened - sometimes it may just appear to be a slightly late period and if they haven’t tested they may not even realise they were pregnant. I’d be guided by her with this.

Sounds like it didn’t stick.

@Itsasecretnow her period was meant to come at around the 6th of september so she took two pregnancy tests after her period didnt come which both showed positive.

Unfortunately it sounds like shes having a miscarriage

So she is 5 weeks pregnant then. It's counted from her last period, not the missed period.

It does sound like a miscarriage I'm afraid. But because of the sharp pain I would probably suggest she phones the Early Pregnancy Unit at your hospital and describe the pain and bleeding and see if they want to scan her or do bloods to rule out ectopic.

The shoulder pain is not a good sign. Please get her medical help.

Yes, this is what I wanted to find out, as it’s actually dated from her last period, not the missed one. If she is miscarrying (which, sadly, could be likely), she should try and book a scan 5-6weeks can be scanned, as it would also be important to make sure there’s nothing left inside, which could also cause an infection.

Shoulder pain is a worry - take her to a&e to check for an ectopic

I had an ectopic pregnancy that ended up rupturing. I did not have shoulder pain at all, despite that being a common symptom. So I would get checked out regardless of symptoms.

I would definitely encourage her to go and get scanned. The pregnancy is dated from the last period, not the missed one, so an early scan at 5-6 weeks can be done, to see if she is miscarrying and if she is whether any material might be left inside, which may cause infection. As I said in my first reply, I had a scan around about the same timeframe as it was possibly ectopic, but as they couldn’t see where it was I did have to wait and come back a couple of weeks later for them to try again to find it. However, I wasn’t having the bleeding and the pain that your gf is having (I had the later bleed, as I mentioned before, in a different pregnancy, when it was ok and was placenta previa, but I don’t know how far along that can be determined), so the risk of ectopic is there, especially if she is having what sounds like radiating pain.

@Itsasecretnow Yeah I've encouraged her to phone the GP tomorrow I was planning on taking her to A&E today but her symptoms/pain is not as bad.

The pain getting better may not be a good sign, I felt a lot better in the ambulance after being in really terrible pain, it was the ectopic rupturing relieving the pain, by the time I got into surgery I had bled a lot into my abdomen and needed a huge blood transfusion, don't be fooled. Mine was a few weeks later though.

Just phone EPU. It's literally a phone call. They will advise if it's nothing worrying, or, if your girlfriend is in serious danger. Why wait until tomorrow?

The GP will just tell you to contact EPU anyway.