The majority of women who've had a miscarriage go on to have a perfectly healthy and successful pregnancy in the future. It is true that if you've had a miscarriage, you are slightly more at risk of it happening again, but even women who have had recurrent miscarriages usually go on to have successful pregnancies.
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| Miscarriage After Infertility |
Ectopic pregnancy
An ectopie pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg implants outside the womb, usually in the fallopian tube, although it can on rare occasions be found in the ovary or cervix. Normally once an egg has been fertilized by sperm in the tube, it continues slowly down to the womb where it implants about six days later. With an ectopic pregnancy, the fertilized egg gets stuck in the fallopian tube and starts to grow there. As it gets bigger, it stretches the tube walls and this is often very painful. There may also be vaginal bleeding.
An ectopic pregnancy often dies quickly, even before the period is due, and in these cases there is no risk. However, if it continues to grow and is not diagnosed, it can rupture the tube, causing severe pain and bleeding. A ruptured ectopic can be life-threatening.
About one in every hundred pregnancies is ectopic, but it isn't always clear what causes an egg to get stuck. In many cases, no reason is found. If the tube is damaged, blocked or very narrow, or if there are kinks or adhesions, this can trap the egg. Ectopic pregnancies can occur if there is a problem with the little hair-like cilia that line the tube and help the egg move.
Some women are more at risk of having an ectopic pregnancy than others. If you've had pelvic inflammatory disease or chlamydia, this can damage the tubes and increase the risk of an ectopic pregnancy. Endometriosis or abdominal surgery can lead to scarring in the tubes, which may be to blame. Your choice of contraceptive can also play a role here. Women who have IUDs (coils) sometimes have ectopic pregnancies, as an IUD only stops a fertilized egg implanting in the womb and cannot prevent implantation in the tube. The progesterone-only pill has also been linked to ectopic pregnancy.
How would you know if you had an ectopic pregnancy?
The main symptoms of an ectopic are pain and bleeding, along with a missed or late period. The pain is usually just on one side of the lower abdomen, although oddly this pain isn't always on the same side as the ectopic. There may also be shoulder pain, which is caused by internal bleeding, and bowel and bladder pain too.
Usually a pregnancy test will be positive, but a home test doesn't always pick this up, and you may need proper blood tests to check. There may be other symptoms of pregnancy, such as tender breasts and sickness. If there is bleeding, it is not usually like a normal period. There may be spotting, or unusual dark watery blood (which is said to look like prune juice). Sometimes women feel very faint, dizzy or light-headed.
What should you do?
If you think you may have an ectopic pregnancy, you should seek medical help immediately. A pregnancy test will be carried out, and an ultrasound scan. If the pregnancy test is positive and the womb is empty, this can indicate an ectopic pregnancy. Sometimes a suspected ectopic pregnancy may be monitored for a day or two if the pain is not bad, but a laparoscopy is usually the next step to allow doctors to get a proper look at the tubes.
An ectopic pregnancy will never be able to grow or move into the womb. It is not viable, and so the most important thing is to remove it before it ruptures the fallopian tube. Sometimes, if it is diagnosed early, it may be possible to treat an ectopic pregnancy without taking out the fallopian tube, but it is often necessary to remove it entirely.
'I'd had symptoms that I thought were PMT. I'd had sore breasts and had been really tearful. Then I was just doubled over in pain, and I knew something was fundamentally wrong. I was rushed into hospital, and they said, "You're pregnant." I was adamant that I wasn't. Within a few hours I was in theatre and I lost one tube. It ruptured" Lisa, 32. To find out more, you can check out Miscarriage After Infertility.
