Ectopic Pregnancy

olaughlin · Newbie Joined: 08 May 2005 Posts: 19

My sister had some problems with her pregnancy recently. The doctors had to terminate her pregnancy because it was ectopic. I was really surprised with all of this. I never thought that this could happen to my sister. Can someone tell me what is this ectopic pregnancy and how does it happen?

kalindi · Silver Member Joined: 04 Feb 2001 Posts: 297

Ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg is implanted outside the uterus. It is also called tubal pregnancy because it typically occurs in one of the fallopian tubes. About one of every 50 known pregnancies is ectopic. Ectopic literally means "out of place". Unfortunately, pregnancy must be terminated because surgeons can't transplant an Ectopic Pregnancy into the uterus. If an Ectopic Pregnancy is not recognized and treated in time, the embryo will grow until it causes the tube to rupture. This results in severe abdominal pain, bleeding and sometimes even death. Eventhough most ectopic pregnancies are caught in time, large number of them still causes death. Ectopic Pregnancy is most commonly discovered at 6 or 7 weeks but can be found as early as 4 weeks. Symptoms vary from person to person, depending on whether the Ectopic Pregnancy has ruptured. The most common symptoms of ectoptic pregnancy are abdominal or pelvic pain, abdominal tenderness, vaginal spotting or bleeding, pain that gets worse during physical activity or while moving your bowels or coughing etc.

donna in the bronx · Guest

I was blowing up balloons for my twin boys first birthday party when I blew in a ballonn and crippled to the floor with an excruciating pain in my back. I got back up and was to scared to go to the hospital and had no one to watch my twins..The next day after enduring more excruciating back pain I went to bed. While laying in bed I became totally paralyzed from my neck down only being able to move my eyes and mouth. That 1 minute put the fear of god in front of me. After my feeling came back I rushed to call an ambulance before it came back to paralyze me again. When they arrived I had noone to watch the twins so I had to pack them and take them with me. I was literally keeled over at a 90degree position at this point,but had to do what I had to do. When I got to the hosp., they checked me and said I probably had a urinary tract infection, gave me antibiotics and send me home. As 2 weeks went by I got worse and worse becoming paralyzed frequently. I called again and demanded to go to a different emergency room. Now that emerg. room said it sounds like an appendix problem(hindsighting this I wondered with all the urine and blood they both took why they could not see I was pregnant. Ill never know)They sent me home again saying to followup with my regular gyn. The very next day I went to my gyn. After telling her of all of what happened she immediately does an ultrasound and says I found the problem...You have a tumor in your fallopian tube and she quoted the size of it was a grapefruit and you have to get to jacobi hosp. right away and get a second opinion for immediate surgery. Again stuck in the twins situation I had to bring them with me. The pain by now was immune to me. Upon arriving they took me right in because my gyn called so they expected me. They take the same tests etc. Upon waiting with the twins in the waiting room they came running out and literally grabbed my arm saying they had to rush me to the or right away because the supposed tumor was not a tumor it was a fetus (5 months gestation stuck in my left fallopian tube) I was in shock thinking oh my god my twins I cant I have no babysitter. the md looked at me and siad if u wait another minute and that ectoptic ruptures u will no longer have to worry about a babysitter..your twins will be motherless""" I called a friend who came right away and till this day dont know how things worked out, but they did...They removed my whole tube and my left ovary due to the enormous size. But Im here. My twins are twenty now and realize if they will ever know how many times I put their life way in front of my own. I never really knew how lucky god blessed me that time until I just started reading about ectoptic pregnancies on my computer. I learned that they very rarely past 3 months tops gestation without rupturing usually causing death. I was one of the lucky ones....

Liz84 · Newbie Joined: 06 Feb 2007 Posts: 6

I have to say that you were very lucky donna in the bronx. I had an Ectopic Pregnancy in sept 2005 and i had no idea what it was. I was on the mini pill at the time because i had an 8 month old daughter. The way that i found out was i had a period and then i kept on spotting after it. The only pain that i felt was like a dull period pain and it was just constant. I did a home pregnancy test and it was postitive. I couldn't understand why i was spotting though. When i went to the doctor he sent me for an ultrasound and the lady who did it said that my uterus was empty and that i must have miscarried. It didn't bother me that much but the doctor wanted to make sure that was what happened so he did a blood test. It showed that my hormone level was high for a miscarrage, so he told me to come in on the weekend to a different doctor to get another blood test to see if the levels have gone down. The different doc did an internal and said that because i wasn't in excruating pain that i didn't have an ectopic it was just my uterus expanding. He nearly didn't do the blood test either but he though that he had better 'entertain' my other doctor. My proper doc called me 2 days later and said that i had to get another ultrasound so when i did that the ultrasound person told me that it was definately in my tube. I was in hospital that afternoon and got it removed the next morning. When i went for my checkup at the hospital after it all happened i was told that it was under a day from bursting.
Then 6 weeks later i was pregnant with my second child but it still played in the back of my mind. I was told that after you have one ectopic your chances of having another one increase to about 20 - 30 % with each following pregnancy. My husband and i are trying for our third now and i am petrified that it will happen again. I have 1 1/2 weeks till my period is due and i am already aching so i am hoping that if i am pregnant then it will be alright...

Guest · Guest

I am 24 years old and i have two children. My oldest is 6 and my youngest will be 4 in may. I had an IUD put in after my last birth of my son. I should have started my cycle on March 14th and i have yet to start. i am going to the doctor tomorrow bc they think I could possible be pregnant with an ECTOPIC Pregnancy. IM SO SCARED>But i have taken two home test and the both say negitive. What should I do. I am having some stomache pain but no blood or spotting :cry:

Ectopic Pregnancy

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