Ectopic Pregnancy with Methotrexate- Stabbing abdominal and rectal pains!

[Patsy7]

Hello lovelies,

Am new to this site, feel in need of support after what has just happened to me.

Ectopic pregnancy at 5 weeks, it was a huge shock as I didn't even know I was pregnant!

I want to say how sorry I am for anybody who has been/is going through the same situation as me, it is absolutely horrific.

I was treated with Methotrexate on 14/03 and have been feeling exhausted,but otherwise fine since. About an hour ago I started getting the most excruciating sharp low abdominal pains accompanied with sharp rectal pain and pressure. I called 111 and they sent an ambulance and my b/p and everything came out as normal but am really worried about this rectal pain- i can hardly move.

Please reply if anyone has experienced this or knows what it could be

Thank you

 

[Nataliek]

Hi Patsy,

I was diagnosed with an ectopic yesterday, I am 6 weeks pregnant. I knew something was really wrong because we are in fertility treatment. I received two shots of methotrexate yesterday but have yet to have any side effects. I am hoping something happens soon. I do have slight pressure in where my cervix is but nothing overly painful. Did they give you anything for pain? I hope this is over soon for you too.

 

[Patsy7]

Hi Natalie,

So sorry to hear your sad news.

Please be aware of the symptoms I mentioned in my last post and if in doubt just go straight to A&E.

The sharp pains I had were due to internal bleeding as my tube had ruptured. I had to have emergency surgery and my tube was removed.

I wish you all the luck with your methotrexate treatment.

Just remember.. trust your instinct.

Take care

 

[Nataliek]

You had the metho and you ruptured? If you don't mind me asking, what were your beta hcg levels at? Mine are very low, 98 and the mass is under 3 cm, it's about 1.3 cm this whole thing has terrified me. I have two children from a previous marriage and my husband and I have had two chemical pregnancies in the past year and a half and now this. I am beginning to wonder if it's not meant to be.

 

[wannabemomy37]

patsy - would you mind messaging me (or posting on here) the symptoms you had before knowing it was ectopic?? I am having shoulder pain

 

[Patsy7]

Hey ladies,

Natalie- Yeah I ruptured 2 days after the methotrexate. Apparently the methotrexate doesn't usually start to have an effect until 3-4 days after the injection so there is still time for the pregnancy to develop and the hcg levels to rise.

My hcg was quite high- over 1700 on Friday when I had the injection.

Please don't worry just listen to your body and get yourself to a doctor if you feel that something is wrong. It will happen for you. I have to say though I am wondering the same thing as my chances of conceiving have now significantly dropped!

To wannabemomy37- annoyingly I had no symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy before I found out! as I said, I didn't even know I was pregnant. The only unusual thing that I noticed and the reason I took a pregnancy test was because I was spotting for over a week. No shoulder tip or abdominal pain what so ever. Remember shoulder pain can just be trapped gas. But I would urge you to get checked out all the same.

I wish you both the best of luck please let me know if any more questions

 

[Nataliek]

I know @Patsy. That's what the clinic told me as well, at day 4 they usually see a rise and by day 7 they expect them to go down. I have noticed no change in anything so I am concerned and feel like a ticking time bomb. We are in fertility treatment so I have been fortunate they have been monitoring my blood work every 48 hours for the past week and a half. I was actually in the process of having an iui procedure and went in for my cycle day 3 blood test and they called that afternoon and said don't start your fsh injections, you have a beta level of 11. They originally diagnosed me with another chemical pregnancy but my levels have been slowly creeping up over the past 8/9 days. Sunday morning they found it in my right tube. I am so upset over this, I feel like its the most long drawn out process.

Thanks for writing back, I appreciate your info.

 

[pandi77]

Hey ladies I had two rounds of methotrexate when my hcg was 10,000 and then 13,000 and although I didn't rupture I still needed lap surgery to remove the pregnancy and tube. My RE said the location of the mass in the tube can have a lot to do with how soon it will rupture. My ectopic was very close to the end of the tube (the egg almost made it) and so there was a bit more room for it to grow than in the skinnier part of the tube.

That being said I completely can relate to the ticking time bomb comment. I went almost 2 weeks in total walking around with a pregnancy that I knew could rupture before I made it to surgery. Towards the end I had no one sided pain but felt an immense pressure and some rectal pain which the doctor explained was because the same pain pathways can be affected with an ectopic and rectal pain. I was worried the pain was because it ruptured but apparently our bodies process ectopic pain the same way as rectal pain and if it ruptures that pain is just much much worse. All you can do is watch all the signs and maybe try taking your BP at home which was what I did. From what I understand you know when there's a rupture but sometimes a smaller rupture might make you wait too long to get help until it's progressed. If you take your BP you'll see it change with any level of internal bleeding.

Hope this helps and I'm sorry you ladies are going through this. My ectopic was last in a string of losses and I pretty much gave up but finally got a sticky bean (in the right place!). I hope you all get your litle ones in 2014. Message me if you have any questions about post ectopic strategies for baby

 

[Rucker097]

I was diagnosed with a etopic pregnancy but they could not locate the pregnancy at 6wks! No sac or embryo was seen in my uterus. Doctors recommended a D&C to rule out uterine pregnancy. Was seen by ER doctor to confirm findings from fertility doctor and it was confirmed. My HCG LEVELS continued to rise to 6500 so docs started me on a round of methotrexate. After 7 days levels only went down to 6000 so another round of methotrexate was given. The day after shot rectal pain started back up and was so intense it was paralyzing. After reading Patsy thread I went to ER. Doctors did another transvaginal scan and on my left side it was excruciating pain. Scan came back with a 5cm mass adjacent to my left ovary that had not been detected before. So glad I listened to my body knowing something didn’t feel right. Ended up having a etopic pregnancy in my left tube which was stuck at the end of tube and leaking fluid. My tube had to be removed laprosopically. Glad that it didn’t rupture and they found the pregnancy. Thankful for Patsy and threads like these expressing symptoms and experiences.

Hey ladies I had two rounds of methotrexate when my hcg was 10,000 and then 13,000 and although I didn't rupture I still needed lap surgery to remove the pregnancy and tube. My RE said the location of the mass in the tube can have a lot to do with how soon it will rupture. My ectopic was very close to the end of the tube (the egg almost made it) and so there was a bit more room for it to grow than in the skinnier part of the tube.

That being said I completely can relate to the ticking time bomb comment. I went almost 2 weeks in total walking around with a pregnancy that I knew could rupture before I made it to surgery. Towards the end I had no one sided pain but felt an immense pressure and some rectal pain which the doctor explained was because the same pain pathways can be affected with an ectopic and rectal pain. I was worried the pain was because it ruptured but apparently our bodies process ectopic pain the same way as rectal pain and if it ruptures that pain is just much much worse. All you can do is watch all the signs and maybe try taking your BP at home which was what I did. From what I understand you know when there's a rupture but sometimes a smaller rupture might make you wait too long to get help until it's progressed. If you take your BP you'll see it change with any level of internal bleeding.

Hope this helps and I'm sorry you ladies are going through this. My ectopic was last in a string of losses and I pretty much gave up but finally got a sticky bean (in the right place!). I hope you all get your litle ones in 2014. Message me if you have any questions about post ectopic strategies for baby

 

[crazylilth1ng]

Rucker... I am sorry you went through that. I had an ectopic rupture back in 2010 and I lost a tube. Happily it didn’t affect my fertility and I have had 2 babies since along with 2 chemical pregnancies so you can still conceive with one tube.

 

[Hope16]

I am cautiously pregnant as it might be ectopic. my hcg levels were very low but doubling ...5.75, 17, 42, 133 but now they only jumped to 165.

I take 200mg progesterone suppositories and unfortunately my level only went from a 2 to an 8. Doctor wants me to come in for a long ultrasound Friday to see where it is, hopefully they can find it. I read that hcg levels need to be around 1000+ to view it on an ultrasound. Is this true??

Can anyone explain to me how they look for the embryo?

 

[Mom86]

Hi ladies,

I decided to start contributing to this forum because I know what we are going through is pretty uncommon and there is not much information out there.
So here it goes:
- Dec 27/28 2017 tested positive on pregnancy test
- Jan 5th started bleeding, very heavy with bad cramps
- Jan 9th had my first gyno appt. did blood test and us. Nothing showed up on us made the dr think it could be early mc.
- did a 2nd blood test few days later came back higher, but not high enough for a normal pregnancy
- after a week got a 3rd blood test done, again higher but not high enough, so the dr concluded that it is ectopic
- Got a methotrexate shot on jan 24,2018 hcg was 1219
- Jan 27th Day 4 hcg went up 1487
- Jan 30th Day 7 hcg went down 1240
- Feb 6 th hcg 586
- Feb 15th hcg 243
- Feb 21st at work around 3 pm after lunch had a severe lower abdominal pain similar to labour pain went all the way to my butt. Very bad rectal pain and pressure. DH and I dropped my son to my moms house and rushed to ER. They did regular basic test blood pressure, temperature, hcg and hemoglobin test. My hcg dropped to 174 and hemoglobin was not low enough to conclude Fallopian tube rapture. Also did us to see some fluid build up in my uterus again not enough to conclude any rapture. I was kept in the ER that night for observation. Regular IV and pain killer with anti-inflammatory was given with the IV. In the morning, everything was normal blood pressure and hemoglobin level were stable and i was sent home. I was told to take tylenol extra strength whenever I felt pain.
- Feb 27th, 2018 my hcg dropped to 129
- Feb 28th, 2018 again really bad lower abdominal pain, mainly on the right side and rectal pain and pressure. Took 2 extra strength tylenol. Extreme pain lasted about an hour and mild pain still exists. I have a dr appt tomorrow and lets see what she suggests. I didn't go to work from feb 22nd until now. Continuing to take tylenol extra strength every 4 hrs.

 

[Autumn82]

I'll tell my story encase it helps anyone as well.

Feb 7, 2018 found out I was pregnant- light test that slowly progressed
Feb 15-20 started bleeding heavy lost all symptoms, figured I had MC
Feb 23rd started having symptoms again and took another test came back way darker then before. Called my dr who told me to go to the ER because it could be Ectopic. Went to ER and they couldn't see anything and HCG came back 165, they ruled it as MC.
Feb 26st HCG 357
Feb 29th HCG 536
Mar 5th Saw Dr and he thought it might be still be ectopic, but I wasn't having any pain so he wanted to wait and see.
Mar 8th Had US which still didn't show a sac anywhere, but did show a large fluid build up in abdomen and a small cyst on right ovary.
Mar 9th Went to ER with extreme low right abdominal pain. Had surgery a few hours later. My right tube was extended and I was bleeding internally. He was able to remove the ectopic pregnancy and scar tissue that caused it and still save my tube in the process.

The only other symptom I had was really bad bloat that caused pain, which looking back now I don't think was gas pain at all but that's what it felt like.