If your worried about ectopic...

[leannejkl]

I think its very important to have the correct facts about ectopic on here seeing how many ladies post they are worried that it might be...

ectopic is life threatening and needs to be treated asap as there is not much time if the tube bursts.

i dont know the whole facts i can only say from my experiences and hope other ladies will post theirs.

mine was only 3 weeks ago and i posted for advice on these forums as i was not going to go to the hospital and see if it cleared on its on.

my signs were.

-pos preg tests but never got super dark even by 6weeks
-low hgC levels in blood
-i knew i was preg but had no symptoms at all
- brown muddy discharge only a tiny bit of bright red blood ( too many people say brown blood is ok THIS IS NOT OK)
-short spells of dizziness
- i had no major pain till the day it burst and that pain was my whole belly ached and was sore to touch i could not stand upright it was like my whole belly was full of trapped wind, it hurt to breath laying down with the tip of my shoulder having tabbing pains when i breathed in.
- when i went for a wee my whole belly was in pain.

i had a scan at 5+2 which showed no signs of pregnancy but was told it could be too early.

these were just my signs and if others post you can see not everyone is the same, i always thought the pain would be on one side but mine never was.

i just knew something was not right however i did not know it was ectopic.

if an ectopic is found early enough sometimes they can save your tube

i think the main thing for me to say is not to ignore constant brown discharge just cos its not bright red it does not mean its ok.

i hope no one is offended by me posting this

please feel free to add to this post

 

[starnicole]

sorry for your loss, must have been a horrible experience.

i haven't had an ectopic but my first miscarriage started with brown discharge and only after a few days turned into blood (probably 3 or 4 days). so i agree that brown doesn't necessarily mean things are ok, but it also doesn't necessarily mean that something is wrong.

 

[leannejkl]

yea your right that the problem with any kind of bleeding red/brown everything could just be fine, but i felt i needed to say about the brown after reading so many people saying as long as its not bright red then u have nothing to worry about. and also brown discharge is quite common in ectopic which i never knew before.

sorry to hear about your miscarrage x

 

[AimeeM]

I am really sorry for your losses

Thanks for posting this, too many people ignore things (not purposely but maybe out of fear) or take bad advice. Any sign that something *may* be wrong is worth being looked at just in case. Also if something doesn't feel right but your not bleeding, don't ignore that either. Mothers intuition is usually a good indicator of a problem xx

 

[starnicole]

yeah, mother's intuition is pretty strong. both my miscarriages i knew something wasn't right, but i didn't want to believe it.

Leanne, i'm surprised to hear that brown discharge is common in an ectopic. good to know that kind of thing. pregnancy is so hard though, we have so many things to worry about. i agree with you Aimee that it's best to go to the dr just to get checked out if you are having blood- old or new.

 

[dwm]

I'm so sorry for your loss. And thanks for posting this for us all.
I've just been examined a few hours ago for suspected ectopic. Been having brown discharge for a couple of days, and today it turned pink/red and was accompanied by cramps. They found no obvious sign of ectopic, but not even a hint of a sac on scan and it's over 6 weeks since lmp. Waiting for blood results just now.

 

[crazylilth1ng]

I started spotting at 5+2, a streak of red that changed to a watery dark brown. This never went away. Scan at 5+6 showed an irregular sac in my uterus (this was never really there and was a pseudo sac with no fetal pole although the tec thought she saw one). They told me miscarriage and to come back in ten days to make sure it was gone.

Had on and off lower left sided back pain and more nasty brown blood gor 8 days, the 2 days before the next scan it turned red.

At the same time it turned red I was suffering intermittant bouts of lower back pain but now it was radiating down my leg and into the front.

Went for my scan, nothing in uterus but a "mass" on my left ovary. Was told cyst or ectopic. My pelvis was full of fluid which was blood. They drew blood which came back 865 or there about. This was at 7+2

they sent me home saying if it's ectopic it won't rupture with those hcg levels, give it time to manifest more so we can see what it is.

Felt rotten I'll at home, phoned hospital, they brought me in and the tube ruptured (it had already started before the scan and I was slowly bleeding internally) but ghat night it fully ruptured. I was rushed into emergency surgery. Tube and baby removed. Horrible experience, and they found no indication as to why it occured.

 

[crazylilth1ng]

I agree with the brown blood comment... It's not always ok and one of the big symptoms of an ectopic, especially if it watery with tiny stringy brown clots in it! I know cos I had it.

 

[dreamer1978]

Good advice/info on this thread. I have been spotting brown and some bright red (which I went to the ER for), and as of now everything is okay...except they'd like the heartbeat to be higher (it was 95 at 5+6)...anyway.

My doctor doesn't even use the term spotting...he says bleeding, even if it's brown. He is still not happy at ALL that I am still spotting brown.

So, it's so very important to see the doctor for ANY type of bleeding/spotting, etc. Actually, when it started for me it was just a brown tinted discharge and he still called it bleeding.

Bottom line is though to get anything like that checked because even though it is "common," it is not, by any means normal. He gave me a laundry list of reasons I could be bleeding...miscarriage, something wrong with placenta, implantation, tilted uterus, etc. So there are a lot of things that it could be, but it's so not worth it not to go to the doctor! Thanks for posting this

 

[roomaloo]

This is a good thread. I had brown spotting, and when i told the midwife she said brown spotting is classed as vaginal bleeding and NO vaginal bleeding in pregnancy is ok, and should be treated as a problem until the cause is found and there is definitely nothing wrong.

Sorry to hear of your ectopics. Must be incredibly painful and scary.

 

[leannejkl]

thanks everyone for your replys.

the morning i woke up with the pain i hd no idear it could have been ectopic, i really thought i had trapped wind lol. i posted a thread ' need help asap' asking if i should be worried ect, the scary thing was i thought i would go to sleep to try to sleep of the pain but when i could not breath laying down i decided enough was enough and to go, the problem was i was bleeding internally and when i layed down the blood that was filling up in belly was squishing my lungs when i layed down hence why it hurt to breath as they could not expand. i would have been dead if i had not gone to the hospital that day and just tried to carry on sleeping it off. it is such a serious thing that any warning sign should not be ignored.

the main thing that made me think it was NOT a ectopic was cos i did not have pain on one side, but now i know everyone experiences different things and always get checked.

the shoulder pain is right at the tip f your shoulder when it connects arm/neck they say the pain is there cos blood leaking squashes a nerve causing the pain.

i also never knew that when u week and your whole belly bladder hurts (not stinging coming out like infection) is another sign.

i am sorry to anyone who has gone though this and i hope by us posting here we can help another lady we cant stop an ectopic when its happened but we can try to get it early and save a tube or even save a life.

oh also my blood hGC at 5 weeks was 200 a week later at 6 weeks was 400

 

[kosh]

i also had brown spotting with my ectopic. but mine was very different as it was not painful at all and did not rupture. i only had a sharp pain on one side once during sex which was what made me go to hospital to get checked. there i found that i was pregnant! i never knew exactly how many weeks i was but my 48hs hcg levels went from 450 - 600 - 1100 - 1900 - 2400 - etc. this was over two weeks and during all that time i did not have ANY symptoms at all. as the hcg was still going up i was told i should have surgery but then the top consultant at the hospital said it was not necessary and suggested 'expectant management' so they just kept seeing me every other day for scans and checking my bloods. the hcg reached 3000, stayed there for a week and then started to go down on its own, just as the doc had said! i'm actually very grateful to her as if it had not been for her advise i would have lost a tube!

 

[JaydensMommy1]

While I agree with most everything on this post being a rn in labor and delivery I can say that brown blood under most circumstances is okay. Brown blood can and most often will be a sign of ectopic pregnancy it is not a marker only for ectopic. Many thing cause town blood such as implantation, hemorrhage, sex, cervical irritation, Uti, uterine stretching among many other things. I would suggest all women with brown blood to be checked by it is not a strong indicator of ectopic. Most ectopic pregnancies will actually bleed bright red blood as I've seen in my five year as a nurse. But some blood may become trapped resulting in brown bloods.

Very good informative article though. I just wanted to input as I don't want every woman bleeding brown blood to be scared to death of ectopic

 

[melsy_11]

Great thread! I'm currently going through an ectopic and was treated with methotrexate on Tuesday (6 weeks and 3 days for me) I started spotting brown the day after I found out I was pregnant which was at 3 weeks and 5 days. The spotting was so light and only when I wiped and I was told that brown was fine... This is my second pregnancy and had no problems with my first and I felt like something was very wrong. Had my numbers checked at 3 weeks 6 days -30 , then at 4 weeks 3 days -105, then at 5 weeks 4 days was 692 and nothing showed up on an u/s. I wound up switching dr.s because my original dr was telling me I was fine since I was having no pain etc. My new dr immediately thought ectopic or miscarriage. I wound up in the e.r that night with the worst pain I’ve ever experienced on my left side and up my back. My numbers at the e.r. were 450 so they had went down, nothing had ruptured and they couldn't see anything on the u/s so sent me home, at 5 weeks 5 days my numbers RAISED to 986. On Tuesday 6 weeks and 3 days ,my numbers had risen again and they finally were able to see the pregnancy and confirmed ectopic in my left tube.
Just listen to yourself if you feel like something is wrong, it's so much better to have it checked out and be fine. I had a friend who asked me early on if I thought it was ectopic and I told her no because I wasn't having pain or bleeding just that weird brown spotting which would come and go.

 

[leannejkl]

too many people mention brown spotting during an ectopic for it to be ignored i feel. i am sorry for your loss x

 

[melsy_11]

I agree completely. Also about hcg levels increasing alot of people think your numbers won't increase with an ectopic Or that you have to be in pain which isn't true either I didn't have pain until 5 weeks and 4 days and then it only lasted a couple hours and went away that's why I thought it wasn't ectopic, and they just now were finally able to confirm the ectopic at 6 weeks and 3 days. I'm sorry for your loss also.

 

[mamawannabee]

It is also important to know that it can be life threatening, and that at the first sign of trouble you should get to the ER or doctor at the least. My mother nearly died from her's, and the ER doc said if she had waited until the next day, she would have from blood loss. She did lose her tube, but was able to have another baby after that, but nearly lost her life because she did not realize that it could be so serious. She did not even know she was pregnant, just thought her period was causing the pain. So as the first poster said, please don't be afraid to head to the ER if you are having any thoughts about possibly being ectopic.

 

[trickylady01]

Hello Ladies,
I had ruptured ectopic 2 weeks ago 18/06, I didn't know I was pregnant although now looking back the signs were there sore heavy boobs, cravings for chips and gravy, and the constant tiredness you have in the early stages.
My period came 12/06 and finished 16/08 so I had no reason to think I would be.

Here's what happened.... On the Friday afternoon beforehand I took my 8 yr old son to the local fair, we were on the dodgems when I got quite a sharp bump off the car behind me, when I got off the ride I thought WOW that was a bit sharp and had a dull ache over my right hip, I didn't think any more of it and went to the supermarket and then home to my husband and 16 yr old son for tea, later on in the evening 23.30, I had a bath and was ready to settle down for the night when my whole body went into some kind of spasm the pain was immense, I told my husband the pains were worse than contractions, He was saying the pain was muscle spasms off the fair ride?? and that I should try to relax and get some sleep .... Yeah right!!!!
I was up all night with the pains stopping and starting quite dull over left side of my tummy, real bad over my right side and then sharp shooting pains up into my shoulder and neck on my right side, By lunchtime on Saturday I really wasn't coping very well with the pain and a friend came to take me to A&E, where over the next 4 hours they gave me Diclofenac, Tramadol and Morphine for my pain, I also had an ECG.
They asked me about my cycle and then said they were sending me home with MY MUSCLE SPASMS!!!!

By this point I really thought I was going to die!! I had never experienced anything like this in my life!!!
Then a different nurse came to me and explained muscle spasms to me and that I would be better off at home, I asked her a drink of water and she then said has anyone tested your URINE.... I said No as I hadn't been able to have a wee for around 8 or 9 hours now, The nurse couldn't believe I hadn't had a wee and that no-one had even tested my urine. Within 5 minutes I had managed to squeeze out enough for her to test it and I was PREGNANT!! OMG!! I was rushed by ambulance to Gynae Hosp. Where I was left for another 3 hours while I waited for a scan.
On the ultrasound, they couldn't see anything at all just a dark mass in my abdomen, then an internal scan still the same, the doctor mentioned a possible ECTOPIC PREGNANCY but couldn't be sure, I was then taken to theatre, my husband was told I would be an hour, I was 4 hours.

It turns out the pregnancy was in my left tube and had ruptured, I lost 2L of blood and was in quite a bad way they tried to operate through Laparoscopy and was unsuccessful, Laparotomy it was for me, I lost my left tube and nearly my life.........

I am still here to tell the tale THANK YOU GOD and the lovely nurse at A&E who did her job properly.

I am secretly gutted about my poor little angel who didn't make it to our world but I AM ALIVE AND HERE TO BE A MOTHER TO MY 2 BOYS.

Good Luck to all of you my heart goes out to you all xxxxx

 

[trickylady01]

Hello Ladies,
I had ruptured ectopic 2 weeks ago 18/06, I didn't know I was pregnant although now looking back the signs were there sore heavy boobs, cravings for chips and gravy, and the constant tiredness you have in the early stages.
My period came 12/06 and finished 16/08 so I had no reason to think I would be.

Here's what happened.... On the Friday afternoon beforehand I took my 8 yr old son to the local fair, we were on the dodgems when I got quite a sharp bump off the car behind me, when I got off the ride I thought WOW that was a bit sharp and had a dull ache over my right hip, I didn't think any more of it and went to the supermarket and then home to my husband and 16 yr old son for tea, later on in the evening 23.30, I had a bath and was ready to settle down for the night when my whole body went into some kind of spasm the pain was immense, I told my husband the pains were worse than contractions, He was saying the pain was muscle spasms off the fair ride?? and that I should try to relax and get some sleep .... Yeah right!!!!
I was up all night with the pains stopping and starting quite dull over left side of my tummy, real bad over my right side and then sharp shooting pains up into my shoulder and neck on my right side, By lunchtime on Saturday I really wasn't coping very well with the pain and a friend came to take me to A&E, where over the next 4 hours they gave me Diclofenac, Tramadol and Morphine for my pain, I also had an ECG.
They asked me about my cycle and then said they were sending me home with MY MUSCLE SPASMS!!!!

By this point I really thought I was going to die!! I had never experienced anything like this in my life!!!
Then a different nurse came to me and explained muscle spasms to me and that I would be better off at home, I asked her a drink of water and she then said has anyone tested your URINE.... I said No as I hadn't been able to have a wee for around 8 or 9 hours now, The nurse couldn't believe I hadn't had a wee and that no-one had even tested my urine. Within 5 minutes I had managed to squeeze out enough for her to test it and I was PREGNANT!! OMG!! I was rushed by ambulance to Gynae Hosp. Where I was left for another 3 hours while I waited for a scan.
On the ultrasound, they couldn't see anything at all just a dark mass in my abdomen, then an internal scan still the same, the doctor mentioned a possible ECTOPIC PREGNANCY but couldn't be sure, I was then taken to theatre, my husband was told I would be an hour, I was 4 hours.

It turns out the pregnancy was in my left tube and had ruptured, I lost 2L of blood and was in quite a bad way they tried to operate through Laparoscopy and was unsuccessful, Laparotomy it was for me, I lost my left tube and nearly my life.........

I am still here to tell the tale THANK YOU GOD and the lovely nurse at A&E who did her job properly.

I am secretly gutted about my poor little angel who didn't make it to our world but I AM ALIVE AND HERE TO BE A MOTHER TO MY 2 BOYS.

Good Luck to all of you my heart goes out to you all xxxxx

 

[crazylilth1ng]

I agree that brown blood is mentioned too often by ladies that have suffered an ectopic for it to be ignored. My blood didn't really turn red till I ruptured apart from one small trickle at the start. I wasnt trying to scare ladies with spotting and I know that loads of people get it and are fine. The brown spotting with ectopic is different looking, it is usually watery and muddy looking with stringy brown very small clots. Just wanted to explain that as I'd hate lo look like I'm trying to scare people.