Possible ectopic/misdiagnosed ectopic... Terrified and Confused.

[Tawn]

WARNING: VERY LONG

So yesterday I posted on another thread worrying about pain in my left side. As the night progressed, the pain continued and what was strangest of all is I was also having shooting pains down the front of my left thigh to go with it. The pain got so uncomfortable and worrying that I went to see my GP this morning concerned about tubal ectopic and he sent me forward to hospital for an emergency scan.

When I finally got the u/s done (transvaginally) the tech had a hard time scanning me as I apparently have a "straight up" uterus. Eventually she found what could be a sac in my uterus but couldn't see anything inside it (she said since I really couldn't be positive when I conceived due to getting my BFP the month after quitting bcp, I could just be less far along than I thought).

Then she moved over to explore my left ovary/tubal area to check out the pain and she found what she thought might be another sac (possibly a yolk sac) and immediately told me the pregnancy was ectopic. I immediately broke down crying and was passed over to a doctor who of course was completely unsympathetic and told me "it's not like it's a baby" and all that sort of thing. She told me they would be taking bloodwork but were planning on moving forward with removing my left tube right then. However, they say we are going to wait on my numbers to see if my HCG is over 1500 and then they will be sure it is ectopic as they didn't see anything confirmed in the sac in the uterus.

I am a blubbering mess at this point, completely in shock and heartbroken, as a few other doctors come into the waiting room and start to prep me for surgery--put an IV in and tell me that we have to move forward with the tube removal immediately as there is no doubt this is an ectopic pregnancy. DH comes rushing in from work and then meets with me and anesthesiologist, who says I will be having surgery in 30 minutes or so. We are both devastated and crying uncontrollably, grieving the loss of our first baby together which we want so much.

Then they come in and tell me that, WHOOPS, they got the bloodwork back and they are unsure what exactly is going on because my HCG is only at 239. Due to the "empty" sac in my uterus, they have no way of being sure whether I am just much earlier on than I thought with a intrauterine pregnancy, or early on with an ectopic, or whether I might be preparing to lose the baby naturally. This is after they told me they were 100% positive that the baby was ectopic and I would have to have emergency surgery!!!!! Now they have no idea what is going on and "are very sorry for prepping me for surgery before the bloodwork was checked."

So now we wait..... I have to go back on Thursday to get bloodwork taken again. If it is lower, we know I will miscarry naturally. If it is higher, we will still have no way of knowing whether it is ectopic or viable and will have to wait either till my pain increases and I need emergency surgery or they pick up more via u/s in the sac in the uterus. This has been the most exhausting, emotional and heartwrenching day of my life! All I can think is how dare they diagnose ectopic and prepare me to lose one of my tubes without any confirmation from the blood tests.....but maybe I am just overreacting due to stress.....

Now we have no idea what to do. We don't know whether to hope for a miracle baby that was conceived a week or so later than we thought, or to prepare ourselves for miscarriage (and/or the loss of a fallopian tube) and try to let go of our attachment to this pregnancy.

Anyone ever been misdiagnosed with an ectopic (or know someone who has)? It is the not knowing that is killing us the most at this point

Thanks for reading if you got this far....

 

[Jumo]

IM sorry to hear about what you are going through. I think doctors get used to horrible things and forget to be sensitive! Terrible! I haven't been misdiagnosed but I did have an ectopic (massive mass on my right tube) which resulted in its removal. It was a horrible experience ill never forget...but I'm now pregnant again.
Be strong! Wishing you the best of luck...

 

[taylorxx]

Oh my I am so sorry, hopefully everything is okay and you just aren't as far along as you think. I don't have any stories, but I just wanted to let you know I will be thinking of you and keeping you in my prayers. x

 

[Leese]

Babe first off so sorry to hear u are going through what I can only imagine is a nightmare scenario!. I posted in that thread last night due to myself having left sided pain and suspected eptopic but mine wasn't and I didn't go through the kind of trauma u are experiencing.

I just want to wish u well an pray everything turns out ok an say that it might well be a case of being too early with dates etc

I am stunned at the doctors lack of support an investigation into ur bloods before hand etc they wouldn't even scan me until they were sure my hcg was high enough to see something so this baffles me that they would prep u for surgery without blood results!!

Hugs an positive vibes being sent ur way xxxx

 

[Molly5186]

I'm sooo sorry about this! However, I too am experiencing left side pain with it going down my thigh, although now I'm not sure if I'm constipated or if it is something more serious so I'm trying incredibly hard not to worry myself sick. Try and stay positive, I know it's easier said than done because like I said I too feel the same as you

 

[K_]

I, too, am so sorry to hear you are going through this. Although I haven't been in a similar situation, I must say we are all hoping you get well and that every thing works out in your favor. Them prepping you for surgery and then saying "whoops" must be traumatizing. Doctors are often too caught up to realize how insensitive they are and many don't care about our emotional state. You'd think they'd at least take a course on this on their way to get their doctoral degrees. I hope you find some comfort in the lovely words and good wishes from all of us in BnB. Please keep up posted. FX for you.

 

[nandk]

Hi,

Sorry to hear what your going through, i went through the exact same last august!
Was on depo injection and went to the nhs walk in centre as had what i thought was a water infection, they asked could they do a pregnancy test as i'd only been on the jab a month and the test came back positive. I got so scared as was not planning a baby, but it sunk it pretty much straight away. Had to go the early pregnancy clinic the next morning for a internal scan. Me and OH was so excited... to be told there was nothing there! but they found a tiny sac type shape in my left tube near my ovary. My heart sunk! I didnt know how far on i'd be so didnt know what to expect.

They took us into a small side room and explained it was an eptopic and i had the choice to have the injection and chance it or straight down to surgery and have my left tube out. I was a mess! the night before i had been told i was pregnant now i'm 18 and loosing my tube! The first thing that i said to them was can you not somehow save it!

I was put in a ward, dripped up, bloods done and was told to wait... what seemed a lifetime! They come in and told me my bloods where very low ( at only 26 ) they said they dont know whether its a chemical or i was very very early on hence why my tests where very faint. So was sent home and told to come back in 48hrs for more bloods and another scan, bloods went down to 24 and scan was the same, again back in 48hrs and bloods dropped to 17, then another 48hrs they went up, another 48hrs then dropped right to 0! I knew i'd lost it :'( i was heartbroken even though i hadnt seen anything.

Hospital really messed with our heads and didnt have a clue what they were doing.
In the end they told me i'd had a chemical pregnancy and to wait for a bleed.

I had lots of trouble as no bleed come, nearly 3 weeks ago i had my first period since june last year. In which june last year before i went on the injection i had a really awful period (i wasnt on any BC before the injection) and i have never suffered with bad periods. i had clots the size of ping pong balls and to this day i still think i had a miscarriage then and thats why my hormones were still there

Hope you get it sorted soon, fingers crossed for you xx

 

[Tawn]

Thanks so much for replying ladies. I just had to write it all out to process it all I guess, and even though I know none of you have experience with this exact scenario, your words of support mean so much to me.

What is also confusing is I only got my BFP a week ago today (which would have been veryyy late if I ovulated as early as I thought I did) and I have tested about 3 times since then over this week, the last being yesterday, and the lines have progressively gotten darker and darker. It is so hard not to hope that I released that egg a week later than I thought and that is why it took so long to get my BFP and that is why the sac in my uterus is "empty" at this point.

Still doesn't explain what they found on my left side, but I have a feeling this is going to be a long process to get a full picture of what is going on.

Thanks again for the replies and I will update on Thursday after I get my next set of blood work back.

 

[bexxc]

that is just awful. i am so very sorry that you've been put through all this heartache! i hope everything works out for you and dh.

 

[chigirl22]

It could be too early. I only saw a small gestational sac at 5 weeks. I would wait and get a second opinion.

 

[taylorxx]

I don't know much about it, but could it have possibly be a cyst or something? The tech may have been just quick to assume it's ectopic because you're pregnant xx

 

[shelleyanddan]

you poor thing! what a stressful adventure!!! I really hope this turns out well for you, praying for you

 

[md13]

WARNING: VERY LONG

So yesterday I posted on another thread worrying about pain in my left side. As the night progressed, the pain continued and what was strangest of all is I was also having shooting pains down the front of my left thigh to go with it. The pain got so uncomfortable and worrying that I went to see my GP this morning concerned about tubal ectopic and he sent me forward to hospital for an emergency scan.

When I finally got the u/s done (transvaginally) the tech had a hard time scanning me as I apparently have a "straight up" uterus. Eventually she found what could be a sac in my uterus but couldn't see anything inside it (she said since I really couldn't be positive when I conceived due to getting my BFP the month after quitting bcp, I could just be less far along than I thought).

Then she moved over to explore my left ovary/tubal area to check out the pain and she found what she thought might be another sac (possibly a yolk sac) and immediately told me the pregnancy was ectopic. I immediately broke down crying and was passed over to a doctor who of course was completely unsympathetic and told me "it's not like it's a baby" and all that sort of thing. She told me they would be taking bloodwork but were planning on moving forward with removing my left tube right then. However, they say we are going to wait on my numbers to see if my HCG is over 1500 and then they will be sure it is ectopic as they didn't see anything confirmed in the sac in the uterus.

I am a blubbering mess at this point, completely in shock and heartbroken, as a few other doctors come into the waiting room and start to prep me for surgery--put an IV in and tell me that we have to move forward with the tube removal immediately as there is no doubt this is an ectopic pregnancy. DH comes rushing in from work and then meets with me and anesthesiologist, who says I will be having surgery in 30 minutes or so. We are both devastated and crying uncontrollably, grieving the loss of our first baby together which we want so much.

Then they come in and tell me that, WHOOPS, they got the bloodwork back and they are unsure what exactly is going on because my HCG is only at 239. Due to the "empty" sac in my uterus, they have no way of being sure whether I am just much earlier on than I thought with a intrauterine pregnancy, or early on with an ectopic, or whether I might be preparing to lose the baby naturally. This is after they told me they were 100% positive that the baby was ectopic and I would have to have emergency surgery!!!!! Now they have no idea what is going on and "are very sorry for prepping me for surgery before the bloodwork was checked."

So now we wait..... I have to go back on Thursday to get bloodwork taken again. If it is lower, we know I will miscarry naturally. If it is higher, we will still have no way of knowing whether it is ectopic or viable and will have to wait either till my pain increases and I need emergency surgery or they pick up more via u/s in the sac in the uterus. This has been the most exhausting, emotional and heartwrenching day of my life! All I can think is how dare they diagnose ectopic and prepare me to lose one of my tubes without any confirmation from the blood tests.....but maybe I am just overreacting due to stress.....

Now we have no idea what to do. We don't know whether to hope for a miracle baby that was conceived a week or so later than we thought, or to prepare ourselves for miscarriage (and/or the loss of a fallopian tube) and try to let go of our attachment to this pregnancy.

Anyone ever been misdiagnosed with an ectopic (or know someone who has)? It is the not knowing that is killing us the most at this point

Thanks for reading if you got this far....

Hey Tawn
I am so sorry that you are going through this!
2 weeks ago i was told i had an ectopic and i had my left tube removed yesterday they called me back into hospital and basically said the left tube had no baby in it and basically whoops we may of removed that tube for nothing but we thought that was the one that had the ectopic pregnancy in it and i was told that it possibly occured in my remaining tube and aborted itself into my uterus i am so angry and upset ! now i have been given a 50/50 chance of being able to conceive naturally.... all i can say is get a second, third and fourth opinon and make sure that the diagnosis is correct.....doctors and surgeons do not know everything...thoughts and prayers are with you x

 

[Finallytrying]

I had a scan last week to rule out ectopic and when the tech did it she checked the main blood vessel that goes down my leg because I also had left side pain with spotting and she said the stretching and the changing of your body can cause pressure to be put on the blood vessel which will cause pain and you should ask them to look at that if they do another vaginal ultra sound. Depending on how I lay down now depends on when it gets some pain or not and a pillow between my legs at night helps slot

 

[Scuba]

So sorry for this that you're going through
I'm not sure if I've understood right but when I went to the EPU with suspected ectopic, they scanned, saw sack in uterus and were happy then that pregnancy was normal as said it can't implant in a tube and in uterus. So going in that rule of thumb if you've got a sack in uterus where are they getting the evidence for you being ectopic from I wonder?

I really hope all is ok for you. Take care xx

 

[skunkpixie]

Hey Tawn.

Sorry that you are going through this. If the sac that they saw in the uterus is a pregnancy then its very unlikely that you also have a pregnancy growing in you tube aswell. Seems that they have really handled your case badly, and I hope that you get a big big apology if you have a viable pregnancy and not an ectopic. xx

 

[destynibaby]

prayers are with you.

 

[Olivette]

The support above has been great, and I'm not sure I can add much more, but I just wanted to let you know your in my thoughts and I pray you have a positive outcome *hugs* x

 

[chistiana]

Tawn i m so sorry for what you re going through. Just a quick thought that crossed my mind... Could it be twins, one in uterus the other not??

 

[skunkpixie]

Tawn i m so sorry for what you re going through. Just a quick thought that crossed my mind... Could it be twins, one in uterus the other not??

I just checked out the stats for this and it's called a Heterotopic pregnancy, and the chances of it happening are 1 in 30,000, so very rare indeed. xx