Can You Have an Eptopic Pregnancy and Not Know

An ectopic pregnancy is an alarming and sometimes life-threatening condition. Here'due south how to spot the symptoms and what to expect if you take 1.

What is an ectopic pregnancy?

An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilised egg implants outside of the womb. This happens most often in one of the two fallopian tubes, which are too small-scale to sustain a pregnancy. An ectopic pregnancy can likewise occur in the neck, an ovary, in the abdomen, or fifty-fifty within a Caesarean scar.

How common is an ectopic pregnancy?

Co-ordinate to NHS statistics, 1 in every xc pregnancies in the Britain is ectopic – around xi,000 a yr. A number of celebrities have suffered ectopic pregnancies, including Nicole Kidman, vocalist-songwriter Vanessa Carlton, and extra and model Jaime King.

Who is more than likely to have an ectopic pregnancy?

Ectopic pregnancies can happen to any fertile woman. However, at that place's an increased risk if you lot've had i before, if you've had tubal surgery previously, or if you accept abnormal fallopian tubes or endometriosis.

The following can as well increment chances of an ectopic pregnancy:

A history of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)
Recurring sexually transmitted infections that can scar the tubes such every bit chlamydia or gonorrhoea
Using an intrauterine device (IUD)
Intestinal surgery
Emergency contraception
Beingness pregnant over the historic period of 40
Smoking

You are not more probable to have an ectopic pregnancy if you've had miscarriages, abortions or played sport. The condition too isn't hereditary.

How do I know if I accept an ectopic pregnancy?

In that location are not ever clear symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy, which makes it hard to diagnose. Symptoms mimic signs of early pregnancy, so it's often picked up during an ultrasound scan.

Early symptoms (before the 12th calendar week of pregnancy) include:

A positive pregnancy test (simply you may too get a negative reading)
Brown, watery discharge or vaginal haemorrhage
Ane-sided tummy pain
Discomfort when going to the toilet
Diarrhoea
Pain in the tip of the shoulder

Sometimes an ectopic pregnancy ends in rupture, which is when the pregnancy tears the fallopian tube and causes internal bleeding. This is serious and requires emergency surgery. Telephone call an ambulance if you're meaning, or recall you're pregnant, and get the following symptoms:

An intense pain in the stomach
Severe pain in the neck or tip of the shoulder
Nausea or vomiting
Dizziness, fainting or collapse
Going pale

Credit: Getty

What does ectopic hurting feel like?

It is usually an intense pain in the abdomen or pelvis, and it can exist on ane side or all over. Pain is too felt in the shoulder or neck where blood from a ruptured fallopian tube may build up and irritate nerves. Not all women feel hurting, however, and it can vary from a depression anguish to sharp, stabbing hurting. Dr Jackie Ross, Consultant Gynaecologist at Kings College Hospital, describes it as "a sharp, sew-like pain, but the hurting tin can besides exist more not-specific than that."

What color is ectopic bleeding?

Any bleeding from an ectopic pregnancy tin can look like a normal period. It could be vivid cherry or a darker brown color, which is why some women error it for a period. If yous have any other abnormal symptoms and there is a take a chance you lot could be meaning, you should consult your doctor.

How shortly would I know if I accept an ectopic pregnancy?

Ectopic pregnancy symptoms typically emerge between weeks iv and 12 of pregnancy. This could be before you fifty-fifty realise you're pregnant. Otherwise, y'all may discover the embryo in an early on scan (12 weeks or earlier). If you're not due a browse just y'all have symptoms or concerns, you must visit your GP or the Early Pregnancy Unit.

How long can it go unnoticed?

If it's not picked upward in a scan, an ectopic pregnancy can become unnoticed for the first 16 weeks of pregnancy, until the fertilised egg is big enough to cause meaning pain. Yet, it ordinarily creates symptoms earlier than this.

What happens if I have an ectopic pregnancy?

The NHS offers three treatments if it is discovered early enough:

Shut monitoring – the fertilised egg will sometimes deliquesce and no treatment is needed
Medication to stop the unviable pregnancy
Surgery (usually keyhole surgery) to remove the fertilised egg and, sometimes, the affected fallopian tube

However, if the fallopian tubes burst or rupture, you will undergo emergency surgery to remove the egg and fallopian tube.

Credit: Getty

Tin an ectopic pregnancy survive?

Sadly no. An ectopic pregnancy is not a viable pregnancy as the fertilised egg won't have room to abound outside the womb and the pregnancy can't be moved.

Volition an ectopic pregnancy reduce my chances of getting pregnant?

According to the NHS, nearly women get pregnant once again, fifty-fifty with one fallopian tube. "If you accept 100 women who've had an ectopic pregnancy 60-70 percent of those women will be able to become meaning once more naturally," says Dr Jackie Ross. Fertility treatment is also an option for anyone who has suffered from an ectopic pregnancy.

Professor Dharani Hapangama, is consultant gynaecological surgeon at the University of Liverpool and researcher at women's wellness research charity Wellbeing of Women. She recommends mothers getting early scans for subsequent pregnancies: "When they know they are meaning, their location of pregnancy needs to be checked. This is usually effectually six weeks of pregnancy at a dedicated early pregnancy unit in the local hospital.

"If one fallopian tube is removed and if the remaining tube is normal, the bear on on fertility is not much. But the risk may be higher the next fourth dimension; so the location of pregnancy needs to be checked early in the pregnancy."

Can I give birth after an ectopic pregnancy?

"Giving birth after previously experiencing an ectopic pregnancy should non exist affected," reassures Lesley Gilchrist, Registered Midwife and Founder of My Expert Midwife. "At that place are two fallopian tubes, so if the ovary and fallopian tube on the unaffected side are salubrious and so future pregnancy is possible." Notwithstanding, you should always inform your doctor or midwife of your by medical history then they can keep an eye on how your future salubrious pregnancy develops.

Where can I go for support?

"The earlier a women comes and seeks help, the more options she has and the better the cess can be fabricated," advises Dr Jackie Ross.

The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust charity is a helpful resource that offers counselling, email support and give-and-take forums for women who have a shared feel. Loss and grief are natural feelings, and information technology'due south essential that all women get the aid and back up they demand.

If you'd similar more than information, watch this educational video on where and how ectopic pregnancies happen:

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Source: https://www.goodto.com/family/ectopic-pregnancy-signs-symptoms-487523