| re: .0
Yes, you're right in general about the seriousness of the
condition.
A tubal pregnancy occurs when the fertilized egg implants itself
in the Fallopian tube rather than in the uterus itself. Often it
will spontenously abort, but if it grows it eventually gets too
large and ruptures the Fallopian tube, causing internal bleeding
and usually death if it's not treated.
If it's not diagnosed before the tube ruptures, the scarring can
block the tubes and cause infertility. Also, depending on where
the rupture takes place and whether there's an accompanying
infection, they sometimes have to remove a tube and even the
uterus.
I'm not sure of all the symptoms, but I know backache, nausea, and
bleeding are among them. Usually the tubal pregnancy can be
diagnosed by ultrasound at a pretty early age these days. Then
they can surgically remove the embryo before it endangers the
mother's life.
Cause? Well, there's a certain amount of heredity involved.
Sometimes it's bad luck. My sister-in-law has had several tubal
pregnancies -- she had a pelvic infection from an IUD years ago,
and the scarring causes the egg to "snag" in the tube rather than
going on down into the womb. She's had the surgery to expand the
tube twice; a beautiful son is the result.
So your friend might have had the surgery, or might have just had
bad luck with the pregnancy a year and a half ago.
--bonnie
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| As Bonnie said, there's no one reason that a tubal pregnancy occurs
usually (as per my doctor). But once you've had one, you have a high
risk of having another.
Symptoms, well, sometimes there are none, other times there are
backache, nasea, etc., but symptoms which are commonly confused with a
regular pregnancy which is why so many ectopic's go undetected.
I have read in some women's magazines that some women go undetected
with a ectopic until they go in with what they think is labor and then
a serious operation is in order. Some women don't have any warning and
then just have a rupture and usually if they don't get to the hospital
they will go into shock from internal bleeding and die. USUALLY.
I know of one case that didn't go, just thinking she'd be ok, but
handled the pain by doing lamaze exercises. When she felt ok she made
a doctor's appointment and it wasn't until 5 days later they realize
she self aborted the bad egg, and 3 months after that she had a
laproscopy to determine what REALLY happened. She had a ectopic
pregnancy which when she self aborted (system just took care of it
itself), her fallopian tube was ruptured.
Since there was so much blood in her 3 months later (and they assumed
much of it disappated), the doctor told her there was no reason she
should be alive from the amount of blood they still found inside her.
(Peritinitus should have set in as well). She was a walking medical
miracle.
So, that tells you what *mind over matter* can do. Especially when you
are naive!
Hope this helps. The best thing to do is read about it. I've found
the book "Our Bodies Ourselves" to be very helpful with questions like
these.
Rebecca
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| Having had 2 tubal pregnancies I thought I'd add my 2 cents worth.
Both times for me the tests were positive, however, the color turned a
much brighter color than I anticipated. In other words, both times I
expected to see a blue or pink color. Both times the blue and pink hue
were very bright. Turns out that both times I was 2 cycles pregnant
rather than one. Both times I had a period (slightly unusual period)
the first cycle that I was pregnant, so I never tested. Next month
when my period didn't come, I tested and got the bright results.
Usually with an ectopic pregnancy the level of HCG (human chorionic
gonadotropin) that's detected is much LOWER than a normal pregnancy,
so it doesn't show up until you're more than a few weeks along.
A bit long-winded, but I hope it helps.
Dale
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