F-tube down, I repeat, we’re an f-tube down

[christlovrrrr]

I went to the emergency room last Monday afternoon (happy labour day!) with excruciating abdominal pains.
E X C R U T I A T I N G.

Turns out one of my Fallopian tubes had ruptured from an ectopic pregnancy (that was a fun 3 hour wait in the ER, with blood pooling into my abdomen.. super fun times!)

ICYDK: In a normal pregnancy, a fertilized egg travels through a fallopian tube to the uterus. The egg attaches in the uterus and starts to grow. But in an ectopic pregnancy, the fertilized egg attaches (or implants) someplace other than the uterus, most often in the fallopian tube.

And implant it did.. right into my right Fallopian tube, which then ruptured, and was removed.

Do you know how long I have fantasised about a doctor positively confirming we were pregnant?
... & then it happened. It finally happened. But he didn’t need to say anything further, the look in his eyes told me enough.

Anyway, didn’t mean to bum anyone out with my bummer of a story, I guess I’m just here to say it happened to me too.. mark me down under the “1 in 4” column

Glass half full: at least we can get pregnant?

 

[2c710]

@christlovrrrr I’m sorry you had that experience and lost a tube because of it. I wish there was a way to know if a pregnancy is ectopic before it’s too late.

 

[ahcadvocacy]

@2c710 It is sometimes possible to catch it early and treat an ectopic pregnancy with methotrexate. They are definitely hard to catch, in that many symptoms that are associated with pregnancy like constipation/abdominal pain are not uncommon with normal pregnancies. If you know you're at higher risk (usually because of a prior ectopic), getting an ultrasound at 6 weeks is a very good idea.

I'm so sorry for your loss OP. Hope you heal up quick.

 

[gamerguy99]

@ahcadvocacy My friend had an ectopic that was caught early enough for methotrexate, but then it failed and continued to grow. Her doctor didn't believe her and she ended up in surgery after going to the er.

 

[bowtokingjesus]

@gamerguy99 Unfortunately that’s not uncommon. It’s why it’s standard practice to have blood drawn until your HCG levels are under 5. It’s incredibly nerve wracking to wait so long to make sure you’re not still going to rupture.

 

[gamerguy99]

@bowtokingjesus Yes, and if the doctor had actually followed "standard practice" she would not have had to end up in the ER. It sounds like they just gave her methotrexate and sent her on her way. Then she started to experience pain on the side where the ectopic pregnancy was, so she called the doctor and he didn't even remember who she was and tried to brush her off. She reminded him that she had seen him for an ectopic pregnancy and asked if she needed to come in and was told no. When she finally went to the ER the people at the ER were like "you're so lucky you caught this early!" which just pissed her off more since she had been telling her doctor that something was wrong for days and then finally gave up and went to the ER.

 

[dylan4512]

@gamerguy99 I am wishing such awful things on that doctor that I don't think I should post them out loud. I hope your friend is okay now.

 

[bowtokingjesus]

@gamerguy99 That is so awful!!!

 

[ahcadvocacy]

@gamerguy99 Arg, that's awful. I'm sorry for her loss. It is absolutely unfair that quality of healthcare can be so different depending on where you live and who you are.

 

[janeenjoy]

@2c710 There is a way. It's called an early ultrasound. But "the risk is low", so doctor's generally don't bother and expect us to just go with it and most often lose a fallopian tube if we do happen to be the unlucky one.

 

[bowtokingjesus]

@janeenjoy I had 2 ultrasounds and they didnt detect my ectopic. When you’re so early on you can still rupture and yet the ultrasound isn’t going to show anything.

 

[morrismc]

@bowtokingjesus I had multiple ultrasounds over the course of a month because they couldn't find anything but the corpus luteum, and even once it ruptured they couldn't find the pregnancy.

 

[goldsmith129]

@bowtokingjesus Yeah, it's crazy hard to see, mine was found on the 4th ultrasound because I had fluid around it.

 

[janeenjoy]

@bowtokingjesus That is incredibly unfortunate, and I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Can I ask if they seemed to detect the pregnancy in your uterus, or if they simply couldn't detect it at all?

 

[bowtokingjesus]

@janeenjoy Thank you. They couldn’t detect anything at all.

 

[commissionerfd1]

@janeenjoy It's not that we doctors "can't be bothered." The conditions chosen for screening are very carefully selected based on a vast number of criteria, it's a complicated, specialty level or health care system level decision (and not an individual doctor decision).

If we screened for every condition, the health care system would collapse.

Medicine isn't perfect. I'm very sorry for OP's loss.

 

[ahcadvocacy]

@commissionerfd1 I agree with you about screening, but I think it is important to recognize how different the medical care different people receive. Everyday some people get taken seriously, and everyday other people with the same complaints get dismissed. Ectopics are responsible for 10% of pregnancy related deaths, and this is more than upsetting. It's infuriating.

"Medicine ain't perfect" is a little flippant towards somebody expressing frustration. Inadequate care happens, y'know? It's not crazy to think of some of the harm done by ectopics as preventable.

Worryingly, the 1997-1999 CEMD reports mention that the majority of women who died from ruptured tubal pregnancy were "known to have sought medical help before death" and often presented with symptoms that suggested a urinary or gastrointestinal disease.

 

[miserable]

@ahcadvocacy Can confirm. My ectopic very nearly killed me when my on-call dr dismissed my extreme and textbook symptoms THREE TIMES and told me to lie down with a heating pad because it was just my bowel spasming. As they wheeled me half-conscious into emergency surgery, they told my husband to "say what needs saying now, you may not get another chance"

 

[ahcadvocacy]

@miserable I can only imagine how awful that was, I am so sorry you went through such an ordeal.

 

[janeenjoy]

@commissionerfd1 Honestly, it doesn't seem that complicated to include a 5-6 week placement ultrasound with standard care to ensure your pregnancy isn't ectopic. It's a pretty serious condition that most of the time isn't caught until it's too late and most certainly ends in a destroyed fallopian tube (cutting your fertility in half), not to mention the number of other serious complications, simply because....who knows why. And it is an individual doctor decision. There are plenty of women who receive an early ultrasound just for this purpose, but there are many many more who don't, even if they ask for it. I'm not asking for medicine to be perfect, but I am asking for it to be improved. It's one extra 2 minute ultrasound that could literally save your life.

Edit: I understand that an early ultrasound can't/won't catch all ectopic pregnancies, but I still hold it would at least give you a CHANCE to avoid it.