How are ectopic pregnancies diagnosed? Help!

aylasoma

(7 weeks) So I already posted about the fact my first ultrasound after red spotting and brown discharge showed no gestational sac or baby and I have no evidence that i miscarried already. They said I most likely have a nonviable pregnancy that means I will either miscarry naturally or a D&C can happen after HcG is monitored. If my HcG levels double by tomorrow it means I'm still "pregnant" and might mean it's ectopic (tubal pregnancy). I'm terrified of this mostly because you have a greater chance of it happening again and it can be dangerous if it's not caught soon enough. My question is how would they diagnose that it is for sure an ectopic pregnancy and wouldn't they have seen it on my ultrasound today? I'm assuming if the tech said she didn't find a baby in the uterus she would have looked around in the Fallopian tubes as well? Are there other tests that verify this? Have any of you had experience with this? If so what was your treatment? I believe I would get some sort of shot? Hopefully I won't need surgery because I haven't felt any pain yet...

Please help! This is a nightmare I never imagined for my first pregnancy.

squidlydoo

When I went for my first ultrasound, they sent me way too early. She ended up doing an internal ultrasound and moved the wand around enough to rule out an ectopic pregnancy while she was in there. I'm surprised they didn't try and do that while you were there?

kzahn84

They verify via ultrasound. And if indeed it was they typically give you a injection called methotrexate. I've never been through it but have taken care of pts who did. I personally went through a m/c was having red spotting and us showed no sac. Usually when they do a us they look at your ovaries and tunes as well....or at least they should!!! Good luck mama. I know it's nerve wracking

aylasoma

@squidlydoo‌ she may have done that but my doctor never mentioned if ectopic was ruled out or not. She just said its either an "abnormal pregnancy" (which is super vague and I tried to fill in the blanks myself which is obviously not a good idea) or a "nonviable pregnancy" (which I also had to do research to figure out exactly what she meant and I'm still not 100% sure). I was too shaken up by her phone call to ask many options. At first, losing the baby was just losing the baby which was horrible but now I have all these possibilities floating around in my head

@kzahn84‌ I had a little red spotting and now brown discharge - is it possible I had a miscarriage already? I thought I would have bled a ton if I had. And with those shots does it just basically terminate the baby's life so it comes out of the tube, or what does it do?

Thanks so much for the replies, girls. It's so hard having so many questions

robynkgallagher

I never respond here. But I had an ectopic and your symptoms sound similar to mine. It took until "8 weeks" of pregnancy for them to see the embryo in my left Fallopian tube. I had light spotting and low rising HcG levels. It eventually burst and I was rushed into emergency surgery. But I did eventually get pregnant again and delivered a baby. And am now pregnant with my fourth!!! Your blood levels should tell you a lot

aylasoma

@robynkgallagher‌ Okay thank you - how could we be sure to verify that it's ectopic before it bursts and I need surgery? Is there any other way to confirm it even if they can't see it in the tube yet?

korileighb

Your numbers will be an indication of an ectopic, whether they can see it or not. Ectopic HCG counts are low, and climb very slowly, they dont double in the normal period of time. I had one last year and it wasnt seen via ultrasound until my tube had already burst. Its likely they will offer you a shot of methotrexate, if they feel strongly that it is ectopic but cant tell which tube it is coming from. Im sorry, and hope this works out for the best for you!

urfcerin

I had a previous ectopic pregnancy. At first we all assumed miscarriage, because I started bleeding bright red. We waited a few days and had my HcG levels taken again. If it was a true miscarriage the levels should've started to decrease but mine hadn't. After another few days of fluctuating levels they did an internal ultrasound and saw the pregnancy in my tube. I was treated with methotrexate. Thankfully mine was caught before it burst. I, too, was worried about not being able to conceive again but we went on to have a healthy baby boy and were recently surprised to become pregnant again. So it can definitely happen! Good luck to you!

akdewald

I had an ectopic pregnancy but it was actually in my ovary. All they could see on the ultrasound was a cyst growing larger. I could of done the medication but chose to have a d&c and the dr performed a laparoscopic exam to remove the cyst and biopsy tissues and also said this was a sure way to diagnose the ectopic rather than normal cyst in my case . I was nervous for surgery but it honestly wasn't bad. I had surgery Friday and was back to work Monday. I read about about the methotrexate and found out that often times it doesn't work and surgery is needed anyway. Plus you can try again sooner if that's something your concerned about.

IslandDreamin

https://www.ectopic.org.uk/patients/diagnosis/

I hope it's not an ectopic and I am so sorry you're going through this. Please see this link. This website is basically the bible of ectopic pregnancies I had an ectopic recently, I had 3 blood tests and 3 ultrasounds done (over the course of 4 days) and they still couldn't definitely diagnose my ectopic until they opened me up during surgery. I was offered the methotrexate injecton, but didn't want to harm my baby if it was healthy and it was just too early to tell. I wanted to be absolutely sure and that's why I went with the surgery which confirmed their suspicions. It is pretty common for them to be unable to see anything on the ultrasound. Best of luck with everything! I have had both the surgery and the injection (I had to get it a month later due to a rare complication) and I would honestly prefer the surgery. The healing is quicker and you don't risk rupturing (assuming you haven't already).

disney815

I had an ectopic pregnancy, and they never found the baby, but saw a"shadow" in my tube. What was the determining factor was that I had low levels that continued to drop like a MC, and then they shot back up which is indicitive of an ectopic. I had the methotrexate shot in my butt...
I have had one successful pregnancy since then, and am currently pregnant with my second child after the ectopic. I did have one baby before the ectopic. Best of luck to you, and thoughts and prayers with you!