Chemical pregnancy (TW)

cocowalt2012

Yesterday, 22nd day of my cycle,  5 days before expected period I started having brown discharge, then red bleeding started in the night. This then turned into heavy bleeding and dark, almost black, blood clots and horrible cramping. A friend of mine who is a PA said that she thinks I have had a chemical pregnancy. How would I know if this is true? Can an OB test for this? Do I need to go to the doctor or just let it run its course? We are TTC,  so I want my doctor to know everything that is going on to make sure I don't need to do anything or not do anything. Or am I just thinking too much into this? 

Becky012016

cocowalt2012 said:

Yesterday, 22nd day of my cycle,  5 days before expected period I started having brown discharge, then red bleeding started in the night. This then turned into heavy bleeding and dark, almost black, blood clots and horrible cramping. A friend of mine who is a PA said that she thinks I have had a chemical pregnancy. How would I know if this is true? Can an OB test for this? Do I need to go to the doctor or just let it run its course? We are TTC,  so I want my doctor to know everything that is going on to make sure I don't need to do anything or not do anything. Or am I just thinking too much into this? 

First, please put TW (trigger warning) in the thread title so people having hard TTC days can avoid this. 
Second, don't borrow pain. By this I mean, if you weren't temping and truly checking where you were at in your cycle, you don't know if it your bleeding now is just your period or an actual CP. Have you taken a pregnancy test? That's the only way to confirm if you are pregnant. Your doctor cannot do anything for this unfortunately. If the clots become golfball size or larger or you pass multiple clots in an hour, you need to go to the ER to have everything checked out. I'm sorry for the confusing and trying situation you are in right now. Read the newbie thread pinned at the top and join in on the daily threads. There's a lot of support here and these women are very knowledgeable. Good luck to you going forward. 

[Deleted User]

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I'm very sorry youre going through this confusing moment in your cycle/ttc journey. Please take PPs advice and seek medical attention if your condition worsens.

However, none of us can see inside your ute and we have absolutely no idea whether you are/were ku.  It is against TB TOU to ask the community if you are pregnant.  Which is what you are doing in an extra-graphic sort of way.  So sorry about your troubles, but my advice is POAS if you are curious, (for science), but even a true CP still may not turn a test at this point.   Rest up, take care, be gentle with yourself.  It's gonna be okay. ❤

Please read the newbie guide, lurk, and feel free to introduce yourself on the weekly newbie intro thread, and start posting in the daily wto/tww threads when you are ready.  We'd be happy to have you, but please don't ask a bunch of internet strangers if you are pregnant, if poss.
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GL and hang in there....  (((hugs)))
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NamelessAria

**Dirty lurker who just happens to have way too much experience with CPs**

A friend of mine who is a PA said that she thinks I have had a chemical pregnancy. How would I know if this is true?

Take a pregnancy test. Sometimes, though not always, you'll still get a faint positive during a chemical pregnancy even though you're already bleeding. I had a couple that worked that way. If you never had a positive pregnancy test before the bleeding, and you aren't able to get a positive pregnancy test now I'd say there is absolutely no reason to assume you're having a chemical pregnancy. The pain of loss is not something I'd wish on anyone. And as such I don't ever recommend just assuming a chemical pregnancy, or other type of miscarriage, happened with some proof. Don't take on that pain if it isn't forced onto you. If you have no proof you were ever pregnant do yourself a favor and just assume it's a random bad period that's worse/different than normal for whatever other reason.

**General TW here for mentions of loss with graphic details of bleeding etc.**

With my MC at 6w4d the bleeding was worse than my normal periods but my normal periods are super short and light. I typically only bleed for 2-3 days. And the amount I typically bleed on a normal period is only around 10ml. Or 2 teaspoons if that's easier to visualize. So not even enough to fill 1 light days pad if I wore it the whole time which I wouldn't for hygiene reasons but still. With my MC I bled an amount that was more similar to what I remember a "normal" period being before they got so short and light. I filled a couple of pads over 5 days or so. The only real difference from what would probably be a normal period for most women is that I passed some globs of tissue. Not like small blood clots, though I passed a lot of those also. But like large globs of tissue. I was also able to get a strong positive on a pregnancy test for a solid 2 weeks after the loss.
I've also had 5 chemical pregnancies and with a couple of them my period wasn't any different than normal. It was still short, only 2-3 days and pretty light. If I hadn't gotten a couple of faint lines on pregnancy tests I would never have known I was pregnant. I certainly wouldn't have known from the amount, quality, duration of the bleeding I had. The only thing that was different is those cycles I'd have a 17-18 day luteal phase instead of a 14-15 day luteal phase. With 1 or 2 of the chemical pregnancies the bleeding was a bit heavier and maybe had a couple of clots. But still not different enough that I would have suspected anything if I hadn't gotten positive pregnancy tests and my period hadn't been late.
My point here is that yes after a loss bleeding can be heavier with more clots. But that isn't always the case. I've also had cycles were I definitely was NOT pregnancy as there was no sexual activity all month with my husband out of state for work but my period was still heavier than normal with more clots. I definitely didn't have a loss since there is literally no way I could have been pregnant. Sometimes periods are just heavier with more clots. Sometimes you ovulate a little earlier, or later, and your period comes "early" or "late." But none of that is enough to determine whether or not you had a chemical pregnancy. The only way to know it was a chemical pregnancy would be to have some way of measuring the hCG present in your body and determining that yes it was elevated consistent with a period. You'd be able to do that by taking a pregnancy test and getting a positive.

Do I need to go to the doctor or just let it run its course?

Unfortunately there isn't anything your doctor can do if it is a chemical pregnancy. And if you're just having a normal period with some bleeding that isn't typical for you that isn't a situation where you'd need to see a doctor. The only reason I'd say to see a doctor is if you start hemorrhaging. My doctor defined that as completely filling an overnight pad every 30 minutes. And then in that situation you'd go to the ER because hemorrhaging, regardless of the cause, is a medical emergency.

If it would help you for general peace of mind to have your doctor weigh in on the situation you could call the office and ask to speak to the nurse when they reopen on Monday. But my doctor never had me do anything different during or after a chemical pregnancy. Some doctors will suggest you wait a cycle to start back TTC after a loss of any kind. But again, there is no reason to assume you've had a loss here. It sounds to me like you're just having a bad period UNLESS you're able to get a positive pregnancy test. If you do get a positive pregnancy test you may want to call your doctor and let them know you tested positive and you're bleeding. There isn't really anything they can do other than tell you to wait it out but they may want to do a blood test at that point IF you got a positive pregnancy test.

Hopefully it was helpful to have someone who has been through chemical pregnancies give you some feedback on your situation.

And also, I feel like I have to say this: a lot of ladies are TTCAL on this board and it can be very painful and insulting for a lady who is TTCAL to see a post where someone just assumes they've had a loss without any solid reason or proof. I'm not trying to assign malicious intent here. But titling this "chemical pregnancy" just makes the assumption that it was a loss and that might upset some people.

dragonfly87-2

I agree with other posters. Try taking a sensitive level pregnancy test (FRER or even a wondfo) to see if you get a faint positive. If you don't have any real evidence of a pregnancy, please don't assume that you had one. 

It's also different for everyone. I had a CP at 4w3d. I tested at 15 dpo and got 3 faint positives. On 16 dpo, it was even fainter and I started to bleed, mostly brown and dark, dark red blood. It was not a lot though. I went to my doctor, had blood drawn twice. First hcg level was 6 (just barely enough to detect pregnancy) and then it was 1. My "period" though only last for two days and was very, very light. Had I not tested/known I was pregnant, I would have thought it was just an odd cycle. My periods are normally 4-5 days in length. 

Even though I was very early, the pain and grief I felt was very real and difficult to deal with. I am now about 1 month after the loss and still get frustrated/sad/angry. As others have said, if you don't know for sure, don't assume. It will not bring anything good and will only cause worry and frustration.