Ectopic.. Med v surg??

carolinamommy2014 · June 2013

So we went today to confirm that we have an ectopic pregnancy. Not only did we confirm that we saw the heartbeat. Today is 6 weeks exactly.. So 2nd pregnancy and first heartbeat. But now we have to terminate but we have to decide how. I'm not in any pain right now so the doctor said I could still try to do it medically. Obviously rupture is a risk and a dangerous one, so surgery is an option too? What should I do? Both are scary and sad? Any experiences with one or the other?

carolinamommy2014 · June 2013

BethDerek:
That's really a decision you have to make with your doctor, but if I'd had the choice, I would've gone the meds route.My doctor and I were considering using methotrexate for my ectopic, but I wasn't having any pain and we couldn't see it on an u/s, so we kept monitoring my betas for a while. I don't think he was 100 sure that it was ectopic at that point since we couldn't see anything in my tubes, but we were pretty sure. At 7w6d, I started having some pain, so I went to the ER. They saw it in my left tube on the u/s that day, so they scheduled an emergency surgery. I was lucky that the doctor was able to save my tube, but the recovery from surgery has been kind of rough. I guess on the bright side, my betas dropped very quickly from 3600 to 107 in a week and it may not have happened so quickly with the methotrexate. I'm sorry you're going through this.

Thank you for sharing your story. They couldn't see mine yesterday but today they saw the heartbeat and it confirmed it. I think we are leaning toward waiting to see what the medicine does. I've never been too keen on taking medicines but surgery seems scary too and they said there is still a risk if losing the tube with surgery.

I'm happy they were able to save your tube. Good luck with your future pregnancy!! Hopefully this will work for us and we can have 2 working tubes.

Neener73 · June 2013

Ugh. I'm sorry that you have to make that decision. There is no way to know what the "right" decision is. I was 7w5d when my ectopic pregnancy was discovered. The fetus had a heartbeat at the distal end of the left tube. My doctor gave me the pros and cons of meds and surgery. I opted for surgery because I knew that meds aren't as effective once there is a heartbeat. My RE scheduled the lap for that evening. Thankfully I chose the surgery because my tube had already started to rupture by the time the surgery began, and I lost quite a bit of blood. My RE was able to save my tube. I ended up with a lot of scar tissue from the blood, which is caustic, so I ended up having another lap the following year to remove the scar tissue. It was causing pain because my bowel, tube, ovary, and pelvic wall were all connected by it.

carolinamommy2014 · June 2013

Neener73:
I was 7w5d when my ectopic pregnancy was discovered. The fetus had a heartbeat at the distal end of the left tube. My doctor gave me the pros and cons of meds and surgery. I opted for surgery because I knew that meds aren't as effective once there is a heartbeat. My RE scheduled the lap for that evening. Thankfully I chose the surgery because my tube had already started to rupture

Were you having any pain at that point? I'm a week and a half behind where you were and so far no pain. We called my doctor last night bc I'm having such a hard time. He said I'm right in the middle.. I'm in no pain and my HCG levels are still very low.. But it does have a heartbeat so that does make the mtx slightly less effective.

I don't want to put myself in jeopardy but at the same time I don't want to have surgery and risk the tube if mtx could have treated. I figured if I felt pain we'd still have time which is why I'm curious about your pain. How sever and how long did it last before you got in surgery??

Neener73 · June 2013

carolinamommy2014:
Neener73:
I was 7w5d when my ectopic pregnancy was discovered. The fetus had a heartbeat at the distal end of the left tube. My doctor gave me the pros and cons of meds and surgery. I opted for surgery because I knew that meds aren't as effective once there is a heartbeat. My RE scheduled the lap for that evening. Thankfully I chose the surgery because my tube had already started to rupture
Were you having any pain at that point? I'm a week and a half behind where you were and so far no pain. We called my doctor last night bc I'm having such a hard time. He said I'm right in the middle.. I'm in no pain and my HCG levels are still very low.. But it does have a heartbeat so that does make the mtx slightly less effective. I don't want to put myself in jeopardy but at the same time I don't want to have surgery and risk the tube if mtx could have treated. I figured if I felt pain we'd still have time which is why I'm curious about your pain. How sever and how long did it last before you got in surgery??

I didn't have any pain. I went to the doctor because I had some pink spotting the day before. Since I was taking progesterone due to my history of miscarriages, I just thought that my body was trying to miscarry but the progesterone was stopping it. I went in just to get confirmation that the pregnancy wasn't viable so I could stop the progesterone and let nature take its course. I had no clue that it was ectopic until my doctor found it on the ultrasound.

JenOSU · June 2013

Mine was discovered and operated on this morning. I didn't have a choice since they finally discovered it after my tube ruptured but I was going to choose surgery anyway since I was having a lot of pain and wanted it to end as quickly as possible.

carolinamommy2014 · June 2013

JenOSU:
Mine was discovered and operated on this morning. I didn't have a choice since they finally discovered it after my tube ruptured but I was going to choose surgery anyway since I was having a lot of pain and wanted it to end as quickly as possible.nbsp;

I'm so sorry for your loss. That's my fear, that I'll have a rupture before I feel the pain and it will be too late. How long were you in pain before they started the surgery?

Ectopic.. Med v surg??

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