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Hello,
I want to write my experience of an ectopic pregnancy which was unknown until I had surgery. I am doing this for anyone who has had terrible worry like myself who may be experiencing similar to what I did. 3 weeks ago I had a laparoscopy and it was unknown what I was going through.
My symptoms started at the end of September 2016 where I was brown spotting a week before my period was due. I had a copper coil and I put it down to this - two weeks passed and I was still having this same spotting so I decided to do a pregnancy test because of the risk of ectopic. It was negative. The brown spotting/bleeding continued so I decided to go and see my doctor as this sort of activity in my cycle was unusual and had never happened before. I told her my test was negative and she said the bleeding could just be one of those things so booked me in for some swabs to double check infection. Two days later I was at work and I came down with some very strong, and what I thought was period pain in my left side. . This pain continued to get stronger and stronger to the point where I couldn't do anything anymore and I was doubled over in my office and bleeding had got a little heavier but not too much but it definitely caused some painful bowel movements. This then resulted in me having another trip to the doctor.
By the time I saw the doctor the pain had gone. A different doctor this time and he felt my tummy which was tender, I explained the bleeding and pain and he put it down to endometriosis so referred me for an ultrasound at the hospital.
At this point I still had my copper coil in, and a week later, I was still having bleeding and then suddenly at home the pain started again, and it was the most horrific pain I have ever been through, doubled over again but this time having diarrhoea. I was really starting to think it was the coil being out of place or something along those lines at this point. I rang 111 and they said go to the walk in - the pain had gone by the time I went there. They were not very helpful but said to take some strong painkillers for the pain and wait for swabs and ultrasound. Two days later I went for my swabs and I was very insistent with the nurse and asked her to remove my coil, (thinking it was that) so she did. It was extremely painful when she removed it to the point where I thought I was going to pass out. I immediately felt a sense of relieve afterwards but sitting down and bowel movements were still painful. Bleeding started to settle down so in my mind I thought it was that. A week later, it was my ultrasound and the morning before I suddenly came down with the horrific pain again but this time it left my stomach and ribs and shoulder extremely inflamed so I was struggling to walk. The pain went away again. When I went for the ultrasound my uterus looked normal but when they did the transvaginal ultrasound they examined my right side which was fine and then when they moved to my left side it was very painful and uncomfortable to the point where I couldn't wait for the nurse to take it out. They didn't have a clear image as there was a lot of fluid covering my ovary so I left my ultrasound feeling extremely emotional as I didn't know and I was feeling extremely concerned as to what was going on.
The next day my doctor rang me and asked me to come in and he said to me I had a cyst on my left ovary and I would need an operation so he referred me to hospital again for a consultation which was going to be two weeks later.
5 days later I was doubled over in pain again, bleeding was still present but heavier, so I went to hospital as I'd had enough - thinking that they'd operate, as I had been told I had a cyst, the pain settled down again and they did routine bloods and it all came back normal so I was discharged.
The next day I was out in the evening and I again doubled over in pain and this time I had terrible diarrhoea. The pain was excruciating and I struggled to walk. But a couple of hours passed and the pain disappeared.
The next day I felt terrible as though I was getting over a sickness bug and my stomach was terribly inflamed and I continued to bleed for a further 4-5 days.
I went for my consultation a week later, to which point I hadn't had any more pain and the bleeding had stopped. (End of October) for my operation and they said to me that they didn't think my cyst needed to be operated on and that it would resolve itself after a few cycles. I got very upset because I was concerned about the pain coming back and was puzzled as to what my doctor saw on the ultrasound so to help ease my mind they booked me in for an MRI 4 weeks later.
The time in between I went through some discomforts, mainly passing gas, and this was extremely painful for about a week and bowel movements were sometimes so painful that I felt constipated. But didn't go through the excruciating pain again. Sitting down also was painful and I had experience of inflammation in my ribs and shoulder so struggled to sleep lying on certain sides.
So the day of my MRI arrived and I was still feeling uncomfortable going to the toilet. That was done and then I was due for another consultation to discuss these results two days later. I was upset again because they didn't have the results, and I even checked the two days previous whether they would and they said yes. But I was reassured, I was reassured all was fine and that they weren't worried about me based on my ultrasound so I went away confident and positive and immediately I felt the pains had gone away. They also told me to ring up for my results in 5 days time and if they were concerned they'd contact me sooner. So 5 days passed and I phoned up for the results which resulted in them asking me to go in to see them, and at this point I started to feel quite concerned. So I went in for an appt two days later and I was sat down with a consultant and an oncology nurse and was told that the MRI scan showed a solid area on my left ovary and that my Fallopian tube was swollen and they had to say to me that they couldn't say it wasn't malignant. I was very upset to say the least. So after that I was referred to a different hospital where they would operate and be able to look at what they find and know straight away what they find.
I went for then another consultation at the different hospital where I was scanned again and sat down with an oncology nurse. I was terrified as they were telling me all the different outcomes and I was preparing for the worst. They did some big blood tests to check for anything sinister and at this point I was extremely puzzled with everything, as all my blood tests leading up to this point were normal and I am an extremely fit and healthy person and didn't feel unwell considering the weeks previously.
So surgery day arrived, 6 days later and I was taken into a room to go through what they were planning to do and they said to me that they were concerned because my hormone levels on one of the blood tests came back raised. I was asked if I was pregnant and I said it was a possibility as my partner and I were not using anything. So they had to do a test and a scan and all came back negative.
The operation took place and afterwards I was afraid of what they had found to which then I was very shocked and surprised to be told that it was an ectopic pregnancy and it had resolved itself however had left part of the tissue within the tube and pelvis.
Now that I know I have mixed emotions, a big sense of relieve and I know that it was the best outcome for my own life, but just the shock of what it actually was after all of this discomfort and emotional journey.
Sorry it's a long story, but I tried to see if anyone had gone through similar to me but I couldn't find any forums with anything to comfort me. So here is my story to comfort someone else.
