My Ectopic Pregnancy

Around one in 90 women in the UK experience an ectopic pregnancy, and most of those take place in the fallopian tubes.

Unfortunately, in the unlikely event that you do get pregnant with a coil, there is a raised risk of an ectopic pregnancy, which means the embryo cannot grow.

I had my second copper coil, otherwise known as an Intra Uterine Device, in 2018.

I had come back from an epic hike round the Pyrenees – a mountain range in the south of France. We had driven down there to explore the area and walk the five day “Pass’Aran” route.

When my period did not arrive, Google reassured me that this could be caused by low progesterone (hormone) levels, which could be caused by “extreme exercise”.

Then I had sore breasts, and once again Google said this was due to low progesterone levels, but as I was also feeling a bit more tired than usual, I checked with a pregnancy test.

Pregnant.

It didn’t say Not Pregnant. It must be a mistake.

1-2 weeks (it confusingly showed 2-3, but this meant weeks since conception which the leaflet explained was 1-2 weeks pregnant).

So it was early. I walked around swearing, head in hands. What was I going to do?

Did I want it? It was so inconvenient – we were in the process of buying a house, my boyfriend works away, we were going to New Zealand…now was not the time.

But I could not kill something that was both of us and I could not kill something I really wanted. Yes it wasn’t the right time but when was?

I didn’t have time to process, I had to get to work.

But I had to get dressed first and find the few bigger clothes I’d bought from another time I temporarily gained weight.

I wondered who to tell. Should I tell anyone but Jonny?

Maybe Jonny wouldn’t want it and then there’s the shame of abortion, so I wouldn’t tell anyone. I didn’t want anyone judging me.

I couldn’t keep it in and I needed emotional support, so I confided in a close friend and it really helped. Her cousin had had an ectopic pregnancy it turned out, and they had also found out at six weeks. She had her fallopian tube removed, as the embryo can damage it. At least we are born with two.

Before seeing the GP I wanted to talk to Jonny – then I could ask for an abortion as well as a scan if needed. He was shocked and froze but he wasn’t annoyed or upset as I expected. He said we should see what was going on with it first, before we made a decision. Ever the pragmatist.

“Is that the only one you did?”

“No, it’s the third.”

“Oh………Is there anything else that could make it test positive?”

“No Jonny!”

The next morning I contacted the GP first thing and filled in an online form. Almost immediately I was text with the first appointment of the day. I explained how I’d started spotting instead of a period and then how my breasts had become sore and that as of Thursday night, it looked like I was having a period.

The doctor examined me and referred me to the Gynae Accident and Emergency department at the local hospital for a scan (my second time as an emergency patient in a year). She said to make sure Jonny was with me and to tell Gynae if I had symptoms that would suggest even more of an emergency, like pain or heavy bleeding.

After an hour of waiting at reception, the nurse did a safeguarding and general information interview. “From your dates you’d be six weeks pregnant” she said.

She took me round for a urine and blood test and after waiting for ages, I had a scan.

I was excited as I held my boyfriend’s hand down the corridor, wondering how he’d feel when he saw our baby.

“Do you want me to show you the embryo if I can find it?” the nurse asked.

“Yes please” I replied. “Jonny, do you want to see it?”

“Yes” he said, looking both excited and confused.

I had read that an embryo of six weeks sent out an electrical signal that sounds like a heartbeat on a scan. It would be the size of a pomegranate seed and look like a tadpole.

I waited to hear the signal.

There was silence and a lot of prodding. It was uncomfortable but didn’t hurt.

“I’m very sorry to tell you this, but I can’t find a pregnancy in your uterus. I can confirm that it’s likely to be an ectopic pregnancy, which means it’s growing outside of your uterus.” I was devastated.

“It’s growing next to your ovary.”

“Next to the ovary?? outside the uterus?? not on the ovary then??”

“Do you want to see?”

“Yes please”.

The nurse rotated the screen and there was the dark space of my ovary and then a dark space next to it that looked like a comma stuck to my ovary. I couldn’t make out any details as it was grainy.

“I can’t be certain, but that may be the sac there.”

It was so strange to see, but it made it feel more real and I was glad for that, as it helped me to accept that this was really happening, and I needed to get my head around it.

Not only was I pregnant, but it could not continue. I knew logically that was good as it was the wrong time for us, but it didn’t make it feel any better emotionally.

How? why? why me?

I then waited two more hours for the blood test results.

Jonny came up with lunch. I felt sorry for the other pregnant ladies, who had also been waiting hours. One woman had an overweight partner who was snoring loudly and continuously falling off his chair. He hadn’t got her any lunch, but if he did there was a risk that he wouldn’t hear what the nurse had to say. I wondered why they didn’t have a ticket system, like they did with blood tests.

The doctor called me in, finally.

He explained about the pregnancy hormone they had measured for. I replied “oh yes, Human Immunoglobulin something…”

“yes, that one. It’s at 500. We need to wait and see what happens, because there is a still a chance that you are pregnant in the uterus and we can’t see it, as it is so early.”

“But I thought there was a mass?”

“Yes, but that could just be a cyst.”

“So we will have you back in in two days to see what has happened. If it doubles it is likely to be in your uterus. If it doesn’t then we can confirm an ectopic pregnancy.”

My treatment options were:

1. Expectant management – waiting to miscarry (and hoping I didn’t die from a ruptured fallopian tube).
2. Have an injection to stop the cells growing, and make them reabsorb into the body (genius).
3. Have my fallopian tube removed with keyhole (laparoscopic) surgery (also genius, but less chance of getting pregnant in future).

I felt fortunate that as of the 1980s, option 2 had also become available. The drug was previously only used in cancer treatment but has no bad side effects. Also, keyhole surgery has drastically reduced the time you need to spend in hospital – you can leave the same day instead of being on bed rest for weeks.

Google informed me that 500 HcG was the average reading for five weeks of a pregnancy in the uterus.

Dame Laura Kenny, the Olympic medal-winning cyclist, has recently spoken out about her ectopic pregnancy experience and this is why I’m blogging about it – it helped me to read about other women’s experiences.

I was relieved that hospital was done with. I had a missed a day of work and I was emotionally drained.

When I got home I lay on the sofa for a while, but life goes on, I had a night out with the netball girls.

Turns out you can’t enjoy alcohol pregnant – it just made me feel sick.

And so did a Dr Pepper can and a frangipani almond croissant. I didn’t like salad before, but now I want lots of dark leafy green salad and steak. Your body craves what it needs.

Best to act like it isn’t happening! I’m at the back putting.

A Grave Illness

Not everyone gets the above symptoms but these are some of the only visible signs of the illness.

Most people have no idea what Graves Disease is. Neither did I until I was diagnosed.

I was hoping it was thyroiditis – a temporary inflammation of the thyroid.

Graves Disease is an autoimmune disorder where your immune system attacks your thyroid gland, causing too much thyroid hormone to be produced. You can find out all about it in this video.

What you probably don’t know is that this little butterfly-shaped tissue in your neck controls almost every organ in your body and its processes.

At first, I wondered whether I had lung damage from my Covid-19 experience in April.

I rang the GP and she asked me to come down to the surgery that day. I had to use a walking stick as I was so tired going there that I thought I would faint. I was breathless and tired, sleepy and my heart was pounding.

The GP came out to meet me at the staff entrance in full Covid kit, but she soon relaxed.

“I’m pretty sure you don’t have Covid” she said. “You don’t even have a cough and your sats are fine.”

“I’m so sorry” I said, “I didn’t want to waste your time”.

I had had an ambulance called for me in June when I thought Covid was coming back and was breathless and coughing. I didn’t end up going to hospital to get it checked, but I know now that it was Graves rearing its ugly head.

“Lets just check your pulse. Stand up….sit down. She frowned.

Stand up again. Ok, you can sit down. Sorry can you stand up for me one more time?”

The doctor was still frowning.

“No, there’s definitely something going on. Your heart is racing. When you just stood up, your heart rate jumped to 130, then 105 the next time and 90 the third time.”

“90 is pretty normal isn’t it?”.

“90 isn’t bad but it shot up to 130 when you first stood up, even though you’ve been waiting, what, 15 minutes?”

“Yes.”

“I want you to have a blood test.”

I was put on a beta blocker, propanolol, which slows your heart rate down. If your heart rate is high over a long period of time it can cause an arrhythmia, which can eventually lead to heart failure.

Then I got the call. “It’s highly likely you have Graves Disease“. This is known in Europe as Basedow’s Disease. About 1% of the population have an overactive thyroid, of which about 80-95% of them have this caused by Graves Disease.

I felt exhausted and had dizzy spells. After just a walk I would sleep for an hour or two and yet I would be wide awake at night, sometimes taking until 6am to finally fall asleep. I read that it’s because the disorder overstimulates the nervous system. There was plenty of research about an underactive thyroid, but not much about an overactive thyroid, despite the fact that in rare cases it can kill you. This is known as a thyroid storm.

It took two weeks to get the medication I really needed – Carbimazole. This decreases the elevated thyroid hormones in your blood.

I had to ring the hospital or the GP regularly to chase it. I was told to double my dose of Propanolol. I then started getting even more tired and was mostly in bed, apart from short local walks when I had a brief respite from the jetlag tiredness. Kalms One a Night helped me sleep, and valerian tea.

I got my neck and eyes checked, as Graves causes eye problems in 30% of patients. That was fine as expected.

The other conditions that may lead to hyperthyroidism (an overactive thyroid) are nodules – lumps that affect thyroid function which is mostly seen in older patients.

According to internet research it will take 3-8 weeks for the Carbimazole to work.

I bought a “pre-payment” prescription certificate. This means that instead of paying £115-200 a year I instead pay £108. Those with an underactive thyroid gland get their medication for free, so there is a petition asking for equal treatment rights.

You have two treatment options after your course of Carbimazole is complete, but if you choose one, block and replace, your treatment is free. This is because the additional medication for this, Levothyroxine, is a synthetic hormone replacement for those who have had their thyroid gland removed – it has to be taken or the patient will get ill.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/553013

On the 19th February I will have another blood test and then the level of thyroid hormone in my blood should be down to normal levels. Once I stop taking the Carbimazole I need to wait two years to give blood. I am not sure why it takes so long to be able to donate again.

An aunt has Graves Disease and the endocrinologist (a specialist doctor) told me that it is more likely if you have family history. She developed symptoms after she had her first baby. High levels of thyroid hormone in the blood can pass to the foetus and lead to low birth weight, prematurity and miscarriage.

The gene can apparently be activated by severe stress or trauma, pregnancy or bad illness according to Dr Google.

I am convinced that having Covid in April triggered a gene for Graves Disease. Months later I started getting tired and breathless doing my normal exercise again and I even had mania – abnormally high energy levels. One day I went for a two hour hilly bike ride. I was then awake most of the night as I wasn’t tired. This happens because energy levels initially rise at the onset of hyperthyroidism.

There is a small study of about 200 patients that has linked thyroiditis to Covid, as an infection in the upper respiratory tract (the throat) is close to the thyroid in the neck. You can feel the gland move if you put one hand either side of your neck and swallow.

You don’t have to have the gene to get Graves Disease, it can happen to anyone. It is more common in women and usually develops between the age of 20-40.

If you have a tremor (shaking hands) and you get breathless with activity, or you have any of the other symptoms on this list, ask your GP for a blood test.

If you have an overactive thyroid, you can join the BTF Hyperthyroidism Facebook group for support.

Updated 03.02.2021