Can a early miscarriage be misdiagnosed?
Hi,
My husband & myself have been trying to conceive for many years-without success. We stopped using birth control in 2006 when I began grad school for my masters degree, in 2008 or 2009 I was diagnosed with ovarian cysts. Eventually I was diagnosed with stage 4 endometriosis.They did do a pelvic surgery which showed that one of my fallopian tubes is blocked. The other is fine. Anyway, I missed my period last summer in July and then again in October. Nov 1st I got 3 positive hpts at home so I went to my primary dr for a blood test. The bloodtest confirmed that I was pregnant. I was told because I have bipolar I am considered "high" risk so they wanted to do a series of blood tests to monitor my hcg before even seeing a obgyn. Nov 1st my level was 81. The next time they checked it it was 241. 48 hrs later it was only 319-that date I remember it was 11-11-11. I started spotting later that day, it was a Friday. I went back Monday and my beta was only 40. They did an ultrasound and said I had an"empty" uterus. I was diagnosed with a "complete and natural" miscarriage based on the hcg levels and ultrasound. By the time they did the ultrasound I was most likely only between 5-7 weeks. MLP was 9/30/11. My question is how accurate is only one ultrasound done that early? Since then I have been getting somewhat irregular periods-but what I believe are periods BUT, the bleeding is much lighter than normal for me-in between periods I am still having pelvic cramping pain, and strange symptoms. It is very likely due to my struggle with infertility and my mental illness, that I may just be in denial about my miscarriage and acceptance of it. Usually because of the endo I have at least one day or night of heavy dark red flow with a lot of clotting. That really has not been happening. I am getting older-i will be 38 in two weeks-my body maybe preparing for the change (menopause).
At the time of the miscarriage, my obgyn dr said that a d and c was unnecessary since I was not that far along-he felt I would pass it naturally. I had one prior miscarriage also by my husband-at age 28. Unfortnately my husband and I have different rh factors-i am negative and he is positive. They think this may have caused this last miscarriage.The first one I was further along probably 10-12 weeks. So I cannot really compare the two-but this one in nov had less bleeding more like spotting but it was much more painful than the first.
Are miscarriages ever misdiagnosed? If I were still pregnant I would be at least 7 months. The symptoms I have: went up a whole bra size, constantly tired/sleeping at least 8 hrs per night then taking 2- 4 hr naps each day for months now, moody, tearful, hungry, bloated only gained about 6lbs but I was already 200 lbs. My clothes especially shirts are not fitting my tummy. Sometimes I feel something that could be kicking but I assume is just gas. It is usually in my stomach or by my ribs.
I am going to see a new gyn/ob in two weeks for my annual. I assume she would know at this point when she sees me what is going on. I met with her the first time in march for a consult about my endo. She was very supportive and prescribed some pre-natal vitamins urging me that me and my husband could try again-since it had been 3 months since the miscarriage.So is monitoring hcg a universal way of telling for sure that somebody has miscarried? Thanks for your time.
