Ectopic pregnancy

Directly contact EPU with any concerns. I thought my first pregnancy was ectopic and I called EPU and they brought me in for a scan

@Samantha thank you! How far on were you, if you don’t mind me asking? Technically I’m only like 4 weeks so I’m probably too early for a scan, but are they able to do blood tests? X

Ectopic pain is usually also felt in the shoulder. I’m not sure if EPU would do anything (from my own personal experience) but you could try. At 4 weeks the scan would show gestational sac is in the right location, but it probably wouldn’t show much else. You could have blood tests taken, but I doubt they’d do that, unless you had bleeding.

Yes they did blood test too and got me to come back in 2 days to do another to see if it was doubling. I was around 5 weeks

@Amy do you not only get shoulder pain if it’s ruptured? I find looking online just makes me more anxious 😅 I’ll maybe call both the GP and EPU tomorrow and see what their advice is. I might just be worried about nothing, but can’t help these bad feelings x

@Samantha thanks for the info! 😊

@Amy I never had shoulder pain and I had a confirmed ectopic so please don’t rely on this. If you have a feeling and some pain, call EPU always

With my first pregnancy I had pain in my one side with shoulder pain, I had to call the doctors and they called epu as a referral and they scanned me around 5/6 weeks and said they couldn't see anything in my uterus as it was to early but they could see fluid in my tube which is either an ectopic pregnancy forming (again to early to see anything) or it could be fluid from my ovaries after ovulation or common during fertility treatment (I was having fertility treatment with that cycle) they brought me back a week later and the fluid was gone and I had my twins exactly were they needed to be. Every time I have ovulated and caught pregnant I have had a discomfort in my tubes but never had a ectopic pregnancy. I have been to the EPU with every pregnancy due to multiple loses (nothing to do with the pain/implantation etc) and I tried to call them this time direct to cut the middle man out and they said I couldn't do that it had to be a referral from either my doctor or fertility consultant etc so I would call GP x

@Amy thank you for that info! Really appreciate it, I’ll call the doctors tomorrow and see what their advice think! And sorry you had to go through all that, sounds tough 😓 x

Every hospital has its own policy on whether EPU is GP referral or self-referral. If you google your local EPU it should tell you online which way you need to do it. A lot of them are self-referral or walk in x

Is it like cramps because cramps can be quite normal in early pregnancy? Is there anything that’s making you think specifically ectopic?

@Francesca I have a constant dull pain in what feels like my left ovary. It feels like ovulation pain but constant 😓 I just can’t seem to settle my mind! X

@Abbie I’ve just checked the website, it’s self refer! Defo going to call them up tomorrow, thanks mrs! X

Ah good! All the best x

Same here, I had no shoulder pain whatsoever with my ectopic. Just cramps and eventually some bleeding. I’m in London and first went to a hospital A&E but that particular hospital had no gynae provision so they sent me over to St Mary’s who have a gynae emergency clinic. If you don’t have a gynae emergency around you I would call your nearest EPU directly. I’m told some cramping in early pregnancy is normal but from experience, if you feel like something is not right, listen to your gut. I also have to mention that since my ectopic, I can feel pain in my ovulating ovary from the corpus luteum every month. That’s the leftover part of the follicle that pumps progesterone until the placenta takes over to feed the baby. Some women can feel it. I hope this helps and I hope all goes ok for you. It could be absolutely nothing to worry about but best be safe and get checked asap x

@Barbara thank you for sharing! 💕 I phoned this morning and I’ve to go in for a check, so hopefully will get answers today! I’m praying everything is ok, but I’m fully prepared for the worst case as well x

Hope all goes well x

Glad they’re seeing you so quickly. Hope it all goes well!