Ectopic? how long will this delay my next cycle? Ghost!

[leorira11]

Ghost - first of all, thanks for always answering our questions.

Here are my beta numbers:
8dp5dt = 21
11dp5dt = 122
14dp5dt = 690 --- all rising nicely

18dp5dt - heavy heavy bleeding that stopped after a few hours

19dp5dt = 1187 - nothing seen on u/s
21dp5dt = 312 - nothing seen on u/s -- told this is a miscarriage. I stop my progesterone suppositories

24dp5dt - start to bleed heavily and continue to bleed for 1 week

28dp5dt = 59 -- dropping great...

31dp5dt - bleeding stops

34dp5dt = 148 - crap. Totally unexpected.

I'm told to do an u/s as soon as possible to rule out ectopic... but I'm afraid an u/s will either show an ectopic, or leave us with no answers.

Does this look ectopic?

If this is ectopic, according to "Dr. Google" (I know I shouldn't, but I can't help researching on my own) I'll probably be given methotrexate. It seems the recommendation is to wait 3-6 months to TTC again. Is that really necessary?

If the ectopic is removed surgically, then there is no need to wait to TTC again. But I'm assuming they won't do surgery if the methotrexate will suffice....

CRAP.

[MamaBoo]

It is my understanding that methotrextrate can take from 1-3 months to completely end the pregnancy (before hcg levels to reach 0). I think that may be why you have to wait so long. However, maybe Ghost has more info.

[leorira11]

u/s didn't show an ectopic pregnancy.

I have a follow up blood test and u/s tomorrow.

more "wait and see"

[Ghost]

Ghost - first of all, thanks for always answering our questions.

Here are my beta numbers:
8dp5dt = 21
11dp5dt = 122
14dp5dt = 690 --- all rising nicely

18dp5dt - heavy heavy bleeding that stopped after a few hours

19dp5dt = 1187 - nothing seen on u/s
21dp5dt = 312 - nothing seen on u/s -- told this is a miscarriage. I stop my progesterone suppositories

24dp5dt - start to bleed heavily and continue to bleed for 1 week

28dp5dt = 59 -- dropping great...

31dp5dt - bleeding stops

34dp5dt = 148 - crap. Totally unexpected.

I'm told to do an u/s as soon as possible to rule out ectopic... but I'm afraid an u/s will either show an ectopic, or leave us with no answers.

Does this look ectopic?

If this is ectopic, according to "Dr. Google" (I know I shouldn't, but I can't help researching on my own) I'll probably be given methotrexate. It seems the recommendation is to wait 3-6 months to TTC again. Is that really necessary?

If the ectopic is removed surgically, then there is no need to wait to TTC again. But I'm assuming they won't do surgery if the methotrexate will suffice....

CRAP.

It looks like a "pregnancy of unknown location". These are generally treated with methotrexate if they will not resolve on their own. They can't be treated surgically because the location is not known. It's also more economical to use methotrexate.

Methotrexate stops fetal development by blocking folic acid activation. Neither you nor your physician want any lingering methotrexate around during any subsequent pregnancy. Hence the 3 month minimum wait before the next cycle.

[leorira11]

Ghost - thanks.

I had another u/s and beta today --- u/s still shows nothing at all - but beta went up from 148 yesterday to 161 today.

Doctor said it's definitely "ectopic of unknown location" -

he said that since my levels are so low, he thinks that I'll just miscarry the ectopic pregnancy. We are going to follow my beta levels twice a week. If they go down - I can start my fresh cycle as soon as they get to zero. If they go up.... we'll see. If they go up a lot, we'll have to do methotrexate.

He said he really thinks this will just end on it's own. He said that in some ways an ectopic is better than a miscarriage, because it means the embryo was probably healthy, just implanted in the wrong place. He said this doesn't have any implications for future chances.

[Ghost]

Ghost - thanks.

I had another u/s and beta today --- u/s still shows nothing at all - but beta went up from 148 yesterday to 161 today.

That's very typical of these. They jump around. They may fall a little, only to rise again. They are not very predictable. But it may terminate on its own.

[leorira11]

yup - that's what my doctor said - will probably terminate on it's own.

Any guesses on how long this will take? As far as I can tell, no one knows.

[Ghost]

As far as I can tell, no one knows.

Yes.

Your doctor will probably give it a week or two. If it's still not resolving, then methotrexate.

[leorira11]

Ghost - thanks. That's exactly what my doctor and I discussed. Since the numbers aren't very high and there isn't anything on the u/s - this isn't urgent and we can wait a few weeks to see what happens.

Again with the waiting and not knowing. This is seriously the WORST part of this whole process. When we first started and I had my session with the nurses who explained how to do the self injections and what the process was - I was freaking out about needles (self injections, blood draws) and the icky transvaginal u/s.

At this point - those things don't bother me at ALL. I would stick myself a hundred times a day if I knew it could promise me a healthy full term pregnancy.

The waiting is seriously the worst.

As always, thanks for your help.