Did anyone have risk factors, PCOS?

Hi all.

I’m interested to hear if anyone had any of the risk factors for ectopic?

I’m generally fit and healthy, don’t smoke, no medical history, never taken medication apart from the pill. I came off the combined pill 8 months prior, my periods never regulated in that time (very long cycles ~65 days) and my teenage acne had returned. I’d been religiously doing LH hormone test strips every day which showed that my LH levels didn’t behave normally (several peaks every cycle), so Dr suspected I have PCOS. I’m wondering if hormone imbalance could cause ectopic pregnancies and if others here also have PCOS?

Dear R123,

I am so sorry to hear of your ectopic pregnancy and loss,

I know when I had my ectopic pregnancy, I also looked for a reason why. With no risk factors I was confused as to why I had an ectopic pregnancy too. Sadly there are many of us who never find a reason why. I can’t see any information on PCOS. There is a slight increased risk with Endometriosis: This is a condition where cells like the ones lining the womb grow elsewhere in the body but still react to the menstrual cycle each month and bleed despite there being no way for the blood to leave the body. It is not known why endometriosis increases the risk of ectopic pregnancy, but you do not mention you have this.

Importantly the chances of a further ectopic after a first in UK is 10%. So that’s 90% chance of the embryo being in right place next time.

While generally it is possible to conceive after an ectopic pregnancy, the amount of time it takes varies from couple to couple. Factors include age, general health, reproductive health and how often you have sex, among other things. It may be comforting to know that 65% of women are successfully pregnant within 18 months of experiencing an ectopic pregnancy and some studies suggest this rises to around 85% after two years.

Sending much love,

Karen x

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Hi,

Im so sorry for your loss. I had my first ectopic pregnancy (first pregnancy of any kind) a few weeks ago now and am currently recovering from the laparoscopy that removed the pregnancy along with my left tube and a cyst that was drained at the same time that was found. I was diagnosed with endometriosis and adenomyosis earlier this year and had a laparoscopy in June to remove the endo. The main part of my endo surgery was detaching my left tube that was wrapped around my left ovary so we now know there was always a chance of ectopic as a result of this although we hadn’t been warned of that by anyone. It turns out I had risk factors of endometriosis, adenomyosis and from having surgical intervention on that pesky left tube which although looked healthy from the outside during the first surgery my doctors believe would have been weaker. Keeping our fingers crossed the right tube is healthy and in the future we can conceive. Wishing you lots of luck too for the future and that you find some info and help to manage PCOS, take care x