After nearly a year TTC I learned I was pregnant 28th July. Exactly 1 week later (4th Aug) learned my pregnancy was ectopic, and on Monday this week (7th) had methotrexate injection as my hcg levels were still rising.
I’m still trying to process everything, but my question is, when did you return to exercise? At the moment I’ve been told to avoid but exercise has always been my stress reliever, and having to avoid sunlight too means I’m going a bit stir crazy. I just want a small light at the end of a quite dark tunnel!
3 days after my jab I started doing 10,000 steps a day with rests, it was my walk for the morning and then watched Wimbledon in the afternoon because I was exhausted. I also did teach the week after my jab which was very energetic as I’m a dance teacher! I think listen to your body, I did some gentle pilates and then I knew when to start making it harder but I am a pilates teacher. I was only told no contact sport… what sort of exercise are you wanting to do? Or just anything?
My usual routine across the week involves swimming, short light jog, light strength work and occasional yoga. I’m missing swimming and running most at the moment…
How are you feeling, what are your hcg levels? I was never in pain really & had no side effects really from the Methotrexate, just exhaustion!! So I would say you’d be fine but take it easy & don’t overdo it! I found it was quite a nice aim to have and definitely helped getting out & doing a little something but I kept it very gentle for 3-4 weeks because I did not want a rupture!
I am so sorry to hear of your ectopic pregnancy loss,
We would advise on avoiding any strenuous exercise or heavy lifting or anything that increases intra-abdominal pressure until your hCG levels are below 100 as sadly there remains a risk of rupture even with low or declining levels. I would advise by starting with gentle walks.
We have more information on methotrexate treatment on our website here -
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Thank you for your replies! My day 4 hCG was 4000 and my day 7 was around 3600, so know I’ve got a while before my rupture risk goes down. I know that running and weights probably a long way off but hoping it’s not too long before I can go for a swim again and do some yoga
This thread was very helpful to me, thank you. I am being treated with methotrexate currently, yesterday was “Day 0” when I received the first dose.
I have pain in my abdomen but it’s not so severe that I am concerned there has been a rupture.
How far into a medically managed ectopic pregnancy can I start to lift weights again? It was my primary method of exercise.
Do you think that lifting weights can be resumed once a certain hcg level has been reached?
I’ve been reading that it takes ~6 weeks for the embryo in my fallopian tube to dissolve. I don’t want to wait that long to resume lifting because I will be losing muscle mass which will lower my base metabolic rate. I have PCOS and am overweight, both of which severely hurt my chances to become pregnant ever again.
I’m glad I can walk, but realistically that will not help me to the same degree that weightlifting does.
I also do flow yoga and high intensity intervals on the spin bike in combination with weight lifting, both of which seem somewhat risky because they can increase intra-abdominal pressure.
Hello! Sorry for your loss, and I’m glad this thread was helpful. Didn’t want to ignore your message as totally get how frustrating it is when you can’t exercise… Unfortunately I can’t offer a clear answer on when to resume weights because I ended up experiencing a rupture two weeks after receiving methotrexate and had to have emergency surgery. I hadn’t resumed exercise at that point, my HCG levels were starting to drop but were still quite high. I think it’s probably less a set time frame but once your HCG levels get to a low level, but definitely one to discuss with your doctor to be safe. The surgery put me out of action for even longer (partly because I also needed a blood transfusion so was exhausted for a while too) which was infuriating. Fingers crossed you can be back lifting weights soon x
Dear Slcour,
I am so sorry to hear of your ectopic pregnancy loss.
You do not want to be doing anything that causes intra-abdominal pressure until your hCGs are down to prepregnancy levels. If you are concerned about this, I would advise speaking to your medical team for more individualised information.
Sending much love,
Karen x
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Further information is available on our website.
Email us: ept@ectopic.org.uk
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Detailed medical information can be found on our website. Please remember online medical information is NO SUBSTITUTE for expert medical advice from your own health care team
