Expectant management, 3 months later still feeling right ovary pain

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Hi everyone,

I’m 21 years old and I was diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy in my right Fallopian tube early August this year. I had horrible sensations and pains on the right side of my abdomen which also caused light swelling. I could not sit upright or sleep on my front and it was quite painful. The doctor opted for an expectant management on basis that my hcg was fairly low and the size of the baby was very tiny.

We carried out regular blood tests to monitor my hcg levels to determine the outcome for different treatments if necessary. Eventually my hcg dropped to 3 at the end of august to which my communication with the nurse and hospital ended there abruptly. She told me that the mass should naturally be reabsorbed by the body and that my menstrual cycle will resume back to normal soon.

It was the worst experience of my life and still haunts me till this day. It doesn’t help the fact that I still feel pain on my right side, similar to those I felt during the ectopic pregnancy. The pain comes and goes and is heightened more closer to the time of my period. I have had 2 periods since and I am waiting to start my third sometime this week but I am still feeling the same pain.

I was just wondering if anyone else that went through expectant management still feel pain in the same very location that the pregnancy was located?

I’m scarred and it keeps making me relive that time of my life. I’m not too sure if my tube is just damaged and needs time to heal or if I need to go to hospital to see if everything is okay.

Please help if anyone feels the same way! X

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Dear Maisha98,

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

I had methotrexate injection for my ectopic pregnancy and also experienced pain on the side of my ectopic for many months after my ectopic.

Experiencing some pain after an ectopic pregnancy is normal as your body has been through a great deal over the last few months. The pain may be your body preparing to ovulate and many women experience ovulation pain when they did not before their ectopic pregnancy - including myself. You also may have a heightened perception because of the sad loss that you have had to go through. If you find you experience offensive smelling discharge or an increased temperature of more than 37°C or just want to be checked out to be on the safe side, it would be worth asking your doctors to run tests to check for infection.

If the pain persists, I suggest keeping a pain diary noting when the pain appears, the intensity on a scale of 0-10 and anything that helps the pain eg resting, hot water bottle, paracetamol etc. Visiting your doctors with this information helps them to assess how best to manage your symptoms. I did this for around two months and went to visit my GP, I was referred for additional investigations, but fell pregnant before I could have any.

Sending much love and warm hugs,

Karen x

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