Hi,
My names megan and I was misdiagnosed with and ectopic pregnancy in July 2017. Although it looks like it’s been a long time it still haunts me as it was such a traumatic experience for me.
My experience.
So… I became feeling poorly and was having bowel issues, dizziness, not able to eat anything so I went to visit the doctor who ran a few routine blood tests which where fine and i was sent home. My symptoms didn’t get any better I only gained more which where pains in my lower abdomen, I’d had two periods in one month and everything I ate came straight back out so I went to the doctor again they did some more blood tests asked me if I had done a pegnancy test (which a couple weeks before I did and it was negative) which she should of really done another one still but she didn’t? Told me it was probably IBS and gave me some tablets so off I went home again. Around week 4 and I woke up and had pains in my chest and shoulder which I left for the day because I thought maybe I’d slept funny but it only got worse so I went to A&E told them about all my problems they did blood tests (still no pregnancy test) which they told me it was fine I was a little bit anemic and it was probably an inflamed rib and gave me naproxen to take. So I’m trying to get on with life thinking these doctors are professionals they know what their on about right? No. A week later I was back at the doctors because I’d basically lived on rice crackers and water for 5 weeks my tummy was in agony but no. I was given more things to take for IBS! This time she felt my tummy (because I addressed my concerns about this being a gynaecological issue) “nope your tummy feels fine” off I pop again. A week later I get my period for that month or what I thought was my period, I could not move from the pain I was in and at this point I did something your always told not to do and that was… google my symptoms which of course the first thing was “Ectopic Pregnancy” I told my mum and boyfriend which they didn’t think was possible or the GP and doctors in A&E would of figured it out right?. By the end of that week I was not good at all still trying to get on with my life but my mum wanted me to go back to A&E. More tests done blah blah blah… a nurse shouted me and asked if I had done a water sample which I replied nope not one (which she did and it came back positivefor pregnancy) this nurse was a friend of my mums and she shouted me over again to tell me which I said iv got a feeling this could be an ectopic. I was brought back in the next day to have a scan and within 3 hours of having the scan I was checked by doctors (all the fiddly bits down below) and sent down for an emergency surgery. My right ovary and tube had been removed as the ectopic had ruptured and they were not able to save it due to the amount of time I had left it. I was just about to turn 20 years old 5 weeks after all of this happened. I was told that the blood had started to go septic and I had to have a blood transfusion the surgeon had said if I didn’t go in that weekend I wouldn’t of been alive the following week.
The purpose of this post is that it didn’t hit me at all whilst I spent the week in hospital I wouldn’t look at the giant scar across my tummy, it just didn’t seem real. A few months later I started to get my head around it but it still didn’t bother me as much as it probably should. Since then iv had to deal with endometriosis and scar tissue being removed and still to this day have issues with my stomach, but it’s all started to hit me at once these past couple months and I feel like no one understands because it’s been a year. I think it’s the fact that no one took notice in how much pain I was genuinely in crying every day, dragging myself out of the house to do things because I was told it was IBS I had to just deal with it and I lost so much weight because i couldn’t eat. Thankfully I had people by my side the whole time my mum, family and boyfriend but sometimes I just don’t think anyone understands who hasn’t been through it themselves. I’m sorry for the long post but I know someone out there probably needs this to know there not alone and it will also make people who think they may be having an ectopic aware of the symptoms. Also I’m willing to answer questions that anyone may have.
Thank you xx