During pregnancy it is hard to determine whether the internet is more of a help or a hindrance. Is it safe to eat this, can I lift that, can I smell this and is it okay if I wear that? Its crazy!! Our mothers didn't have to do this! They just shoved a cracker in their mouth and got on with it.
I remember when I was pregnant with my son, I was most disturbed by the pictures I found in google images. For one thing I had put on a LOT more weight than everyone else had seemed to, I assumed everyone had a triple chin during third trimester. The pictures of the developing foetus didn't make me feel closer to my baby, it had me waking in the middle of the night in a cold sweat whispering desperately to whoever was listening "please don't let me give birth to an alien....please!!!"
During a heart to heart my Sister grabbed me by the shoulders, stared me straight in the eye and said, "If we were supposed to see our babies when they look like aliens we would have see through bellies. We are not supposed to know they look like that, okay???"That makes sense.
However, not being able to eat feta cheese or salami whilst your baby is floating around swallowing its own excrement doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Well... I digress.
It is not advised that the internet be your only resource for your health concerns,I like to think of it as a complimentary medicine. If you are like me and do a toss up in your head it would sound something like.
I can have 1.3 million not so accurate mainly stupid answers that have nothing to do with what is wrong with me, sitting comfortably on my couch with a cup of tea and my purse left untouched....or.....I could make an appointment with the doctor,get some cash out on the way there, wait in the germ infested heaven of a waiting room looking at the kids playing with the toys in the corner wanting to douse them in bleach and hang them out to dry, glance over at the coffee table covered in magazines that you dare not touch without gloves, looking at the clock which is ticking loudly in the corner, a constant reminder that 40 minutes has past since your appointment was meant to start , holding your breath just hoping that noone in the room has just flown in from overseas with a deadly airborne virus. Don't even ask me what happens if the doctor needs a sample!
Unfortunately, when you type in pregnant, bloated,pain and nauseous into any search engine there is no information about ectopic pregnancy. The symptoms of ectopic pregnancy are much the same as any normal pregnancy. Worse still if you don't know that you are pregnant you could be diagnosed with appendicitis or gastroenteritis and that could be deadly. In Australia if you present to a hospital and you are a woman of child bearing age, with abdominal discomfort you are immediately treated as a possible ectopic pregnancy until proven otherwise. This response has had a dramatic effect on early diagnosis in Australia. This is great if you live in the city, if like me you live in rural Australia then make sure your local health facility has a transvaginal ultrasound machine, if they don't then find one that does. It may mean a drive to the nearest town, or further but I'm telling you now that drive is well worth the trouble if you are the unlucky 1 in 100 women to have an ectopic pregnancy.
I was severely bloated at 5 weeks pregnant, I had shooting pain down my right side and severe nausea. I had no bleeding, and the pain was not constant. If you experience any abdominal discomfort during your first few weeks of pregnancy I urge you to go and get a transvaginal ultrasound done as soon as possible.
It is up to us to listen to our bodies and assert our concern to our health professionals. Ectopic pregnancy is difficult to diagnose unless we specifically address our concerns and symptoms.
If you have already experienced an ectopic pregnancy I ask you to educate your friends and family about the signs and symptoms. If you are recently pregnant please get a transvaginal ultrasound to make sure your fallopian tubes are clear. If you are not sure what you can see on the screen, ask them to check. It doesn't matter if the radiologist is rude to you, its your life at risk.
Anyone else here had a miss diagnosed ectopic? I would love to hear your story. Its so important that we let other people know what can happen and more importantly tell others to help ourselves heal from what we have been through.
Think pink,
Janey
No comments:
Post a Comment