Seven Years Later PSA

kierstenwhite:

This
is a blog that I repost every year, because it is something that is, for
obvious reasons, very important to me to educate and inform people
about. Since posting about my experience with an ectopic pregnancy and
talking about it, several women have told me that knowing the
symptoms was what got them to the hospital in time. Please read it.
Please tell other women about it.

As always, this hurts to think about. My heart goes
out to anyone who may be struggling with fertility issues or loss. You
are not alone. I wish you peace and joy in the life that you have, even
if it is not the life you’d imagined for yourself, and I wish you all
the strength and support you need to find that peace and joy. (And I
also want you to know it’s okay to not be okay now, and it’s okay to not
be okay sometimes even after you are okay.)

First and foremost, I’m glad I’m not dead.

Seriously. I’m really, really glad
I’m not dead. That would have sucked. And, thanks to the fact that I
recognized warning symptoms and had some emergency surgery seven years
ago today, I get to be alive to appreciate being alive. I’m a big fan.

So
in honor of my not-dying anniversary, I’m doing a PSA about ectopic
pregnancy. Even if you never plan on having children, these are
important symptoms to know because you could very well save the life of
someone you love. Or your own. (Unless you are a guy, in which case your
risk of ectopic pregnancy = non-existent. Still, you like women,
right?)

An ectopic pregnancy is a pregnancy in which a fertilized
egg implants somewhere other than the uterus. This is a bad thing.
Usually the egg implants in the fallopian tube; occasionally it implants
other places. 2% of all pregnancies are ectopic. That’s 1 in 50.
Certain factors increase your risks–tubal scarring, abdominal surgery,
endometriosis, fertility treatments, IUDs–but it can happen to anyone. I
had no real risk factors.

An even scarier statistic than the one-in-fifty? Ectopic pregnancies are the number one cause of pregnancy-related death.
Part of the problem is that many women with ectopic pregnancies don’t
even know they’re pregnant. Because your body doesn’t produce as many
hormones, you might continue having periods like normal, ignore the
sudden pain, go to bed because you’re feeling tired and dizzy, and never
wake up.

I know that sounds terrible and scary. It is. It
happens. So even if you don’t think you’re pregnant, or if you think you
are just having a standard miscarriage (which was what I thought),
always, ALWAYS call the doctor if you have any of the following
symptoms:

• Sharp
  pain on one side of your lower abdomen. When you press down on it, it
  will be a stabbing pain that you will feel reflected in the other side,
  but one side will be more tender. Once your tube actually bursts the
  pain will lessen considerably–DO NOT IGNORE THAT. All it means is that
  you are now bleeding internally.
• Feeling
  dizzy and lightheaded when you aren’t lying down. This would be because
  of the internal bleeding. Also, difficulty and discomfort breathing.
• And
  finally, the key symptom: when you lie down, you have a sharp, stabbing
  pain in your shoulder. This is called referred pain, and is caused by
  the blood filling up your abdomen and pushing on your lungs. (This is
  also a symptom of a burst appendix and often happens after abdominal
  surgery, in case you were interested.) If you EVER have abdominal pain
  that is reflected in your shoulder when you lie down, go to the hospital
  immediately. And have someone else drive you.

Like I said, you may not think you are pregnant, but if there is any
chance whatsoever you could be and you have these symptoms, have someone
drive you to the hospital immediately or call 911. If I had ignored my
symptoms and let my husband go to work that day, I probably would have fallen asleep on the couch and never woken up again. I
was in surgery within two or three hours of the pain starting, and at
that point I had lost so much blood I nearly needed a transfusion.

But,
because I am obsessive and had researched every pregnancy-related topic
under the sun, I knew something was wrong. And I’m not dead. And that’s
a good thing.

Here’s hoping you never have to recognize the symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy. But now you can, and that’s the important thing.

This year’s side note: The fact that ectopic, fallopian, and endometriosis are all unrecognized by spellcheck pisses me off. Women’s health matters. Our bodies matter, even though they are consistently given less medical attention and education than they deserve. That’s part of why I do this.