Miscarriage Symptoms

K.,

The way to know for sure is to see your OB/Gyn. I've miscarried twice and basically they did a blood test for pregnancy hormones. They did at least 2 with at least 2 days in between them to make sure the hormones were dropping appropriately. They kept doing that until my pregnancy hormones were back at a normal level. If you are trying to get pregnant you might want to ask for a referral to a reproductive endocrinologist. They can help you identify why your hormones are all out of whack (and if you aren't having regular periods, your hormones are out of whack) and hopefully help you fix it.

T.

All I can add to the excellent advice below is that when I had my miscarriage, I felt a very VERY sharp pain that was unlike anything I ever felt before, even with a period. Then I started bleeding and when the doc took the hormone test, they confirmed I miscarried.

If you're not sure, the best thing you can do is get to the doc and get it checked out.

The best thing to do is to go to the doctor. In a case where you're not sure, I think it's best to find out because if you were, you may need a D&C, or you may not have miscarried at all but still may be pregnant.
Go to the doctor. :)

K.,

Having miscarried myself, I know just the "thought" of it having happened, comes with a lot of emotions and it's important to feel closure one way or the other. The only way to know for sure is to have a blood test to see if there is any trace of HCG detectable. http://healthguide.howstuffworks.com/hcg-blood-test-quant... During a miscarrige, the levels can decline rapidly - so you may never know for sure if a test isn't done within a certain window of time. A urine pregnany test may not detect enough HCG (if a miscarriage is happening or you are not far enough along) so the blood test is best.

Since some women can have a "period" during certain times in their pregnancy - from spotting to what appears to be a normal bleeding cycle, it would still be a good idea to get a blood test to verify a potential pregnancy.

If you have a history of breakthrough bleeding with pregnancies, you may want to have your progeseterone levels checked and supplemented - this ultimately helped me have 3 children after my first loss.

I hope this information helps?

C.
(Doula)

I'm sorry to hear of your difficulties. Miscarriages are more the norm for me. In fact, I'm hoping right now not to be on the path to #5. Without a blood test (for HCG levels), a confirmed pregnancy test, or an ultrasound, there is now way to know for sure. If you have concerns, talk to your doctor. My family doctor gave my a referral to an infertility specialist that gave me lots of good answers. All the while my normal OB/GYN said everything was normal. It wasn't! We have had great success with normal pregnancies and fewer miscarriages as a result of having seen the specialist. If your ob doesn't do anything, I would check out someone more specialized. I know a great doctor in the Lakewood/Wheatridge area if you need a recommendation. I haven't seen him personally yet. I "accidently" got pregnant, so now I have to go to my regular OB before I can see him. It's a fun problem. :) I hope you get some answers. I know not knowing is frustrating.

hi K. -

It is always possible that you had a miscarriage, but without a positive pregnancy test, you'll never know for sure. Miscarriage is way to common beleive it or not. Most of time it happens before we even know we are pregnant. Was it a particularly tough/painful period. Lots of extra cramping? And bigger clots? Sorry to be so gross, but these are all things I experienced with my 3 miscarriages.

Have you taken a pregnancy test recently? If there was a chance you were pregnant and everything didn't come out OK, then you'll likely still get a positive test. If everything is gone and back to normal you most likely will have a negative test!

I hope for your heart that you did not miscarry. Maybe your body is just thinking about getting back on track!!

Take Care,
J.

Call the doctor ASAP

Unless you have a positive pregnancy test, there's no way to know for sure. Periods closer together than normal are not usually signs of miscarriage. If you're period is late or on-time and you have a positive preg test, then it's a miscarriage. Hope this helps.

Hi K.. I have been in your shoes, so I just wanted to respond to let you know that I know how you feel. I always have abnormal cycles as well, so it's been hard for me to ever know if I've miscarried or just had a crazy cycle. It took us 3 years of trying both times to get pregnant with our two boys. I would take pregnancy tests constantly to see if I was pregnant. Sometimes they were positive, then in the next few days I would start my period. So, I'm assuming those were really early miscarriages. I've asked my Dr. about it, and she's said that there really is no good way to tell how many times I've miscarried since it's always been so early in the pregnancy. Good luck to you!
Take care,
M.

Hi,
well, I am actually experiencing my first miscarriage as we speak. I took a test and it was positive and and then 4 days later I started bleeding and the bleeding was more like a period and I had some lite cramping. I called the Dr. and they scheduled an ultrasound and confirmed that I was misscarring. I am not sure if everyone has the same symptoms but mine were: cramping, constant bleeding,and now as the baby is "coming out" my cramps have become much more intense and the bleeding is darker and clots. Sorry, I hope that is not too much info. Good luck. If you are really concerned I would go to the DR and get the ultrasound.

I've had two miscarriages. First time around, I also didnt' know I was pg since work related and family stress, I had a heavy period and cramping and was as red as Hawaiian Punch. But I took several EPT tests and all were negative and had a blood test at the clinic and thought I was just late with my period and when I came back from out of state that it turned out I was pregnant. I had to go back to see my doc and gets HCG levels down and they did 3 blood draws to tell if it went down or not. That was 6 years ago.

Then last year, took the First Response test, I had another miscarriage, but due to stress finding out my first son has dx of autism. They also did blood draws but at the lab to determine my hcg levels.

Then once again, I was pg, found out once with First Response test, then almost had another miscarriage, but got prescription of Progesterone pills, day after Xmas, and came back and saw the doc, got an ultrasound and kept taking the progesterone for 30 days. I had a 9 lb 8oz baby boy in August.

Please go see your doctor. If you did have a miscarriage, they need to check if everything came out or not. If it didn't you can get an infection and that is worse.

Good Luck!

I agree with these posts. I thought I was having a miscarriage with my third child around 10 weeks. I had the cramps and the bleeding and the hospital put me on bed rest for a weekend until I got into the doctor's office to have it confirmed. It turned out to not be a miscarriage, but a non cancerous tumor of some sort that went away on its own during pregnancy and was no big deal. To be sure I would want to see the doctor.

J.
www.livetotalwellness.com/janislanz

I miscarried with my first pregnancy at 5 weeks. They can tell if you are pregnant even very early on if they test your hormone levels. If you were pregnant they will be higher than if you weren't. You should talk to your OBGYN about the test and also about seeing him/her to make sure that everything is ok with you. Good luck!!

I have not miscarried before, but i was with my sister-in-law at the time of hers. Her symptonms were, extreme cramping, a lot of pressure, and them she passed a clot and then all her symptoms went away. I hope this helps in some way and I wish you luck. Definatley check with your doctor as well..

Hi K.!

It can be difficult to tell if you have had a miscarrage especially if you were not that far along. Usually if you miscarry you will have very heavy bleeding and some very big clots will come out. You usually have very bad cramps also, feels like you have to push something out. Hope this helps a little.