Could I have had a miscarriage? (possible TMI, duh)

In My Humble Opinion
1

I got my period normally now, so I’m not all that worried about it, but I’d like to know if I should be or should have been.

I was in San Francisco with J from Oct. 14-20. (Yaoi-con or bust, baby!) I’m on the pill, and we always use condoms (and rarely sleep together anyway; we’re kind of… complicated…) So anyway, we have this pitiful bout of awful, awkward, unsatisfying, dysfunctional sex Tuesday night. Traumatizing, man. But we won’t go into that. Anyway, normal precautions taken, but nothing’s perfect, you know?

So Sunday, on the plane ride home, I’m… not myself. Very emotional. Like crying-for-no-reason emotional - every hour or two, totally bipolar, like nothing that’s ever happened to me before. It seemed like it had to be some sort of physical thing in some way - hormonal, I guess. But like I said, I’m on the pill, thoroughly regulated, not due for my period, and anyway I’ve never really been all that much affected by my hormones to start with. It was very strange. And think of poor J. “What’s wrong?” “Nothing.” “You’re crying.” “It isn’t you. I don’t know what’s the matter with me.” <long silence> Hell, I wouldn’t have really believed me either.

So I wouldn’t really have thought much of it, except that I continued to be kind of… high strung throughout the week. (J: “Is it dinner? Are you upset about dinner?” “No! Stop looking at me like that!”)

And then, the next Sunday or so, total middle of my pink pills, I start to get oddly sharp cramps. I mean, they were obviously like menstrual cramps, except you know how menstrual cramps are kind of dull and sharp at the same time? These were less dull and more sharp. And then on Monday, I get heavy breakthrough bleeding, very, you know, dark and clotted, just for a day (rather, it was just heavy for a day - trickled off into light bleeding). Something that could happen to anybody - and it’s true that I’d just started trying skipping my green pills and just staying on the pills continuously. So my body may not have adjusted, and it’s not like some women don’t get breakthrough bleeding or spotting… but I never have.

So come Wednesday, I get nervous enough about it to stop taking my pink pills and have a normal period, just to make sure I do have a normal period. And I did. Just like always on the pill, same volume, very normal. Just finished today.

So my question is: could I have been pregnant? Would the hormonal changes have affected me that early? I wouldn’t really have remarked on it at all but I was behaving so bizarrely, felt very out of control. Totally unlike me. If I did (or might have) had a miscarriage, should I see a doctor? I mean, everything seems normal now. Suggestions?

And I’d like to mention that it’s amazingly obnoxious for a coworker to wander back and forth behind me reading over my shoulder when she has no real reason to be there. And humming. At least the humming is an early warning sign, I guess, but please. Bad enough she’s all touch-touch and has smelly feet.

So

2

I do not know the answer to your question. But…

Not taking the placebo should have no effect whatsoever on your period while on the pill. I toss out all of my placebos, because they give me migraine (“but they’re placebo - they’re inactive!” “I know - but I get migraine!!”). And, by the way, stay off the pink pills until Sunday, and start up again like normal if thats how you were taking them before, because otherwise you’ll end up confused later!

Good luck!

3

I think she meant that she wasn’t just skipping taking the placebo, but was simply constantly taking the pink pills without a break. Some women do that to control when they get their period and for medical reasons.

As to the OP I’m afraid I don’t know the answer. Be well.

4

It is highly unlikely that you were pregnant if you were taking your pink pills and using a condom. Nothing is perfect but the combination of birth control methods would be pretty close.

I don’t skip my placebos because I still have a period when I do. I bleed less, but I have worse cramps. Maybe that is all that happened to you?

Maybe you should run it by your doctor just to make sure there isn’t something else going on?

5

Well, really I’m a little worried about my contraception methods - travel really throws my body out of whack (when I wasn’t on the pill, my period could be a week or two late or a couple days early, which is unusual for me as I was always extremely regular). And the time change, also. So I had a couple worries about the effectiveness of the pill, and while we use condoms for intercourse, we do sometimes engage in foreplay that has fairly, er, close contact. (And they always told me that they’re strong little swimmers and that it only takes one!) I suppose I’m getting all worried over nothing - never had a pregnancy scare before of any kind, you know?

6

Did you tax your pill at about the same time everyday? If you did then it should be pretty effective regardless of the time change or travel. Add to that the condom for the main event and the fact that your period wasn’t late I just can’t imagine that you had a miscarriage.

Perhaps the travel is what threw your body out of wack to make you cry and stuff. Sometimes you just get in a bad mood for no good reason.

Of course, anytime you are worried you should talk to your doctor. Can you call him or send him an email? My doctor has email now. You can tell him what you told us and then he can say “you are upset about nothing” or “Why don’t we schedule an appointment”. Your body is nothing to play around with. (Except in the privacy of your bedroom of course! :slight_smile: )

7

I had nearly the identical thing happen about two years ago, Zsofia. We had (oops) a condom accident, then I went back on the pill about a week later. Got the cramps (I never get more than very mild cramps) breakthrough bleeding, then went back to a normal schedule. I didn’t have the intense mood swings, but I’m about 80% sure it was a miscarriage.

I never consulted a doctor about it, but it couldn’t hurt. I don’t have any advice, just wanted to say it’s happened to me, too.

8

Possible, but sounds unlikely - due to the dual contraception. Though the horomonal thing sounds familar.

But, agreeing with IC, check with your doctor. I’ve had girlfriends with similar symptoms with things like ovarian cysts or endometrial cancer - not meaning to scare you, just encourage you to get your butt to a doctor (Ok, yes, scare you into getting your butt to a doctor).

9

Implantation failure is pretty common. Some estimates are up to 75% of all conceptions are lost before you know you are pregnant. Your period either comes early, or on time.

So, possible. And if you aren’t 100% sure you’ve hit the hour exactly for the pill, yes, it is more possible than the utterly remote. I’m very fertile - pretty much any chance that one swimmer will find my egg, and I’ll be pregnant. I tend to know very early that I am, but that also means that I am aware of miscarriages that other women might not notice.

I’ve had a few implantation failures that we’re pretty sure were just that. Also one early miscarriage (a week late, failed the morning I went to test, totally TMI on the details so I’ll spare you, but a reasonably typical early m/c in symptoms), and one later miscarriage. Your instinct may be correct, but the only way to tell if implantation occurred is test for HCG in your blood, and/or check your cervical color soon after the event to see if it looks ‘pregnant’ (changes color). HCG takes a while to get out of your system once it is in there, so you might be able to take a blood test to find out. But that only applies if it implanted long enough to get the HCG going. If it failed at implantation (about 5-7 days after ovulation/conception), then there won’t be any physical signs, usually. Also, not much in the way of health implications, either.

But you could also not have been pregnant. Progesterone surges that happen after ovulation or with cysts or other problems cause the same symptoms as pregnancy - weepies, etc. I get mild pregnancy symptoms after ovulation. I tend not to notice them unless I am actually aware that something MIGHT be happening in there. And if I am aware, my response to the symptoms magnifies, I tend to be more reactive, etc. Very hard to tell if it is really pregnancy at that point, or not. There are subtle differences, but I could convince myself of pregnancy more than I do, if I were just a little less tuned in.

Go ask your Gyn. It is worth checking out, especially if you later have miscarriages or difficulty conceiving. It being in your medical records makes it more likely that insurance will cover testing sooner, should you need it. Chances are slim that you would need it, though - implantation failure/very-early-miscarriage doesn’t usually indicate anything, they are just way too common, and normal.

10

For the record, Zsofia, what pill are you on? If you’re on one of the ‘phasic’ pills (Biphasil or Triphasil) it’s not recommended that you try skipping periods, cos you’re likely to have breakthrough bleeding and other side effects.

I’d say miscarriage is unlikely. Firstly, cos of the double contraception. Secondly, because it happened, what, five days after the sex? My embryology textbook tells me that implantation of the embryo into the uterus only begins around day 5-6 after fertilization, and isn’t complete til around day 10. Miscarriage happening at this stage would be so insignificant, you’d be unlikely to notice it. However, IANAD (yet!), and I might be wrong.

If you’re worried about this, think about paying your friendly GP (=general practitioner, family physician, whatever you call your first-port-of-call doctor in the USA) a visit. If it happens again, you should definitely consult a doctor, just to make sure all’s well.

Take care!

11

hedra, your post just snuck in before mine. From my understanding I’d have thought implantation failure would be asymptommatic. Out of interest, and for my personal edification, do you know the hormonal mechanism of the symptoms?

12

Generally asymptomatic in the pregnancy sense. But identifiable if you know your ovulation date and have a reliable luteal phase.

Specifically, the times that I strongly suspect implantation failure, I knew when I ovulated, my luteal phase had been a very reliable 14 days, and I began cramping 5 days post ovulation, followed by my period arriving the next day instead of 9 days later. Implantation failures (IIRC) can (but do not always, or we’d notice them more often) trigger shedding of the uterine lining. So, rather than the usual 14 days post-ovulation, I had an unusual period immediately after the normal time for implantation.

BTW, my terminology is a little loose in that last post - rushing it, sorry. I was including fertilization failures as well as implantation failures in the general 75% numbers. Implantation failure that is recognizable is where the zygote implants but fails to proceed at that point. Not a failure prior to that point, which does not implant at all, and is unlikely to trigger a period.

Hormonal mechanism of the symptoms is really progesterone-and-HCG-related, as far as I know. Progesterone alone will give you some symptoms (as people may experience with the pill). Progesterone plus HCG will give you additional symptoms. For instance, when I’ve been pregnant, even with early miscarriage, my areolae start to darken immediately. Not something that is easy to fudge, symptom-wise. I don’t THINK I have psychosomatic control of my melanin…

13

Looking up my TTC notes, I also had breast tenderness (very much nipple tenderness, and increasing) with the pregnancies that stuck for any duration, and dizzy spells with two of them.

14

So: advice is, probably not a miscarriage, or if it is then nothing to worry about, but ask my doctor about it anyway.

Unfortunately, having gone back to grad school and being underweight for most insurance plans I’m stuck with the university insurance that forces me to see Student Health first, although for once it would be nice to see Student Health and have their “are you sexually active?” questions actually be pertinent. But I don’t as of this moment have a regular doctor or gynecologist, or in fact anybody who really knows much at all about my general reproductive health - went from undergraduate (but small private women’s college) student health to two exams with my regular doctor to great big university student health.

I’m on Alesse, by the way, which I believe is monophasic. Although I can’t find a damned thing about it one way or another, but the best I can see on their webpage seems to say that all the pink pills are identical, which means it’s monophasic, right?

I guess I won’t tell J - “Hey, you can stop thinking you did something wrong to get me all upset. Yeah, actually you might have knocked me up. But it’s okay, if you did, it died. Good news, huh?” Somehow I don’t think that would have a positive effect. :slight_smile:

15

I agree with those who say to see your gyn. A while back, I had some very strange bleeding (which I will not describe here!), but eventually it turned out I had an ovarian cyst. They found it on an ultrasound.

16

I fell pregnant on the Pill not too long ago.

I use a pregnancy test every two months (yes, I’m paranoid) and caught this one early. I would estimate I was 10 -12 days from the act that caused it, when I did the test. I had another 5 positive tests in the space of a week, so I’m fairly confident that I was pregnant. I was waiting for my regular doctor, and by the time she was free I had tested negative for two tests, and the conclusion was that I’d naturally miscarried. I may have had slight bleeding (on the toilet) but it wasn’t noticable, and there was no cramping (but I don’t cramp for my periods, either).

And yes, the stock price of the preggers-test company did rise the following week :wink:

I’d just mention the possibility to your doc, they may give you some valuable or interesting info. Either way, it can’t hurt to mention it next time you see your doctor.

17

Uh-huh, this makes much more sense. I thought you were referring to implantation failure as failure of the fertilized egg (actually a blastocyst at this stage) to implant, and this led to symptoms by some mysterious mechanism. Obviously, if the blastocyst implants, then spontaneously aborts, hCG has hit the maternal circulation, and the symptoms make perfect sense. Glad to know I wasn’t completely mistaken in my understanding - some of that reproductive physiology I studied last year must have stuck :slight_smile:

18

This talk about “pink pills” is confusing. The pill I’m on now using pink for the placebos and white for others, but a previous one I was on used green for the placebos and pink for the others.

19

Oh, mine uses pink for the active pills and green for the placebos. I thought they were mostly like that.