Women who think they are pregnant but have had vaginal bleeding may have difficulty determining whether bleeding is only a delayed period or if, in fact, it is a miscarriage, especially if it occurred within 4 weeks of the likely date. Menstruation.
The best way to find out is to get a pregnancy test at a pharmacy as soon as the period is delayed. Therefore, if it is positive and the woman bleeds in the following weeks, a miscarriage is more likely to have occurred. However, if the test is negative, bleeding should only be a delay in menstruation. Here’s how to do the correct pregnancy test.
Some differences that can help a woman determine if she has had a miscarriage or late menstruation include:
However, the signs of menstruation vary considerably from woman to woman, and some women feel little pain during their period, while others experience severe cramps and bleed heavily, making it difficult to identify menstruation or abortion.
For example, it is recommended that the gynecologist be consulted whenever a period with characteristics other than the previous ones appears, especially when it is suspected that it is an abortion. Understand that other signs may indicate an abortion.
Although the pharmacy pregnancy test may, in some cases, help identify whether it is an abortion or a delay in menstruation, the only way to confirm the diagnosis is to consult the gynecologist for a beta-HCG test or a transvaginal ultrasound.
The beta-HCG test should be performed at least two different days to assess whether levels of this hormone in the blood are decreasing. If this happens, it’s a sign that the woman has had an abortion.
However, if the values increase, this means that you may still be pregnant and that the bleeding was caused only by implantation of the embryo in the uterus or some other cause, and a transvaginal ultrasound is recommended.
If the values remain equal to and less than 5 mUI/ml, it is likely that there has been no pregnancy and therefore the bleeding is only a delayed period.
This type of ultrasound provides an image of the inside of the uterus and other reproductive structures of the woman, such as the tubes and ovaries. Thus, this test makes it possible to identify whether a developing embryo exists in the uterus, as well as evaluating other problems that may have caused the bleeding, such as an ectopic pregnancy, for example.
In rare cases, ultrasound may indicate that the woman does not have an embryo or any other changes in the uterus, even when beta-HCG values are changed. In such cases, the woman may be pregnant and therefore it is advisable to repeat the test about 2 weeks later, to assess whether it is already possible to identify the embryo.
In most cases, abortion occurs in the first few weeks of pregnancy and, as a result, bleeding lasts only 2 or 3 days and symptoms improve during this period, so there is no need to go to the gynecologist.
However, when the pain is very severe or the bleeding is very severe, causing fatigue and dizziness, for example, it is advisable to go immediately to the gynecologist or hospital to start appropriate treatment, which may include only the use of medications to relieve symptoms. emergency pain or minor surgery to stop bleeding.
Also, when a woman thinks she has had more than 2 miscarriages, it is important to consult the gynecologist to identify if there are any problems, such as endometriosis, which causes abortions and needs treatment.
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