Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff. Lauren vogelbaumb Here in September of lifestyle
Speaker 1: blogger de Vita leaderly candidly chronicled a devastating event she
Speaker 1: says she never saw cumming, the discovery that her first
Speaker 1: pregnancy was a topic. Laterally wrote on her blog the
Speaker 1: Healthy Maven quote, if you don't know anything about an
Speaker 1: ectopic pregnancy, it's basically a pregnancy that develops outside of
Speaker 1: your uterus. A healthy and viable pregnancy can only develop
Speaker 1: in your uterus. If it develops elsewhere, it is not
Speaker 1: a viable pregnancy. Two percent of all pregnancies are a topic,
Speaker 1: very rare, and of them happen in a fallopian tube.
Speaker 1: At this point, I was in the two percent of
Speaker 1: the two percent in that my topic could not be found.
Speaker 1: But it was time to start making decisions and moving forward.
Speaker 1: Despite people like Lead really in preasing the number of
Speaker 1: frank and comprehensive conversations around pregnancy laws and ectopic pregnancies
Speaker 1: in particular, many people are still unaware of what this
Speaker 1: condition is really all about. So today let's talk about it.
Speaker 1: For the article this episode is based on has to
Speaker 1: Fork spoke with Catherine White, m d, m pH, Assistant
Speaker 1: Professor of obstetrics and Gynecology at Boston University. She said,
Speaker 1: an atopic pregnancy is a pregnancy that's growing in a
Speaker 1: place other than the womb or beauterus. The most commonplace
Speaker 1: for deck topic to be is in one of the
Speaker 1: fallopian tubes, but an atopic can also be in the cervix,
Speaker 1: on an old cesarean section scar in the corner of
Speaker 1: the uterus, or on the ovary according to the American
Speaker 1: College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, or a COG. Almost all
Speaker 1: ectopic pregnancies over occur in a fallopian tube. This can
Speaker 1: have serious and even deadly consequences because as the pregnancy progresses,
Speaker 1: it can cause the tube to burst, which may lead
Speaker 1: to major internal bleeding, a potentially life threatening emergency that
Speaker 1: requires immediate surgery. So what are the risk factors? This
Speaker 1: is actually a complicated question to answer because research has
Speaker 1: offered conflicting findings on the matter, and because every person
Speaker 1: and every pregnancy is unique. There's no guarantee that a
Speaker 1: nicktopic can be traced back to one specific issue. Lots
Speaker 1: of different conditions and factors can increase the risk like
Speaker 1: previous ectopic pregnancy, fallopian too, pelvic or abdominal surgery, of
Speaker 1: pelvic inflammatory disease and demetriosis, a certain sexually transmitted infections
Speaker 1: or s t i s like chlamydia, a cigarette smoking
Speaker 1: age above thirty five years, a history of infertility, and
Speaker 1: or the use of assisted reproductive technology like in vitro
Speaker 1: fertilization or IVF. But even with all of these potential risks,
Speaker 1: about half of all ectopic pregnancies occur without any of them.
Speaker 1: The Mayo Clinic also indicates that people who use intrauterine
Speaker 1: devices or i u d s should be aware of
Speaker 1: the risks when it comes to a topics. Getting pregnant
Speaker 1: while using an i u D is extremely rare, but
Speaker 1: if a pregnancy does occur with an i u D
Speaker 1: in place, it's more likely to be A topic. White said,
Speaker 1: I wish people knew that a topic pregnancies are common
Speaker 1: and that there's nothing you can do to cause it
Speaker 1: or to prevent it from happening. We also can't move
Speaker 1: the pregnancy from the abnormal location into the uterus. Patients
Speaker 1: ask me that all the time. Because a topic pregnancies
Speaker 1: cannot be saved and can endanger the life of the
Speaker 1: pregnant person. It's important for anyone who can get pregnant
Speaker 1: to be aware of the early signs and symptoms. They
Speaker 1: include vaginal bleeding or spotting after your period has ended,
Speaker 1: a lower belly cramping, and or intense constant pain. As
Speaker 1: Literally wrote on her blog, the week after my period
Speaker 1: should have been finished, I was still spotting and cramping.
Speaker 1: I found this unusual and thought I'd just connect with
Speaker 1: my O B G y N to be safe. We
Speaker 1: chatted pandemic style over the phone, and she suggested I
Speaker 1: come in for some testing, and then if I had
Speaker 1: a pregnancy test at home, I should use it. The
Speaker 1: test confirmed that Literally was in fact pregnant, and, as
Speaker 1: she wrote, we were so happy, but also knew that
Speaker 1: things weren't adding up, so we shouldn't get too excite it.
Speaker 1: Laterly went in for blood work and an ultrasound that afternoon,
Speaker 1: and the tests confirmed that something was off. Her blood
Speaker 1: tests indicated the presence of human choreonic gonadotropin or hCG, which,
Speaker 1: as we've talked about in previous episodes, is a hormone
Speaker 1: that's released during pregnancy, but there was no sign of
Speaker 1: a pregnancy on the ultrasound. Although her hCG levels continued
Speaker 1: to rise over the next two days and she began
Speaker 1: experiencing the symptoms of early pregnancy like extreme bloating, acky legs,
Speaker 1: painful breasts, et cetera, the ultrasound was still mysterious clear.
Speaker 1: She wrote, I was officially diagnosed with a pregnancy of
Speaker 1: unknown location. It will likely be the strangest diagnosis I
Speaker 1: will ever receive in my life. It turns out I
Speaker 1: was pregnant. They just couldn't find out where. Ectopic pregnancies
Speaker 1: aren't just concerning and confusing again, they can be life threatening.
Speaker 1: A White said, the biggest risk with an ectopic pregnancy
Speaker 1: is that the site of the ich topic will rupture
Speaker 1: your fallopian tubes and those other non uterous locations were
Speaker 1: not designed to allow a pregnancy to grow safely. When
Speaker 1: rapture occurs, you can bleed so much that you can
Speaker 1: need blood transfusions, and sometimes a patient bleeds so much
Speaker 1: that they die. So it's critical to treat an ectopic
Speaker 1: pregnancy when it's found, either by surgery to remove the
Speaker 1: pregnancy or by medication to dissolve it. Because it's so serious.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about those emergency symptoms. If a rupture of
Speaker 1: an ectopic pregnancy does occur, the sim TEMs may include
Speaker 1: severe abdominal or pelvic pain, along with vaginal bleeding, extreme
Speaker 1: dizziness or fainting, and pain in the shoulder. Unfortunately, Laterally
Speaker 1: experienced these for herself after she felt a sharp jab
Speaker 1: following early treatment for her topic. She was rushed to
Speaker 1: the emergency room and underwent surgery, which resulted in the
Speaker 1: loss of her left fallopian tube. Although all a topic
Speaker 1: pregnancies inevitably and in pregnancy loss, most people who experience
Speaker 1: of topics can go on to have healthy pregnancies later on,
Speaker 1: and people who have had one topic pregnancy are, however,
Speaker 1: at higher risk of having another, and so it's important
Speaker 1: to stay alert for those signs and symptoms that we
Speaker 1: discussed earlier. The White said that based on her experience
Speaker 1: in the clinic and having seen countless patients endure the
Speaker 1: emotional fallout of the topics, she hopes the medical field
Speaker 1: will evolve to cultivate more empathy and support for such patients.
Speaker 1: Leadly says that her experience brought about profound grief, but
Speaker 1: also immense gratitude. She wrote, while I would never wish
Speaker 1: this experience on anyone, I am forever changed in the
Speaker 1: way I view pregnancy and having children, and this perspective
Speaker 1: I wouldn't change for the world. So now I'm in
Speaker 1: this club I never wanted to be a part of,
Speaker 1: but especially the ectopic pregnancy club, which has so few members.
Speaker 1: I wish I had more women to talk to about this.
Speaker 1: So far, I've had friends tell me about a friend
Speaker 1: of a friend or a sister who went through this experience,
Speaker 1: but no one who I know personally. My hope with
Speaker 1: sharing this post is not only to help me heal
Speaker 1: from my experience, but also to connect with other women
Speaker 1: who have gone through it too. If you think that
Speaker 1: you are someone close to you may be experiencing an
Speaker 1: ectopic pregnancy, get in touch with the medical professional right away.
Speaker 1: Many clinics and organizations provide financial and logistical support for
Speaker 1: pregnancy losses like these. There has been concerned since the
Speaker 1: Supreme Court's overturn of Roe v. Wade that states now
Speaker 1: banning abortion ending ectopic pregnancies will become more difficult. That's
Speaker 1: because abortion bands sometimes use vague warding that could prevent
Speaker 1: healthcare providers from ending even a dangerous unviable pregnancy, as
Speaker 1: poll ectopic pregnancies are before a patient is in immediate
Speaker 1: danger of death. However, even if you live in a
Speaker 1: state with abortion bands, treatment for an ectopic pregnancy is
Speaker 1: considered life saving, so although it may be more difficult
Speaker 1: to access care, medical professional will be able to help
Speaker 1: you obtain it. You can also turn to the National
Speaker 1: Network of Abortion Funds for assistance. Today's episode is based
Speaker 1: on the article what is an ectopic Pregnancy? On how
Speaker 1: stuff works dot com written by Michelle Konstantinovski. The brain
Speaker 1: Stuff is production of I Heart Radio and partnership with
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler
Speaker 1: klang A. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the
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