Missed pregnancy: cleaning, recovery period and consequences

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Missed pregnancy is a serious shock to a woman's body, both physically and psychologically. To conceive again, a certain time must pass. The length of the recovery period depends on many aspects. It is important to consult a doctor in time and take appropriate action in the event of a similar situation. How treatment and recovery takes place, what is cleaning during a missed pregnancy, how to behave in order to be able to conceive again as soon as possible, will be discussed further.

Symptomatics

It is important to know what to do with a missed pregnancy. We should start by looking at the pathology itself. When making such a diagnosis, the doctor can say that the fetus has stopped developing, growing and died. Most often, such a misfortune happens in the early stages of pregnancy, but it is not excluded at later stages. ithappens quite often, especially with those women who become pregnant for the first time.

Due to such a pathology, a pathological process may begin to develop in the body, a number of unpleasant symptoms and conditions that require immediate treatment. The sooner such a condition is detected, the faster the woman will go through the rehabilitation period, the less negative consequences will be.

If the fetus froze, such a condition does not always appear immediately. One of the symptoms of this phenomenon is considered to be a sharp cessation of nausea, other manifestations of toxicosis. But many women do not have such manifestations at all. Toxicosis accompanies not every pregnancy. Therefore, its absence cannot be regarded as a pathology.

If the pregnancy has stopped, a number of other symptoms appear. One of them, doctors call a decrease in basal temperature. During pregnancy, it stays at the level of 37.1-37.3 ºС. This temperature persists up to 20 weeks. Then it gradually decreases. If it decreased much earlier, for example, at the 8th obstetric week of pregnancy, this is a serious reason to be examined.

Also one of the symptoms of pathology is the cessation of pain in the mammary glands. But in the lower abdomen, pain may appear.

At any stage of pregnancy, you should contact your doctor as soon as possible if there is bloody discharge from the genital tract. This is not normal and may indicate a threat to the woman's body.

On morein late terms, a missed pregnancy is indicated by the absence of fetal movements. It is extremely dangerous to engage in diagnostics on your own. Sometimes it is quite difficult to identify the pathology. Can deceive such external causes as a still growing belly, blood tests. The fetal membrane can grow even if the fetus has stopped developing.

Diagnosis

What to do with a missed pregnancy? It is important to undergo an examination as soon as possible, to visit your supervising gynecologist. Special examinations are not needed for this. A gynecologist who has sufficient experience will be able to determine the presence of pathology on examination. He will ask the woman about the symptoms that accompany her lately.

There are certain norms that the fetus must comply with at a particular stage of pregnancy. Accordingly, the uterus should increase proportionally. If there are deviations in these parameters, an ultrasound is prescribed. At the same time, a woman takes a blood test for hCG. These available diagnostic methods allow you to assess the condition of the fetus.

An ultrasound may reveal that there is no embryo in the ovum. This is an empty shell that can grow without a fetus. This condition is called anembryonic.

The use of ultrasound and blood tests in a compartment give a 100% reliable result. If the fetus really stopped developing, the pregnancy froze, you need to urgently take action to eliminate the negative consequences for the woman's body

Causes of pathology

Most often frozenpregnancy is diagnosed at 6-10 obstetric weeks of pregnancy. But this is not excluded at a later date. In order to prevent the appearance of pathology the next time, you need to know what reasons it was caused by. There are several dozen of them. It can be inflammatory diseases, hormonal changes. Therefore, pregnancy must be planned, all chronic and acute diseases should be treated in advance. They can adversely affect the development of the fetus.

A frozen fetus is often the result of a poor lifestyle. If a woman has bad habits, they must be abandoned even before pregnancy. Alcohol, nicotine, narcotic and psychotropic substances are poisons. They kill the fetus, which in the early stages has practically no protection yet.

One of the most common reasons why a fetus stops developing is genetic pathology. They explain the development of pathology in 70% of cases. This development of events occurs for up to 8 obstetric weeks of pregnancy. If the fetus has serious genetic abnormalities, the body determines this and prevents it from being born. Even perfectly he althy parents can experience such a deviation. After the termination of the pregnancy and the recovery period, the couple will be able to give birth to a completely normal baby.

However, there are cases when several pregnancies in a row do not lead to the desired result. Genetic failure can occur again and again. In this case, a consultation with a geneticist is required. A similar phenomenon indicates genetic failures in parents. An appropriate genetic examination is scheduled.

Hormonal abnormalities

A frozen fetus may be the result of a hormonal failure in a woman's body. During pregnancy, progesterone must be produced in sufficient quantities. It preserves and supports the entire process of carrying the unborn baby. If this hormone is not produced enough, the fertilized egg cannot properly attach to the uterus. This increases the risk of miscarriage.

Another pathology of the endocrine system is an increase in the amount of male sex hormones androgens in a woman's blood. During pregnancy, testosterone and other similar substances are present in the body, but in minimal amounts. If their concentration exceeds the established norm, certain risks arise. Timely complex treatment is required.

In 20% of pregnant women, the amount of androgens increases (this does not depend on the sex of the unborn child). Before becoming pregnant next time, women with similar pathologies should be treated. Only by normalizing the hormonal background and controlling it during pregnancy, you can protect the fetus from death.

Infections

To avoid the death of the fetus and cleansing during a missed pregnancy, it is necessary to cure infectious pathologies, if any, in the body. During pregnancy, immunity is greatly reduced. This is a physiological norm, since the body "learns" not to perceive the embryo as a foreignbody. But this increases the likelihood of contracting infectious diseases.

If a woman becomes infected with, for example, rubella, the fetus may develop anomalies, up to the fading of pregnancy. Cytomegalovirus infection leads to the same result. Ordinary influenza and SARS can be dangerous to the fetus.

Due to infection, body temperature rises, severe intoxication appears. Because of this, less blood flows to the fetus. This sometimes leads to the death of the embryo.

Gynecologists say that even before pregnancy you need to treat your teeth to get rid of foci of infection, remove tonsils if they are constantly inflamed. It is also advisable to get vaccinated against some diseases, such as chickenpox, if the woman has never been infected with this virus.

Infections such as chlamydia, gardnerella, etc. can be in the body for years without showing themselves. With a decrease in immunity, favorable conditions are created for them. It can harm the fetus at any stage of pregnancy. Therefore, it is extremely important to receive appropriate treatment before starting a pregnancy.

Features of treatment

Many women who are faced with a similar problem know that cleaning the uterus during a missed pregnancy is a mandatory procedure almost always. Keeping it is not only pointless, but also dangerous. After confirming the diagnosis, the doctor decides how to rid the uterus of the contents. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of the body and the conditionwoman's he alth. The gynecologist takes into account whether there are inflammatory diseases, at what time the fetus stopped developing.

In some cases, waiting tactics are used. This is necessary when the diagnosis could not accurately reflect the condition of the fetus. To confirm or deny a missed pregnancy, the doctor monitors the level of hCG in the woman's blood. If its level does not correspond to the gestational age, it gradually decreases, which indicates a gradual contraction of the uterus, which ends in a miscarriage. The fertilized egg will come out on its own. Therefore, the expectant tactics in this case will be justified.

However, such behavior is justified if nothing threatens the woman's he alth. In this case, there should be no inflammatory processes, severe pain. Also, a woman should have a normal temperature, good he alth.

Medicines

In some cases, the doctor may not prescribe a purge for a missed pregnancy. You can get an abortion with medication. If the fetus has stopped developing, treatment is prescribed according to a certain scheme. These are progesterone antagonists, for example, such as Mifegin, Mifepristone. At the same time, other drugs are included in the scheme. Self-medication in this case can be extremely dangerous not only for he alth, but also for the life of a woman.

The medical abortion procedure takes place under the supervision of a physician. After taking the medicines, after a few hours, the woman begins contractions. After that, the uterus pushes the fertilized egg naturallyway. This is a less traumatic way.

After two weeks, a follow-up ultrasound is scheduled. The uterus is examined for the presence of remnants of the fetal egg. It should come out completely. After the procedure, the patient is prescribed antibiotics to avoid the development of infections.

Scraping

How is cleaning with a missed pregnancy? It is worth considering that medical abortion is only possible for up to 7 weeks. If the gestational age is longer, an operation is performed. Curettage of the uterine cavity is called cleaning. This procedure is done in a hospital under local anesthesia. Sometimes a surgical procedure is required. In some cases, the doctor decides to perform the operation under general anesthesia.

After the scraping, the collected material is sent to the study of cells in the laboratory. DNA analysis of the fetal egg is carried out. This is done in order to prevent the recurrence of such a pathology. With the right behavior of the patient, the subsequent pregnancy will proceed correctly.

After the procedure, oxytocin is injected into the woman's body. This hormone promotes uterine contractions. After that, a course of antibiotics is prescribed. This procedure is mandatory after cleaning with a frozen pregnancy. This avoids complications, reducing the risk of infections.

A woman spends one or two days in the hospital. If everything went well, without complications, she is discharged home, but this requires constant monitoring by doctors. When abundantbleeding requires urgent hospitalization. This situation is life-threatening for the patient. The discharge after cleansing should be bloody. They don't last more than a week. When blood appears from the genital tract, you should immediately call an ambulance. This may be a sign of internal bleeding that requires immediate surgery.

Feedback on the procedure

Many women are afraid of scraping because they think it is a painful procedure. It is necessary to consider the features of its implementation, so as not to worry in vain. According to reviews, cleaning a missed pregnancy is a painless procedure, as it is performed under anesthesia. Depending on the procedure, general anesthesia may be required.

Scraping, according to doctors, is the most effective procedure by which you can remove all the contents from the uterus during a missed pregnancy. The procedure does not require special preparation. Before this, you must not eat for at least eight hours. Colon cleansing may be required, for which an enema is given.

There are also contraindications to curettage. These can be inflammation of the appendages and uterus, infectious diseases, as well as a suspicion of a violation of the integrity of the mucous membranes of the uterus. In these cases, the procedure for removing the fetal egg occurs according to a slightly different method.

Most often the procedure is performed under general anesthesia. The woman sits in a gynecological chair and then she is given anesthesia. The patient wakes up either in the operating room after the procedure, or in the ward (it depends onanesthesia techniques).

In some cases, the use of general anesthesia is contraindicated. In this case, the cervix and body of the uterus are cut off with special preparations. As a result, tissues become desensitized.

Some women report some discomfort after the procedure. The fact is that before the procedure, the doctor treats the skin with a special iodine solution, and the cervix and vagina with alcohol. This may cause discomfort.

The cervix is dilated with a special device and fixed in this position. With the help of a curette, which resembles a spoon, the fetal egg is removed, the mucous membrane of the organ is removed. This procedure lasts 15-20 minutes if there are no complications.

Complications

Cleaning during a missed pregnancy can result in serious complications. Therefore, the procedure should be carried out by an experienced doctor, and the patient should adhere to the prescribed recommendations.

In rare cases, the integrity of the uterine wall may be disrupted. Perforation is a serious complication that requires surgical intervention. This happens extremely rarely. Less than 1% of all curettage procedures end in this complication.

Another serious complication is bleeding. Seek medical attention immediately.

Inflammation is a common complication after scraping. Pain after cleaning during a missed pregnancy, high fever, poor he alth may indicate infection. After this, adhesions may appear. This leads to menstrual irregularities.cycle, secondary infertility, pain.

Cycle recovery

Menstruation after cleaning with a missed pregnancy is usually restored after 1-1.5 months. They run as usual. At this time, the doctor allows you to resume sexual activity. But a woman will be able to get pregnant no earlier than after 3 months. This is at best. Usually a woman recovers not only physically, but also psychologically. And it may take much longer.