QuestionI am 30 years old, had a tubaligation a couple years ago and now I am experiencing nausea,breast tenderness, and off and on stomach pain. Could I be having a tubal pregnancy?
AnswerDear Christena,
I do apologize for the delay in answering your question. My son was "T-boned" in a wreck last week. I forgot all about coming back online for these questions... I'm sorry for that.
Occasionally a woman can still get pregnant, despite having had her tubes tied properly. The tubes can evolve in such a way as to try to heal themselves, and sometimes a tract develops that allows egg and sperm to meet. However, tubal ligation, regardless of whether the tubes are cut, burned, clipped, banded, or tied, is about 99% effective, meaning that about 1% of women will conceive an unplanned pregnancy after tubal ligation. This failure occurs slightly more frequently in younger women.
Symptoms which are typically associated with early pregnancy (breast tenderness/swelling, headache, nausea, fatigue, backache, etc,...) are basically hormonally related and can also be related to hormone fluctuations within our cycles. That is why it is so difficult to "diagnose" a pregnancy based on symptoms alone. These symptoms are often related to surges that occur when we begin the years of perimenopause also - which can sometimes begin in our 30s.
To be absolutely sure, you can go to your doctor's office and get a quantitative blood pregnancy test (serum beta hCG). That test will give an actual amount of hCG in the bloodstream rather than just a positive/negative result.
I hope this has helped you and answered your question. I wish you well.
Brenda
