QuestionWell im only 19 and i have 3 pregnancies and resulted in miscarriages the last one was a spontaneous miscarriage. i have an incompetent cervix. i lost my baby a little over a month ago, i gave birth to him and the placenta. well i haven't seen my period i went to take urine test at my doctors office and it came back positive, well i went to the ER for stomach pains and they did a urine and blood test, the blood test said negative but the urine said yes they did each one two more times and the same results came back. how long does hcg stay in your system? or is it possible that it may be placenta left in me? and where is the pains coming from? does me being anemic have anything to do with it?
AnswerDear Jalisa,
Most often after a miscarriage or D&C your bleeding will taper off to spotting within 7-10 days, and maybe random spotting will continue for another week. Your hCG will drop steadily, usually hitting zero during the end of the spotting, or about 10-14 days after the miscarriage or D&C - although for some women it can take up to a month for that level to come back down to non-pregnant levels. Some women find they have mild pregnancy symptoms, or little ovulation cramps. Many many women think they could be pregnant, because strange things are happening and their period is "late" (although almost every post-miscarriage period is late.) These symptoms are due to the body's attempts to regulate its hormones again. It may kick into gear right away, and you will get a new period in 4-5 weeks, or it may struggle a bit, and the period will not come for up to 8 weeks.
Less often, your bleeding tapers off quickly, but with some spotting. You think it is over. Perhaps a week or even two will pass, and you begin to wait for your period. Then suddenly, it begins again. Strong cramping, heavy bleeding, and pain. You hope it is just your period, but it is not. (You must not bleed at all for about 20 days for it to be a real period, otherwise you have not gone through the hormone chain properly.) Usually within a few days, it does stop, and you are just spotting again. Here is what can happen - some tissue was missed during your D&C or natural miscarriage. A bit of placenta clung to the wall of the uterus. It continued to draw a little blood, and the body continued to create very small amounts of pregnancy hormone. Eventually the body realized no baby was there and turned loose of this last bit of tissue. The miscarriage process begins again. Only now will your levels drop to zero and a new cycle begin. You cannot expect a normal period any sooner than 4 weeks from this, and up to 7 weeks could still be normal. Your total wait time from original miscarriage to first period can creep up to 9-10 weeks and still be normal.
You should continue to have your hCG levels monitored to make sure they are dropping steadily and coming back down to zero. By this I mean quantitative hCG levels which give an actual amount of hCG in your bloodstream, rather than just the positive/negative result you would get with a urine test or a qualitative blood test. The fact that you are anemic (essentially having a shortage of red blood cells) should not affect the test results. hCG is either present at a high enough level or it's not.
I cannot explain why three urine tests would come back positive at the same time three blood tests came back negative. Blood tests typically are more accurate and sensitive than urine tests. Most often doctors will monitor those hCG levels after a pregnancy loss to make sure they are dropping to zero. I would suggest that you take the records/results from the ER visit to your doctor and and he/she will likely get another quantitative blood pregnancy test when evaluating you.
I hope this has helped you and answered your question. I wish you well.
Brenda
