How can you recognize a miscarriage?
Often, vaginal bleeding is an indication of miscarriage (abortion). However, this does not always occur. There are also other signs that indicate that a miscarriage is imminent or has occurred. For example, it is not uncommon for a miscarriage to occur like a period and happen before the pregnancy is even established.
How do you notice a miscarriage in early pregnancy?
Often, a miscarriage in early pregnancy is accompanied by bleeding that resembles menstruation. If the pregnancy is not yet certain, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish whether it is an abortion or a period. Sometimes miscarriage occurs without bleeding as a symptom.
Pain in the abdomen, similar to menstrual pain, and back pain are other possible signs of miscarriage.
Although there is evidence that women who suffer from nausea during pregnancy are less likely to miscarry, this does not mean that women without nausea have a higher risk of miscarriage.
Positive pregnancy test despite miscarriage?
During pregnancy, the amount of a certain hormone (ß-hCG, human chorionic gonadotropin) increases in blood and urine. This hormone is detected by a pregnancy test. Although the level decreases after a miscarriage, this does not happen immediately. Therefore, there is a possibility that shortly after a miscarriage, the pregnancy test is still weakly positive.
What does the blood look like during a miscarriage?
How heavy the bleeding is in a miscarriage varies. Sudden heavy bleeding is just as possible as gradual weak bleeding.
Threatened abortion
In threatened abortion (medically, “abortus imminens”), the first miscarriage symptoms are vaginal bleeding. In some cases, contractions are added as a sign of impending miscarriage. However, the cervix is closed. In most cases, the bleeding is caused by a bruise (hematoma) of the placenta.
For affected pregnant women, bed rest is then important to prevent miscarriage.
Incipient abortion
An incipient abortion is medically called “abortus incipiens”. In contrast to an impending abortion, the cervix is already open. Miscarriage signs include bleeding and painful contractions. Abortions can usually no longer be prevented at this stage. Incipient abortion usually transitions to incomplete or complete abortion.
Incomplete or complete abortion
Behavioral abortion
This form (English: “Missed Abortion”) is particularly insidious. Here there are no typical external miscarriage symptoms. There is no bleeding or pain. The cervix is closed and nothing is expelled. The doctor detects this miscarriage by ultrasound examination. He does not detect any signs of life in the embryo, such as heart sounds. In addition, the uterus stops growing.
Febrile abortion
This so-called “abortus febrilis” usually presents with a fever between 38 and 39 degrees Celsius and purulent discharge from the vagina. Without treatment, this type of miscarriage is life-threatening. There is then a risk of septic miscarriage with severe blood clotting disorders and even multiple organ failure.
Wind egg
Its incidence is 50 to 90 percent of spontaneous abortions in the second month of pregnancy. As with restrained abortion, there are few signs of miscarriage. Often, spotting is the only symptom.
Habitual abortion
Habitual abortion is when a woman has suffered three or more miscarriages. It affects about one to two percent of all couples. The most common causes include changes in the genetic makeup of one of the parents or an impaired immune response in the woman (for example, antiphospholipid syndrome).
The type of miscarriage and the miscarriage signs determine how the affected woman is treated.
