Determining Possisble Miscarriage?

Hi Doctor,

I am new to this forum, but was wondering if I could get an opinion.

Long story short, I'm a college student, and I just turned 20 last weekend. In May, I missed my period...about 2 - 2.5 weeks after I should have gotten my period, I experienced some cramping and some heavy bleeding. There was also some discharge I wasn't used to seeing.

When I missed my period that month, I didn't think it could have been a pregnancy because I didn't think it was physically possible that I could have gotten pregnant...as it turns out, there was a possibility...

My reasons for not having gone to a doctor when I missed my period are somewhat long and complicated. However, I have since made an appointment with a doctor where I live back home, and I have an appointment this coming Thursday. If I was pregnant, I would have been about 5 - 6 weeks along, and I know during that time frame, there's the possibilty of early loss of pregnancy.

I was just wondering if it would be possible for my doctor to determine whether or not I was pregnant and whether or not I could have miscarried? Are there any physical signs of a miscarriage if it took place early in the pregnancy? Would she even be able to determine if I was pregant a month ago with labs or anything (that may be kind of a dumb question, but I don't know...)? Or is that something I'll never really know? The whole situation had me scared, and I just wondered if this was something I'd ever be able to find out about. It is not common for me to be late on my period at all, and that next period was different from those I've had in the past.

I just kind of wanted to know so I could ask her about it. I want to be able to go in knowing exactly what I want her to look for.

Thanks so much for your help.

[Elaine Brown, MD]

Hi!
Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, you won't be able to find out whether or not you were pregnant.  In the event of a very eary miscarriage, once the menstrual cycle has resumed, all of the pregnancy hormones are long gone, and there are no physical changes that allow MDs to know that you were pregnant.  In the long run, it won't be terribly important to your health whether or not you know.  What you might want to discuss with your MD though, is birth control.  If you don't want to get on full fledged birth control, don't forget about Plan B.  That is something you can use to prevent unwanted pregnancy if you only have an occasional "encounter" and are not in a regular relationship.

Good luck!
Dr B

[rem89]

Perhaps it doesn't matter if I know...I just didn't know if there were lasting problems that could result from miscarriages or anything like that. If there aren't really any physical changes, then I guess I don't need to worry about it. Thank you so much for your help....I have never really had sex before, and I've never been to a GYN, so this is all a bit new and daunting, and I am just trying to come up with questions to ask her.

I don't think I will need to discuss birth control with my MD or anything. I am not (nor have I ever been) in a relationship, and I do not have have casual "encounters" or anything like that.  I do, however, want to look into the HPV vaccine, but right now I don't know much about it. Do you have to be a certain age to get it, and is it one vaccine, or several vaccinations over a period of time?

Thanks so much for your help!!