Miscarriage due to plan B?

[hanna82]

Dear Doctor,

Three months ago i had a miscarriage at the week 5, it was the first pregnancy. In fact we had unprotected intercourse during the ovulation period ( as my period is very regular i know exactly when the ovulation is taking place), however he didnt ejaculate inside me, i had the feeling of being pregnant. I took the morning after pill kinda late after 72 or 73 hours and i didnt have bleeding after 4 or 5 days ( the bleeding that the pill usually gives like side effect) but 2 weeks after the ovulation i began having very strong abdominal pains,,,thinking it was the period,,,then as they were 6 days late (they r never late) i took a pregnancy test which after 10 mins was negative,,,,but when i rechecked after 30 min it was positive. But i continued to have horrible abdominal cramps and back pains. The next day i began bleeding like a heavy period with bad pains...went in emergency room,,,ultrasound showed nothing and urine and blood tests showed no pregnancy hormone. So i had a miscarriage. I had a follow up with the gyn as i had pains for 2 months,,,been twice,,,got flagyl and difluxan and now after 3 months i feel fine. I am sure i had the miscarriage from the pill i used. Can it be the case? Maybe 72 hours after the intercourse when i used the pill, the implamentation had not occured yet? If so why the test was positive? I would appreciate an opinion from your experience as i need to ease my worries. I hope it was from taking morning after pill and not from me having any problem.
Your time is very much appreciated.

Regards,
Hanna

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
Welcome to the forum. I can very well understand your dilemma. In my opinion, the symptoms of lower abdominal cramps, severe bleeding and back pains could have been due to a chemical pregnancy. It means a very early miscarriage(there is positive pregnancy test but miscarriage happens before ultrasound can show a heart beat).It can be due to chromosomal abnormalities, inadequate uterine lining, uterine abnormalities, low hormone levels, luteal phase defect or certain infections. If there is any chemical pregnancy then the early urine for pregnancy test is positive and miscarriage occurs even before an ultrasound can detect pregnancy. Since you had taken the post coital pill after 72-73 hours, so this possibility is more likely.

The urine and serum pregnancy tests are also not 100%accurate for pregnancy and false negative results can occur if the levels of hCG are too low. The best test in such cases is measuring the levels of hCG in blood. The levels are raised (more than 5Miu) in cases of miscarriage also. Plan B can cause abdominal cramps and irregularities in menses, but it cannot cause a miscarriage. Miscarriage in your case can be due to many other reasons other than Plan B.Since three months have passed after this incident, so it is impossible now to confirm whether your symptoms were due to miscarriage or side effect of birth control pills. My sincere advice would be to avoid taking any plan B in the future if you are trying for pregnancy and also have an alert for any abdominal cramps and spotting apart from your menstrual cycle.

I hope it helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing or if you have any additional doubts. Kind regards.

[Keboy28]

I disagree. If you leave your pregnancy tests out for over 30 minutes ( which she did) most of them will show a false positive...  They tested her blood and she had no levels HCG. When you have a miscarriage you have some level of HCG small or large and her level was 0.

[Keboy28]

I believe you never miscarried and you had your period. After taking plan b it is known to change your period and also cause painful ones. You even said your partner never finished in you.