Post D&C symptoms confusing

[Zoe2B]

Hi all.
I'm having some symptoms I don't really understand since having my D&C (Oct 11). About 2 weeks after the D&C my boobs got larger & really, really sore (like when I was pregnant). I figured I might be about to ovulate (before I got pg, I could often tell when I was about to ovulate because of minor cramping, and boob swelling/soreness). My HCG level dropped to 40 about a week ago. I'll have it tested again in 2 days, but I read that you can ovulate even if your HCG level isn't all the way down yet. A few days ago I also started getting little sharp pains on either side of lower abdomen - so also thought that could be ovulation pains. So hubby and I BD on 10/27 and 10/29. Boobs are still SO sore.. it hurts to touch them (running is excruciating!) and I just started having little pains that feel like the ligamont strecthing pains that I had when I was pregnant - lower left abdomen - nothing that really hurts, but very noticable. I don't know for sure if I ovulated yet or not, I was just guessing. Anyone have any ideas or experienced this types of symptoms after their mc or D&C???

[EBSM68]

Zoe, I had a D&C and having exact same issues. Pulling on ligament, abdominal cramping, huge and sore boobs! Not pregnant unless I am carrying Jesus! Please tell me what your doctor says

[Lastminutemama]

We'll see what's happening....I already asked Santa for a positive pregnancy test for x-mas.....

[RunningL8]

Yes--I was told you can ttc right away after a miscarriage, but to wait two cycles after a D and C as the lining of your uterus needs to build up again.  (Unfortunately, I had both of these situations in the last five months.)  But doctors vary as to the D and C advice (some say one cycle, some say three, some say you can ttc right away).

[Lastminutemama]

Hi Wendy,
Same symptoms here after a natural miscarriage 11/9: breast ares still swolen like when I was pregnant and feel sore. I feel there is something going on like when I'm about to ovulate but not sure if that's happening.
I was told we can TTC straight away. Maybe there is a difference between TTC after a natural MC or a D&C?

[Zoe2B]

I'm in the same boat. I'm glad you got your period! At least now, you will have a regular cycle once again. Bummer about not catching the ovulation. Maybe that happened with me as well. It's all so disconcerting... especially when we normally know what's going on with our bodies. If your ovulation happened without being detected, take that to mean that it wasn't 'meant to be detected', meaning your body wasn't really ready to get pregnant yet. Follow your heart. If you feel you aren't ready this cycle to go forward, take a month off. Maybe that's what your body and mind needs. If you decide to use donor eggs, waiting won't affect that outcome. If you decide to use your own eggs, as hard as it is to wait, one month shouldn't make a difference either. And in the meantime.... keep ttc on your own! Who knows! It happened with me! I still haven't started my period yet. My HCG was 5 on Mon the 12th. Took it again yesterday the16th but the office didn't call me with the results. Ugh! I'm going in on Weds for a scan to see if those ovarian cysts are shrinking. And we're trying to get money together for IVF. I don't think we'll be able to get it together until Jan. though. I'm even toying with the idea of IUI in the meantime... but I don't know. There's a lot of back-and-forth with us too! I hope your mother gets better soon! Keep me informed!

[RunningL8]

Hi Wendy--I'm not sure if this update arrives in time to be helpful to you, but will post anyway.  To my surprise, I got my period on Wednesday, so exactly 23 days after my MC ended.  (Interestingly, I also got a period exactly 23 days after my June D&C.)  Usually my cycle is 25-28 days (most often 26-27).  The weird thing this cycle is that I must have ovulated on the same day that the hcg dropped to 2 (maybe day 12-13?), given that on day 11 of this cycle I had an hcg check and it was 5.  Nothing ever showed up on the home ovulation test, but I was using a really cheap brand that was hard to read, so maybe I misread a positive as negative.  I'm just so confused about what to do now.  I was supposed to have an ultrasound on day 2-3 once my cycle restarted, as my RE still thinks we're doing ivf with my own eggs.  My mother has been really ill this week, so I'm just putting off all tests this cycle, as it's too much to think about!  I'm going back and forth as to what to do....Any news with you?

[Zoe2B]

Hi! I just posted the same question in it's own thread, thinking you might not see this one... I was wrong! Thanks for your post! I will mention my concern to the nurse when she calls me back today. The only reason we were scheduling the hsn so soon is to try to beat my period, so that we can start the IVF once I start bleeding. It turns out we may have to wait a month anyway, for financial reasons. You are SO lucky to have IVF covered. Wow, that would be so nice. Will your IVF be covered with donor eggs?? I hope so!

[RunningL8]

Hi Wendy -- I had a sonohysterogram in August, as before my second pregnancy/miscarriage we were going to do ivf with my own eggs.  Before the doctor did the "trial transfer" part of the sonohysterogram, he examined my uterus via ultrasound to make sure the D&C in June had been complete.  I guess if I had been pregnant, he might have been able to see some change in my uterus (although perhaps not if I was just barely pregnant).  Anyway, if you alert your RE to your concerns about being pregnant again, I'm sure he won't do anything potentially harmful.  You could always ask for another hcg test in a few days to see if it's doubling to indicate another pregnancy.  Also, my understanding is that REs won't do fertility treatments unless your hcg is below 2, so you will have to wait for the hcg to drop anyway before you can do the ivf.  So maybe postponing the ultrasound a few days really won't delay your potential ivf cycle.  As for your comment on the other post:  I was told that you are more likely to get pregnant using iui than doing nothing, and more likely to get pregnant with ivf than iui.  I think the best reason to do ivf with your own eggs is to feel you've done everything possible, while the opportunity is available.  We actually have insurance coverage that would cover most of ivf, but at this point we are not going to do it because my having a biological child is not that big of a deal to me and we're concerned about creating a bunch of embryos with problems, which at 46, is very likely.  On a scale of 1 to 10, being a mother is a 10 to me, experiencing a successful pregnancy is about a 6, and having a biological child is about a 2.  So we would rather wait and do the donor eggs and not have the worry about miscarriage, birth defects, etc.  But if I were you at age 43, I would probably try the ivf, as you probably have several good eggs left.  I understand the money pressure, but if you don't try, you'll always wonder....

[Zoe2B]

Hi again! How are you doing?? I got my HCG results from Friday. It was at 20. It seems weird to me. One week before that it was 40, so last week it didn't decrease by 1/2 every 48 hrs. The week prior to the 40, it was at 400.  I have a sonohysterogram scheduled for Thursday to start to prepare for IVf (if we decide to do it....), but now there's a tiny part of me that's concerned that I may be pg again and thats why my hcg isn't dropping. Time-wise it's possible, unlkely since I would have been between 40 and 20 hcg when ovulation would have occured, but I remember reading somewhere that you can ovulate without your hcg dropping all the way down. I don't know if that HSN proceedure would be harmful if I am pregnant... I'm calling the doc today to see. He's going to think I'm crazy to even think that I could be pg.... if he tells me that absolutely there's no way to ovulate until hcg is down to 0, I need to believe him.

[Zoe2B]

Thanks for the update! I Got my HCG drawn today too, but won't know the results until Mon. These symptoms are crazy! My boobs are like yours... getting sorer and larger by the minute. And I've had those abdominal pains too. I was thinking today that the abdominal twinges might be our uterus shrinking back to normal size. Because the pains feel the same, so maybe it's the ligaments getting back to normal. Anyway, can't wait until af comes, so things will normalize. It's no fun having pregnancy symptoms when you know you couldn't be pregnant!  I know I'm not pregnant either. Even though we did have intercourse a few days ago, these symptoms were already there. If I hear anything from my nurse on Mon about why we have sore boobs, etc, I"ll post it!

[RunningL8]

I'm not sure if this is helpful, but I had my hcg drawn today, and it's 4.  (It has been going down by 1/2 every 48 hours, just as scheduled.)  The nurse today said I won't ovulate until the hcg is below 2, and I may not ovulate at all this cycle.  But I find all sorts of conflicting information online about hcg and ovulation, so I don't know what to believe.  I might just stop the home ovulation testing and give up on this cycle!  The nurse had no specific answer as to why my breasts are so sore (and they seem to be getting more sore) except that I probably have a lot going on hormonally right now.  I guess all I can say for sure is that my breasts hurt and I'm having periodic abdominal pain, and I'm not pregnant....I hope you get a different result, though!

[Heather5]

I know. In some twisted way, I actually miss my sore boobs. It seems like something just isn't normal right now, and it makes me think I won't be able to get pregnant again until everything's back to where it was before the miscarriage. You know what I mean?

[Zoe2B]

That is weird! Isn't it terrible that our bodies are unreadable right now. I look forward to things getting back on track, so I can understand what's going on, and when my ovulation and af is due. I guess you should just enjoy the lack of soreness! But it must just throw you off a bit, as it's not standard for you.

[Heather5]

Well, I've had one D&C and one natural miscarriage, but I can't remember my boobs being sore that long after. However, when it comes to ovulating after a miscarriage, it won't happen again until your HCG is below 5. Basically, if there's still HCG in your system, even though it's on its way down, your body will hold off on ovulating.

I never had HCG tested after my D&C, but they did draw blood a couple of times after my natural miscarriage. About 1 week after, my level was down to 14. Accoring to my BB chart, I ovulated 8 days after that. And the following week, I went in for my final HCG test, which was 0 (and a progesterone test came back at 11, meaning I had indeed ovulated).

The weird thing is, though, that I'm on my second cycle since the miscarriage, and I have the OPPOSITE problem. Normally, my boobs always get sore a day or two after ovulation, but for the past two months, NOTHING! Yet, my temps are up, so I did ovulate. Weird!

[evie23]

My breast are sore also that still havent went away plus i believe i ovulated already. i have gotten pretty good at determining when i ovulate and i have always had a text book cycle. it feels like i will have my af next week. I always start pmsing a week before.

[Zoe2B]

Yes they do!!  Plus they have to put up with our rollercoaster emotions. And they have their own as well.. worrying about the baby too.
Funny how different doctors are. You were told 4 weeks of no sex after your D&C... wow. Mine said 1 to 2 weeks.
If you find out anything about the sore boobs thing, let me know!
Thanks!

[RunningL8]

I am having my hcg checked again tomorrow (the RE wants to make sure it is back to normal), so I am planning to ask about the sore boobs.  If I find out anything helpful, I'll post again.  This pregnancy-miscarriage pattern does take a toll on one's sex life.  I've been pregnant 16 weeks out of the last 6 months (2 pregnancies) with no sex allowed, plus there was the 4 weeks of no sex after the d&c, and now I keep telling my husband not to touch my breasts since they're so sore!  These guys suffer too, don't they....

[Zoe2B]

My RE said that intercourse & ttc could be done right away. I was surprised since I've heard from so many here that they're told to wait AT LEAST one cycle. I think his philosphy is, if you go into an ovulatory cycle, you're body is ready to be pregnant again. We were just grateful to be intimate again after so long (couldn't for my first trimester, then 7-14 days after the D&C. I'm trying not to fool myself into thinking I'm actually pg... since the sore boobs started before we BD, I'm just trying to figure out what's up with my post-D&C body. So since your mc, your boobs are sore as well huh. Maybe it's just from our hormones still being out of whack.... I didn't do the home ovu kits right after the D&C because I didn't know that you can ovulate soon after a D&C. I wish I had now though! At least I would know if I did or not.

[RunningL8]

I finished a natural miscarriage 9 days ago, and I'm having the exact same symptoms as you.  But I've been using home ovulation tests daily, and see no signs that I've ovulated.  The RE said it might take a full month to ovulate after a miscarriage; after my d&C last summer, my next cycle was very short (23 days), so I must have ovulated very early on that one.  BTW, after my d&c last summer, I was told no intercourse for 4 weeks and no trying to conceive for two complete menstrual cycles (to allow the uterine lining time to build back up to be able to sustain a potential pregnancy).  My understanding was that these time frames are standard....but you must have been given different advice?  I do hope you are indeed pregnant, and that this one goes well for you!