Did you know that eighty percent of miscarriages take place in the first twelve weeks of conceiving. This article discusses the causes, symptoms, treatment options, and prevention measures for the same.
According to experts, majority of the miscarriages occur in early pregnancy, i.e., in the first trimester. It can be a very painful experience for a woman, physically and emotionally. Chemical pregnancies, in which the loss occurs even before the implantation of the fertilized egg, produce no symptoms at all. Besides those, there are two other types of miscarriages in early pregnancy, namely a missed miscarriage, in which the baby does not grow beyond a particular stage, and a blighted ovum, in which a gestational sac is present in a woman, but there is no baby.
Causes
- The main reason why an early miscarriage might occur is an abnormality in the chromosomes of the baby. This defect can occur on account of various reasons, such as a fault in the fertilized egg or in the sperm cells, improper implantation of the egg in the uterus lining, age of the pregnant woman, etc.
- A number of health conditions and illnesses, if they are present in the pregnant woman, can hamper with a normal pregnancy. If the woman has diabetes or a kidney disease or disorders such as Lupus, she can suffer from a miscarriage.
- Hormonal imbalance in the woman can also be the reason behind this incident.
- Any injury or trauma experienced by a woman, due to an accident or a fall, can also affect the growing fetus.
- If the woman takes illegal drugs, drinks alcohol, or smokes in excess, it can lead to such an event.
Symptoms
A pain in the pelvic region and the back, cramping in the stomach leading to breathing difficulties, accompanied by vaginal bleeding, are some of the signs experienced by women. Some other symptoms are – frequently experienced painful contractions, a mucus discharge which is pinkish or whitish in color, disappearance of the pregnancy symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, morning sickness, etc., and finally, vaginal discharge of tissues and blood clots. If a woman is experiencing these symptoms, she should go in for a blood test. If the blood test shows falling hCG levels, it is confirmed that there has been a miscarriage.
Treatment and Prevention
If the miscarriage has occurred very early in a pregnancy, then body will itself get rid of the fetal tissue and hence, no treatment will be required. Otherwise, a procedure called Dilation and Curettage, is performed by the doctors to take out the fetal tissue and to stop any accompanying bleeding. Besides these medical procedures, a woman might need emotional therapy as well, to cope with the loss.
Although avoiding such an incident, in most cases, is not in the hands of the woman, because there is nothing she can do to fix genetic problems or chromosomal abnormalities, which are the main causes behind it in majority of cases. However, sometimes they are avoidable if a woman takes certain precautions, such as, eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, following various relaxation techniques to keep calm and manage stress, refraining from alcohol and smoking, keeping her abdomen safe, and by avoiding any kind of drugs or medication, unless they are prescribed by a doctor.
Such an incident can take a toll on a woman’s physical and emotional health. Hence, before planning to conceive again, a woman should see to it that she is in the best of health, and is taking all the above mentioned precautions to ensure a safer pregnancy the next time.
