Got depo, didn't know she was pregnant!

Annie Onymouse

Hi everyone,

I'm Anonymous for this one!

A friend of mine found out last week that she's 8wks pregnant. She has PCOS so a missed period would be nothing to her, it's the norm if anything. The problem is that she had gone to the doc for a depo injection 4wks previously and he gave it to her without doing a test(at that stage she didn't suspect pregnancy herself) even though she hadn't had a period in ages. She has now been told that she's 'high risk' for miscarriage, but also if the pregnancy continues there's a chance the baby may be affected. She hasn't even considered termination.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience of this? I'd love to be able to tell her everything will be ok:(

Thanks,

Annie

Nevyn

When she found out she was pregnant did the dr refer her to a materinty hospital ?

Annie Onymouse

No not as yet! He told her that 'if' she doesn't miscarry he will refer her! Sounds completely rediculous to me! But it's her first baby and she's quite young so I think she's just going along with the doc on this.

jister

I have no idea what a DEPO injection is but a Gyny / Materntity hospital are usually not interested until after the 12 weeks.

Nevyn

it is a contraception injection.

If she was on the injection and it was a top up or repeat this shoudl not have happened.
If this was her first injection surely the dr should have done a prenancy test to check she was not pregnanat and given the histroy of pcos done blood work to check her hormoane levels ?

There are a lot of unpleasant side effects an possible effects and damage that can be done to the fetus if you are pregant and recieve the injection hence why a referal to a hostpital is a good idea in this case.

smash

I have wondered myselff what would happen in this situation as my wife is on the injection and it does stay in your system for a few months. It's a bit mad the the doc didn't send her for scans and tests. If I was her I'd just go in myself and try to find some answers about what might happen etc.

AnitaMcCluskey

Tell her to go to the hospital complaining of cramps and to tell them that she is pregnant. They usually have no probs checking it out and then get her to explain all this to the doctor. Put her mind at easy, but she should go to a different doctor if she is not satisified his conclusion.

spurious

I was thinking of this overnight, and the more I thought the more I decided the doctor should definitely have done a pregnancy test, especially given her history.

Many pregnancies end in miscarriage in the first trimester, but to give a woman the added stress of thinking that should she miscarry it is possibly because of the Depo injection she had (that she should not have had if the doctor was doing his/her job properly) is in my opinion disgraceful. If termination is something she might consider, waiting to see 'if' she miscarries first is not really an option.

I hope everything goes OK with your friend, but I would change doctor if I were her. You have to feel safe with, and able to trust your doctor.

Annie Onymouse

Thanks everyone. It was her first injection, she SHOULD have had a full checkup including a pregnancy test(unless the depo is given within the first 5 days or the menstual cycle). I'm going to tell her to go into the hospital without referral. I have kids myself and I know the hospitals are great in early pregnancy, but her GP told her not to bother going:eek:

I'm still fuming:mad:

Thanks!

Annie

dudara

This was a serious oversight on the part of her GP. She might want to consider making a complaint against him/her to the Medical Council

Debracd

Thanks to everyone for the replies. Thought I'd let you know she miscarried today. I'd never say it to her, but it's probably for the best under the circumstances.

Deb

Nevyn

Poor girl how distressing.
Hopefully when she recovers she will think about putting in a complaint against the dr.

Stargal

The poor girl, that's so sad.

I'm with thaedydal on this one - it's probably the furthest thing from her mind at the moment but she should seriously thinking about making a complaint about him when she's recovered. This should never have happened.

the_syco

Thaedydal wrote:

Poor girl how distressing.
Hopefully when she recovers she will think about putting in a complaint against the dr.

I 2nd this. The f*cker should be sacked. And if someone says its "just one oversight", you'd have to think how many oversights the doctor has had? Some of them think them know everything (esp the older ones), when they don't:mad:

Debracd

Doh! Used wrong ID for last post. Doesn't matter anyway, it was only due to early pregnancy and people not knowing anyway.

I agree that something should be done about the doc and will talk to her when she's feeling up to it. Needless to say she's very upset at the moment and her head just isn't in that place yet.

Thanks again

Deb

Toolbag

Sue that mofo doctor for negligence

Victor

Toolbag, please read the charter and only post if you have something constructive to say.

---

OP, you (if it is your place) might want to suggest counselling to your friend, especially given the circumstances.

The Miscarriage Association of Ireland http://www.coombe.ie/mai/index.html

Debracd

Thanks Victor, I'll pass on the info.

The_Conductor

Annie Onymouse wrote:

I'm going to tell her to go into the hospital without referral. I have kids myself and I know the hospitals are great in early pregnancy, but her GP told her not to bother going:eek:

I'm still fuming:mad:

Thanks!

Annie

Try to get a referral- hospitals are mayhem at this time of the year. If her GP is not willing to issue a referral- another one most certainly will be willing to. Having spent 14 hours in A&E because other cases were more serious than me- only to be dealth with immediately and admitted when I finally collapsed- I would have to seriously advise not turning up without a referral.