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Dr. Szmuc discusses what a woman should do if she resumes her menstrual cycle after a positive home pregnancy test and explains if spotting during pregnancy is common.
Dr. Szmuc:
If those symptoms occur you want to come into the office and get seen. The initial risk we think about is are you threatening to have a miscarriage. The other risk is, are you having perhaps an ectopic or tubal pregnancy.
So we want you to come in the office, separate out those issues, get some more blood work, perhaps get an ultrasound and give you some activity restrictions if we need to at that point.
If you have cramping, whether you are bleeding or not bleeding, we always want to know about it. Cramping is typically very common in the first trimester but we want to know if there’s other symptoms associated with that.
Is the cramping on one side or the other? Do you have burning with urination? Are you having constipation? Those issues we would like to separate out and make sure we give you a treatment regimen that’s appropriate.
Spotting in pregnancy is never normal. However, we see it a lot. In the first trimester we see it as the placenta implants, for instance. That’s a common normal time to see spotting. However, it can also be an indication of a threatened miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy.
By second trimester, it’s very unusual to see spotting and if we do, perhaps we have to figure out where the placenta location is. If we see spotting or bleeding in the third trimester that definitely has to be investigated.
We want to look for things like placenta location. We want to see if the placenta is starting to loosen up from the wall of the uterus so that does need to be investigated.
About Dr. Edward D. Szmuc, M.D., F.A.C.O.G.:
Dr. Edward D. Szmuc, M.D., F.A.C.O.G., is board certified with the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and is a Fellow of American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He is Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Banner Desert Medical Center in Tempe, Arizona. Dr. Szmuc earned his M.D. from the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo and completed his residency at Boston University School of Medicine in Massachusetts.