What the test shows for a frozen pregnancy?

Being pregnant when it’s frozen can be a confusing and painful experience. This refers to a state in which the fetus has stopped growing but has not yet been eliminated by the body. Women who experience this might not always recognize it immediately because there might not be many or any noticeable symptoms.

Medical testing is necessary in these situations to confirm the diagnosis. In order to provide answers when there are suspicions of a frozen pregnancy, doctors usually perform multiple tests. Knowing what these tests reveal can help clarify a complex situation and direct subsequent actions.

About pathology

Pregnancy that is frozen or not progressing is one type of miscarriage. Sadly, with this diagnosis, there is no chance to save the fetus. One of two procedures is used to clean the uterus: surgery or medical abortion induction. Most often, women who are expecting their first child after turning thirty experience an abnormal halt to the fetus’s growth and development. Most often, women over 40 are more prone to pathology.

It is thought that in older pregnant women, the baby’s development may stop due to unsteady hormone levels, infections, and past abortions and deliveries.

Obstetricians report that most pregnancies end at 3–4 and 8–11 weeks. The most significant anatomical features of the baby develop during this stage of gestation, and the embryo is highly susceptible to both internal and external stimuli. Experts have not yet been able to determine what is associated with 16–18 weeks, which is another dangerous period in terms of the likelihood of fetal freezing. For a woman, a frozen pregnancy carries risks. Not only is this a severe psychological trauma, particularly if the child was long-desired and expected, but it also poses a risk to the woman’s physical health since sepsis could develop and she might not survive.

Blood thins inside the vessels in a dangerous syndrome that can happen if the dead fetus stays in the uterus for longer than a month and a half and is not rejected by the woman’s body. Furthermore, the woman directly faces the risk of dying as a result of the bleeding that results from rejecting the dead fetus.

If the fetus has stopped developing and is no longer viable, a test for a frozen pregnancy, such as an ultrasound or hormone level check, helps confirm this. Reduced hormone levels and the absence of a heartbeat are common symptoms. Receiving the required medical attention and assistance depends on early detection.

Causes of occurrence

The reasons why the baby"s development stops are numerous and varied. Many have not been fully studied, and it is not always possible to establish the true causes of what happened. Often, the prerequisites are created by the active female immune system, which regards the fetus as a foreign object and tries to reject it, which ultimately happens. In seven out of ten cases, the cause lies in some genetic, chromosomal abnormalities of the fetus. They interfere with the normal formation of organs, defects are laid in the fetus, which are often incompatible not only with life after birth, but also with further intrauterine growth. It has been noted that in most cases, genetic abnormalities stop the development of the baby at 7-8 and 8-9 weeks of pregnancy, but this can happen earlier.

A hormonal imbalance in the mother could be the cause of the child’s development stopping (with an increase in androgens, for example, such a threat is very likely). Any infection, including the flu and acute respiratory viral infections, can be fatal. This includes infections contracted through sexual contact as well. Although the virus cannot kill the child by itself, it can raise body temperature and induce intoxication, which can pose a fatal risk to the unborn child. Particularly risky are TORCH infections, which include herpes, cytomegalovirus, and rubella. The infections that cause these illnesses cause severe developmental abnormalities even if they do not kill the infant by destroying its central nervous system.

Frozen pregnancies can result from disorders of the developing placenta. A pregnant woman’s poor nutrition, ongoing stress, emotional stress, alcoholism, smoking, past abortions, and instances of dead baby births are additional risk factors.

Symptoms

There are no distinct symptoms associated with the pathology. Early pregnancy loss may be indicated by a drop in basal temperature, the absence of pregnancy symptoms like toxicosis, or tension in the mammary glands. The body starts to reject the fetus two to three weeks after the baby dies, if not sooner. This is accompanied by fever, chills, the formation of bloody discharge from the genital tract, and a persistent pain that starts in the lower back and lower abdomen and eventually becomes cramping.

A frozen pregnancy test is not always a good predictor. Although positive results from at-home pregnancy tests are still possible, they cannot determine whether the pregnancy has ended.

It’s critical to see a physician in order to receive an accurate diagnosis. The most trustworthy methods to determine whether the pregnancy is continuing or has ended are an ultrasound and blood tests.

Please don’t hesitate to seek advice from a healthcare provider if you have any questions or notice any unusual symptoms, such as a sudden loss of pregnancy signs.

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