Phantom Pregnancy???

In 1961 I had the same thing happen to me, but I wasn't taking any fertility drugs. It seems I wanted to be pregnant so badly, my body believed it too. They gave me the "frog test" and it showed I really wasn't pregnant even though I had morning sickness and the whole bit. At that time, they called it a "phantom pregnancy" and didn't do anything about it. I got pregnant for real not much longer after that, but I know how you feel. It was really rare at that time which didn't make me feel any better. Don't fret, this too shall pass!!!!!!

Hi J.,I had a similiar experience 9 years ago...I went to the doctor for a routine exam and discovered I was pregnant. I hadn't had ANY symptoms, NONE and the reason why is the pregnancy was a blighted ovum. There was a sac, but no fetus. The doctor didn't hear a heartbeat at 11 weeks and sent me for an ultrasound where we discovered the empty sac. I had the option of doing a D&C or letting my body take care of it naturally. I went with the latter and nearly died of hemmoraging (spelling?) Anyway all is fine. I Became pregnant again shortly there after and now have a beautiful Leap day girl! She will be 8 or 2 next month!

A.

My mom actually had this condition. It's called blighted ovum. She was diagnosed by an ultrasound because the doctor could clearly see that there was no baby inside of her uterus, even though the uterus grew just like there was a baby inside. Here are some links:

http://www.misdiagnosedmiscarriage.com/blightedovum.html
http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/b...

My prayers and heart go out to you and your family. It was tough for me and my younger sister to understand why our baby brother or sister was taken away from us at first, but my mom was really kind and caring, explained it to us in terms we could understand at our different ages of 12 and 5, and took me to talk to our pastors at church about it to have outside support. With time and understanding, it was eventually OK. The good thing is that your girls had each other. Growing up, my sister and I were so glad that we had each other that the miscarriage was no big deal.

Don't beat yourself up for telling your girls about your pregnancy! I think it's very positive to share good news with your children. It's much more important for your children to see the genuine you working through your problems in life than trying to shelter them from every issue. Seeing how you and your husband work through it as a family unit will be invaluable experience for them and only make you stronger!

Hi J.,

I am a 40yr old SAHM wiht a just turning-one year old. I had three miscarriages before I had my daughter. The first preg. lasted 11 weeks. (i saw the baby on an ultra sound). The second preg. was what the doctor called a Blighted Ovum. I believe that is what you experienced. I had the sack and all of the sickness, and symptoms of pregnancy but the sack was empty. There was no fetus. I found some information about it when I surfed the internet. If you look up the term "blighted Ovum" you might find more information.
This link from Baby Center.com might help.

http://www.babycenter.com/0_blighted-ovum-early-pregnancy...

The great news is that is should not affect your ability to get pregnant and have another baby.

I did have one more miscarriage after the Blighted ovum but I was only pregnant for a couple weeks. 4 months later I got pregnant with my BEAUTIFUL daughter. Of course we named her Grace.

Hope this helps.

I had what I think you are describing, a blighted ovum, 14 years ago, before the birth of my 3 boys. The doctor had to do a DNC to remove whatever was forming in my uterus, that was NOT a baby. It was an emotional time, but I did learn not to tell anyone about future pregnancies until we were into the 2nd trimester. My next 3 pregnancies were without any issues, so you will probably be fine as well. There were issues with the prenancy, or lack of it, but your body only "sort of" knew that, that is why you had other pregnancy-like symptoms. You can just let your daughter know you THOUGHT there was a baby in there, but there wasn't and hopefully soon again there will be. Or, you can tell her there was something VERY wrong with the baby, and it died before it could come out?!?! You will surely find the right approach.
I hope you feel well and back to normal soon!

Hi J.,
I am so sorry to hear of your recent loss. How is your body getting back to a regular cycle? I work closely with women who are trying to conceive. Most of these women have had fertility issues, struggled with getting pregnant and have irratic hormone levels.
I would love to share with you the work I do with women. I am a Clinical Herbalist practicing for over 9 years and specialize in a form of Mayan abdominal and Uterine massage. I have had 100% success with the families that work with me, even women who are older (40's).
I specialize in fertility and women's reproductive health. My company is "Holistic Pathways" Located at 910 Clarkson St. in Denver. The phone number is ###-###-####. I would love to help you get your body back to a healthy state, safely and quickly so that you may start trying to get pregnant again. Be Well. L. Golub

My sister has had 2 molar pregnancys and had to go for weekly blood tests until her levels went back to normal.Your situation sound similar to her story. if this is what you had you should definantly research it more.
Hope all is well!

what i've seen about a phantom pg leads me to think that it isn't what you had.

it is possible you had a "chemical pg" or a "blighted ovum" or even a "missed miscarriage." phantom pgs tend to be all kinds of symptoms EXCEPT a positive test result. you had a positive test. that says you were actually pg. simple bloodtests don't always tell the whole story, and i'm a bit surprised that your doctor hasn't already done an ultrasound.

a blighted ovum (you can look it up online) doesn't ever produce a viable embryo or fetus and can stick around for several months before your body finally miscarries. it isn't the baby that produces HCG or progesterone, it is the sac and/or the placenta. you can either wait it out or have a d&c.

a missed miscarriage is best described as an incomplete miscarriage where enough of the placenta and sac are left behind to make your body think you are still pg, but you aren't. that is usually remedied by a d&c.

i agree, you should ask for an ultrasound. progesterone won't bring on your period, only delay it longer. until the placenta and sac are removed your body won't get the hint that there isn't a pregnancy in progress. look up the other possibilities online then go back and talk to your doctor.

hope this helps. it wasn't all in your mind! and it is inaccurate for your doctor to call it a phantom pg, when it wasn't.

I have heard of this condition. It occurs when a woman desire to be pregnant is so strong her body convinces itself that it is pregnant when it is in fact not. I don't rememeber the name of the condition though.

My advice for you is to try your best to relax as you keep trying to have more children. Yes, I know this is hard to do. Stressing about getting pregnant only makes it more difficult to concieve. It took us a little while to concieve our second child, so I know how diffcult it can be.

The mind is very powerful. This is simply a case where your desire to have another child created the image of this inside your body. There is a saying that "Energy flows where the thoughts go."

I actually might be able to help w/ your infertility. Call my office at ###-###-####.

I actually had one about 2 years ago. I was not given any drugs to get back on a period; however I did have a DNC. I was also worried about being able to have a baby, especially since I had a miscarriage 5 months before I went through the "Phantom Pregnancy". I was not given much information on it, the only thing that I understood was that my body thought that I was pregnant, but was not producing a baby. I was so excited when 6 months later I found out that I was pregnant. This time I didn't tell anyone about it until I knew that I was past the critical time. With the last 2 pregnancies we found out at 10 weeks that I was not going to be having a baby. So I waited until about 20 weeks before telling anyone. I now have a 14 month old daughter.

Its called a blighted ovum. I had one about 2 years ago. I "carried" for nearly 10 weeks before they found it. It was the day before Thanksgiving and they didn't want me to "miscarry" over the holiday so I was given a DNC in the office. It sucked! My doctor told me it happens in as many as 30% of pregnancies but most of the time goes unnoticed because the body will purge the confusion before anyone notices. I am sorry for your confusion...but know that you aren't alone. My doctor told me that it is NOT a reason to not keep trying for another...but naturally we have been gun shy...the DNC was a little traumatic. But, keep trying if you want another, with everything in life there is no guarantee but know that EVERYTHING happens for a reason!

I'm not sure quite what all of that means, either. However, I had a blighted ovum in 2003. That means that I got pregnant, but no baby developed in the womb. My stomach grew and everything! At 10 weeks, the pregnancy naturally terminated, and I started bleeding at 12 weeks.
It was so very hard, and you have my thoughts and prayers in your sorrow.
The good news is that I'd had a previous child, and I've had two more since. I think that your infertility adds an additional pain to your situation.
Take care of yourself, and I hope that you are able to get pregnant again, soon.

This has not happened to me personally but a friend of a friend. The described it the same as you. They were 12 weeks into it and went in for an ultrasound to find the sac (??? I am sure that is not the right name) however no baby inside. There was a placenta and everything and one of the items that was there was what secretes the pregnancy hormones, telling the body it is pregnant.

Hi J.,
I am sorry to hear about your loss and situation. I went through a similar experience, somewhat, a year ago. I took a pregnancy test which showed I was pregnant and a few days later, I started spotting and a few days after that, I started bleeding heavily. My doctor had me come in for blood work to check my hormone levels and they were low. We assumed I would miscarry on my own. The bleeding stopped after a few days and they had me take blood again but my level were higher than the first time but not high enough to show a viable pregnancy. I bled on and off, not heavily, for a month and my doctor kept having me come back to check my levels. Sometimes they would be up somewhat and sometimes they would go down. It was very bizarre. Finally they sent me for an ultrasound which showed signs of pregnancy in my uterus and I had a DNC. It was a very stressful month. Not knowing what exactly was going on with my body was very scary. Have you asked for an ultrasound? That would be my next step. There as also a lot of old blood trapped in one of my fallopian tubes and the doctor thought it looked like it could be a tubal pregnancy so he removed the tube which was a total shock when I woke up from my surgery. We never discussed that possibility. I am telling you that part because I feared I would never get pregnant again with only one tube. Plus I am 36 years old. Needless to say, all this happened a year ago and I am 6 and half months pregnant now. Try not to worry about not being able to get pregnant again. It will happen. Just be sure to give your body the time it needs to heal from this ordeal once you figure out what is going on. Good luck.

hi J. ,sorry to hear about your loss...yes it could be a blighted ovum, it could be a pseudo pregnancy .. and its possible that you were pregnant and had a misscariage ,but some times body takes longer period to get back to normal... hang on there, every thing will be ok... good luck.

You were pregnant, but there was something wrong with how your body was handling it. Happened to me too, and a friend of mine. Lots of bloodwork, with lots of concern about HCG levels. I lost mine around 11 weeks, my friend after 3 1/2 months. The good thing is that you CAN get pregnant, and probably will again soon. Sometimes, it's like riding a bike, and your body is like, "Oh! Right! This is how we do this." This is our 3rd as well. Hang in there. :D

J., about 3 years ago my husband and I found out that we were going to have a baby our third, we were so excited . I was about 5 weeks along and had some cramping and some bleeding so I went to the hospital right away and they found no heart beat when they did the ultrasound so they told me to go to my O.B. Dr. so I did, I found out that I had a Molar Pregnancy which everything grows like you are pregnant everything but a baby, I had every sign.I did a lot of research and the Dr. told me I needed a D & C so I had one but then I had to not get pregnant for one year and I had to see a Cancer Dr. and get blood test monthly to make sure I wasn't getting Cancer. I am not sure if this is the same thing that you have gone threw, but done get discouraged I now have a 15mo. baby boy.
Good Luck and I will keep you in my prayers.