HCG Levels, question *update in comments*
For those who have had miscarriages, how long did it take your hcg levels to fall to zero? And/or have a negative HPT? Anyone experience positives as far out as five weeks past miscarriage?
Comments
@mrsrobbins6113 @angel26
Mar 28, 2011 | By Suzanne Robin
Human chorionic gonadotropin, also called hCG, tests the amount of the hormone produced by the placenta in early pregnancy. In a healthy pregnancy, hCG levels rise in a relatively predictable pattern, doubling every 48 to 72 hours, although initial hCG levels at the first pregnancy test, around the time of the first missed period, can vary considerably. In a pregnancy destined to end in miscarriage, hCG levels normally do not rise appropriately. After a miscarriage, the time for hCG levels to return to pre-pregnancy levels can vary.
LEVELS AT THE TIME OF MISCARRIAGE
Levels of hCG at the time of miscarriage vary depending on how long the pregnancy continued. For example,hCG levels at six weeks, two weeks after the first missed period, average between 1,080 mIU/mL and 56,500 mIU/mL, according to the American Pregnancy Association. The higher the hCG levels, the longer it will take for levels to return to normal after a miscarriage.
RETURN TO NORMAL
After miscarriage, the placental tissue detaches or is removed via a surgical dilatation and curettage. Since the placenta isn't putting out hCG, hCG levels will eventually drop to less than 5mIU/mL, considered a negative hCG. HCG levels normally return to negative levels by four to six weeks after a miscarriage, the American Pregnancy Association explains.
CONCERNS
When hCG levels continue to rise or don't fall appropriately after miscarriage, it's important that the reason is found. Choriocarcinoma occurs when placental root cells continue to grow after the end of a pregnancy during miscarriage or normal delivery. Persistent gestational trophoblastic disease occurs after a molar pregnancy, and occurs in 10 percent of cases after molar removal and can cause continued rises in hCG. Chemotherapy can cure choriocarcinoma in 80 to 90 percent of cases if begun promptly, according to the University of New Mexico and also has a high cure rate in molar pregnancy, according to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. If you get pregnant at the same time with a pregnancy in the uterus and also an ectopic pregnancy, a pregnancy outside the uterus, usually in the fallopian tubes, your hCG levels could continue to rise after the uterine pregnancy miscarried. Ectopic pregnancies in the tubes cannot continue to term and must be treated with surgery or with medicine to dissolve the pregnancy. Concurrent intrauterine and extrauterine pregnancies may occur as often as one in 4,000 pregnancies, according to an article in the May-June 1985 issue of "Acta Europaea Fertilitatis" by researchers from Tel Aviv University.
GETTING PREGNANT AGAIN
It's possible to get pregnant fairly quickly after a miscarriage. Normally, your next period will occur within four to six weeks, but in rare cases, ovulation may occur sooner, as
soon as two weeks after a very early miscarriage, according to ACOG. If you get pregnant within a month after a miscarriage, your hCG levels might fall nearly to normal levels and then begin to rise again from a new pregnancy.
@everyone, thanks for the info and responses. Hard to tag from my phone!