Majority of us have not heard of the molar pregnancy and it is not a common complication related to pregnancy. It is a rare condition that happens once in about 1,000 pregnancies. Also referred to as hydatidiform mole, it can take a couple of various forms and, unfortunately, neither of pregnancies can continue.
Loss of pregnancy is always tricky, even if it is in the early stage.
What is a Molar Pregnancy?
This is an unusual pregnancy complication distinguished by abnormal trophoblasts growth, the cells that develop and grows into the placenta. There are two kinds of hydatidiform mole.
- In a partial molar pregnancy, the egg is fertilized with two sperms, bringing about an extra set of the father’s chromosomes. There is a formation of the fetus that can’t survive.
- In a complete molar, the embryo does not develop. As a substitute a single sperm fertilizes an empty, abnormal egg with no genetic information, hence all the genetic data comes from the father. The fertilized egg looks like a cluster and grows into a lump of tissue in the uterus.
Why Do Molar Pregnancies Happen?
A molar pregnancy is not a result of anything your partner or you do.
The risk factors include age (younger than 20/order than 35 years) you are more predisposed to a molar pregnancy. And medical history; if you have molar pregnancies in the past, you’ll likely to see a genetic doctor for testing. Most of the molar pregnancies are sporadic, meaning they happen for no known reason and can’t be in the line of genetics. This condition is twice more likely to occur to women of Asian origin.
Common Symptoms Of a Molar Pregnancy
The symptoms may include vomiting, severe nausea, passing of grape-like cysts from the vagina, pelvic pain or pressure and dark brown to bright red vaginal bleeding in the first trimester; and absence of fetal tissue or embryonic (seen on ultrasound), doughy uterus, unexplained weight loss, and ovarian cysts.
Can a Molar Pregnancy Be Treated?
Treatment involves medication for a few months to destroy the abnormal cell: tablets of folinic acid drugs and injections of methotrexate.
Usually, a diagnosis includes a combination of both serum quantitative human chorionic gonadotropin blood test and an ultrasound. The HCG test will show the abnormal pregnancy-related hormones is excess than the required amounts and ultrasound will show an abnormal pregnancy, and the treatment options are dilation and curettage, a day surgery with a general anesthetic where removal of the irregular tissue in the uterus takes place. The membrane tissue is confirmed for diagnosis with a weekly blood-work to monitor HCG levels. Once the evacuation of the uterus happens, the HCG amounts will reduce until they are undetectable; this typically takes about six months.
With treatment, about 100 percent of the women are cured.
Is There a Possibility of a Molar Pregnancy to Survive?
No. the condition has a wrong balance or number of chromosomes, and it cannot survive.
What Are The Potential Complications?
In case the blood-test indicates that HCG levels are not going down, the diagnosis shifts to an invasive mole where the molar tissue remains in the body to develop. It happens in about 15-20 percent of all the complete molar pregnancies and approximately five percent of the partial molar pregnancies. This is a persistent gestational trophoblastic neoplasia, which is treated with a second operation to remove the tissue again. If the cell continues growing it is considered to be cancer. Yes, this sounds scary, but the good news is that the majority of pregnant mothers have a curable disease. it will be treated with single chemotherapy round and cured. Understandably, molar pregnancy is a stressful and depressing experience.
Most pregnant women who experience this condition will conceive and deliver healthy babies if they get pregnant again. Molar pregnancy is mostly sporadic and unlikely to repeat.
Is The condition The same As a Miscarriage?
It is not quite the same as a miscarriage. While the causes of miscarriage are mostly chromosomal abnormalities, this condition occurs because of a problem with the development of the placenta. It’s unfortunate in both scenarios; there’s a loss in pregnancy.
Prevention
If you have experienced a molar pregnancy, consult your pregnancy care provider before conceiving again. He may recommend waiting for at least six months before getting pregnant. The recurrence risk is low but much higher than the risk in women without previous molar history.
During subsequent pregnancies, ultrasounds monitor the condition and reassure the healthy growth. The health provider will discuss prenatal genetic testing to diagnose a molar pregnancy.
How You Are Likely To Feel About a Molar Pregnancy
Though miscarriage is distressing, a molar pregnancy often brings anxieties and shocks over many months. To patiently wait for a confirmation that abnormal molar cell is eliminated and the pregnancy hormones are regulated to normalcy will make you feel like you are in limbo. You may not be in a position to grieve appropriately for losing your pregnancy. The procedure to find out the progress by each stage can be like a series of blow and the weight to conceive again is stressful.
Sex And Contraception After a Molar pregnancy
You engage in sex as soon as you are emotionally and physically ready. However, if you have bleeding after treatment don’t practice sex until bleeding stops.
Use contraceptives until your health care provider confirms it is safe again to get pregnant. You can use any type of contraception except implants that are inserted in the womb, which can only function when the HCG levels have returned to normal.
More Support And Information
Coping: a molar pregnancy may involve similar stages of grief as any other miscarriage, but like ectopic it is potentially dangerous. Grieving can be both a relief that a life-threatening condition was noted and a feeling of sorrow in the sense that you have lost a baby to be.
You’ll hear comments in the line of “at least it was not a real baby, or “at least they detected it in time,“ however, it is entirely okay to grieve and be sad. Ensure you reach out to support groups and other resource centers to help you in the process.
It will be helpful to:
Contact support groups like the MyMolarPregnancy.com or Molar Pregnancy Support Group. They will put you in touch with patients in similar situations.
Consult your care provider team what support is available. They’re likely to refer you a molar pregnant specialized counselor.
Talk to your friends, partner or family about how you feel.
