A
female
age
26-29,
anonymous
writes:this is a kind of medical question so i only really want to know if its possible. so basically in early January my sister told me she had just miscarried at 3 and half months. however since then she has yet to get her period. she also has gained around half a stone (6-8lbs) since i guess december and her belly is always bloated. she does however eat very badly- a lot of carbs and fatty sugary things. overall im wondering if she is in fact still pregnant. in February she had to have a blood test taken for a general reason and want to know if a pregnancy would show up and then if the doctors would say? she would be coming up to 6 months now if she is so im worried. i do plan on talking to her but first would want to know if the blood test could of showed it in case she just thinks im attacking her about her body. thank you!
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female
reader, So_Very_Confused  +, writes (18 March 2014):
 so let me see if I have this right
your sister ASSUMED she was pregnant. IF she took a home pregnancy test, that still has to be confirmed by a doctor.
then she got a ONE day spotting/bleeding incident so the woman who ASSUMED she was pregnant, assumed she has a miscarriage due to one day of bleeding..
unless the doctors KNOW to test for pregnancy then a blood test would NOT show up.
Your sister may be mistaken that she was pregnant at all. Hormones can be influenced by things like tumors or cancer too. (and yes I say this to scare you deeply)
your sister needs to see an ob/gyn or her medical doctor ASAP to figure out what is going on.
it's possible she never was pregnant.
it's possible she's still pregnant
it's possible she has something else going on.
ONLY a medical doctor can make the determination.
A
female
reader, Honeypie + ♥, writes (17 March 2014):
 So she guess that she miscarried basically?
A blood test for iron deficiency doesn't show anything about pregnancy hormones. The doctor would LOOK specifically for the HCG in the blood.
And you (she) can not assume that having/not having her period is always about being pregnant.
She really NEEDS to take herself to the doctor and LET the doctor know that she THINKS she miscarried.
IF she is anemic (iron deficient) AND pregnant - she really need to start on some prenatal care with added iron. Anemia can lead to heart problems and various growth problem for the baby.
Better safe then sorry.
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A
female
reader, Marilissa75 +, writes (17 March 2014):
 Encourage her to go to the doctor for lack of a period. The hcg hormone is tested by taking a blood sample. It is present during pregnancy and the levels can point to whether it is a normal pregnancy. It is also present for quite a while after a miscarriage so she will need a regular pelvic exam as well as an ultrasound. There may be an endocrine disorder also. Just let her know you are concerned about her health and ask her to go to a doctor. You can do it tactfully without mentioning the weight gain.
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A
reader, anonymous, writes (17 March 2014): http://americanpregnancy.org/gettingpregnant/understandpregnancytests.html
A blood test checking for the pregnancy hormone: hcg will show more conclusively if she is still pregnant and so would an ultrasound. Why don't you ask her and suggest that she might to do both? You can just google these questions and find answers online pretty easily. How did she test for her pregnancy? Is she sure she was actually pregnant? She should go to doctor about the missed periods anyway.
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A
female
reader, chigirl  +, writes (16 March 2014):
 She needs to go see her doctor. I am quite surprised and amazed that she hasn't seen her doctor about this at any point. Is it difficult to see a doctor where you live? Do they cost too much? Is there something preventing her from seeing her doctor? Firstly she should have gone to her doctor as soon as she knew she was pregnant. Second, she should have rushed there once she thought she had a miscarriage. Like said previously, she could be in need of medical assistance to remove everything or she could get an infection or blood poisoning or worse.
She needs to see her doctor about this and tell him/her about what happened, or what she THOUGHT happened. Because if she didn't get it confirmed that she was pregnant, and she didn't get it confirmed that she had a miscarriage, there could be all sorts of things wrong. Missing your period is not a sign of pregnancy, really, it is a sign of a change in the body. And that change could be a pregnancy, yes, but it could just as well be any other number of illness or medical problem.
She needs to go see her doctor. Soon.
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female
reader, Tisha-1 +, writes (16 March 2014):
 I just saw your follow up. If she didn't see her doctor and hasn't had a period in 2 months then something's changed. Time to see her doctor!
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female
reader, Tisha-1 +, writes (16 March 2014):
A "general" blood test wouldn't automatically test for pregnancy. Otherwise, there would be a lot of wasted time in labs doing tests for pregnancy on males, menopausal women and other populations unlikely to become pregnant.
The question to ask is if she saw her doctor after she miscarried. If yes, then things should have been dealt with appropriately. If not, then you can suggest your theory.
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reader, anonymous, writes (16 March 2014): This is verified as being by the original poster of the questionthanks for all your answers, its really helpful! I dont actually know all the details just that she said she miscarried and hasnt got her period since and didnt go to see the doctor at any point about her pregnancy. and so i dont know how she found out she was pregnant etc just that she started to bleed like a regular for a day then dropped. sorry tmi but just saying everything i know. but do you think that if the doctors had seen anything they would have said even if they hadnt be informed about it about- her blood test was for iron deficiency. shes not overweight btw with the gain she weighs like 134 just aint the healthiest eater.
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female
reader, like I see it +, writes (16 March 2014):
 If your sister saw a doctor after the miscarriage I'm sure they informed her of any potential complications or things to watch out for.
Is she older or younger than you? I ask because if she's legally an adult she can probably be trusted to follow up with a doctor on anything that concerns her without any prompting.
Also - did she actually tell you she hasn't gotten a period yet or are you guessing? It seems an odd thing to share. At any rate, from what I have read it's not uncommon for a gap of six weeks or so to exist between the date of a miscarriage and the next menstrual period. Multiple medical and parenting websites give the "usual" time frame as about four weeks between miscarriage and the next ovulation, followed by the typical two weeks or so between ovulation and menstruation.
If your sister does not get a period SOON that may be cause for additional follow-up, but for now what you have reported does not sound too out-of-the-ordinary.
Given that the loss of a baby itself is a sensitive subject already, I'd strongly advise against bringing her weight into the mix. On their BEST day most people don't like to be reminded they look heavy, and unless your sister was very overweight to begin with it's very difficult for me to believe she hasn't noticed the weight gain on her own. I'd be willing to bet the extra weight is due to emotional "comfort eating" patterns involving a diet that sounds like it wasn't very healthy to begin with.
It's very clear you care about your sister's well-being and have good intentions but I think bringing this up to her has the potential to cause a lot of additional pain - especially when she relives the miscarriage in her mind, wondering if there is possibly a way that after whatever she saw she is still pregnant. If you do decide you must broach this subject with her, please do so with extreme gentleness.
Best wishes.
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A
female
reader, Honeypie + ♥, writes (16 March 2014):
Has she been to see her doctor in JANUARY? When she thought she miscarried? Because I had what I "thought" were my periods throughout my 2rd and 3rd pregnancy. Only reason I knew I was pregnant with #2 was because she started to kick and I had contractions from around the 4th month.
UNLESS she saw a doctor when she has the miscarriage and had tests done ( sometimes when you have a miscarriage you need a D&C - basically your uterus lining scraped because there can be bit left behind that can lead to infection/sepsis.) So "thinking" oh all this blood MUST be an miscarriage is wrong. It's ALWAYS wise to go see a doctor.
The weight gain could be from the pregnancy hormones and from the loss of the baby. It is not ALWAYS an indicator of being pregnant.
But in short YES a blood-test can confirm if she is still pregnant or if she is no longer pregnant.
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female
reader, chigirl +, writes (16 March 2014):
If she had a miscarriage how can you be unsure if she's still pregnant or not? When she had a miscarriage and the fetus came out of her body, did she not go see her doctor? What exactly did she do, flush it down the toilet and then went on about her day?
I think she should ask her doctor these things, if she worries about the miscarriage not having been a miscarriage after all. A pregnancy will not show up on blood tests unless the doctors test for it specifically.
Her not having had her period is not an indicator of pregnancy in itself. Gaining weight could also come from many things. I don't think you have to worry, if she had a miscarriage she had a miscarriage. If she worries that she might be mistaken, and that she in fact did not have a miscarriage, then her doctor would have been able to inform her of this several months ago.
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female
reader, aunt honesty  +, writes (16 March 2014):
 The blood test was taking in February roughly around a month after she miscarried therefore her hormones would have still been flying around her body and it could lead to inconclusive results.
If she has yet to get her period then the best option for her would be to go the doctor and see what they have to say although this could just take some time to settle down. The weight gain could be caused from the food she is eating. If she miscarried then I think its best not to ask her if she still feels she is pregnant as this could upset her greatly.
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