History knows many examples of how crowned persons, who were required to give birth to an heir to the throne, experienced the syndrome false pregnancy. Doctors point out that this condition is by no means a simulation. It’s just that the body of a woman who, at any cost, needs to become a mother, or she desperately wants it, at some point begins to produce almost the same hormones that are synthesized during pregnancy, forcing the patient to believe that she is expecting a child. This condition requires particularly careful attention on the part of the doctor, including vigilance for the development of uterine tumors.
Why signs of false pregnancy may appear
False pregnancy has long been causing special interest from specialists, since the nature of the development of this syndrome remains not fully understood. The basis of false pregnancy syndrome is psychological problem. Typically, a patient with false pregnancy syndrome is a woman about 40 years old, who for some reason cannot become a mother, but very much dreams about it. Perhaps her relatives or friends are pregnant. Perhaps the woman suffers from repeated miscarriages or has recently lost a child. And sometimes the opposite happens - a woman is very afraid of getting pregnant and does not want it. In any case, against the background of neurosis and unstable psyche, infantile-hysterical psychotype and hypertrophied susceptibility, a cascade of somatic, autonomic and endocrinological disorders develops, leading to the fact that the woman begins to really feel the signs of pregnancy:
- delay of menstruation,
- signs of toxicosis,
- breast engorgement and colostrum secretion,
- abdominal enlargement.
Against the background of heightened emotional experiences, the pituitary gland begins to secrete the same hormones that appear in the body of a pregnant woman (it is surprising that this can happen even with men who strongly empathize with their pregnant wives), which causes sensations very similar to those experienced expectant mother. Even a pregnancy test can show positive results; a woman will feel fetal movement and even false labor contractions.
However, the abdomen increases due to the development of subcutaneous fatty tissue, and the sensation of a moving fetus is caused by increased peristalsis, although the woman believes that she is expecting a child and does not want to hear anything about a false pregnancy.
Medical approach to false pregnancy syndrome
Typically, signs of a false pregnancy persist in a woman for three to a maximum of four months, although there are cases of a patient coming to the maternity hospital with external signs upcoming birth. It is easy to determine a false pregnancy gynecological examination– there are no objective changes in the uterus and vagina; human chorionic gonadotropin is not detected in a urine test. If necessary, an ultrasound or x-ray is performed abdominal cavity to confirm a false pregnancy.
When examining a patient, it is imperative to take into account the possibility of frozen or ectopic pregnancy, as well as tumor processes, the presence of uterine fibroids. As for treatment, a competent explanation from a gynecologist is usually sufficient to eliminate the signs of a false pregnancy. In case of disorders from endocrine system special treatment is prescribed.
Usually, after a woman stops instilling thoughts of pregnancy into her head, her periods are restored and the signs of toxicosis disappear. But often the gynecologist has to work together with a neurologist and psychotherapist if the patient stubbornly refuses to believe in a false pregnancy and is prone to depression. Usually, false pregnancy syndrome does not recur if the patient has gone through this condition once.
Is it possible to understand whether there is a pregnancy or not even before the delay? What about immediately after conception? Are all the stories of “experienced” women who confidently declare that they can name the day and hour when they became pregnant down to the minute true?
Wish - horrible power, and self-hypnosis can move mountains. From “I felt a sharp prick, it was probably the sperm attaching” to “I dreamed of my son and said that he is now with me,” from a wild appetite the day after fateful sex to cramps in the lower abdomen and aching breasts on the eve of the supposed, but never having a period.
The earliest signs of pregnancy: what women talk about
- About three days after conception, I wanted something like that... So I ate salted tomato with a bowl of ice cream. And then I gnawed on some frozen meat. (Olga, 25 years old)
- One morning the smell started to bother me eau de toilette husband Then, after a while, I realized that the night before we had conceived our princess, but then I was not surprised, I have always been sensitive to smells. (Vika, 30 years old)
- I thought I was sick because I was constantly dizzy and wanted to sleep. But after two weeks my period did not start, and I realized that I was just pregnant! (Nastya, 22 years old)
- I’ve never dreamed of fish, but here I just spend the whole night choosing herring, fatty, lightly salted... Of course, after three weeks there’s a delay! I am pregnant! (Ira, 22 years old)
If you think about it, has it ever happened that voracious appetite covered it on its own, without any pregnancy? Did your breasts hurt before your period? Feeling nauseous?
And who remembers dreams if they don’t come true? In fact, few people remember them at all, but what does it sound like “I saw an unborn child in a dream...”
Not all pregnant women experience perversion eating habits, your chest or stomach hurts, but a labile psyche can throw up strange desires and sensations for a woman who is tormenting herself with hope. By the way, how to arrange a delay - as they say, on nerves.
There are no physiological reasons for gluttony, fatigue, drowsiness, hysteria, cramps, dry mouth, chest pain, strange dreams and a million other “first signs of pregnancy before miscarriage”; psychological - as many as you like.
Dreams, premonitions, fortune telling, positive attitudes and pregnancy are something from the realm of the completely unknown and metaphysical, and therefore can lead to hysteria rather than to the maternity hospital. Most often, a woman wants to get pregnant so badly that she is ready to think - or rather, invent - anything.
The very first signs of pregnancy: what doctors think
Of the most early signs pregnancy, even before the first delay, which obstetricians can hardly believe - this is, of course, breast tenderness (although who doesn’t have breast pain on the eve of menstruation?), slight fatigue or anxiety, headache and dizziness, especially if there is a history of neurological problems.
There are cases from practice when so-called fevers on the lips appeared or thrush on the genitals worsened, which can somehow be explained by nerves that have changed hormonal levels and the immune system that responded to it.
Objective reality is cruel: most women begin to suspect that they are pregnant only when their periods do not arrive at the expected time. A pharmacy test usually dispels suspicions and instills confidence, which is then confirmed by the doctor.
And then, at about four weeks, the majority begin to experience very subjective, but still signs of pregnancy:
- breast swelling and tenderness
- increased pigmentation of nipple areolas
- fatigue, tearfulness, drowsiness
- mood swings
- increased appetite and cravings for certain foods
- aversion to foods and smells
- morning sickness (ta-dam!!!)
- bloating and flatulence
- back pain (especially in women with kidney problems)
- frequent urination.
However, modern realities are such that quite a few, especially women who have never given birth before, continue to menstruate in the first trimester. Therefore, pay attention if your period, although it came on time, was unusually pale, short and inexpressive, this may also be a sign of pregnancy.
However, in this case, a pregnancy test may turn out to be uninformative due to certain hormonal characteristics, therefore, in order to dot all the i's, it is better to visit a doctor.
Tamara Rappel
Pregnancy
When you're trying to get pregnant, your patience may not be limitless. You begin to think about the need for infertility treatment.
But, you don’t know that you shouldn’t give up so early.
You've been waiting for this all your life, wanting to become a mother, and it may feel like too much time has passed to make this dream a reality.
While it is no secret that there is an opportunity to do more active actions, and only the most persistent woman will help herself on her way to parenthood.
There are other ways you can help yourself increase your chances of getting the pregnancy you've been waiting for.
We have three of them, we think that you should know about them and will find out by continuing to read this article.
1. Visit your doctor (choose the best one).
When you and your partner are ready to start your family, you must convince yourself to regularly visit your doctor, your assistant, on your path to success.
It is best if in doubt, to immediately consult a gynecologist or reproductive specialist.
You want to give yourself and your partner the best opportunity, the opportunity to get pregnant quickly.
Visiting a doctor will allow you to have full medical control of what is happening to your body. It will be easier for him to find the reason for not getting pregnant.
Your doctor will be able to answer all the questions that concern you. It may give you the answer you've been waiting for. And identify and solve the problem with your body. And finally, point you in the right direction for a healthy pregnancy.
Be sure to write down all your questions to the doctor, all your observations and bring the list with you to each doctor’s appointment and allocate enough time for this for a long time, so that you are not forced to urgently leave during your allotted appointment time.
2. Learn to be in harmony with yourself and your body.
If you take the time ahead of time to get to know your body then you will be able to better determine when you are ready for having a baby.
You will learn to observe your menstrual cycle and track the periods of the best time of conception on the days of ovulation.
It will take time to get to know each other, explore all possible and necessary methods cycle studies available to you to assess your most fertile periods each month.
They may include special “ovulation predictor” devices, a BBT thermometer, etc.
Remember to tell your doctor about your studies of these devices and the results of studies using them. Write everything down.
3. Get rid of bad habits.
You already know that smoking, alcohol and a generally unhealthy lifestyle can affect you and your partner, but don't forget other factors such as stress, anxiety and fatigue, which can also change your chances of getting pregnant.
Tell yourself to relax and have patience, I understand this is easier said than done, but if you and your partner take care of yourself and have a goal of starting a family then no one will stop you.
The most important thing is that you take responsibility one day at a time, taking care of yourself both mentally and physically and allowing the baby to find its way to a wonderful birth for both of you.
Know that you should not start infertility treatment without trying to reorganize your life and try to conceive yourself.
Just recently I encountered a friend of mine’s “immersion” in the “process” of pregnancy, and, you know, I’m a little scared by how unconscious and frivolous the beginning of this process was and how difficult and strange it develops further.
Perhaps the beginning of my article seemed a little intricate and confusing to you, but I think that further everything will be simple and clear. So I mentioned the girl. She is 19 years old. She got married in the summer and is now four months pregnant. From the moment I found out about her physiological state, I began to watch with curiosity the process, as I already said, of her immersion into pregnancy. I will not talk now about the fact that 19 years is quite early, because for each person the age of becoming a mother is different, and this is absolutely not what I want to focus my attention on.
Well, closer to the topic. A girl I know is not stupid, but, in my opinion, she is completely unprepared for pregnancy in moral terms. At first it seemed to me that I was mistaken, but as the changes in her body progressed, I became more and more convinced of this. The person simply made himself believe that he was ready for such an event, but in fact no underlying basis for this existed and does not exist. Almost from the first week of pregnancy, she behaved as if she were sick and not a pregnant woman. She began to see problems, obstacles and everything like that everywhere. But all this is nonsense compared to the fact that she has become terribly fixated on her own condition. She began to invent imaginary health problems. She really began to move barely and said that her whole body hurt terribly. Don’t think, I’m not saying that she was lying, because everything is individual, especially in such an issue as pregnancy, but the fact that this girl really began to come up with unnecessary problems is impossible and pointless to deny.
So, here is the problem that I want to talk about - self-hypnosis, and negative self-hypnosis. Everyone has heard that self-hypnosis can work miracles, and so, in the case of a pregnant woman, self-hypnosis can work not just miracles, but also torment the woman and lead to terrible things. When a person is overly fixated on his health, he constantly provokes himself to illness, purely psychologically, and, as you know, the psychological basis is the reason for quite large quantity all kinds of diseases.
In the case of this girl, such self-hypnosis led to several cases of hospitalization with a threat of miscarriage and exhaustion, which is really scary. It would be wrong to say that the cause of the threat of miscarriage was some kind of mystical self-hypnosis, however, it would be foolish not to take this factor into account.
I brought up this topic because many young women who have never given birth suffer from such stupid thoughts. My dears, you can’t focus so much on your condition, or rather, force yourself to look for some problems, because in this case, in the end, you will find these very problems, only those provoked by you yourself. Are you sure you want this? Hardly. Therefore, finally learn to perceive pregnancy as nothing more than pregnancy. Remember, this is not a disease. Yes, pregnancy requires certain restrictions and monitoring of your health, but only monitoring, and not going crazy on this basis.
In order to be healthy, you need to lead an active lifestyle, albeit within a certain framework of rationalism, eat right and enjoy the world around you. You, young mothers, are required to bear and give birth. healthy child, and not torment yourself and your baby with incomprehensible neuroses based on imaginary problems. Take care of yourself and your unborn child.
Of course, those hormonal “waves” that arise in the body of the expectant mother provoke her to restless thoughts, but this does not mean that you need to constantly be captive of these thoughts. Try to find more useful activity. Read interesting literature, study cuisine, types of handicrafts, design your apartment and create comfort. Engage yourself as much as possible so that there is no room in your life for dark thoughts that can eat you from the inside.
For some reason, expectant mothers often forget their former interests during pregnancy. I think this is wrong, because when, if not during pregnancy, should you do something that brings you positive emotions. And one more question: why do young mothers stop caring for themselves? Like, I'm pregnant, why should I? What nonsense? You future mom, you should radiate light and health, not dullness and hopelessness into this world. Show others how wonderful it is to live in the feeling of the birth of a new life. Finally, fulfill your social role. Be beautiful, cheerful and healthy, don’t think about the bad!
Pregnancy is a miracle for a woman, especially if she really wants a child. However, it also happens that the pregnancy is false. Sometimes this is a manifestation of self-hypnosis, but for the most part it is serious illness female body, writes the website about pregnancy and childbirth https://www.9months.ru.
Concept of false pregnancy
The manifestation of this kind of phenomenon is visually no different from real pregnancy, since the menstrual cycle changes, morning sickness appears, and the stomach can even grow visually. However, the woman is not pregnant. Today, this phenomenon is more characteristic of young women, but there are rare cases in women after old age. Thanks to medicine, there is simple ways determining pregnancy using modern medical equipment.
In medicine, there is recognition of the causes that lead to false pregnancy:
Reasons related to the psychological part of the female consciousness. The phenomenon of self-hypnosis has long been known; it is thanks to this property that a woman feels pregnant and even feels all the symptoms of pregnancy, including hormonal changes in the body.
The reason may lie in the disease of secondary amenorrhea. The disease consists of the absence of menstruation for up to six months.
Stressful situations and rebooting the body. This phenomenon can occur with prolonged physical activity attacks of general fatigue of a physical and psychological type.
Symptoms accompanying false pregnancy are also determined:
- Accompanied by an enlarged abdomen and a woman’s weight gain;
- Lack of menstruation;
- General weakness;
- gag reflexes;
- Nausea;
- Accompanied by sudden mood swings;
- General irritability;
- Taste preferences change;
- The woman may feel slight movements of the imaginary child;
- Accompanied by a positive test.
Treatment of the phenomenon of false pregnancy
In conditions modern medicine, the ability to determine a false pregnancy is quickly and effectively revealed by ultrasound or ECG; as a result of these tests, it is possible to obtain an accurate answer to the question of pregnancy. It is also possible to use a pregnancy test, but in this case it may not show 100% results.
When the first symptoms of pregnancy appear, you should immediately consult a specialist. The gynecologist must conduct a full examination and establish a diagnosis. If the diagnosis is that the woman is not pregnant, then upon hearing the doctor’s diagnosis, the imaginary pregnancy ends. When truthful information is realized as a result of the examination, self-hypnosis loses its power in the woman’s subconscious.
Treatment for false pregnancy usually involves a prescribed course of treatment with the help of a psychotherapist. The specialist prescribes sedatives medicines, as well as a course of visiting a psychotherapist. The duration of treatment is individual for each woman, since the psyche is a serious aspect for the life of the body.
