Pregnancy is a time when women need to be extra cautious and aware of the warning signals that spell danger. This is especially true during the first trimester, when even a simple act can lead to a disastrous miscarriage. All women must therefore make themselves acquainted with the warning signs and ensure that they report any abnormal signals to the doctor in order to prevent complications. Below are some first trimester warning bells you need to be aware of.
First Trimester Warning Signs Never to be Ignored
1. Vaginal bleeding
While spotting of some sort is common, heavy bleeding accompanied by abdominal cramps, contractions and bright red blood, spells danger as you could be going into a miscarriage. If it is darker and thicker blood, it could be blood that was trapped in your body due to an old wound. But considerable bleeding of all kinds, even if it is not accompanied by any other symptom, requires immediate medical attention to rule out complications. Your doctor might examine your abdomen and pelvic area and might suggest an ultrasound for further checkups.
2. Severe vomiting and nausea
Nausea and vomiting is very common during the first trimester due to the hormonal changes in the body. However, if they are so severe that you cannot even get up, eat or do your daily chores, it is time to report to a doctor, as severe dehydration, loss of weight and electrolyte imbalance could lead to dangerous consequences, replenishing important nutrients from your body and leading to slow growth of your fetus as well. Medications can keep the nausea under control.
3. High fever
High fever is another symptom that women must be cautious against. Any fever that runs above 101 degrees Fahrenheit can be caused due to swine flu and infections caused by toxoplasma, cytomegalovirus or parvovirus. It could lead to birth defects in the fetus. Therefore, any unnatural symptom like a flu, body pain, rashes or joint pain must be reported to the doctor and medications taken for suppressing the infection.
4. Vaginal itching and abnormal discharge
Sexually transmitted diseases like Chlamydia, syphilis etc. can affect pregnant women as well and can get transferred to the fetus. It can also be due to urinary tract infections, yeast infections, bacterial vaginosis etc. Infections of these kinds can even lead to premature deliveries and hence must be treated on time. Report all the symptoms to the gynecologist to help her pinpoint the problem and provide adequate treatment.
5. Lower abdominal pain and burning sensation
During pregnancy, the chances of contracting Urinary Tract Infection become many fold as the uterus exerts pressure on the bladder, making complete urination difficult. If you have burning sensation along with lower back and abdominal pain and fever, chills and nausea, it could be a classic case of urinary tract infection (UTI) during pregnancy. Such infections must be taken care of at the early stage as it can lead to high blood pressure and pre term deliveries. The doctor will suggest antibiotics to take care of UTIs. You can also resort to some natural methods like taking cranberry juice, drinking plenty of water etc. to keep UTIs at bay.
6. Leg pain/swelling on the legs and severe headaches
While you are pregnant, things are never going to be easy. There would be one symptom after the other, troubling you throughout the entire phase. When you are pregnant, your chances of hyper coagulation or formation of blood clots in the brain or lower extremity is high. Blood clots that can form in the calf can travel up to the lungs and cause your life. The symptoms will be swelling and pain in the leg.
Clot formation in the brain will have accompanying headache that is very severe and persistent. Lower extremity clot will have redness, swelling and a sharp pain. Severe headaches can also be caused when you have high blood pressure and other problems related to the brain. Any kind of persistent headache must therefore not be ignored, to protect your life as well as the life of the fetus.
7. Flare-up of underlying diseases
Women who have underlying health conditions must be very alert during pregnancy as there are chances of the disease getting worse and causing complications. This can be a thyroid disease, diabetes, lupus, asthma, high blood pressure etc. They must be kept under control through medications, under a doctor’s guidance. You must also be aware of the symptoms that you have to look out for.
