6 False Pregnancy Symptoms
Jun 18, 2010 | Comments 1 | Rare Problems In Women
Pregnancy could be an enthralling time for the to-be parents, however regrettably does not always end as expected – with a bundle of joy. In uncommon scenarios, a female or also a male could believe pregnancy has occurred, only to eventually comprehend that the signs and symptoms were not pregnancy related but due to some totally different health reason.
False pregnancy (pseudocyesis) is the erroneous notion of carrying a baby when in fact the contrary is true. An individual with false pregnancy would experience several or all the prevalent pregnancy symptoms except for the presence of a real fetus. This is one of the rarest of rare condition that occurs in just 1-6 of every 22000 child deliveries and largely noted among females in the age band of twenty to 44 years of age, though it could occur at any age in women.
In atypical scenarios, even males could have pseudocyesis. Several males would experience a correlated occurrence called as sympathetic pregnancy (couvade) wherein they could start developing several of the analogous symptoms experienced by their pregnant mates – inclusive of weight increase, feeling nauseous and back pains.
False Pregnancy Causes
Pseudocyesis has been a centuries-old identified condition, however only lately have physicians been able to comprehend the emotional, mental and physical matters which are the root-reason for this condition occurring. Though the precise reasons are yet unknown, physicians doubt that emotional-mental issues could deceive the body into believing that it is pregnant.
In females bearing strong desires to conceive that might be due to recurring miscarriage, imminent menopausal phase, are infertile or longing for matrimonial bliss, their bodies could start producing several pregnancy symptoms (like abdominal swelling, breast enlargement and also sense movements of a fetus). The brain would then misinterpret these pregnancy signs and elicit prolactin, estrogen hormones release which could be causal to real pregnancy symptoms.
Several scientists have indicated that paucity, dearth of edification, infancy sexual abuse or relationship issues could don a major activating part in false pregnancy. To have a false pregnancy is not analogous to pregnancy claims for some gains (like profit-related) or being delusional about pregnancy (like in schizophrenics).
False Pregnancy Symptoms
Females with false pregnancy have several of the analogous signs and symptoms like those women with actual pregnancies. These could include:
- Stoppage in monthly period cycles.
- Abdominal swelling.
- Breast enlargement and tenderness, alterations in nipple appearance and likely milk secretion.
- Sense of fetus moving.
- Feeling nauseous and puking.
- An increase in weight.
Such symptoms could be felt from some weeks till 9 months or also years on end. A miniscule proportion of patients having pseudocyesis would even visit their physician or emergency room with feelings of labor contractions, however not delivering an infant.
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False pregnancy in humans is less common, and may sometimes be purely psychological. It is generally estimated that false pregnancy is caused due to changes in the endocrine system of the body, leading to the secretion of hormones which translate into physical changes similar to those during pregnancy. The underlying cause is often mental.
Cases of pseudocyesis have been documented since antiquity. Hippocrates gives us the first written account around 300 B.C. when he recorded 12 cases of women with the disorder. Mary I (1516–1558), Queen of England, was perhaps the most famous of western historical examples, who believed on two occasions that she was pregnant, when she was in fact not. Some even attribute the violence that gave her the nickname “Bloody Mary” to be a reaction to her disappointment on realising she was without child. Other medical historians believe that the queen’s physicians mistook fibroid tumors in her uterus for a pregnancy. John Mason Good coined the term pseudocyesis from the Greek words pseudes (false) and kyesis (pregnancy) in 1923.